Episode 11: Meal Prep for Busy Moms

Moms lead busy lives. Somewhere in the middle of it all, we gotta make sure we have enough food in the fridge to keep everyone alive. And if you’ve got kids who are hungry all the time, you might be wondering how to take your groceries and multiply them like Jesus did! In Episode 11, HM talks about meal planning so that we work smarter, not harder, and make meal times more enjoyable as a family!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hello and welcome to the Kathleen Craven Jesus Praying Mom podcast. I'm your host, Hetty Marie, and I'm so glad that you're tuning in today. Today we have a topic that I think all moms can understand, and that is how to meal prep and meal plan for a busy, busy home, busy life. Some of you are commuting, going from place to place, whether it's soccer practice or football practice, trying to make it to ballet and dance classes and trying to make it all happen. And in the middle of all that, you got to make sure that the food is made and kids are fed. So we're gonna talk about how to make a meal on a dime. We're gonna talk about how to stretch that meal that you just made a little bit further, and about how to steward the resources that God has given you. That includes food, uh finances, budgeting, and hopefully you'll leave this episode feeling like, okay, I got a few suggestions, a few things I can actually implement and put into practice this week. All right. And as always, I like to talk about my caffeine of choice, and today, no coffee, I have hot chocolate. I got hot chocolate with uh what else is in here? I have some heavy cream, I have brown sugar cinnamon syrup, and I also put in a little bit of that MCT oil. That tastes good. Alright. Yes, that's gonna get me through the day. And as always, you know I have to mention the wonderful, amazing, cuddly Bryn, who is in the building. Oh, yes, he is. He is right here, and he is going to keep me in check today. And because we're talking about food, I bet he's gonna be alert. So, what I always like to do is share some music with you, especially if you haven't heard of uh these artists, this artist yet. We probably have because they also had a reality TV show. But I love the group Mary Mary, and they have a song called uh God in Me. And I'm not gonna sing any of it because I won't be able to do it justice like they do, but I love it because it has a really great groove to it, it's upbeat, and it's so inspiring, and it reminds me that all the things that I'm doing, especially as a mom, it's not because I'm so fantastic or great, it's because I have God with me and in me every step of the way, guiding me, leading me, giving me the strength. Um, so that way I can do what I do. And you probably have the same story, same testimony that if it wasn't for the grace of God and his help every day, where would we be? Also, I want to talk about our theme and our question, actually, our question for today, and that is how can I meal plan more effectively for my family? Okay, so we're gonna get right into it because I know that when it comes to going to the grocery store, some of it it is a chore. You do not like doing it. If you can pay somebody to do it, kind of like the those uh services, food services that show up and bring the food right to your door. If you could do it all the time, you would, but we can't. So one of the things I'm going to help uh or share today is just some of the things that I have found that have helped me take care of my family. Uh I got five kids and uh some that are well, I got some in college, some that are just got out, one that just got out, and I got two, one in high school and one in elementary, middle school, rather. And so we just got the whole gamut here and different appetites at different times, and so we're gonna talk about it. And of course, there is always a scripture or a verse that coincides with what we're talking about. So today we're going to use the story where Jesus feeds 5,000 as our reference. So let me just read that passage. It's from Matthew 14, 13 to 21. Let me read some of it for you. When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food. Jesus replied, They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish, they answered. Bring them here to me, he said, and he directed the people to sit down on the grass, taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven. He gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about 5,000 men besides women and children. Wow, what a story where Jesus multiplied the food that he was given. So I'm gonna share probably about okay, maybe eight or so tips of how we can meal plan, meal prep, and you know what? We need God's help. We sure do. I mean, feeding kids sometimes. I can tell you, I have friends of mine that have boys, all boys, and they tell me stories about how they would buy groceries, let's say Saturday morning, and within an hour, some of the food that they've already purchased is completely eaten. Like, you know, they bought cereal, and instead of eating, you know, dinner, the kids grabbed a bowl of cereal and they're eating the cereal, and the cereal's almost done. And I'm going, what? I mean, the stories