By Shannon at the Southern Schoolhouse
One of the obstacles over the years has been how to manage work, after school practice, dinner for 3-5 people and keeping up with the laundry and cleaning. For every family it is different but I want to share how I manage dinners each night with such a busy schedule.
I am an early riser even on the weekends, but this is my time to sit with my coffee and enjoy the silence. While doing this, it gives me time to look through my Pinterest list to decide what my meals will be based on our schedule for the week (a monthly calendar is on the refrigerator with all the practices, meetings and more). I enjoy looking at the sales at the different grocery stores and choosing meals that are going to save us money.
It depends on the season what meals I look for but I use crockpot meals year round and particularly on days we have after school activities usually two days a week (I remember the time we had 3 or 4 when the older two were younger). This allows us to come home and eat quickly and then complete homework and bed routines.
To save money and time, I use online shopping and set a pickup time for Saturday or Sunday. While shopping online, I think about breakfast items needed (something quick but somewhat healthy), lunchbox items and dinner ideas. With the exception of a few things, I try to stick to items only needed for breakfast, lunch and dinner, items to replenish such as olive oil or seasonings and add in a few snacks for the family. Otherwise, I end up buying random things that will increase the cost of the groceries.
As mentioned, I plan according to the busyness of my week. Practice days will be crockpot meals, meeting days will be meals with less prep and other days (which is usually 1 or 2) will be times I can take some extra time to prepare such as casseroles or other baked items that take longer to cook.
This may not work for everyone but for my family which is on a budget and always crunched for time, this has been best for our busy schedule. Meal prepping on Sundays for the week is a wonderful idea but my Saturdays are usually occupied with games or family events so Sunday I want to try to relax and regroup. Please share your ideas on how you save time and money for meals through the week.
More about the monthly calendar, read more…
For easy crockpot meals, read more…
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