This week I have a plan for healthy eating:
Tuesday (yesterday)-Spaghetti. Brunch out with friends (I split a slice of veggie quiche and some fruit with a friend. yes it had dairy but my other option was a sugar filled muffin or scone.)
Wednesday - breakfast, grape nuts. lunch, Tomato shrimp soup with half a ham sandwich. dinner--stuffed salmon from trader joes with salad.
Thursday - breakfast, smoothie (going to cookie exchange where there is bound to be snacks, will resist cookie temptation) lunch- soup and sandwich. Dinner- Thai Chicken Wraps. (Bring spaghetti to a friend with a new baby.)
Friday - breakfast, smoothie before body pump class. Lunch, salad or rice and beans. Dinner, bbq chicken pizza with rice cheese (going to neighborhood holiday party so might not eat any)
Saturday - breakfast, eggs or pancakes with maple syrup. Lunch, cobb sandwiches. Dinner, Chili with Iceman at Caleb's 1st birthday party.
Sunday - breakfast, cereal. Lunch,(entertaining) pork roast with red potatoes, cauliflower mash, salad. Appetizer of baked veggie wantons. Dessert is tentatively sorbet with fruit and a cookie. Dinner, left overs.
Monday - not fully planned but I do have fish and a pork tenderloin and a few other things in the freezer should I not get right on planning next week.
I have actually been planning menus most of my married life. When John and I first got married we would wander the grocery isles putting random stuff in our carts and then get home and wonder what we had for dinner. At first we started simply by standing over our cart and counting out a few meals before we left but when I became a full time homemaker I started making lists and getting more serious about feeding the family. Over the years I have added in many new meals to the rotation and removed a few as well. Some weeks the list comes together in minutes and other weeks I am challenged to come up with 7 meals I really want to eat. I can get stuck in a rut.
Last year I decided to help myself out by brainstorming every meal I could think of that I make and would want in the rotation. This list has helped when I get stuck and can't think of anything new to make.
I have also planned out whole months of menus before. While this seems harder it is easier in some ways. Rather than just sitting down and thinking up 30 meals I think up 4 meals in 7 categories. You can choose any categories, here are some ideas: chicken, beef, pork, veggie, soup, misc, international, casserole, crock pot...anything.
Once that is done my grocery list goes much faster. Of course I still don't like to grocery shop so I can still drag my feet. I have experimented with many different approaches. Shop for the whole month, a couple weeks, a week, a day or two. The whole month is expensive. More than a week and you can't buy all the fresh veggies. A day or two is nice because it goes quickly but you have to be able to return often. This is fine in warmer weather but I loose motivation to "quickly run out" anywhere when it gets cold. So typically I try to do a weeks worth at a time.
Of course I am here, posting with Goose and Iceman, because I slide. Because I should go weekly but I still go sporadically. I know what to do because I have been successful. Now is the time to make that change in thinking for good. As winter has definitely arrived here and my motivation for leaving the house is quickly waning it is the perfect time to establish a routine that is done despite motivation. I will not let my "feelings" rule me but will act according to what I know I need to do. I will shop weekly even if I don't feel like it because I know I need to do it for my family and for myself.
Exercise is getting a little tough here this week. Holiday activities on top of regular activities have me out of the house often. And while I was able to run outside still last week when it was 10 degrees I am not even willing to try running outside when it is snowy with a negative wind chill. I am really missing my club membership today...Will do a video this afternoon.
--Maverick
I also struggle with getting myself to do something even thought I don't "feel" like it. That's a hard one. I think menu's are so important to. It's all about creating those habits that you can rely on when life gets unreliable. (Which is all the time) Great menu. Maybe John can get you a club membership for Christmas. :)
ReplyDeleteyou are so good to do this.
ReplyDeletei remember way back when, when i was so diligent about menu planning and grocery lists and making a wonderful homemade meal for my family every night.
maybe that will be the next thing that comes back during this "rising of goose" once again. i am feeling good, trying to keep the momentum steady..don't want to get too crazy trying to juggle to many things at once! :)