What's the Plan?

Plan? Who has time to plan? But then again, who has time not to plan? Oye the cycles that come with trying to get things in order to run smoothly.
So what is my plan?
Right now, my plan is to set some foundations that will make planning easier and quicker! Easy and Quick - a mom's 2 favorite words, especially in relation to dinner!
Like everyone who is reading this, dinner time at my house can be super crazy. Most nights I have to cook dinner while my husband is at work, which means I have a separation-anxiety, hungry 5 month old and a "Mommy-hold-you" yet "helpful" 2 year old. I hit my ultimate low last week when I was stirring a teryaki mix while holding my 5 month old, listening to my 2 year old whine at me. The next thing I know my 5 month old reached out and grabbed the bowl of teryaki, and before I had time to react the bowl went crashing to the floor, landing right side up, but that meant all the contents splashed up and all over my kitchen, me, her, everywhere.  What a mess, and what a night.
So here is what I am attempting to do so I can prevent nights like that!

First ... I bought me a pretty pink binder! In this binder, I added plain notebook paper. I divided it into sections. I have a section for "Main Dish," a section for "Sides," one for "Fruit," one for "Veggies," one for "Dessert," one for "Lunch," and one for "Breakfast." I made a "Table of Contents" for each section. And I numbered pages in each section.
    I had to stop myself from making it all fancy. FlyLady says to set aside your perfectionism and just do it. So it isn't the prettiest, but I think the pretty pink binder makes up for that. And maybe one day when it is complete, then I can break out my creativity and make it pretty and something to last.

Second ... As I find recipes that my family loves, I write it in the proper section. (The format you see from the recipes I post is the same format in my binder - except I don't write any commentary in my binder, just the recipe.) I contemplated printing out recipes and sticking them in there etc, but I decided to re-write them because now I can write in my own flair, I can write things in such a way that I (or whoever else uses it) knows the simplest way to do it. 
     Right now, I have been making recipes that I have done before (either from memory or from a recipe I found previously or even something I've created) and writing everything down as I am cooking. And when I run out of those recipes, I will begin hunting for new ones. My goal here is to find enough variety so that I can have at least 30 different recipes under each section.
     This is the step I am working on now. Right now, I have been trying to keep a variety of ingredients on hand, and then find a recipe that fits with what I have. Eventually, I will have to start expanding that to looking for recipes ahead of time to try, and making my grocery list from that. But I am taking baby steps for now :)
Once I have around 30 recipes for each section, then I will move on to the next step.

Third ... Now that I have 30 of our favorite recipes all in once place with an easy table of contents accessible, my foundation is laid and I can start planning! To start, I will create a schedule for the week. The purpose of this schedule isn't to make things more stressful or a rule to go by, rather a flexible guideline to help with decision making and help variety stay in place so we aren't eating chicken 3 nights in a row, or eating chicken for lunch and dinner, etc.
A sample schedule off my head that would work for my family as a SAHM:

• Sunday
• Breakfast - On the Go (church morning) ex, pop tart, toast, granola bars, etc.
• Lunch - Out to Eat
• Dinner - Sandwich Night
• Monday
• Breakfast - Recipe
• Lunch - Poultry
• Dinner - Beef
• Tuesday
• Breakfast - Recipe
• Lunch - Pork
• Dinner - Poultry
• Wednesday
• Breakfast - Cereal
• Lunch - Beef
• Dinner - Dinner at Church
• Thursday
• Breakfast - Recipe
• Lunch - Poultry
• Dinner - Beef
• Friday
• Breakfast - Diner's Choice (Also known as "Fend For Yourself" if you have older children)
• Lunch - Pork
• Dinner - Leftovers or Pizza Night
• Saturday
• Breakfast - Recipe
• Lunch - Beef
• Dinner - Poultry

Fourth ... I plan to get a good calendar/planner, something that I can use specifically for meals. For this step, I want to do a working blueprint of the month. So what I will do is take my pretty pink binder and my meal calendar and sit down (probably with my timer set for 15 minutes!). I will then go through and write out a meal for breakfast for every day of the month from my list of recipes, I will then do the same for lunch, and for dinner (including details such as sides, veggies, and fruit etc). A key here is to include the "reference number" for where I can find the recipe. For example, if it is found under main dish, page 6, I could write "M-6" as a reference that will help me know where to easily find this recipe again. I will use the "schedule" from the previous step when assigning my meals.  The idea here is not to be perfect or precise in the planning, but just to assign a meal to a day. These may change, but at least I have a plan to get me started and fall back on. This step will repeat at the end of each month to prepare for the next month. I may even need to calendar in the day that I do this.
     One possibility is to assign a couple days of the month as a "New Meal Day." Then go back and find new recipes to try for those days. If they are successful, add them to my binder ... if not, oh well.

Fifth ... When it is time to start making out my grocery list (preferably the day before I am going shopping), I will pull out my monthly calendar and prepare my weekly one. For this step, I will need to look at my "social calendar" in comparison to my meal calendar. I may find that I have to shift things around or even leave meals off due to events we have going on. I may even decide that there is a day that I really need to use the crock pot, and I can trade out a recipe for a crock pot one etc. When I decide which meals I need to keep, I will then add them to my weekly calendar.

Sixth ... Now that I know what my week will look like and what meals I will be using through the week, I can make my grocery list. I should have in front me my schedule of meals, with reference numbers to easily find the recipes, my pretty pink binder, and my grocery list. I can then flip right to each recipe and look through the ingredients, adding any I need to buy to my grocery list.

Seventh ... Now that I have all the supplies in my house and have a detailed weekly calendar of meals, the next step is daily planning and preparation. My goal for this last step is to make routines. Here is what my *ideal routines* would like look.
During my morning routine: Glance over all my meals for the day. Anything I need to do to help facilitate those meals? Get the crock pot going? Lay anything out?
Afternoon Routine (preferably while girls are either sleeping, or playing happily): Start preparations for dinner - as much as I can possibly do to make dinner time that much easier.  If things are moving along nicely, anything for any of tomorrow's meals that I can do to make things easier for tomorrow?
Evening Routine: Look over recipes for tomorrow. Anything need moved from freezer to refrigerator? What can I do to facilitate tomorrow's process?

So there it is ... my plan to plan. Hope this helps others who are needing ideas. I will keep you posted on my progress. I still have a long way to go. Enjoy!