This has become a challenge for us. For years, we cooked for 3 kids + the 2 of us. Cooking for teenagers requires a lot of food. During that time, I worked part time and was able to work cooking around my work schedule. Even during the Pandemic Shut Downs, we had our grown children living at home with us, so I was once again cooking in large quantities. And since we were all working virtually, cooking meals from scratch was easy-peasy.
But now, at the end of 2021 we find ourselves to be Empty Nesters for the first time. Both my husband and I work full time now, and putting nutritious food on the table quickly has become a challenge. With my food allergies, going out to eat or subscribing to a meal prep service really aren't viable options. (Not to mention expensive.)
Short of yelling at each other because we're both Hangry and then devolving into peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every night, what do you do?
Enter my spreadsheet. (I am the Queen of Spreadsheets.)
I put this together with the intention of planning out meals a month in advance. I grocery shop weekly, and the spread sheet lets me know what I need to get each week. We will make at least one double batch of something with the express intent of freezing one of the batches for dinner another night in the month. Anything left over from one night's dinner is wrapped up to become lunch for another day.
So, how is it working for us? Simply put, it's amazing. I have everything in a Google Spreadsheet so that we can both access everything from our own device - this makes preparing dinner and grocery shopping so much easier.
What do you do to plan out your meals?
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