As a mom, you have a lot on your plate. You’re working, taking care of kids, managing a household, and so much more. One important task that often falls on the shoulders of a mom is meal planning and preparation. You want to make sure you put a healthy, nutritious dinner on the table for your family, but you don’t want the whole task to stress you out.
To make dinnertime easier, we’re sharing some quick and easy meal tips for busy moms to help you eliminate the stress and save time in the kitchen. These tips will put some extra hours back into your day that you can use to relax and spend time with your family. Check them out:
1. Use a Meal Planning App
Meal planning doesn’t have to be stressful when you use an app like Cozi or eMeals. These apps are designed to help you plan out a week’s worth of meals with ease. They present you with options based on your dietary needs and preferences, which you can then move into the calendar for the week. Once you’ve chosen your meals, you can populate a grocery list to hit the store and pick up what you need.
These meal planning apps really take the guesswork out of dinnertime. You’ll never get stuck in a rut by making the same dishes over and over. You’ll have plenty of great suggestions each week to help you try new things and gain more experience in the kitchen. It’s a quick solution to meal planning for all the busy moms out there.
2. Cook in Bulk
To save time in the kitchen, one great option is cook in bulk. When you do this, you will have plenty of leftovers that can be frozen and enjoyed at a later date. This is perfect for something like a soup or stew, which can be thawed out and enjoyed for a quick and delicious dinner. If your family loves pasta, make a big batch of homemade marinara sauce and freeze what’s left. The ideas here really are endless!
3. Start Using a Slow Cooker
If you aren’t already using a slow cooker to prepare some of your meals, you absolutely need to start now! The great thing about using a slow cooker is that you don’t have to slave over a hot stove to prepare a healthy and delicious dinner for you and your family.
Instead, you simply need to toss a few ingredients into the slow cooker and let everything cook throughout the day. Many recipes for slow cookers are designed to cook on a low temperature for a few hours. This allows you to prepare the dish and walk away while you go about all the other tasks you need to accomplish that day.
Another major benefit is that clean-up is easy with a slow cooker. When everything is prepared in one dish, it helps to cut down on the amount of dishes that need to be washed afterward. There won’t be tons of pots and pans to deal with, which means more time to spend with your family once dinner is over.
4. Prepare Breakfast Smoothies for Kids
Do your kids love smoothies? Give them one for breakfast! Smoothies are a great option to start the day because they’re loaded with the fruits and vegetables your growing children need. You can feel good about giving your kids a homemade smoothie with great ingredients. What’s even better is that they’re easy for you to prepare. Simply throw everything into the blender, blend it up, and it’s ready to go! To make it even easier for us in the morning, we use Daily Harvest. They send frozen, pre-made smoothies that just need to be blended and they’re good to drink.
A smoothie is a must healthier option for a quick breakfast than a sugary cereal. You are in full control of what goes in it and you can allow your children to create the flavors they love the most. Use ingredients like spinach, banana, berries, peanut butter, and even oats to create a delicious drink. Don’t forget to make one for yourself too!
5. Get Your Groceries Delivered
Is grocery shopping one of your least favorite tasks? If so, you aren’t alone! The good news is, these days grocery shopping has been made easier thanks to delivery services. If you just hate heading to the grocery store or you simply don’t have time, you may want to try out one of these services.
Amazon Fresh, PeaPod, and Fresh Direct are all great options to consider. All you need to do is go online, place your order, and wait for your groceries to be delivered straight to your door. It’s convenient for any busy moms who need to get a little extra time back in their day.
6. Invest in a Vacuum Sealer
Another great tip that’ll help you get more bang for your buck when it comes to your groceries is to invest in a vacuum sealer. You can find these at a variety of stores today and many of them don’t cost much at all, but they’ll save you some cash.
The reality is, so many of us buy ingredients that wind up being wasted because they aren’t used before they spoil. Instead of letting this happen, thus wasting your money, you can use a vacuum sealer to preserve your food. It’ll keep everything fresh for a longer period of time, meaning you’re getting the most out of what you’ve purchased. You can even use a vacuum sealer to preserve spinach for those breakfast smoothies mentioned above! Not only that, but vacuum sealing will prevent any of your food from getting freezer burn.
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