that I've heard. And my kids aren't too far from that. They will see something in the fridge, they want to eat it, they go and they eat it. That's just what it is. The fridge is like a free-for-all, it's like a buffet. And it can be challenging sometimes to go, okay, how did I run out of food so quickly? I just went to the grocery store. Some of you have had said the same thing I've said. So let's talk about it and see if there are some ways, some things that we can do as busy moms leading busy lives with busy kids. What can we do to stretch the food a little bit, multiply the food, and ensure that all the needs are taken care of daily? So here's number one, here's a tip: start with what you have. I can't tell you the times I've gone right into my pantry, into my cupboard, and said, Well, what do I have right now that I can build on? So that might be a place to start before the can of pasta or or ravioli goes bad, okay? Expires. Find out what you have already and start there. You might say, okay, I have pasta sauce. Um, I guess I just need to go pick up spaghetti. Or, okay, I already have Alfredo sauce. I just need to go pick up some noodles or what have you. So think it through, go through what you have first, take inventory, and then build on what you don't have and say, okay, I just gotta pick up this item and this item to make this work, and shop in your cupboard and in your pantry first. All right. Number two, choose budget-friendly ideas and ask God to multiply the food. Let me tell you, I grew up with a single single mom, and she raised my brother and I. Um, she worked so many jobs, and let me tell you, I can't, there are so many times where we looked in our fridge and we looked in the cupboard and there wasn't a lot of food, but I don't know how she did it. I think she asked God to multiply because when she went into the kitchen, she came out with something like we would be sitting at the table going, Wow, mom, you made it happen tonight. The food was always delicious, and she was able to sometimes pull something out of nothing. That's God. That's God on her side. So sometimes you're gonna have to like look at your budget and say, Okay, we're not gonna go to that grocery store that might have things a little more expensive. Uh, we're gonna go to this grocery store that has things a little more inexpensive cost, and I am going to make the meal of meals and be the most creative chef you can possibly imagine. Master chef has nothing on me, has nothing on a mom who's creative and budget-worthy and budget-minded. So remember that. Find something, choose something that's budget-friendly, and ask God, God, please multiply the food so they can feed all the hungry bellies that are before me. And here's what I'd say too: let your kids participate in the process of meal planning when they can. Now, I know that my mom didn't do that that much because once again, the budget was so tight. I'm sure I would have said, please pick up this and please pick up that and please buy this. So that that might be something you might go, ah, that doesn't work for my family, and that's okay. But where you can, see if you can invite your kids to participate and say, hey, what are some of the things that you enjoy eating? Because the last thing you want is a power struggle when it is time to eat dinner that they go, oh, I don't want this, oh, I don't like this. Because you know what I'm talking about. There's some picky eaters out there. So if you can't involve their input, I often say say to my kids, okay, give me a few ideas this for this for for dinners this week, give me some ideas, and I will take one from each of them or what have you, and I'll go, okay, we can make that happen this week. Or sometimes it's like, okay, at least I have something in mind for the next time I go shopping, but you know, depending on my my budget. Um, but it's always great to involve them, get their input so that way when you cook the meal, you're not gonna have some so much of a power struggle when it comes to them eating it because they were involved in choosing some of the meals for the week. I use a whiteboard. Oh my goodness, my whiteboard is my best friend. I use my whiteboard for everything. I write down the chores on the whiteboard, I write down the meals for the week so people can take a look and see. And I've been creative lately. I would write down if I knew that I was making six or seven meals, I would write them all down and I'd say, okay, who wants to choose the meal for Monday? Who wants to choose the meal for Tuesday? And I give them the option of choosing because I already have the groceries, it's just now a matter of when I'm gonna cook those things. And since it's all in the fridge, I can say, okay, guys, you choose what you'd like to have tonight. And so that really gets them involved in being a part of what we're doing in the home, and they like it. Here's one that I'm not sure if everyone is going to agree with, but I'm gonna put it out there because I'm in a I'm married to a Caucasian man, and being from the West Indies, there's certain things that we do in our home culturally that he's not familiar with, and things that he does did when he was growing up