Lean Meal Strategy

When I say "lean" I do not mean low fat. I am referring to methods to reduce waste in meal planning and preparation.  As a working mom, I do not have a lot of time to spend on dinner prep. I would rather spend my time in the evenings playing with the family. 

Health for me and my family is also important to me. I try to have fresh vegetables and fruit on a daily basis. "Clean eating" is something I strive for, although it is difficult when convenience is also a key goal.  Eating dinner as a family is also a priority. We can use the time to talk about our day and the little one is not excused until we are all done. 

I was recently in a parenting discussion that we talked about having "strategies" for dealing with different parenting situations. The first part of meal planning is pre-planning and preparation.  I have also discussed visualization as a tool for planning. But finally it is letting things go sometimes and having Mac and cheese or oatmeal for dinner, when you run out of time and options. 

To review, here is my current strategy:

Saturday - plan meals, I have a standard list of quick meals I rotate. I am always on the lookout for more. 

Sat/Sun - grocery shop or Costco for dairy, frozen products and bananas. 

Sunday - shop farmers market for fresh produce. 

Here are my quick, healthy meal ideas.  I try to make enough that we have lunch leftovers the following day.  Pretty soon my little one will be starting a preschool where I have to supply lunches. That will be a whole new challenge. 

Healthy meal staples:

Pasta with fresh veggies

Stir fry (frozen or fresh veggies) with quinoa (cooks faster than rice)

Salmon or fish (cooks quickly)

Fajitas (sauté chicken breast and heat up black beans and tortillas)

Crockpot stew (I had to take this out of rotation because my husband got tired of it)

Grilled chicken over salad

Personal mealtime Action plan

1.  Identify new recipes, especially using crockpot (prep in morning or night before)

2.  Do more chopping and prep on Sunday. 

3.  When meal is almost done cooking, spend 5-10 minutes quality time with my son to help him transition to meal time. 

4.  Make sure everyone is included in dinner time conversations, even the little one. By keeping him engaged, he has less reason to get bored and act out. 

5.  Research healthy lunch ideas for preschool. 

Any healthy meal ideas that work in your house are welcome. 

Visualization - planning your perfect day

I have been reading some books recently on goal setting and one of the technics that keeps coming up is Visualization. 

Visualization is about envisioning your goal  (if it is something tangible) or yourself achieving the goal. Athletes do it when training for a big race. It is important to think about all your senses (what you see, smell, hear) and how you feel to create a really powerful vision. By walking through the path to your goal in your mind, it also helps you anticipate some things that might go wrong and how you can avoid or deal with them. 

I have used this technique to plan for a road trip and what to pack. I have also used it to prep myself for the next day. I walk through the main things I want to get accomplished. I also think about some of the disruptions that sometimes get in the way and mentally prepare for them (I.e. child waking up early, traffic, etc).  Part of my daily preparation is also reviewing my schedule, so highlight anything special i need to prepare for. I also select my clothes and anything I need to bring with me to work.   By visualizing the highlights of my day ahead of time, I feel more confident about getting the important things done and do not worry as much about them. 

I am now using visualization to focus on the goal of potty training my son. It helps keep me energized about the process and feeling positive and excited about the end result. 

Table Topics

It's not that we run out of things to talk about in our family, but I am finding that we sometimes miss talking about some of the important issues because things are pretty hectic both before and after dinner. 

So I have started making a list of topics to discuss during the week at dinner.  Finances, parenting tactics, family vacation plans, etc. I shared the list with my husband, so he could prep, and I try to bring up a topic every night. It has also worked on long drives, when we get tired of singing "Old MacDonald."

Of course, our son is too young to fully participate, but he benefits by hearing how we discuss and make decisions.  When he gets older, I think we can make this a family tradition and we can rotate so that each member gets a chance to choose the topic each day. 

How do you find time to talk about the important family issues?