The most requested information from our first week together was for some pointers on meal planning. I’m not an expert on this, but I have learned a lot over the last few years and below is everything I could think of that might make things run more smoothly for other meal makers.
I. Meal Planning
A. Know what’s coming
- Work schedule
- Church schedule
- School schedule
- Recreation schedule
B. Have a theme
- “Italian night”
- “Snack Night”
- Etc.
C. Plan a month at a time & make allowances for busy nights
- When work interferes, have egg sandwiches
- When there are ball games, pack fruit and cheese
D. Keep a Meal Journal
- Write down what you plan to make ahead of time
- Write down what you actually made/ate (list guests and circumstances if necessary)
- Write down reactions, put a star or indication of some kind by those meals that you definitely want to repeat.
E. Make grocery list weekly & consider a weekly menu in addition to monthly
- Using the meal plan write down the missing items for those particular meals
- Don’t forget to add the essential supplies with your list.
- If you are a Costco shopper make a supply list monthly and use your weekly list for those small or fresh items you need each week.
- EXTRA: Consider meal prepping ideas like freezer meals
II. Decision Fatigue is: The deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual, after a long session of decision making.
It is related to willpower, I see it in myself…I have seen it in my kids… all day at school they were choosing to do what’s right, performing, making us proud, they come home exhausted and unable to make any more right choices.
We cannot infuse our families with “decision juice” or pump them up with willpower that lasts all day, but we can help.
I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants,
-Deut. 30:19
The significance of this Scripture in this context is that God is urging them to choose a theme, LIFE. He isn’t saying specifically when faced with a, b & c, you should always choose a. He’s instead giving them a general filter for all their decisions. Eating should follow everything else into that filter. Choose foods that offer life. Not everything we are going to make in this life group is going to be fat free, sugar free, or gluten free, but we are going to work our way toward unprocessed, nontoxic and life giving. Our main goal is to get our families coming together around the table, not to serve the perfect meal. However, when we hold up this filter of life, it will not only filter out the distractions that keep our families too busy to eat together, it will begin to filter out the foods that make us sluggish, uncomfortable and fat.
We are going to set a precedent for “LIFE” decisions. In our house we choose life by eating together because it breeds an environment of conversation, understanding, order, kindness, helpfulness, and trust.
III. Willpower is a muscle that can be protected, and exercised.
A. How to protect your willpower/decision making muscle:
- Plan your decision making time in advance
- When do you feel most alert and clear headed?
- When do you deal with the fewest distractions?
- Prioritize as a family (keeping the kids involved helps them accept what is served): What do we want to eat?
- Does everyone dislike certain vegetables, exchange that for something else.
- Maybe everyone in the family loves Thai food, make that a regular part of the menu.
- What do we want our food to do for us?
- If we want to be stronger, what foods will do that for us?
- If we want to be smarter, what foods will encourage that?
- If we want to honor God, what foods does the Bible tell us to eat?
- If we simply want to feel better, what foods clean our systems and fuel us most efficiently?
- Use Lists and Calendars
- The menu will make the decision for you, keeping you from that choice that doesn’t fit into your priorities
- The list, or “meal journal” will chronicle your decisions and allow you to narrow your menu to those meals that are successful
IV. Exercising your willpower/decision making muscle
- Eat Right
- Snacks with lots of sugar and carbohydrates are a good boost, but they don’t last. Protein and a little sweet are a better way to get a good pick me up that sustains instead of setting you up to deflate.
- Shop with willpower in mind. Whether you are on a diet or you’re trying to build up your health, the grocery store is where good willpower is given its wings.
- Rest: Encourage yourself to rest when you get the chance to rest. Protein helps the brain make better decisions. We can at the very least, be patient and recognize when a lack of decision was brought on by fatigue.
- Prayer and Bible Reading
- Prayer is the way to unload those decision onto the shoulders of the One who has all the right answers. Cast your cares, lean not on your own understanding… God wants us to let Him have our burdens.
- Bible reading is the way to reset your mental energy. When I am tired, I can read a Scripture passage and often it totally gets me aligned with the way I should be thinking. It’s like a chiropractic adjustment for the mind, will, and emotions.
Tomorrow’s post will have the handouts, including the recipes we made and the discussion topics we gave for each family’s dinner table. There will also be planning pages for monthly and weekly meal planning, and a page for beginning a meal journal.