MOPS: Meal Planning

Our MOPS meeting was about meal planning. Our speaker today was one of our own moms. I appreciated her honest walk-through of her process of meal planning. I really like people who tell of their own experience without pretenses. She was real.

My own version of meal planning has evolved over the years. It was hard for me to come to the realization that we had to plan meals, but I have learned to enjoy it. I didn't grow up meal planning. My mother can just throw stuff together. That is how I learned to cook, but I also like to make certain meals and I don't like having to go to the store because I'm missing one ingredient (or many). I don't like grocery shopping and eventually by meal planning I figured out how to only go grocery shopping once a week. I could probably go every two weeks except for the fresh produce and the small apartment fridge.

As with many things, we can learn by doing. Just pick one way. Try it out for a while. See what works for you and what doesn't. Our MOPS speaker today showed us her way of meal planning, and it is a good way to do it, but each of us has to do what works for us. I liked how she presented it in a very open-ended way.

We all have challenges. We all have goals. We all have some sort of budgetary restriction. We can all save money and time, while sticking to our family's goals and challenges if we take up some intentional planning with our meals.

These days I plan about 5 dinners per week. I plan on having leftovers or a back-up easy meal (maybe a crock-pot freezer meal) the other two days. I pack up leftovers and freeze them for David to take for lunch. We only recently settled into this routine and it is working very well for us. I am thankful he likes leftovers. We have eggs for breakfast. Sometimes a breakfast meat, sometimes just cheese. My 3 year old likes cereal or yogurt for breakfast and then she has a bigger mid-morning snack. David takes leftovers for lunch. I eat leftovers or I will make myself a salad, quick soup (from scratch) or sandwich.

Some things I have learned recently to reduce waste and maximize efficiency:

1) When I only need 1/2 and onion or pepper, I chop up the rest and freeze it otherwise it ends up in the back of my fridge and goes bad before I remember to use it. If it's in the freezer I use it in stir-fries or soups when I need it.

2) I buy meat in bulk and freeze it in meal-sized portions, OR I cook it and then divide it up into meal sized portions. I sometimes buy in bulk from Zaycon Foods and I prepare crock pot freezer meals in gallon freezer bags. I can just put the whole bag in the crock pot and have a meal ready in about 4 hours. If I have stuff to do I put it in at about lunch time and it is ready by dinner time. Here is a link to my crock pot recipes. 

3) Putting leftovers in the freezer. While David doesn't mind leftovers, he prefers to eat the same thing at a later date. I don't blame him and this has greatly reduced how much we have to discard. By freezing it doesn't go bad before he wants to eat it and we cycle through meals with some variety and he can even choose what he wants to take each day. We use containers that have dividers and I add frozen vegetables on the side (that I transfer directly from the bag frozen) that end up getting steamed while he warms up the leftover entree.

4) Going into Costco with a plan, knowing it is a war zone. Let's face it: Costco is full of expensive temptations. Go there with a list. Only buy what is on your list. If you can't do this, don't go to Costco. We only buy what we know we will need. I have very specific things I know I will use. I don't buy anything that I will only use more of (or have to waste some of) if I buy it in bulk. Generally I buy unprocessed meats, eggs, cheese, coffee, grains, legumes, vitamins, OTC medications, supplements, diapers, wipes, toilet paper, printer ink cartridges (if you wait for their coupon you get $20 off two double XL packages, which is a great deal). I can't afford to buy processed meats, meals or specialty cheeses or anything else that generally gets featured at the taste-test carts.

5) I find I save a lot of money buying in bulk. We try to find a store that has gluten-free flours and pastas in the bulk section.

6) I am not a "couponer". I use coupons sometimes but they don't make coupons for most of the things I buy. The times I have tried to use a lot of coupons, I ended up going over in my budget because I was trying to change what we ate according to what we had coupons for and I found it did not save me money because I was buying things that were too processed and we just didn't eat. I cook from scratch and I save more money that way.

MOPS Craft: We made Friendship Soup Jars

MOPS: Family Goals

There was a wonderful speaker today at my MOPS meeting. She spoke about the process she has gone through for setting family goals. Lately I have been trying to be more intentional in my life and this really fit right in to what I have been trying to accomplish. She stated how only 3% of people write down their goals and something like 17% make goals, but don't write them down. Everybody else just goes with the flow without making goals.

