Streamline Your Week: Food Preparation

If you only implemented one suggestion in the 'Streamline Your Week Series', I'd venture to say that spending some extra time on food preparation would net the biggest impact on your family's bottom line.  The thought of cooking a well-balanced meal after school, work, and before the game, practice, meet and meeting you have scheduled probably sends a chill down your spine.  A homemade culinary masterpiece makes your heart sink with dread and your eyelids close with exhaustion. Instead, stopping for pizza, grabbing something out of a vending machine, or snagging some fast food makes your pulse race with excitement and your arms execute a cheer.  Trust me, I am not judging.

Alas, a few nights of this and your wallet will be malnourished and your waistline will become corpulent.  So, lets outline a few ways to take advantage of a lazy Sunday or a few minutes every weeknight to really help streamline (notice a trend here?) your MTWThF.

• Meal Planning:
• Deciding on meals in advance is an AMAZING way to reduce the stress of what to feed the family.  I can't believe I only started doing it a few years ago.  If something comes up or plans change, no sweat.  Your menu is flexible.  Read how I use meal planning here.
• Don't forget leftovers!  Serve all of the leftovers for an eclectic, random meal.  The kids might get a kick out of having steak, pancakes and carrot sticks for dinner.  (Your husband might not, but hey, there is a price to frugality.)
• Meal Preparation:
• Cut up anything that you can ahead of time. It is much more enticing to cut up a bunch of carrots while watching your Colts or Bears as opposed to when your 4, 2, and 1 year olds are screaming for food.
• Using the slow cooker is an easy, minimal mess way to make dinner. Here I discussed how I cook multiple packages of chicken breasts at one time, freeze in individual portion sizes and simply pull out and thaw when I need them.
• Freezer Cooking:
• Freeze fruits and veggies before they go bad or if there is a great sale for a quick snack or meal ingredient.  Learn more here.
• If you don't even have time to throw cereal in a bowl with milk in the mornings, try these oatmeal muffins or frozen pancakes that you can literally grab while you are running out the door.
• Make two or three times the amount of food that your family would normal eat in a sitting.  Freeze the leftovers.  Then in the morning you simply put the frozen meal in the fridge to thaw and it will be ready to reheat in the evening.
• Packing Lunches: 
• Everyone knows how expensive and unhealthy it is to eat lunch out every day.  So, try to pack your lunch the night before.  It will take less than 7 minutes.  I promise, or your money back.
• Packing Snacks: 
• Do you have a meeting right after work or do the kids have practice or a game?  Make sure you pack snacks for anyone who may need them.  It might be smart to keep a box of protein or granola bars in your car or gym bag to help curb your hunger.