Busy week & Meal Planning

I've been MIA for a while - so sorry! Its been crazy for the last 5 or 6 days!

Good news- I've officially lost 9 pounds total since 1/20/13. Hopefully I'll reach 15 pounds lost by Easter! That is my March goal.

Between Birthday dinner, Girls Night Out and other unexcepted happenings, I used all my 49 extra points last week, a first for me. BUT, that is WHY Weight Watchers gives you those extra points- for weeks like that! Things come up - Go out- have fun- be bad then jump back on the wagon! Don't deprive yourself.

However, one of the best ways to STAY on track is MEAL PLANNING!!   I've been on a meal planning kick for about 8 months now and it saves my life. Seriously, I'm not sure HOW I ever lived without it as a working mom. At the end of each month, I download a Word calendar template for the next month and start filling in the blanks for each night with recipes I know my family likes and new recipes to try. Chicken, fish, pasta, beef, leftovers, eat out...whatever. Its also seriously helped my budget. I shop 2x a month for my meals and the weeks in between are "filler" weeks when I have to shop for perishables like produce, milk and other things my family goes through very fast. I make a list based on my meal calendar - the ingredients I need versus the ingredients I already have on hand in the pantry or freezer. I also like to freezer cook, so a few times a month we eat meals from the freezer and other nights I double or triple what I cook to replenish the freezer.  Some people prefer to meal plan week by week so they can plan based on grocery sales that week. I'm not much of a couponer and I'm loyal to my Kroger, so the monthly calendar works best for me.

Being on Weight Watchers, meal planning has been wonderful. I can look at my entire week and know which days I have wiggle room for points in other meals that day or snacks. Some days dinner may be more points than usual, but considering I am cooking for 3 other people, I have to allow higher-points meals every now and then. Mondays are ALWAYS leftover nights. Its a busy night for my youngest daughter during the dinner hour, so I don't cook. I usually build in about 2 "eat out" nights each month, as well, which has SERIOUSLY helped the budget! Now, don't get me wrong- things come up like an invitation from my parents to eat with them...usually that means that whatever I was planning for that night's dinner gets bumped to the next night or whatever works.

Everyone likes being able to see what is for dinner because the calendar is posted on the frig. This however, has NOT cut down on the moaning and whining from the kids that they don't like what I'm making....still happens. I do take their opinions into my meal planning, but they are so picky and if I made something EVERY night just for them, we'd be eating chicken nuggets, hot dogs, grilled cheese and spaghetti all the time. Not gonna happen.  They need to learn to try new things and that sometimes...they get what they get!

So, for example - this is what I have planned for this week:
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday (tonight): Breakfast (planning some turkey sausage patties, scrambled eggs, english muffins or maybe some pancakes and fruit salad)
Wednesday: WW Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese sandwiches, with a vegie side item (recipe for soup posted in February)
Thursday: Baked Ziti (from freezer)
Friday: Chicken Cordon Blue (A new WW recipe to try)
Saturday: Grill Night- Husband's Choice
Sunday: Baked Sweet & Sour Chicken (A new WW recipe to try)

So - just to show you what happens when a kink is thrown into the mix: Thursday, my hubby won't be home for dinner and we just found out that my oldest daughter has volleyball from 6-7:30 that night, as well, so the Baked Ziti will just stay in the freezer. The kids and I will eat leftovers. Friday, my oldest daughter is having a birthday party - a change in the calendar since I originally made it. So, the Chicken Cordon Blue will get bumped to the following Friday, when her birthday party was originally planned and now we will be home.

Try it - see if it makes you life easier! It sure has made mine more manegable and dinner time easier. And like I said - as far as managing what I eat- its wonderful to be able to look ahead and PLANNING is key to weight loss. Knowing what you are cooking seriously cuts down on those last minute trips to restaurants or picking up take-out because you forgot to thaw the chicken!  Cooking and eating AT HOME benefits your diet and benefits YOUR FAMILY. :-)