Look:

A whole month of meals. Right here. Already planned out. I don’t cook on Friday night because I usually work late and the boys end up staying at my mom’s house. I also don’t cook on Saturday because we either have leftovers, we eat out, at my mom’s or I use my creativity to cook for the kids.

I should note that my menu plans don’t include the side of vegetables we always eat. I think I would eat a salad every night if I it were my choice, preferably a Caesar salad (that would also be Ian’s choice). I try to mix it up and have the kids eat a variety of veggies, but I will admit this is the most difficult thing for me to do. I do not like vegetables, and so I find it hard to make them. We do salads, peas, corn (I know it is a starch and not really a vegetable), peas, carrots, beans, and sugar snap peas mostly. These are the easiest to keep on hand and cook or consume raw. Since they are there every night I don’t add them to the plan, I just decide, or sometimes I ask the boys. However, if we are having some kind of Italian food, I like to have Caesar salad and bread with it.

I do like to plan my side dishes when I plan my main course. I was having a hard time finding side dishes recently. I feel like everything I cook is made with cheese. Now don’t get me wrong, I love me some cheese, but it might be getting old for other people in my family. So looking at the whole month at once was a nice way to spread out what I am making. There are still a lot of pasta dishes, because let’s get real, that is a main course and side all wrapped in one. I pick my most time-consuming meals for Wed or Sun evenings because those are the days I have off and theoretically have more time to cook.

There is a stretch of Oct where the boys and I will be gone and Hubs will have to fend for himself. And I gotta admit it was nice not having to plan those 4 meals.