Back to reality 

  
After spending a great sunny vacation in Mexico with my family, it’s always a bit bittersweet to come back home to real life.  I definitely enjoyed the break from cooking and cleaning up while away, but also probably ate one too many tacos and sipped a few too many mojitos, so getting back to my own kitchen is nice.  I’ve got the weekend ahead to do a major meal planning session and I get kind of jazzed about that! I found these great little Weekly meal planning printables that are making life a lot easier.

  
I find it so helpful to organize my week this way. I usually do all my groceries one day and then prep a lot of the meals one day so everything is ready to go when I need it. I don’t often plan out breakfast or lunch… I usually use up leftovers for lunches. 

I used to think it was so hard to find the time to prepare meals everyday, but my mom really inspired me when she was staying with us when my second daughter was born. What I noticed about mom during her visit was that she made dinner planning a priority, and not because she had to either but because she really enjoyed it.  She often plans her daily supper with her morning coffee, if she hasn’t already figured it out the day before.  

  

  

 For me, that’s where the disconnect was. I have worked in the food service industry for almost 15 years, so I never really worried much about what was going to be for supper. I either went in early before a shift and ate, or brought food home after a day shift to share with my husband. Luckily I’ve worked at a super healthy joint (shout out to The Wooden Monkey) for almost 10 years so I always knew where my food came from and how it was prepared.  It wasn’t until I had my daughter that I actually had to think about it. The once dreaded question “what’s for supper”has recently become one I look forward to hearing, because now I have an answer.

I want my kids to have the same experiences with food as I did as a kid. That means eating as a family at meal time, having them watch and help me prepare food so as to gain an appreciation and understanding of where our food comes from, helping us shop for food, and teaching them the importance of eating a healthy diet so they will develop a positive and mindful relationship with food.   

Here is what I know: 

1. Eating healthy is a choice, but it becomes natural once you commit yourself to it.

2. Cooking takes time, planning and preparation (but if I can do it anyone can!)

3.  We as parents need to lead by example and educate our children about nutrition and living a healthy lifestyle because they aren’t learning enough of this at school (but that is a whole other post for another day)!

So, get yourself a meal planner if that’s what motivates you, buy a new recipe book, or start a new Pinterest collection of healthy recipes (and actually try them)! If you want to start changing the way your family eats, get excited about food and make a plan, the rest will fall into place 😊 good luck!!