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Why does meal planning give me a cringe feeling? It's almost like I need to prepare myself to be in the kitchen all day long and make all these fancy freezer meals and prep my food for supper every night and schedule snack portions and times and bla bla bla. Really??? Is that really what you think of when you think meal planning? Let me help you understand the real meaning of meal planning, because as much as I love being in my kitchen, I don't want to hang out there all day long slaving away prepping, unless I am baking Christmas goodies with my littles, who I guess are not so little anymore. So no, meal planning does not mean that you have to have the perfect picturesque meals and everything you just made is on a schedule with no exceptions. Meal planning should be simple! So, "Calm the Fork Down," I got you taken care of. When you went and searched for meal planning tips, did you have in mind an overcomplicated system that would take you lot's of research before you even got started or maybe so much planning & shopping that you don't even know what some of the ingredients are, yet the picture looks pretty? The entire purpose of meal planning is to make meal time simple! So, no wonder there are a lot of misconceptions about meal planning. Yes it will take some time to meal plan but not all day and not even half of a day. Pro Tip: Choose recipes that have very little ingredients and also some things you think you would cook with again. It's ok to try something new once in awhile but let's not go overboard on trying 7 new recipes in a week. Simple is best. Maybe try a new recipe on a night you have a lot of time to cook and a window for ordering a pizza if that recipe didn't turn out how you thought. My goal as a wife & mom is to make meal time easy, yummy & have extra time in the evening's to hang out. Oh also, to get my kid's to be less picky and try new thing's. That's for a different blog. My book, "Calm the Fork Down" taking the chaos out of meal planning does just that. I have taken the chaos out of it, broke down the steps on how to meal plan and gave you a guided workbook so you can plan like a pro without being in the kitchen all day. You can find all my meal planning solutions here. See which one is your style of planning. Whether you are a beginner, middle of the road planner or so advanced you are a pro at this meal planning thing already, the tools are available for you. A friendly note: I have switched from my book to the notepad and still use my calendar for a display. I love it and live by it. It's a money saver times 10 and a time saver every single night. Click the button and see which one is perfect for your style.

I had the urge to tell you... My day started with a hot mess "LITERALLY" in my lap. My son needed help tying his shoes, so I set my coffee on the dash of the car (don't worry I was parked). I started tying his shoes and BOOM, my coffee spilled EVERYWHERE! I was in the school drop off line of all things and I'm sure I had numerous parents glaring at me, saying to themselves out loud in their car "Come one....tuck & roll." After cleaning up my mess and dropping off my kids, I went home and started planning my menu for the next 2 weeks. Cuz you know, it has been about 2 months since I planed out my menu. Yep, I am human and I fell off the meal planning wagon. I felt great after ordering my groceries, everything is all planned out and displayed on my calendar. Our family is so prepared for the next 2 weeks and I feel fantastic. However my trip back from Costco & Hy-Vee didn't go as smooth as ordering groceries went haha. Let me paint the picture for you of my kitchen before I came home with a car load of groceries. Our sinks were full of dirty dishes, I had paint trays that still needed to be cleaned from painting my daughter's bedroom and my son decided to open his new toys in the middle of all the chaos. Also my husband was cooking supper and waiting or the spaghetti sauce I was bringing home before supper could be ready. So in the middle of an already messy kitchen, my husband was cooking & I came home with a car load of groceries and trying to unpack them while he is cooking. I dare you to ask me if I am making this up...cuz I kinda wish I was. In the middle of all the chaos, I could feel my anxiety and anxiousness getting the best of my and the tension in the kitchen was high. I burst out laughing and said "ya know, I just realized, that our family does not thrive in chaos." Our family thrives on systems and clear paths and organized spaces. Just typing that sentence is making my heart happy. At the end of the day my kitchen is now clean, our belly's are full and my meals are planned for the next 2 weeks. But to get to that point was a journey. I will add that I finished up dishes this morning as I was packing the kids lunches. Why do we let our spaces get so bad before we fix them? There is always calm to the storm and sometimes it decides to be a hot fricken mess for us to realize the blessing at the end of the day. If my email made you feel normal, like you're not alone, then that is my blessing. I want you to know that you I have more shit storms throughout the month than I would like to admit but I too am human. My house is NEVER perfect! If you are at your wits end with the chaos in your home, click the button. I got your back. I thrive on systems and want the same for you. The shit storms are messy but I guarantee you the systems are always made for you and your family to benefit. Your friend, Alesha