I’ve started dreading the time between naps and dinner like no other time of the day.

Planning a dinner everyone will enjoy, that is healthy and delicious, that uses the fresh food before it goes bad, and that I can find time for after the kiddos wake up and want my attention and before my husband gets home is exhausting!

I have a new plan!

It’s completely Dummy-Proof:

• easy enough for the busiest person
• keeps everything at a glance for easy ideas
• allows for a quick way to save and remember recipes for the future
• helps use fresh food before it gets lost in the fridge.

I try to meal plan, I really do…

I am a healthy cookbook addict and I love looking through them and picking out recipes, but I am never as gung-ho when it comes down to the time to have all the ingredients and time to give it a go.

No matter how much I plan, the evenings always seem to go like this…

2pm – start brainstorming about dinner and what I can get done before the kids wake up
3pm – end brainstorming no better than I started and now the kiddos are looking for a snack
3:30pm – frantically think about what I should be prepping while the kids are snacking and realize all the meat is still in the freezer
4pm – start brainstorming meatless options and spend the next half hour trying to get some veggies going while tripping over the kids’ toys and moving while they drag a chair across the room to “help.”
5pm – give up, reheat some leftovers, feed the kids and find myself something while they are halfway done, start eating in time to clean them up, clean the kitchen and dream of 7 when I can decide between sitting or showering.

So, how am I going to improve on that lovely scenario???

I grabbed my old, empty coupon binder with the trading card sheets of 9 pockets and turned it into a Meal Plan Binder.

With index cards cut in half, I started writing down all of our go-to meals, veggies, and sides, I now have a pretty good start to a list that will inspire me when my mind goes blank and I’m tempted to throw in a pizza.

Binder Organization:

Section 1: Potential meal combos for the week
Section 2: Fresh foods or others I’d like to use up soon
Section 3: Main dishes
Section 5: Veggies
Section 6; Sides

It couldn’t be simpler!

What I love about this system:

• Very visual and clear
•  Not complicated
• Reusable cards that serve as a reminder and can be used in combination (unlike some systems I have seen with sticky notes)
• as new recipes arise or new items need to be used, I can add them to a card and build my list and inspiration.

I also add the ingredients of the dishes on the back of the card, or varying ways to prepare the items.

For example, last night I tried a new recipe from one of my many Weight Watchers cookbooks.  I had Harvestland chicken thigh filets (review to come!) and snow peas, so I found a recipe for Moo Goo Gai Pan and it was amazing!  Since I want to remember that recipe for the future, I wrote it on a card, with the ingredients and book and page number of the recipe on the back.

I will remember to make that meal again because it is in the book, I will know all the ingredients I need, and I will know exactly where to find the recipe.  Perfect!

How do you deal with dinner?  Are you a planner?  What is your system?

*** I posted one of the first go-to recipes to go in my book yesterday: Turkey Veggie Barley Soup.  Check it out for a great veggie-soup your kiddos will love!***