Beating Dinnertime Fatigue

Having a plan is half the battle. Preparing the plan is about thirty percent. Execution is only about twenty percent! (Cleanup is another story).

I’ve tried all kinds of meal plans. Designed many over the years. The best plan is a simple and flexible one. I plan four dinners. I’m currently aiming for two crockpot dinners and two I cook that night.

To keep me fueled for workouts, and based on previous experiments with our diet, I try to create balanced meals that are easy. I also try to plan based on our needs. Busy night? Crockpot. A quieter night? I’ll cook.

I try to overlap ingredients as well to prevent waste and save money. The first week of my workout plan was shaky. By the second week, I had a plan. Pot roast, chicken and chickpeas, chicken and black bean burritos, and cranberry chicken. I figured out sides and made my list and shopped. And cried a little.

The chicken gets baked in the oven with basic seasoning. I put everything into the crockpot and started it up. The chicken and chickpea dinner was loaded with garlic. The egg noodles seasoned with cilantro and basil. The carrots and potatoes seasoned with paprika and chili powder. The onions were soaked in red wine vinegar. It was a hit.

The burritos are always a hit. Salsa, shredded cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and salad lettuce. I cut nothing but the chicken to make dinner. Served with rice.

I had really bad timing with the pot roast and forgot to put it back on to cook the next morning, so I put it in the oven to cook back up for dinner. That was also a hit. Onions, garlic, carrots, potatoes, tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, seasonings, and rump roast. Some kind of roast. They didn’t have chuck.

The last dinner, I had mixed some of that cooked ahead chicken with cranberry sauce and let it sit for several days (properly stored). By the end of the week, all I did was heat up the chicken, adding dried cranberries, whip up boxed mashed potatoes, and heat some frozen vegetables.

The main thing is to think ahead and go with the flow. I thought we’d eat the roast one night and we ate it the next. I had meant to buy BBQ sauce for the chicken and forgot, so I’ll make something else. Tomatoes weren’t ripe at the store, so salsa instead.

I also love using leftovers for lunch, or coming up with a new version of leftovers for another dinner. That chickpea chicken was a great salad protein. The cranberry chicken was yummy with apples and cheese for another salad. I made a potato and egg bake for a weekend breakfast (with broccoli) and had those leftovers with some cranberry chicken.