It's All About Planning
By Sandra "Sam" Moffitt

No one has to remind you that with the school year in full swing and the holidays around the corner, there's more to do and less time to do it. You want to balance work and home life, but your schedule is full: after school activities, homework, community activities, family time and, egad!...getting the kids (and yourself) to bed on time so you can get up and do it again tomorrow! How can you manage to get it all done? Planning!

But, that takes time, and time is what you're running out of in the first place. No one can tell you how to add hours to the clock, but this article can help you with one time-consuming challenge you face night after night: what to cook for dinner!

It's More than Cooking

Think about it for a moment: it's not just cooking… it's deciding WHAT to cook, seeing if you have the right ingredients, then shopping for the ones you don't-none of which you want to handle at the end of a busy day. Even if you have decided to run by the grocery store on the way home, if you're like most shoppers, you go to the store without a list. More than 40% of people purchase on impulse when shopping if they do not have a list with them (http://fool.com). That means you probably spend more time in the store. Did you know that after the first half-hour, you spend an average of 50 cents more for every minute you spend in the store (http://www.womens-finance.com/budget/plangrocery.shtml)?

If you're like many busy parents, you avoid all of this by simply loading the family into the car and heading to the nearest fast food stop. Sources site that anywhere from 44% (www.nationalrestaurant.org) to 47.5% (Vegetarian Times) of our food dollars are spent eating out. Restaurants provided more than 70 billion meal and snack occasions in 2004 (www.nationalrestaurant.org)! That's right-almost half of our food dollars are spent eating out, and a good portion of that on hamburgers, French fries, pizza and chicken nuggets! The statistics are alarming: every day, nearly one-third of U.S. children aged four to 19 eat fast food (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/05/health/main591325.shtml).
The bottom line: families eat fewer meals at home, spend more money at the store and eating out, eat less nutritious food, and spend less family time together at meal time. Not too encouraging!

Monthly Menu Planning (Simplicity, Variety, Flexibility)

In spite of all that, there is a way to improve and simplify things. I learned through my own experience as a working mother of four to put together a monthly menu plan. One day a month, I'd gather a variety of easy-to-prepare recipes (chicken, fish, pork, seafood, etc.). Then I'd check for ingredients already on hand that I could incorporate into my recipes, and make a master list of items I could shop for in bulk (at the local outlet or food clubs) and lists of fresh items to purchase weekly.

I experimented with many recipes and learned that a menu plan doesn't have to be elaborate and good meals don't have to be complicated. I focused on simple, wholesome foods and fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables, which created great variety throughout the year. This way we tried new flavors we might not have tried otherwise and found new family favorites.

With our busy lifestyle, flexibility was also important and I didn't plan meals for days when the children had activities. Instead, I doubled one or two recipes during the week and planned leftovers for the busiest nights.

It Really Works
There were terrific benefits. I started posting the menu calendar and I didn't hear, "I want pizza; I want hot dogs (again!)." The children knew what was for dinner, the complaint level diminished and the approval rating went way up as we tried new dishes.

The old feeling of panic when I walked through the door at night was gone since all I had to do was go to the calendar, pull the recipe and ingredients, and in about 30-40 minutes, a nutritious, home-cooked dinner was on the table. Evenings became much less stressful for me and more enjoyable for everyone in the family. And, I was especially pleased when I started seeing savings of about 30% per month on groceries!

Put a Plan into Action
If you're like most busy parents, you don't have time to sit down and make a plan for yourself. There are resources to help (online and in magazines) and ways alleviate the stress of worrying what's for dinner. Here are a few suggestions for beginning a menu plan at your home:

• Commit to a menu plan and post the plan to share with your family. Discuss the meals and encourage suggestions for favorites.
• Be realistic with your plan. You probably won't cook seven days a week, so adjust the plan to fit your family's needs and schedule. Also adjust recipes and shopping lists to match your family's size.
• If your family has lots of evening activities, cook ahead by doubling recipes and freezing extras. Weekends can often be a good time for doing extra cooking so that you don't have to cook every night of the week.
• Look for meals with easy-to-follow instructions and manageable preparation and cooking time. If you want to experiment with more complex meals, plan these for the weekends when you have more time. Keep it simple and manageable during the work week.
• Don't grocery shop without a list! Having a prepared list will help you cut trips to the store, saving you time and money.
• Involve your children. Let them assist as they can (depending on their age) in the cooking process. Cooking together can be fun!

Once you put your plan into action, you'll see some remarkable changes. The best change of all: you'll spend more quality time together with your family at the end of a busy day, sharing stories and enjoying a good meal.

About the Author:Sandra "Sam" Moffitt is mother of four and grandmother of two (and another on the way). She is also founder of Mamma's Monthly Menus, www.mammasmonthlymenus.com, a website dedicated to menu planning and helping families get back to enjoying dinnertime together again.