Four years ago if someone said those two words – meal plan – to me, I immediately thought of my BU ID and the invisible cash on it I used to eat in the cafeterias. Now, as a post grad working mom, those words mean more time in the evening.

I got the idea from one of my mommy blogs, but never got around to doing it. Every time I sat down to create a meal plan, a menu if what we would eat for dinner every night for two weeks at a time, I got overwhelmed. I would give up in frustration before I could even write down one item. I knew I needed to do something because Temi was increasingly eating more and soon she’d be eating with us. She’s in bed by 830 at the latest, so me and Todd’s 10 o’clock dinner time just wouldn’t cut it.

Then I was talking to Keisha and she had this awesome idea: have food nights, like Taco Night, Chicken Night, etc. She didn’t really suggest I do it, but more like we were both complaining about our lack of progress and she was telling me that was her goal.

So I took her idea and ran with it. I created our meal plan by starting with the nights first: Soul Food Night, Italian Night, Remix Night, Soup/Salad Night, Mexican Night, Fried Food Night and Pizza Night. Once I did that, it was easy to come up with a menu for the next two weeks.

And the best part: Temi gets to eat with us since dinner is now ready by 730. 🙂

Check out my Remixed Dirty Rice, courtesy of Remix Tuesdays.