Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is

Well, for months now, I’ve been going on bullying you sharing my thoughts on the importance of maintaining high nutritional standards for you and your family. I’ve been writing about family dinners, organic fare, eating your greens and how to pack a healthy punch into the all of the things you eat.

Which was all fine and good while I was a keener stay-at-home mom, flush with protect-my-brood, post-natal hormones, a save-the-world idealism that summer so easily encourages, plus the added bonus of a husband working mainly from home for months at a time.

So, what have I got to say for myself now that I am back at work, Chris just started a new, demanding full-time position, I get home every night to two cranky, tired babies that just want my attention, and it’s dark by 5pm?

I’m working on it.

I actually think I’m doing ok, but there are definite challenges. For one thing, I need meals to be easily prepped and quickly prepared. It’s not easy to cook with a baby clinging to me like a marsupial, and ill advised to dangle her over a hot, simmering pot of slop anyway. For another, I no longer have the luxury  of spending the day assessing my cooking mood, or taking the kids for a walk to the store in the afternoon if my mood dictates that my meal must include an ingredient that I do not readily have on hand. No – these days, meals are the result of planning and organizing, which is tough for this mom, whose strong points sway more towards whims, fancies and cravings.

But help is on the way, in the form of my own Working Mother’s Three-Step Program, and hopefully by following these steps, I will not have to trade playtime with my kids for cook-time, my family will continue to receive the homemade meals that I’ve stupidly got them accustomed to, and I will not become bitter and exhausted trying to keep up with my own stupid high standards. 

Step 1: Admit You Have a Problem

Isn’t this how all programs start?

Hi. My name is Karen, and I have a problem. My Domestic Goddess status is in jeopardy, and I need help. And a meal plan. I need help with a meal plan.

Step 2: Devise a Meal Plan

This is totally hard for me, because it forces me to think about meals, and not just ingredients, which is how I usually shop. I like fresh, pretty food, and when I go to the market on the weekend (Yuck. Working outside of the home means that my main shopping must now be done on the weekend when it’s crazy busy, and not on Tuesday afternoon when the market is peaceful and sparsely populated.), I can’t just be temped by pretty, fresh things. No more, Ooh! Look at that pork tenderloin! I have no idea what to do with it, but I have days to peruse cookbooks and figure it out.

No more. Now, if I buy a pork tenderloin because it is fresh and pretty (Ew. Maybe not such a great example.), I had also better know what I want to do with it and make sure that I am buying all the supporting ingredients for the dish.

So a meal plan it is. Preferably for the week, but at least for the first half of the week, which seems to always be more stressful than the second half.

Step 3: Stick With the Plan

Also very hard for me. Because even if I have spent the time to devise a plan, shop for a plan and plan for the plan, what happens if I get home, I’m tired, the kids are tired, they just want to cuddle and read stories and I just want to sit on the couch with them forever? Well, make it part of the plan, I guess. For us, that means slow-cooker meals on Monday, because Monday is always the suckiest day, and I’ll have time to prepare everything on Sunday, and saving the ambitious stuff for the weekend. Quick and healthy, meet tried and true.

And like I said, so far, so good. Today is Wednesday, and we are having mushroom-spinach omlettes and salad for dinner tonight. Last night we had rice pasta with chicken meatballs and a veggie-rich sauce, and on Monday we had baked lemon-herb tilapia with steamed veggies and jasmine rice. Thursday I have to work late, so Chris will make his specialty, grilled cheese and tomato soup, and Friday? Well, I don’t cook on Fridays, so we’ll probably order in Sushi or pick up my current fave, Be Bim Bop from the Korean bbq restaurant.

And yes, that’s all part of the plan.

Comments

[No Mother Earth]

This has GOT to be the hardest part about going back to work. I've been considering the whole Crockpot Monday thing too - good idea! I'm still trying to get my sh*t together for the other days. I've been doing a lot of cooking at night and reheating the next day. Not my chosen path, as I dislike leftovers.

Strangely enough, we're having eggs tonight. Scramble with cheese, sweet potato fries, and toast and fruit. I love breakfast for dinner!

[Emma]

And I'm finding it really hard to balance the need for speed (baby and toddler about ready to eat the tablecloth for dinner at 6:15 when I walk in the door at 6:10) and nutrition. Because sometimes it's a lot easier and faster to stick a lame frozen pizza in the oven. That's a constant battle for me. Luckily frozen peas, which they love and I figure are good enough nutritionally, take about 3 minutes.

[metro mama]

We desperately need a plan.

[Mac and Cheese]

I've got step #1 down-pat.

[Cindy]

I'm lucky that my 2-year-old enjoys frozen peas frozen. Don't even have to cook them!