Everybody's Hungry Every Day

Today I want to talk about food, because I am a food person. I just finished a lunch of spicy corn chowder and spinach quiche, really enjoyed it and just want to share my excitement. I have some ideas, so here you go.

I find everybody has their homemakery thing that they really enjoy and are good at. I love to shop for, prepare and eat food, food and more food. Even when I'm not pregnant. Food is the thing I mostly keep up with on a consistent basis. It could be because we literally have to eat to survive that this has become such a priority. Or it could be that Dave and I both enjoy it and were raised by parents who love cooking and eating. Either way, it's central.

Here is what I do:

1. Plan. I am not naturally a detail person, but motherhood has forced me to hone this skill. I much prefer to go with the flow and hope for the best. Unfortunately this leads to a lot more stress than planning does, so I've tried to plan things more. If I get myself to 4:45 PM without a pre-established plan for dinner I can promise one of two things will happen: everyone will eat plain pasta or we will drop fifty bucks on take out. Either are fine occasionally, but terrible night after night. My plan includes a list of 7-10 dinners for which we have all of the ingredients. Then it takes about 20 seconds to decide what to make when it is time to start cooking.

2. Shop online. I just have to force myself to sit down and do this every 7-10 days. I use Shoprite but there are different regional options. For $6 I can select my groceries online then pick them up at the grocery store door. I guarantee I save that $6 and more by not wandering around the store and throwing all kinds of random, junky crap into my cart.

I save additionally by checking out what is on sale, then creating dinners based on that. Which brings me to the next step.

3. Use the interwebs and your kids for inspiration!! Most people have several go-to recipes that are tasty and quick and they make over and over and over. Wonderful. We have those too. I like to try new things or even just a new take on the same old thing, so I often use online recipes.

So, maybe your favorite fish is on sale this week. Google a recipe, add all of the ingredients to your virtual cart, and boom. Done. I usually email myself a list of links to the recipes I decide to try. This saves me from running to the store and spending $85 on something for dinner and then a "couple" other things we could use.

For a shortcut on the menu plan, sometimes I ask the kids or Dave what they'd like to have for dinner that week. It takes some of the thinking work off of my plate and the kids love when it's time for the dinner they chose. I can get 5 ideas out them in no time.

In all it might take me an hour or 90 minutes to plan and order our groceries for a week or so. It alleviates a ton of weeknight stress, so to me it's worth it.

I guess it's really pretty simple but it makes the craziest time of my day (4-6 PM) a little, tiny bit more sane. Plus, for all my hard work, I get to eat food I like.

Have any tips to add?