Planning Problems

So, I realized as I was driving home from work that I had forgotten to take anything out of the freezer for dinner! A major problem given the Alien/Caveman Pantry/Freezer Challenge going on and I cannot simply order in our usual Friday Chinese dinner. Another problem I forgot to stop at the Wawa near work and was stuck in traffic on the interstate when the little gas light came on. So scary at that moment because I did not want to be that jerk who stopped traffic because she was too stupid to put gas in her car. Thankfully I was near an exit but it was a tense 10 minutes while I found a gas station. The first one I went to only had half the pumps working and some giant car cut me off in the wait line. So I went to another gas station about a half mile down the road.

Still the problem of no dinner plans is a big one. What to do with two starving toddlers and to top it all off Big Papi was also stuck in traffic. Luckily we still had some fish sticks from the pack I had purchased at Costco two weeks ago and I added some sliced apples as a side. Perfect toddler friendly meal- yay for me this time but I need to come up with a system so that I don't run into this problem again.

I think most families try to create menus- it is just so hard because what happens if you plan to make meatloaf but don't feel like it on meatloaf night? Or, more likely, you get home after being at work all day long and then you are expected to make dinner.

Moms, I think it is time to bring out our friend- no not the pizza delivery guy- the crock pot.

There is a great blog called A Year of Slow Cooking by Stephanie O'Dea who literally used her slow cooker everyday! For an entire year! If she can do that certainly I could use mine once a week.

The other source I have found is a website called Recipe Key. You put all the ingredients you have on hand and it pulls up thousands of recipes using your ingredients. The best part is it gives you a ranking on how many items you already have.

My other plan is to use Rachael Ray. I know that she isn't everyone's favorite but her 365: No Repeats book is filled with lots of family friendly meals.

So wish me luck my faithful readers, all five of you, as I spend this weekend trying to figure out how we are going to survive this challenge.