Easy Meals – Tip #419

Sometimes it isn’t the big things that get to you, it is the day to day running of a house, little ‘jobs’ that take more time than you thought, taxiing people around, running errands, and on top of all of that… meals.  The problem is that the better you eat, the better you feel and it isn’t always easy to eat well and efficiently.  When my husband is away, having meals together as a family is important and keeps us all a little more connected.    Make life easier for yourself by creating a system for you and your family that is argue proof (most of the time), organized, simple, fair and healthy so that meals don’t become another burden or drain on you when there are already enough of those.

Tips:

* Plan a week in advance – put the meals on the calendar so everyone can see them

* Have each member of the family be able to choose a meal for at least one night in the week

* Make a list of everyone’s favourite meals and ingredients that are needed regularly (so you don’t try making something only to find you don’t have the ingredients)

* Always cook twice what you need and freeze the other half

* Create a baking/cooking day a month – so that everyone can be together and get a lot done!

* When labeling food for the freezer – add how many it will feed and whose choice it is

* If you are on your own, ask friends and family every now and again to make a portion size for you so that it is one less meal you will have to think about.  Save a week’s worth and treat yourself to a week of other people’s cooking.  They will appreciate being asked and feel like they are helping you too!

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Filed under: Military Family Support - Tips from the 101 Tips books, Re-integration Tips, Tips for Educators and Deployment Support Workers Tagged: | deployment, dinner time, easy meals, military, military families, military life, planning