What’s for dinner??

It makes sense that reducing stress whenever possible should be one of the building blocks of the good life, right? In my life, this inevitable question (hey, I have teenagers!) can be really stressful, especially when I’ve blown in from work ½ hour before I’m supposed to be at the gym, can’t find my sneakers, I won’t be back until after 7:30 and all of the food in the house except cereal is frozen into a solid block!

I enjoy cooking and eating good food, and it’s important to me that we eat healthy food. The drive through at McDonald’s across the street from the gym does NOT fit that definition. I want lean protein, fresh vegetables, perfectly ripe produce. I want it on a budget and I want it NOW – I’m hungry!

What’s a busy mom to do?
Most of the time, menu planning is the solution. The rest of the time, pizza will have to do! In my fantasy world, I spend leisurely hours in my immaculate kitchen looking through beautiful cook books for incredible meals to cook for my family. I have time for calm, organized food shopping at all the best stores, and an unlimited budget for my goodies. Everyone eats their vegetables, and I never panic over dinner. Unfortunately, I don’t live in my fantasy world.

HELP!
Since I live in the real world, I use MyRecipes.com to make things easier. I can plan two weeks worth of meals and shopping lists in under 30 minutes. I can search for recipes on the site and store the ones I like in a recipe file. I can create and save menus, shopping lists, and type in and store our favorite family recipes. There are even newsletters that I can have delivered to my inbox. Recipes are taken from several popular magazines including Cooking Light, Southern Living, Health Magazine and Real Simple. The very best part is that it’s all free.

If your cooking skills need work, or maybe you want to focus on healthy foods, it’s no problem. There are tabs on the site for menus and parties, healthy diet, how-tos…the list goes on. You can probably find the answer to most of your mealtime problems. I’ve found that it’s a great tool for getting healthy, tasty food on the table night after night without falling into the usual “if it’s meatloaf this must be Monday” routine or settling for takeout.

Recipe collections
I particularly enjoy recipes for a main dish item like Simply Roasted Pork, with several other recipes associated with it that you can make with the leftovers. Another good one is the Grilled Lemon-Herb Chicken – it all starts with one five pound roasting chicken and there are SEVEN other recipes that you can make with the leftovers. No time to plan? Try the 1 LIST 5 MEALS menu plans that are already set up and ready to go, complete with shopping list.

It has become a go-to resource for me – helping me plan meals based on what’s in the freezer already, helping to plan and be prepared for the week, and making it easier to manage my grocery spending. I’m reducing my stress, managing my time and my budget, and keeping all the appetites in the house happy. A bonus is that many of the recipes are simple enough for my kids to cook when it’s their turn in the kitchen. (Hey, this is starting to sound like my fantasy world!)

Keep menu planning simple
You don’t have to plan every meal. I don’t try to plan lunches since we usually have leftovers and the makings of some truly tasty sandwiches in the house. I only plan weekend breakfasts, choosing instead to keep an inventory of typical breakfast items like whole-grain cereals, eggs and other things I can throw together in five minutes on a weekday morning. Cereal and fruit is a favorite of mine in the summer, when the local fruit and berries are at their peak.

What about you? Do you have a favorite method, web site, book or other secret to healthy food on a budget?

For more ideas, here are a couple of blogs and a website that I enjoy:
A Basic Guide to Menu Planning at Simple Mom. A different way of getting organized and planning your meals.
Cheap Healthy Good I just LOVE this blog! I got a great recipe for roasted cabbage with balsamic vinegar that knocked my socks off. I made it so often that the family began to complain…
Cooking Light for more recipes, healthy cooking tips, how-to’s and more.