Sixty five percent of all moms don’t know what they are cooking for dinner at 4pm. I am sure that this little piece of research doesn’t surprise you. We see it everyday on BlueSuitMom.com as our views go up on the food pages in the afternoon. It’s moms like myself searching for the easiest answer to the age old question, “what’s for dinner?” As a working mother of four, I’ve had to tackle the meal planning challenge with the focus I give to a major presentation and with the effort it takes to complete a marathon. But as I sit here typing on a Sunday night, I can tell you what’s for dinner this week because with great pride, I can say, the cooking is done. It’s a strategy that I began implementing a few years ago- go to the grocery store at 4pm, unload the food right onto the stove and into the oven and by 7pm you have a week’s worth of dinners done. So what’s for dinner this week? Well tonight was steak. Monday night is Arroz con pollo (chicken and rice). Tuesday night is pasta sauce with only the noodles needing to be boiled. Wednesday night is ham and hash brown casserole and by Thursday night, well be ready for take out. And while the oven was hot, I stuck in a batch of brownies. All this in less than 2 hours! It feels so good to know what’s for dinner long before the question is asked. For fast and easy meals to help you keep life in balance, my favorite site is www.jorj.com or www.meals.com.
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Diary of a BlueSuitMom 
To pump up the nutrition on tasty easy stand-bys, go to http://www.mealmakeovermoms.com. Janice and Liz are registered nutritionists with a passion for cooking healthy edible family meals. I made their chicken pot pies (using egg roll wrappers) and I loved it, my kids loved it and I could freeze several for another time. Love that!
I have GOT to get in the habit of planning meals ahead. I’m very bad at it.
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Thanks for this suggestion. I’d love to hear more about when you do the planning, and how long it generally takes you. Do you use only the meal plans online, or do you mix in your own personal recipes? How long does it take to make the grocery list and when do you do it? Do you check your pantry first? For a while, I tried to do meal planning for the whole week each Sunday using a website, but didn’t stick with it because my family didn’t enjoy the result of the recipes from the site I was using. I do like your idea of putting the groceries right into the oven. That just might work for us!
What a great idea and time-saver! I love how this idea allows you to put tasty, nutritious meals on the table and gives you more time to spend with your family during the week!