There’s one in every crowd, that Mom (or Dad) who seems to have it all together. The one that’s both the envy and bane of everybody else’s life. We envy her because she’s got it together, but we’re also pissed off that of all the people in the room she’s the one who really doesn’t need it to be together. Sometimes she’s really vocal about how she’s “so overworked”, yet her kids’ Halloween costumes are all homemade. She complains about how she worries about nutrition, but she’s practically got nutritional labels on her meals at home. And she never has a pot boiling over or a roast burning in the oven. Sometimes you just want to smack her upside the head, but other times you want to learn her tricks.
Come on, you can admit it…we’re among friends here. You’ve had those thoughts, haven’t you? At least they were just thoughts…right? You didn’t actually smack her upside the head. If you did, don’t worry I won’t tell. As long as you don’t mention that I came this close to whacking one of those Mom’s with my iPad case once. At least I’ll only admit to the one close call…there may have been others.
Since you’re at the Hectic-Kitchen website, I’m not going to be much help on the costume thing. You’ll have to find a craft site for those magical costumes that are amazing on your kids. But I can give you some guidance in the kitchen. And the best part is you can read this on your phone while you’re waiting in your car to pickup the kids. Or at a sporting event. Or in line at the grocery store. Nobody will be able to judge you…unless they’re peering over your shoulder checking out what you’re reading. Then you have my blessing to smack them.
So what’s one of the tricks to seeming to have it all together? Well, not scrambling to put every meal on the table. That’s one of the challenges that I had to face head-on while raising eight super-active kids with a wife working 60+ hours every week. And with the kids spaced so close together, we were constantly running from one activity to another. Yet every night when we got home those same darned kids wanted to eat. And they didn’t want to eat junk. It’s not that we did a great job teaching them about nutrition, but they learned it through osmosis. The swimmer’s learned from other swimmers. Sure, they sucked down unmade Jell-o right out of the packets at swim meets (who didn’t?), but they also ate tons of calories of really healthy food. Do you know how many jars of peanut butter you can spread on three bunches of celery? About four, in case you’re wondering. And they would eat baby carrots by the bucketload. And all sorts of other healthy stuff. Then we had wrestlers who watched every calorie going in, knowing that a “normal meal” meant a lot of extra work to burn off that weight. And runners wanted fuel to propel them to faster times. My football players wanted to bulk up, my gymnast wanted to slim down. It was a constant battle to try and make enough food for eight kids while meeting all their varied tastes and nutritional needs.
That’s when I slowly discovered that if I actually planned ahead, things would be so much easier. You’d think that I would’ve learned this right away, but it took me years…practically decades to figure out that meal planning gave me vastly more time, saved me a ton of money, and made shopping and meal preparation easier. Don’t worry, I still hate that Mom with the Martha Stewart-inspired holiday tables. I’ve secretly wanted to sneak into her house and mess up the neatly set table. Seriously, I’m just like you (only with a bit of a darker side)!
Now this whole “meal planning” thing sounded pretty overwhelming at first. If you feel that way, don’t sweat it, I’ve got you covered. You see, here’s the dirty little secret: Meal planning can be as simple or as complex as you need it (or want it) to be. It’s not rocket science (well, unless you’re planning the meals for the Mars mission…then it’s pretty close). Meal planning is just a way to organize your thoughts and give you some actions that you can take that will make your life easier. You can avoid the “What’s for dinner?” rhetorical question that you ask yourself every night as you stand in front of the refrigerator trying to figure out what to make. Or worse yet, sitting in the car waiting to take the kids home from soccer practice and wracking your brain to figure out what you might or might not have in the refrigerator and pantry that you can make that the kids will eat. I mean let’s face it, you can only make Mac ’n’ Cheese so many times in a week before they revolt. In my experience that’s six times, by the way. On the seventh try they actually try to run you out of the house, but still want you to cook, so they get all conflicted and you still end up making dinner.
The idea behind meal planning is super simple. Figure out what you’re going to make on which days, have the right ingredients on hand, and then actually execute on the plan. I know, I know, it sounds so easy. But there’s that whole life thing that gets in the way. Who honestly has time to figure this stuff out? Well, to be frank…you. OK, if your name isn’t “Frank” the answer is still you! If you fail to plan you plan to fail (from a bunch of quotes I have on my wall that don’t have attributions for…shoot me). But that’s the point, if you do a little tiny bit of thinking and planning ahead you can save yourself tons of grief later. The time saved is worth the upfront investment.
So let’s start out easy…grab something to write on that doesn’t get a bath later in the day. No sense using your hand, dog, or one of the kids…the plan will get lost in the bubbles. So I’ll make it easier, get some paper and a pen or grab your phone and open the notes app. Crayons and paper napkins work just as well. Just grab something to write on. Now think about what you want to make for dinner tomorrow night. Pull one of your family favorites right off the top of your head. Mac ’n’ Cheese works for the entree for tomorrow, doesn’t it? What should you server with it? Hmmm…how about applesauce? If you’ve got it in the pantry or fridge, throw it on the list. Wanna make it super fancy like we do at Hectic Manor…sprinkle a tiny bit of cinnamon on top of the applesauce. Then add crackers & peanut butter to the meal plan. And how about brownies for dessert. You can either buy them or make them from a box. Brownies are easy, fast, and can be made in a single pan without a mixing bowl if you’re in a crunch! It never hurts to think about reducing the amount of cleanup! Tomorrow’s dinner is figured out. Now think about the day after. Get really fancy and go with chicken nuggets, french fries, a salad (because adults have to eat something), and cookies. Voilà, you’ve got two dinners figured out. How long did it take…practically no time at all. Do one more night’s dinner and you’re so far ahead of the game Food Network may be calling you to host a show about meal planning!
And there you have it. One of the secrets of together Moms and Dads. They plan ahead for stuff and actually follow through on the plan. Don’t beat yourself up if you planned that Mac ’n’ Cheese for tomorrow and when tomorrow comes you don’t have time. Run through that drive-through and pick something up. Or order pizza. Or better yet make your spouse come up with something to eat. Just move the meal plan a day off in the future. Eventually the guilt of all the drive-throughs and pizzas will get to you and you’ll decide to execute on the plan. And boom you’ll be all set for success. Life’s about living, but doing a little planning can be a huge help. And since you have to feed those kids a bunch of meals every darned day, a little bit of time saved on every meal goes a long way to making life easier. And honestly it’s not really all that hard!
Now why is that slightly disheveled Mom smacking me in the back of the head with her iPad case? I didn’t say a word about being Super-Dad!
