Posted on May 01 2016
I have many roles in our house. Many. My husband works really hard with lots of long hours and he helps out a lot, but it is primarily my job to run the house.
I'm really bad at it.
I always have piles of washing. Huge, tangled, overflowing baskets of clean washing. I wash constantly and fold a lot. But I'm a little lazy when it comes to putting it away. I have good intentions. I fold it all up and sort it into each persons little pile. Then I get a little distracted. I forget that I need to watch a little bit of Ellen, or that I'm halfway through an episode of Shameless. I jump on Facebook for "5 minutes" and then find myself, 2 hours later, deep in the comments section of a post from someone I don't even know. So come bed time, the piles are relegated from my bed to the floor at the end of my bed, all ready to be refolded and sorted the next day.
The job I really struggle with is food management. I can never seem to get my shit together when it comes to the weekly shopping. I'm a regular at our local woollies, as in I'm there EVERY DAY. Sometimes TWICE a day. 'Write lists!' I hear you cry! 'Meal plan woman!' yeah yeah I know, but I just can't do it.
I did manage to meal plan once. I shopped online. Click and collect. Bragged to Sharon at woollies that I wouldn't be in all week as I was organised. I could see the doubt in her eyes and the smirk on her lips. I could almost hear the 'you'll be in tomorrow' that she was wordlessly communicating. I was determined not to, if we ran out of food, then they would have to eat dust. And god knows we have dust in abundance. My problem with meal planning, and I know I'm not alone here (Kylie I'm looking at you) is that when you meal plan, the kids are aware of what they are not going to eat each day. They start whinging earlier than necessary, and I cannot stand it.
So I always find myself cooking the same old crap, week in, week out. Normally with mince. It's cheap. It's versatile, and it's the least complained about meat. That's important. I actually love cooking, everything about it - bar the cleaning up - but that's a blog post for another day. I enjoy cooking from scratch, no packet mixes here, but when the fruit of your loins, glances down at her plate and declares 'this looks like diarrhoea' it kills my buzz. They aren't particularly fussy kids, they eat pretty well, but if I try and get creative or add something different to their meal, I am met with suspicion. You would think I had served them offal or the family dog.
It's also hard to plan a week of meals when they do the old 'change your mind trick'. You know the one when you make something, they love it, rave about it, say 'can we have this EVERY night'. You beam with pride like the mum from The Castle, and mentally add the dish to your repertoire, only to serve it up the next week and be met with sighs and crinkled noses.
So please friends. I'm begging. Help a sister out. Give me your best tips for managing your food/budget/family reactions. Tell me how to stop spending 100s of unavoidable dollars on crap I don't need. Speak to me like a novice, a newbie. I need it.
Claire x
P.S - something incredible happened in our community today. A little boy was having a birthday party. His poor mum shared on a page that none of his friends were going to come. Another caring mum decided to share the story to one of our community pages. This started the most amazing movement which led to people, total strangers, but bonded by empathy to get down to that party, to help that gorgeous little boy celebrate. Sometimes small towns like ours get a bad rap. There can be bickering and fighting, bad mouthing and bitching - but today there was love, compassion, and generosity. It is heart warming and faith restoring.
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I am the founder of Kids Favourite Dinners, we are a FREE website and APP which YOU WILL LOVE… =)
Hi Claire, Love this post! Have you tried Kids Favourite Dinners Community? It’s brilliant and will definitely help you out ?
Thanks Lauren! I have liked and shared you page and noticed a few of my friends have too! It’s awesome – well done
Hi Claire, I unashamedly love all the things you hate. I created a Facebook page: Loz’s Kitchen to share family friendly food ideas. And next week I’m thinking about doing ‘Mince Week’, just to see how creative I can be with the humble staple! Loz xx
OMG Claire, I love this post just as much probably more than all your others. You were seriously meant to do this. Though I’m a little creeped out that you’ve been looking through my windows. You just described me 100% with just the washing, the whole meal plan nightmare & the daily woollies trips. Thanks for making the rest of us feel like where not nuts & alone. Have no words of advice, as I’m just as bad. Look forward to your next instalment.
I was embarrassed I thought I was the only one who had this washing problem, but it seems like I’m not the only one. Working night shift I struggle with the daily chores of the house, I manage to clean the house but when it gets to the washing I don’t seem to have the energy. Have actually gone to the point I would buy new clothes rather than wash clothes. It’s the dreaded task I hate doing.
I do a weekly shop and spend $150 to $200 a week for a family of four.
I buy all my meat fresh don’t put anything in the freezer and make sure we cook by the use by date and it works just add different things to it as the side dishes.
The only extra things I have to buy during the week is bread milk
I hear you..
I used to be good at it but then we had to deal with food intolerances and I went back to work. I have great intentions but it just never sticks.
My biggest success comes from keeping it really simple (nothing flash or time consuming) for the first few weeks, asking the kids to choose a couple of dinners each and prepping everything on the weekend.
One day I’ll get there again! Good luck!
BRILLIANT Danielle! Thanks x
As much as I loathe the thought and the physical process of lists, meal planning and shopping, week in and week out, 52 freakin weeks a year, I do it because I definitely believe it’s still the slightly better alternative to a daily (or bi-daily lol) trip to Woolies! I have 3 kids and work 4 days/32hrs a week and also manage to do ALDI and Woolies each week, and I also have OCD so my washing goes straight from line to ironing to wardrobes!
So the way I meal plan when you can see I have just about no time to myself is I have an page of about 50 different dinners that we like to eat (easy and more time consuming) which I refer to when I am meal planning and I keep my meal plan lists attached to my shopping list pad so I can see what we’ve had the past 2-3 weeks before, to avoid overkill. Hope this helps! ?
OMG Claire, it’s like you’ve plucked this from my brain while I sleep (well, try to).
I hear you loud and clear, so now I am glad to hear that my dining table covered in folded washing is not alone!
Have a good week x
There’s no way around it, it’s a pain in the arse. You need to plan your meals for the week on the weekend, make a list and shop. And when they love something, only give it to them once a week so the novelty doesn’t wear off.
Awesome Kristel! Love shifting the blame to them… ???
Oh how I hear you !!!! My solution in our house is on a Sunday night I ask each of my kids what they want to cook for dinner ? One cooks Tuesday (11) the other Thursday (6) they choose their meal and they cook it with my help ! I also ask them what they feel like eating this week sometimes we look in mags ( I filter the meals as otherwise my little one would have crayfish or crab every night and although I’d be happy with that my budget is not !!! ) and to have a bit of free time ……the kids make picture boards of there choices which we keep in a box !! They also help to remember favourites and is a great reference for them later, I put the (guided) choice on them and if they don’t like it guess what …. It’s their fault not yours !! Good luck xx