…it’s like a second New Years Eve. You get to start fresh on a lot of projects, reset goals, and get organized. Planning and prepping was my downfall for many years. I would usually spend my days flying by the seat of my pants and feeling like I could never get anything done. This usually stems from lack of planning and perfectionism. Dinnertime especially was a huge stressor for our family. I was focused too much on completing my chore list during the day, that I forgot to plan for dinner. There would be no meat defrosted and I wouldn’t have the ingredients I needed to put a meal together. My husband would call me when he was off work and I would be scrambling to put something together for dinner before he got home. Having small children, I have to start cooking at 3 PM to have dinner on the table by 6pm. Yes, it takes me three hours to prepare a meal that takes 30 minutes to make. Having small children means I’m constantly being interrupted to wipe tears, wipe bottoms, and mitigate conflicts. By planning ahead, I now have plenty of time to get dinner in the oven and also tidy up before my husband gets home.

When it comes to weekly meal planning, I go through our favorite recipe cards and cookbooks and I type out the name of the recipe plus the ingredients into the Notes section on my phone. Then I go through my refrigerator and pantry to see what ingredients I have and what things I still need to get at the store. Here’s my secret, I stick with the meals I planned! I don’t let laziness take over and make a quick quesadilla while letting my fresh produce in the fridge go to waste. I meal plan every Sunday and do my grocery shopping for the week on Monday.