that I'm certainly not familiar with, but there if there's one thing that a West Indian family usually does, that is season and marinate their food. Oh, yes, ore, we sure do. And I'll tell you the benefit of it. The food tastes so good when it has had some time to marinate with the seasoning and the garlic and the pepper and the the all the herbs and all of the good stuff that you put in and you let it sit there. Uh I like to marinate my chicken, I marinate marinate, that's a tongue twister, marinate my steak, I marinate my fish. I do it all because I just know that when I've taken the time to prepare the food, mm-mm mm, the the the smiles on the faces, the grins, the the noises that my kids make when the food is delicious, they're like, mmm, mom, this is so good. Oh, it's worth it. It's worth it. So I'm gonna tell you if you haven't done this already, when you come home and you bring home your meat from the grocery store, wash it up. Yes, rinse it, wash it off, make sure it's ready, and marinate and season your food. You will be happy you did, and let it marinate. And sometimes, if I'm not even cooking it right away, I put it in a Ziploc bag. All the meats in there seasoned with the garlic and the spices, and I put it in the freezer because I'm not gonna cook it anytime soon or what have you. And then when it's time and I pull it out and it thaws, it's all been thawed and marinated, and all the juices are gonna be so delicious. Alright, so there you go. Season and marinate your food, get it ready. I like to use my crock pot. Oh, do I ever? I like a good crock pot where I can put the food in, and it is just stewing, and all of the wonderful juices and butteriness and all the goodness is all happening in that crock pot. And I didn't have to do much but just turn that crock pot on, put the ingredients in, and wait four to six hours, and lo and behold, the heavens are singing, the angels are rejoicing, and everybody is happy when they come home, and the place smells glorious with yummy food. It's it's it's a win, it's a W every time. Number four is make enough so there are leftovers. Now, I know that there's some families out there that are listening to me saying, we don't do leftovers, my spouse doesn't like leftovers. I have friends of mine that say, yep, my my husband doesn't like leftovers. Okay, I get it. And if you have the time to make a meal every single night, I I high-five you, I salute you, wow, do it. However, if you are very busy, like most moms are busy and don't have the time every single night, so you know, instead of eating out often, too often, I'm gonna suggest that you, when you are creating your meal plan, figure out a meal, maybe it's lasagna, that you make this big pan of lasagna and you know that it's gonna last another day. Now, some meals are so good that you put put them away and the next thing you know they're gone because the kids took it, took it for lunch, took them for lunch, or did something and said, Hey, I got so hungry yesterday I had it for breakfast, whatever. So there's gonna be times, but if you can make a meal and know, okay, this is gonna last two nights, nothing like it. And it doesn't mean you have to have it back to back. You can say, Okay, I'm gonna cook it tonight, and then in two nights from now, I'm gonna pull that out again, and we're gonna have that with something else, with the salad or with the soup or something like that. Okay, so if you can make enough so there are leftovers, okay. I like to think that if it takes more than an hour to make, make sure it lasts more than a day to eat. And like I said, there's some meals are just so delicious that your kids will go, you know what? I'm I'm having that for lunch too. So that happens. Uh here's something else in terms of a tip. I like to, when it is when I've had the meal and there's leftovers, I like to put the leftovers in the bowls that this that my kids could then put in the microwave and eat. So it's like ready for them to eat the next day. I don't know who told me this, but I was like, give that person a raise. Okay, number five, freeze a meal for a rainy day. So it kind of goes along with leftovers. So if you made a soup, I remember the other day I made this wonderful chicken soup. At least I thought it was wonderful. I don't know if the kids thought, but but you know. I made this chicken noodle soup and I put it in a Ziploc bag and I put it in the freezer and I pulled it out on a rainy day. It was a day that I was like, you know what, I really don't want to cook. Let me just grab some crackers and some cheese, and I'm gonna put this chicken noodle soup in the crock pot and let it sit there for three to four hours, and it'll be ready when the kids come home for us to have soup tonight. It was so great to have that. And once again, it's on those days when you just are not feeling like cooking. You now have something that was from maybe a week ago or what have you that you can now pull out of the freezer and say, Let's thaw that out and we can have some of that tonight. All right, number six, have an earlier dinner or have dinner early. Here's what I mean by that. Sometimes my kids will come home and they are starving. I'm like, what? Did