August 5, 2022
If you are like me, you are always looking for ways to make routine tasks simpler, especially on those unexpected days. As a teacher and a busy parent, these happen all too often. And since we RV often, this can be a very helpful tool on travel days to have one less thing to worry about in our new location.
One thing I have found that makes that easier is one day a week to meal plan and prep for our daily meals. A nice bonus is that it helps our budget!
PLANNING The first step is to plan out your meals. We have a dry erase calendar on our fridge and use this to mark events for the month, then work from there to plan meals. Wit hit on the fridge, we can also take a quick inventory of what we have. From there, we plan and fill in the meals and shopping list. Alternatively, you could go shopping and then plan based on what is on sale, but I prefer to shop with meals in mind to save impulse buys, or purchases I don’t have a plan for. We tend to just plan one big meal a day and have options for Breakfast and lunch on hand.
SHOPPING Always shop with a list! If you plan and inventory, be sure to make your list from those. Then you can focus your shopping on those items. If you routinely shop in person at the same store, you can even organize your list by aisle for efficiency. If you use a grocery delivery service, you can just choose from frequent purchases, but don’t forget to check sale or deals for the week, too. When you bring items home, you can put them into sorted baskets by meal to make it quick to grab at prep time.
MEAL PREP I choose one day a week and bulk prep, usually not the same day as shopping since it just takes too much time. I make one dessert, prep bulk heat and eat breakfasts that will keep (quiches, waffles). I brown or cook meat in advance. If you plan by bulk items, it can make it easier to prep all the beef, chicken, pork, etc. all at once, then divide by portions. Whether you do the whole meal or just part of it in advance, every little bit helps. I don’t suggest planning a meal for every day, since you may have leftovers to eat or other plans and won’t be home. You an always grab an emergency meal, which is the next section.
EMERGENCY MEALS These are meals you can prepare and freeze. You never know when things will happen making you late getting home, an unexpected guest or illness, whatever. These are things that just need defrosted or pulled out. We like things like beef stew, chili, lasagne, baked ziti, spaghetti, chicken and rice and veggies, or charcuterie tray items.
With back to school coming up fast, how can you meal prep and make daily life easier?
Like or comment below, and share with others to support the blog. I post twice a week about teaching, traveling and family. Until next time, you can find me on Tiktok @sonya.BOMSquadleader. You can find more about our adventures on our our website at BarnesOnMove.com, Facebook & TikTok at @BarnesOnMove