Welcome to my Discovery series, where I am using the next 2 months to get my house and mind ready to be a 42 yr old part time law student as a divorced mom of 4 with a full time job.
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Rolling up my sleeves and rubbing my hands together in excitement for this newsletter. I honestly have no idea why I get so excited about all things planning and food prep!
To be honest I have genuinely been looking forward to building out this family meal plan for a few weeks now. The Breakfast , Lunch and Dinner plan that will take me and my 4 kids through the fall semester.
You see, I will be going back to school for the first time in 16 years this fall and it’s safe to say I am not fully sure what to expect as a first year law student. My excess time looks drastically different than it did 16 years ago. Not to mention, I had less children.
I know my life as it stands now is full and this addition of law school will basically take it over the top. So I am thinking, it probably wouldn’t hurt to be proactive while I still have free time.
And since I know how important it is to keep the food train moving here, I figure’d I should also prep out what this looks like for that time.
Now you are probably thinking, Yes Traci but everybody’s life is full. And this is true. But for a quick reference point, here is a typical day for me or a somewhat variation thereof:
I am up at 4:30 am, making sure the twins are up and out the door for their bus
5-7am getting ready for work and getting my youngest up so she doesn’t miss her bus
My commute is anywhere from 30-45 mins- hello morning traffic and caffeine
Work 8-5pm
After-school Pick up by 6pm
After-school Sports Game (end time varies 4-11pm, think football season)
Home between 6-7pm (ideally)
Dinner is usually cooked, but if not I try to have everyone fed by 9:30 at the very latest
Bed between 9:30-10 (Except Fridays, we stay up past our bedtime and fall asleep on the couch, or maybe I should say I, I stay up and fall asleep on the couch)
And there you have it, the basic make up of my weekday.
Saturdays are when I get 80% of my errands done for the house, unless there is an event for one of the kids, then I either order delivery or push it to Sunday.
Sunday we attend church in the morning then it’s usually more errands, cooking dinner and our family meeting at 7pm.
As you can see, pretty full!
Now let’s add Law School into that 6-9pm time slot during the week and I am sure you can see why a meal plan is vital for our survival, or should I say my sanity.
Hungry kids get Hangry. Try to avoid this at all cost!
Wearing so many hats can be a lot some days and I don’t want to underestimate what I am walking into. And since I also don’t want us to starve … here we are.
When it comes to feeding my tribe, staying one step ahead of their appetite is the only way I think I have made it this far. And to be honest, I don’t even think this meal plan helps to put me ahead.
If anything, this plan keeps the ship afloat. I swear I need a full-time chef cooking around the clock just to keep up with my son. But I digress.
The idea behind the meal plan is that 1-2 times a week I can pull from the pre-made stash to be the dinner or breakfast meal for that day(s). For instance, cook dinner on a Sunday to last us until Wednesday, then pull from the pre- made stash on Wednesday to get us through Friday. Saturdays are my day off from cooking and a great day to get through the left-overs. Then Sunday we repeat the cycle again.
To me it all boils done to the math, the mom math:
The Mom Math
6 dinners a week (one night is fend for yourself, I am off duty)
6 breakfast options a week per person or 30 options (think make yourself or pre-made). Sunday I usually cook a big breakfast for the family when I can.
3 hours before work- usually spent getting kids and I out the door or potentially adding in studying
7 hours working in the office (obviously can’t cook there)
1 hour lunch (which will now go to studying)
4 ½ hours after work before bedtime with 2-3 of those hours in class or at a kids event
Results: There is no time during the week to cook which leaves the weekend where I will have test and errands to complete, oh and kids sports activities
So in order for us to actually survive day to day, the only other option is to meal prep like a maniac.
As a single mom there is a level of “figure it out” that I mentally carry with me daily. Deciding to go to law school while my kids were still in the home definitely was a big decision. But to be honest, I never second guessed the logistics part of it. In my mind, I would just have to figure it out.
Being able to lean on another adult to take on the load of cooking and errand running isn’t a luxury I have. Don’t get me wrong, I would love it, but it’s not my reality at the moment. And if I focused solely on what my reality theoretically was capable of, I most definitely would not be where I am today.
My internal push and drive keeps me going towards “what’s next” and the logistics of it all just get figured out. Not playing a violin here but you know, sharing a little of my behind the mask thoughts.
So, now that you understand the why, let’s talk the how.
Step 1: Identify the meals I wanted to cook ahead (download free list)
If you haven’t read that article, here is a link, I do think you would enjoy it. The goal was to identify meals that are easy for me to make and freeze as well as ones my family will enjoy. Not in the mood to waste time or money here with something new.
Step 2: Build out 90 days of breakfast and dinner meals
The goal is to place this on the refrigerator each week. This helps me to look ahead at want is planned out and also eliminates the “what’s for dinner” question my children enjoy annoying me with. (p.s my answer is always “food”, drives them crazy!!).
The way I see it, I will have so much to think about and process, that being able to have these decisions already decided will be a much needed relief.
I am a sucker for a calendar form print out, please enjoy!
Step 3: Make a grocery list of the food I will need for the prepped meals
I took a look at my prep meal list and listed out the items needed then organized them by meal of the day (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner) This way, even as I am doing my regular weekly shopping, I can grab some things here and there. Especially if they are on sale. I also found it helpful to take a quick inventory of what I already had. While I know I’ll need more, it’s good to know where my starting point is.
If interested, you can find the grocery list here!!
Step 4: Begin the grocery shopping
So I started with buying the meat (well my mom and I did, it takes a village).
Funny enough, now my freezers are too full. Thinking I will have to be strategic about balancing the currently frozen food with the cooked food that needs to be frozen and stored.
Step 5: Cook and Freeze
The cooking part is pretty straight forward. I will attack it by meal of the day. For instance, focus on all the breakfast meals to cook and freeze then move on to the dinner segments and so on.
The freezing part will require some extra thought. Currently when I do my batch cooking for the week, I use aluminum trays for the connivence. I cook in them, store them in the refrigerator then reheat the next day. Saves on dishes, time and makes it easy for the kids to help.
While I know this method will work for most of the dishes I am cooking, it won’t work for the space I have. Which leads me to vacuum sealing.
Freezing food then placing in a vacuum sealed bags to ultimately save on space. Basically a two step process with freezers that are already full.
So again, this step will require some strategic planning for sure.
If all goes as planned, by the middle of August I will have all of the pre planned meals cooked and in the freezer. And based on this list, looks like all of my weekends in July are essentially booked!
Until next time,
Happy Cooking!
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