At our house, meal planning is one of our great struggles. By our, I mean it is a struggle for Suburban Mommy, since she does 95% of the grocery shopping and meal preparation for the kids. My 5% struggle comes in when I get home at 6pm, after picking up the kids at preschool, and there is nothing for me to eat because I didn’t plan for myself. That’s why I end up eating Cheerios for dinner after the kids are in bed.
If you also struggle with planning meals, here is a great solution. Dine Without Whine (love the name) sends you an email each week with menu recipes AND the grocery list for everything on the menu. The meals are kid tested, meaning they won’t look at it and instantly say “I don’t like it”. Having the grocery list already made is the key to making meals simple.
All the planning work is done for you, and you can go back to your other daily struggles, like potty training and bedtime.
Here’s another option — surprise the wife by going to a meal assembly kitchen in your neighborhood and bring 12 meals home to put in the freezer. Search by zip or city at http://www.mealassembly.net. There is nothing like coming home to a ready-to-go entree in the freezer on a busy Tuesday evening.
Yeah, we have done meal assembly at Let’s Dish. It’s pretty good for grown up meals, but a little too “seasoned” for kids. And it gets expensive.