Meal Planning

“Umm, Mom… You’re taking a picture of… our food?” Gameboy gave me that look of suspicion that I’m just a few steps away from insanity.

“Yep! I’m going to blog about it!”

A slow nod, and Gameboy walked away, determining that it’s probably better not to ask.

Yes, I am blogging about food. I receive a lot of emails from readers of my other site, asking for more specifics on how our home operates. A few people have asked what types of meals I prepare, and I thought it might be fun to do a blog about what we typically eat at each meal. So, here we go…

Breakfast

We have hot tea sweetened with honey nearly every day with our breakfast. Decaffeinated for the kids, and regular for Iron Man and me. I always make a lot of regular tea, so that we can use it later for iced tea, and to fill up Iron Man’s drink bottles that he takes to work. He needs a caffeine boost in the middle of the day, and the iced tea with honey is much healthier and cheaper than grabbing a Coke or Mountain Dew with his lunch.

Granola is by far our favorite breakfast. We recently started making it ourselves using this recipe. 

When we don’t have granola, we usually have one of the following:

Yogurt with fruit

Scrambled eggs with either bread, toast or fruit

Homemade bread with jam or apple butter

Toast with cinnamon. We got rid of the toaster years ago because it’s just not efficient for a family our size. We toast our bread under the broiler, and can toast about 15 pieces at a time. The only downfall to this method is my absent-minded tendency to forget that it’s there, thus burning the toast.

Lunch

Lunch is not a huge meal in our house. I often tell the kids that lunch is meant to keep them until dinner; It isn’t a feast. This standard has helped to keep our family healthy, me sane, and our budget in line.

The kids usually have milk with lunch, while I drink iced tea.

Sometimes I’ll make fruit smoothies in place of milk. In a blender, I combine milk, yogurt, bananas, a teaspoon of vanilla, and sometimes berries. Sometimes I make them with just milk and bananas, and those are good too.

Everyone enjoys a hot lunch, so I usually make enough dinner the night before so we can have reheated leftovers. If our leftovers are not enough for a complete lunch, I supplement with either salad, yogurt, fruit, or raw veggies with ranch dressing for dipping.

If we do not have any leftovers, we usually have salad with homemade bread, yogurt or fruit.

Sometimes we have a “snack lunch,” which is one of the kids’ favorites. An example might be honey butter on homemade bread, with fruit, yogurt, raw veggies & dressing, and/or popcorn.

We always have fruit and yogurt in the house, so if the kids are still hungry, they can always eat more of these.

Sometimes, we’ll make apple butter and jelly sandwiches (on homemade bread) with a side of fruit. We don’t usually do peanut butter because it has many more calories than apple butter, and doesn’t taste half as good.  A tip: this always tastes better when eaten outside on a picnic blanket on a pretty day. Yum!

Dinners

These aren’t nearly as routine as the rest of our meals, but I do have a kind of formula to this. On the day that I plan our dinner menu, I choose 2 chicken meals, 2 beef meals, a soup, an Italian dish, and a Mexican dish. Anyone in the family can throw in any special requests, but if I’m given no inspiration on what to make, my little formula effectively gives me the direction I need.

I write down all needed ingredients on my grocery list, and then write all the meal options on my memo board, with a notation telling me what cookbook and page number to go for the recipe. I don’t make meals in any particular order, but I erase each one after I make it. This way, I always know what I have ingredients for.

The poultry and beef meals are typically rounded out with 2 or 3 side dishes, which are usually salad, hot veggies, rice, or bread. (Sadly for me, we rarely have potatoes because the kids detest them. It’s probably better for my figure anyhow…)

Soup is usually accompanied by salad and bread. If the kids are still hungry, they can have fruit after their meal.

Italian meals are supplemented with bread and salad.

Mexican meals are supplemented with rice, veggies, and/or black beans.

We usually have water with our dinners, unless it’s a “light” meal. Sometimes the kids drink milk, and sometimes Iron Man and I will drink iced tea. For the most part though, it’s water.

Snacks

We rarely snack, and I think this is part of the reason that our kids don’t usually have trouble finishing their meals. The foods that many people might view as a “healthy snack” are eaten as part of our main meals.

So there you have it! This is how our family of 8 eats healthy and keeps their tastebuds and tummies happy, without breaking the bank.

Want more? Check out Meal Times or see the list of all my Home Management Posts.