The Kitchen as a Haven, not a Headache

As a new wife and new mom, grocery shopping and meal planning and endless blogs with yummy food caused much stress for me. It took time to figure out what system worked best for me and for my family. I realized, I can easily get overwhelmed with the amount of choices the internet provides. So, that’s when I decided I wanted to invest in a cookbook.

I liked that I could sit on my couch with my cookbook and notebook and flip through the pages to see what looked good to make for the next week or two. I would write down the page numbers and then on my grocery list write down the ingredients I didn’t already have in my pantry or fridge. It made it easier to use one cookbook to simplify my meal planning. Your local library is a great resource for cookbooks for you to look through and decide what would suit your taste buds and nutritional needs.

I tend to get distracted easily when I don’t have a well laid out plan in front of me. This way of planning helped cut the stress of figuring out what to cook and turned it into getting to choose something that looked yummy and I wanted to try.

Mind you, the first few times I would sit with my cookbook and paper it took hours. Just like riding a bike though, once you learn how to ride it becomes more natural and enjoyable. It was the same for meal planning. I had to figure out a system that worked for my family, a system that was de-stressing, not stress producing.

I found after church and lunch on Sunday’s I would sit while the kiddos had their nap or rest time and plan out our meals for the week and make my grocery list. I would then put the schedule on the fridge so I could refer back to it during the week.

Save at least 4 weeks of your meal plans so that you can cycle through old weeks when you aren’t able to sit and make a fresh meal plan. I also have a master favorite recipe list with cookbook titles and page numbers. That way I can quickly meal plan with out the adding time of looking through the cookbooks.

Find your groove and set aside some time to plan. Within planning and boundaries there is such freedom. I hope these tips allow for your kitchen to begin the process of becoming a haven rather than a headache.