MOPS Craft Project: Pumpkins

While I'm definitely in the 17%, I decided that I am going to now be in the 3%. Of course I have written down some goals over the years, but I never thought to organize them the way she described. I am a very "organized" person in some ways but not so much in other ways. In an effort to achieve organization, I keep a bunch of lists. Some are on paper and some in my head. I am not able to keep track of everything without my lists. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to make a very specific written list of my goals.

I began on paper to set my priorities:

1. God
2. Marriage
3. My Children
4. Extended Family
5. Friends
6. Community

Based on this list I went on to list categories of my life I would like to set goals for. Then I numbered them in a general priority. In each category I wanted to be sure to write down some accomplishments as well as what I am trying to achieve. I think it is important to see how far you've come as well as looking at where you want to go. 

GOALS:

1. Faith: I have a prayer list started and I do spend time reading the Bible both myself and with the children, but this area definitely needs work. I would like to set aside time for a daily devotional. Consistent Bible study. Daily Bible reading. Reading the bible daily with the kids. Family worship. Find a church family. Sharing my faith with confidence when the Spirit moves me.
2. Marriage: We have both become more intentional about our marriage. We make sure to have at least one date per month. We do spend time talking about the budget, the children and things we would like to do together. I would like to set a more regular time to plan our goals. I would like to set aside a weekly date at home since we can't really afford to go out more than once per month. 
3. Family: I love being a SAHM! Homeschooling right now is about giving them varied experiences and having fun. We are starting to make some friends here and we are doing weekly activities to get the kids out of the house. I have a general curriculum going for the children's preschool. David and I both have one-on-one time with each of the children and I want to make sure to continue that. I want to continue to get my introverted self out to let the kids make friends and learn to interact with a variety of different people. I want to continue to schedule outings for the children both during the week and on weekends with Daddy. 
4. Finances: The only way we were able to move closer to David's work this year was because of our family commitment to getting out of debt and saving up cash for the move. We have been doing great for over two years now thanks to Dave Ramsey and following the "baby steps". I would like to have regular monthly budget meetings, not just when there is a change in the budget. 
5. Household: After getting settled into our new home here, it took a while, but I was able to set a semi-routine for household maintenance. I have tried charts and the index card system, but what works best for me is a general "schedule" of chores. I put a few on each day of the week and try to get them done that day. (I actually typed up and laminated this weekly schedule.) Spreading them out helps me to feel like I can accomplish something each day without getting overwhelmed. If I can't get everything done one week, on the following week I focus on what I didn't get done the week before. One of my goals since before we moved is to reduce "STUFF" and we are still working on that. It is a constant process because STUFF continues to magically appear in our home. One thing that stuck with me is the "Give Away/Put Away/Throw Away" Boxes idea from a book I once read on home organization. I would like to make it a monthly activity to go around the house and sort things that are laying around into one of these three categories, preferably with help from the family. Reducing clutter is a cyclical job just like dishes and laundry. It never ends.
6. Health: We are good about yearly checkups with the doctor. We eat gluten-free and mostly lower-carbohydrate for the adults. We like to get out of the house and take a walk together. I think we are all overdue for dental visits. I would like to get on the elliptical at least 3x/week and do at least 1/2 hour of yoga on the days that I don't. Right now it isn't always attainable, but it is a good goal to shoot for. I want to continue learning about essential oils and prevention of illnesses. 
7. Studies and Personal Growth: I am really fascinated with essential oils right now, so I will continue my research. I would like to teach a class on Essential Oils 101 for some friends who have asked for one. I also want to read some books on Curriculum Options for Homeschooling my children.
8. Extended Family and Friends: We keep in touch by phone, email and Facebook with many friends and family. I want to plan monthly trips to visit my mother and in-laws with the children during weekdays and at least once a month with David on a weekend day. We have talked about a trip to visit extended family in Alaska and I would like to set a date and make more specific plans. I want to be good about keeping up with birthday cards, emails, sending pictures of the kids to people who aren't on Facebook and reading my friends' blogs. I want to make more of an effort to be a loving support of those around me. I want to set aside time to spend with my friends who live near and time to talk on the phone with those who live far away. This is something that is very difficult for me.
9. Crafts: I love crafts. Nothing says "I care about you" like something hand made. I especially like useful things. I am very creative but not as organized about this as I would like to be. This year I have actually planned and gathered the materials for making Christmas gifts with plenty of time to make them. I want to set a goal to plan making Christmas and Birthday gifts ahead (including a budget) so I am not rushing to finish at the last minute. I would like to have a stock of handmade gifts to give for unexpected events and maybe even to bring to craft fairs or craft exchanges. 
10. Communication: We are pretty good at staying in touch with family and friends through different methods. I keep up two Blogs, one for my family and homeschooling (the one you are reading) and also my Essential Wisdom & Nutrition Blog which has evolved from just nutrition to include also essential oil supplementation. I feel kind of scattered with blogging sometimes, but  I have made improvements and maybe by setting some goals it will all come together. Some people read my blogs and others just read Facebook. Some refuse to go on the internet at all unless they are checking their email only, so I try to send them more personal updates. I would like to set a schedule to be more consistent in my blog writing so people we care about will know where to go to read updates. I want to be consistent about sending birthday cards and letting the people I care about know that I do.

