Every week, I write up a quick menu for weeknight dinners, add the ingredients to my grocery list, and head to the store with the bright eyes and hopeful smile of a mom who doesn’t yet know three of the five coming nights will be catered by a drive-thru worker. It’s called meal planning, and it’s how ‘good moms’ ensure their little angels are getting the balanced nutrition they need.
Let’s be real. This spring we had soccer practice, little league games two nights a week, and guitar lessons. With barely enough time to change, grab gear and tote the boys to their respective extracurriculars, we’re ending the day with enough energy to pack the next day’s lunches and that’s about it. Maybe scarf down a taco before bath time. Almost every night, my carefully curated menu would fall to a more convenient microwaveable meal or quick pickup.
I am, however, still determined to figure out a better solution. Here’s what I’ve tried so far, and how it worked out:
The Idea- Portability!
Cook portable meals that we can eat on the go, like breakfast burritos, sandwiches and egg bites.
The Reality- Messy car
In most cases, the boys would take a few bites and leave me with multiple halves of partially-frozen re-heated breakfast burritos to eat while watching events.
The Idea- Make Ahead!
Make an easily-re-heatable meal the night before and quickly eat before heading to events.
The Reality- Eat Fast
This depended on the day. I made a quiche that big bro ate quickly before his game but little bro wasn’t hungry yet at 4:30pm. It’s also a bit exhausting to prep the night before.
The Idea- Just Snack!
Have them eat a large snack and eat more snack food after the game before bed.
The Reality- Snack All Night
This also depends on the day. Big bro really needs more than snacks to be at his best, and it turned into the boys munching on sunflower seeds in a dugout and ballpark pretzels in the stands the whole game. The pretzels are really yummy though.
Our reality is, I’m still working on it and I know our schedules will only get busier as they get older. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to the last little league game of the season, because afterwards, we’re going out for pizza.
Our Life in A-Z 