I've fallen off the wagon. Bad. Horrible. I feel both guilty and poor. For the past 4 months I've been doing monthly meal planning and for the most part it has been working well, at least until this past week. I've found that a problem quickly develops when I make all our food from scratch and suddenly I don't feel like cooking. Since cooking equals meals in our house, if I don't cook, we have nothing to eat (unless flour, oil and frozen meat appeals to you). Last week was one of those weeks I didn't feel like cooking, we had a meeting one night, I picked up Girl Scout cookies one night, planned our library night, etc. Add to this that for most of the week the weather was unseasonably hot. There were 2 days that the afternoon temperature reached 80 degrees. Do you think I felt like making ham and bean soup on either of those days? Nope, not a chance. So we ate out. A lot. Like 4 days in a row! (insert fainting smilie here!)
We haven't eaten out 4 days in a row for over a year. We typically eat out once or twice a month and never consecutively. We've spent a week's worth of groceries eating out (and remember I've blown the budget already) and when I think of the junk we've eaten I feel so ashamed. So, this week's change is to stick to the meal plan. I have to make it through this week and I have several choices left since we didn't eat hardly anything that I planned for last week.
Since this is the last week of February's plan, I'm going to plan March a bit differently. I am going to try to include a couple easy alternatives each week so if I have a lazy day I don't feel the urge to eat out. Also, I'm going to get a couple packages of lunchmeat and freeze them. That way if what I've planned doesn't match the weather, I have the ability to pull out the deli meat and we can have a sandwich and cut-up veggies and fruit.
Look for March's menu plan and grocery list toward the end of the week. This week I'm focusing on simple recipes to get me through when I don't want to cook.
I always have at least one 'easy' meal per week on my menu plan, plus another night designated for leftovers/hodgepodge. Sandwiches, frozen soups that can be quickly thawed, eggs and toast, pancakes etc are all quick and easy meals for those nights when things don't go as planned!
ReplyDeleteI usually try to as well, but I think last week I needed 7 easy meals and only planned one! LOL! That and with it being close to the end of the month, there's not as much to choose from either. This week will be better.
ReplyDeleteI know that feeling so well of not feeling like cooking (we had a very expensive meal out Monday night because of it...) but try not to be too hard on yourself! Like you said, try to have at least one easy meal planned for those days. I also like to keep components for easy meals (cooked chicken, beans, marinara sauce, etc) in the freezer so I can just pull them out. I don't do OAMC like some women so that is my version of freezer cooking :)
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