I might add more later but this is what I came up with today during the children's nap time. I definitely need to focus on just a couple goals at a time, but it feels good to have it all written down. What goals are you working on? What goals have you met recently? Do you write down your goals?

Summer Preschool Days

This week I have started re-organizing our homeschool/preschool plan (and consequently our whole household organization, you know how these things go). From what I have read it will always be a work in progress. That is OK.

Summer is here and for various reasons I have not gotten as much of my act together as I would like. I am practicing forgiveness for myself because of all of the life changes we have been through lately. Along with planning summer activities and projects, we are still unpacking and organizing our small space. It has been an AMAZING, unexpected blessing to have to downsize our stuff.

Last week we re-started potty training and in 2 days Blueberry was trained. We had tried last year (and struggled a lot and I could tell she did not have any awareness of her bladder though she has been "going #2" in the potty since then), then we tried again after the move, but it didn't go well. What changed is that she 1) was just now able to undress and dress herself and 2) she started to become aware of how the increasing spring/summer temperatures were making her pull-ups very uncomfortable. I talked with her about it and she decided she was ready. In over a week she has only had two "accidents" and one was because we were out and couldn't find a bathroom in time. She has even been dry all night. Deep down I knew that when she was ready it would be very easy, but I had many "voices" (people, blogs, etc.) telling me that she "should be" doing it sooner. She wasn't ready. She is now and it was so easy.

As far as preschool goes, I have taken a very relaxed approach because Blueberry is already so precocious. We do little things each day and I approach everything we do with an awareness of what may be a good teaching moment. Because the newest member of our family takes up so much of my attention, I make a daily effort to give my 3YO personal attention whenever the baby is down for a nap. I think she really likes those times. We play games that build different skills, we do craft projects together building hand-eye skills and we started a "cooperation chart" (a.k.a. "chore" or "responsibility" chart). She gets a nickel for every chore she does and there are two extra spaces per day for her to earn more at our discretion. Blueberry really surprised me this week when she cleaned up her breakfast plate without being asked.

One of the most important skills I am consciously trying to teach my children is how to get along. More accurately: how to relate to each other. When I explain to my preschooler how to interact with the baby she is very active and willing. She was a bit apprehensive at first but now she is his biggest fan. She can get him to giggle and smile more than any of us. She often brings him toys or just makes funny noises at him. When Blueberry asks to hold Bugaboo I make sure to take the time to let her do so.

A few of the activities we have done this week are:

• going to see Daddy for lunch at work
• making a card for Daddy's birthday. she traced with marker what I drew with pencil and then colored it in.
• making an accordion book for a gift
• making gluten-free bread
• potty training
• science: what happens when we drop this? (I have her guess what happens when I drop different things like a ball, a tissue, a piece of fabric, a helium balloon, etc. then we do it and see what happens)
• went to the Science Factory
• picked herbs and lettuce that we planted outside in pots
• made "pirate monsters" out of toilet paper rolls (I suggested we make pirates, but she wanted to make monsters, so we compromised) 
• practiced with scissors by cutting pictures out of magazines

"Pirate Monsters"

Thankful Day 9

Yesterday I went to my first prenatal appointment since I stopped working. My midwife comes in the room and says "oh, you look much better! Working while pregnant does not suit you, does it?" *sigh* She is right. It kind of made me laugh.

The mind is willing but the body is not able. I think I stopped working just in time, if not a couple weeks too late.

David and I agree that what is best for our family is that I stay home with our children and homeschool them. I am so grateful for his support. Not just because we are in agreement but also because I know I am not one of those women who can "do it all" and not have either a physical or emotional breakdown. I applaud the women who do, but sometimes I wonder how hard it must be for them.

Believe me, motherhood is a FULL TIME job. You work 24-7 with few breaks, and yet, it is the best job I ever had. I love being a Mommy. I love cooking dinner every night and taking care of my family. It feels right and it feels balanced. I am so thankful we are back to this balance now.