High Maintenance Mom

This past week I was in Colorado for three days so I made a list but assumed it wouldn't be followed while I was out of town. When I returned, I didn't make the dinners I was planning to make, mainly because I was tired, so we ended up not eating as well as I would have liked. The lunch menu, however, really helped me with my transition back home. It was nice to follow the list instead of having to think about it. I'm posting the form I use for our week and apologize for the fuzzy logo (NOTE: This was fixed and should now be fine). I'm still trying to recover the font from my previous computer that will no longer start. Hope you have a good week...

Last week was almost comical. I lost my voice, everyone was sick, and I ended up going to the store three times during the week; that's in addition to the two trips over the weekend. We ended up having friends over on Thursday night but not Wednesday. I'm posting this week's menu a little late but it's helping me get organized for the week so I'm forcing myself to do it. I've also attached a pdf lunch checklist that includes lots of ideas for what to pack/serve...

We lost power today for four hours so I spent some time hard boiling eggs and trying to figure out what other than the milk we will need to eat quickly. It was a little difficult to cook without all the lights on and I was very relieved - on so many levels - to have the lights come back on at 5 pm. I ended up cooking the spinach pie for Wed. tonight along with the chicken for tomorrow night and my lunches after the kids went to bed. Cooking in the evening is the only way I can make some of the meals work. Otherwise we're all too hungry before dinner is actually ready. Last week's meals went well. Both kids ate the enchiladas and I will be posting that recipe soon. Hope you have a great week!

This past week we had date night on Saturday so the kids had Mac and Cheese (B refused to eat and later told me gleefully that he played with trains instead) and we had sushi. We also had a room meeting on one night with middle eastern food so I used the meatloaf on a different night. An additional shopping trip was requested in the middle of the week for extra cereal and milk but instead we finished two of the five boxes on the shelf and the kids had soy milk on Friday night. I felt good about not shopping again as I am trying to reduce our food bill...

The menus are working well for me. I'm still food shopping at three stores (Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and Costco) but I'm throwing a way a lot less food. It also makes the shopping easier. Last night's lasagna was really good and I was able to freeze some for next week. I'm hoping to be able to make something I can freeze every weekend so I don't have to cook as much during the week...

Last week's menu went reasonably well. I had forgotten about a Board meeting on Thursday so we didn't make the fish and I had a lot of leftover chicken so we made fajitas on Saturday instead of the meatloaf...

After traveling for three weeks, I've been thinking about how to spend more time interacting with my kids and less time trying to get them to play quietly while I cook and clean. Last July I was making lists of what I was planning to cook for the week (see This week's menu) and it made the weekday evenings a lot easier. My kids don't eat everything on the menu so I often offer peanut butter and jelly, which they love and can't take to school for lunch, or pasta...

Figuring out how to nutritiously feed my family has been a major stresser ever since I tried to grow up. The question, 'what should we do for dinner tonight?' has made me insane. I hate thinking of something new everyday, and so takeout was an often used option, much to the dismay of my wallet. Or I'd frown, uh, lets cook that one dish, you know, then go to the store, get all the stuff, then go home and cook and by the time its 10 pm, we've got a meal and all the fun is gone. My husband is the one who usually cooks, poor guy. So in order to be a better mom/wife I made a New Year's resolution and went to a bookstore with the explicit instructions to the bookseller, "I need a book that tells me what to buy in advance, has actual good food, and is quick for the working mom."...

I am out-of-town all week and have been preparing the house for my departure. I think I went to the grocery store three times this weekend, did four loads of laundry, and four loads in the dishwasher. In the past, I've left lots of notes about what to eat for dinner or pack for lunches and when I return, I find moldy food in the same containers I had left them in. This week is a test of the Lunch Cheat Sheets. I'm filling them out along with where to find the food and hoping the food I bought this weekend is eaten...

For many, the beginning of the school year includes packing a lunch for the first time. Below is a helpful list of lunch items for different ages and a pdf of a "cheat sheet" for letting someone else pack a lunch for you. If you are packing for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers, you will want to cut the food into small pieces and avoid choking hazard shapes such as a circular piece of hotdog (cut hotdogs into spears)...