you not eat your lunch? I'm like, I ate my lunch, but I need a snack, I need this. Okay, so that tells me a few things. One is they're growing, and that just happens where they just they're just burning, their metabolism is going faster than mine is now. And so I try to remind myself that sometimes it's okay to have dinner a little bit earlier. And that might mean if you're you know, you usually have dinner at 6:30 or closer to 7 if it's possible, and they're able to eat when they you know, shortly after they get home, this is like four or five, four or five o'clock or what have you, you can stretch it a little longer. Let them do it because you know what's gonna happen. They're going to go in the fridge and they're going to grab some food and eat it, and then when your dinner is ready, they're not hungry. They're not hungry. So think about that. Think about maybe I need to have push my dinner time a little bit earlier so that way they can I can just hold them off with a snack, but when it's dinner time, they're gonna be ready to eat and they're gonna eat to their heart's content. Number seven, plan an eat-out meal. Or is this number eight? We'll see. We'll check the numbers. Plan an eat-out meal. And here's what I would say: don't do it too often. Mm-mm. Nuh-uh. You don't have to eat out every weekend or you know, once a week. Maybe it's uh something that you have from having taken the time to budget and plan, that now you have some extra funds to do an eat-out meal. And I do this with my kids, is I I say to them, All right, the day that the chores need to be done, the following day to celebrate that things were taken care of and we held to what we needed to do, we will do an eat-out meal. And so I try to do that, I don't know, once a month or so, and just say, okay, all the chores were done, people took care of business. And sometimes they know it's like, oh my gosh, it's like Wednesday night, chores have to be done by Wednesday, and I hear them rattling around, cleaning up, wiping things down. I hear dishes being moved around. I'm going, okay, they know I mean business because if the chores aren't done, that money is gonna go to the next time, to the next time they take care of business and we take care of the chores. I just put it away for another day. All right, so I hope that some of these tips were helpful. Let's take a moment and let's pray. Dear God, thank you for the food and resources you've given us. Help us to steward them well with wisdom and care, giving thanks always for our daily bread. Show us how to be creative when planning and budgeting for meals, and show us how to manage our busy schedules to prepare healthy options. Give us grace when we need to just rest and order takeout. Stretch our meals like how you fed the 5,000, and remind us that the times when we come together to break bread as a family or chop veggies is quality time that brings us together and brings connection and joy. Amen. Hey everyone, thank you so much for joining this episode where we talked about meal planning and prepping and all the things. I want to throw in one more thing, and that is whenever you can, whenever you can, have some time where you are cooking with your kids. Can I tell you I've been doing that lately, and it is so fun. And it also kind of helps them understand that the dinner doesn't just magically appear. It takes time to prep the meal and to cut the onions and to boil the water for the rice and do all the stuff. So when you can, get your kids involved and say, Hey, I need a sous chef. Come on, come on over and join me and cut the potatoes or peel the potatoes. And let me tell you, it is such a great time to spend with them. You can have conversation and talk about the day, and they get to see how much hard work that you put into the meals, but they also can see that hard work pays off in dividends when they are eating that yummy meal. I also wanted to share with you that there is a resource available to you. It's on Amazon right now. It's called Get Serious and Other Principles to Pull You Through. It is an inspirational book that I know you'll enjoy, and it has a few, I would say, principles in there that you will probably relate to because they are values and principles that are just timeless. They just have they've stood the test of time, and I believe that if you pick up that book, it is going to encourage you today. Also, I like to tell everybody that you can be a part of this community, this podcast community of moms. We're coming together, joining together, encouraging each other, linking arms in the mom life that we're living, and we are doing it with each other and with God's help. So go ahead and click like or subscribe or Follow, find me on Instagram, Kathleen Craven, Jesus Praying Mom. Uh, we I want to stay in touch with you and I want to hear from you too. So feel free to leave a comment below. Feel free to send a message, a prayer request, whatever it may be. Stay connected. And what I like to say every single time is that we are lifting prayers and we're filling cups with more Jesus worldwide. Thank you so much for joining and for being a part of this today. I hope you have a great week, and I'll see you next time.