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Meal Planning, Mental Health, and Meltdowns: Taking One Thing Off Your Plate
30 Plays2 days ago
Ever stood in front of the fridge like it's a locked vault, hoping dinner will magically appear? Same. This week on Exhausted Sparrows Unite, we're tackling the chaos, guilt, and full-on emotional meltdowns that come with feeding your people every single day.
We’ll uncover how something as unsexy as meal planning can actually be a secret weapon for your mental health. (No, really—science says so.) It’s not about being a Pinterest mom. It’s about peace, predictability, and finally answering, “What’s for dinner?” without spiraling.
What We’re Dishing Up:
- The emotional toll of dinner decisions (a.k.a. the invisible load)
- How decision fatigue and emotional burnout are connected
- Meal planning as a tool for nervous system regulation
- Real-life, low-effort strategies to make meal planning work for you
Why It Matters:
You make 35,000 decisions a day—and by 6:30 p.m., your brain is DONE. Planning your meals isn’t about having it all together. It’s about taking one damn thing off your mental to-do list.
Takeaways:
- Meal planning is mental health care in disguise.
- You don’t need a spreadsheet. You need a system that works with your life, not against it.
- You’re allowed to choose ease over aesthetics. Store-bought frozen lasagna counts.
Listen in if you’ve ever said:
- “Why am I crying over chicken?”
- “Didn’t we just eat yesterday?”
- “I swear if someone asks me what’s for dinner ONE more time…”
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction of Hosts
00:00:04
Speaker
Welcome to Exhausted Sparrows Unite. I am k Krista Jones, your host, and I am being joined again today by my beautiful co-host, Chantelle Schaefer.
00:00:15
Speaker
And today we both decided we have to have a real nice long conversation with you guys.
The Dinner Dilemma: Facing an Empty Fridge
00:00:22
Speaker
about you and your fridge and staring at it at 6.30 at night, hungry and overwhelmed. And let's be honest, if you're staring at your fridge at 6.30 at night you have not made dinner, you're so screwed.
00:00:35
Speaker
What the heck do I make for dinner? That is the topic today.
Solution Introduction: Meal Planning
00:00:40
Speaker
In fact, you're not only not alone, you're likely already carrying the mental equivalent of your 500 pound grocery bag on your shoulders without even stepping foot in that store.
00:00:53
Speaker
So we're going to dive into how something as simple as meal planning might just save your sanity. We're not talking about those Instagram worthy spreadsheets.
00:01:04
Speaker
We're just talking about some realistic, let me calm my nerves down so this doesn't trigger me and I yell at my children kind of ways to make your life a little
Authenticity in Daily Challenges
00:01:13
Speaker
better. Welcome, Chantel Schaefer. Well, hello, Christy Jones.
00:01:17
Speaker
You know, when we were talking about this, because we throw out all these ideas and we're like... Being authentic doesn't just mean, you know being strong and brave and being scared and, you know, crazy when you need to be. But like it, there's all these other things in life that people think, oh, those are little things that are like anything but little things. And so like in our conversation is we're going over like, what are we going to do this week?
Krista's Love-Hate Relationship with Meal Planning
00:01:41
Speaker
This week? This week? Chantel says meal planning. And I am like sold. but I authentically could say i hate it.
00:01:53
Speaker
I hate it as well, but I still do it. Oh, you have to do it because I feel if you don't do it, it sends you over the edge. So today what we're really doing is giving you yet another great tool that will help you keep some of your sanity as the week goes on.
00:02:09
Speaker
And this is one of the ones where I can say that I i have it more together in this area of my life I hate it. I despise it. Monday nights are like the bane of my existence. But... Why Monday nights?
00:02:21
Speaker
Because that's when I do my meal planning. Oh, okay. See, I... do my meal planning usually by that Friday, Saturday. And then Sunday is the day that I plant, prep it, cook it, everything that I need to do. I've gone to the grocery store so that, yeah, Sunday, like I'm done. So my husband grocery shops.
00:02:41
Speaker
Thank you, Jeremiah. Thank you, Jeremiah. goes at like six in the morning on Tuesday because he wants to beat the crowds. He knows that it's well stocked on Tuesday. So I do all of my meal planning on Monday night. Makes sense. yeah Sensical.
00:02:55
Speaker
Yeah. That's sensical. We're sensical in some some areas of our lives. And that's the big thing though. Like people say, the how in the world are you going to talk for 20, 30 minutes about meal planning?
00:03:05
Speaker
But the thing is, we're already making like 35,000 decisions a day. That's what they say on average, right? And many of them are these stupid micro decisions that, you know, but but among them are things like What to eat, when to eat, who's eating, what's in the fridge. These little tiny micro things add up to something that is so big and it is like day stopping questions. it I mean, food is so important.
00:03:35
Speaker
It is. And it can make or break your day. It can make or break your kids' days.
Food Choices and Health Impacts
00:03:39
Speaker
Ooh, buddy. You know put the right food on the table, disaster. That's what I was going to say, right? And the type of food that you're putting on the table. Because when you're not doing any of this like before assessment of what you've got to do, then like this affects way more than just your decision processing, right? It affects your physical health because you're grabbing chips and you're like, isn't there some sauce in the fridge, guys? like That's a vegetable. Hypothetically. Yeah. I might've done that last night, but yeah so, but, but it is a thing. And we're like, we really want to talk about it because ah sometimes that what's for dinner question that my kids ask probably five or six times a day while I'm here cooking for everybody else and their home asking what's in the fridge, which I always find fun.
00:04:25
Speaker
That question is such a trigger at times. Yeah. Every day. Every day, my kids. I'll be in the middle of cooking dinner. What's for dinner?
00:04:36
Speaker
Chicken. Then don't ask.
00:04:41
Speaker
Cook your own meal. i' I've said that more times than I can count. All right. So here's my next question. Do you give an alternative if they don't like what's for dinner? So...
00:04:53
Speaker
If I cook something that I know without a shadow of a doubt, they will not. eat Like we eat salmon once or twice a month. Avery will eat it. Nora will not touch it. She's tried it. She does not like it. I will give her an alternative. yeah But if I make you chicken parm, which you have eaten 500 times and you say, nah, that's not what I wanted for dinner. No.
00:05:11
Speaker
Right. I know you'll eat it. Yeah. I didn't want to make it. I made it. Yeah. Enjoy. Yeah. I'm a mean mom. No, yeah I don't think you're mean at all. I do the same thing. I mean, I always have a salad or something.
00:05:22
Speaker
So the kids can always go to that. And there's always sides if they don't like something, you know, in the main. um And then, you know, if we need to, I'll go, I'll say, you know, make yourself some pasta. I always have sauce. I do a homemade sauce.
00:05:34
Speaker
So, you know, that can be the go-to. But yeah, I try really hard not to make 5,000 different meals too, because that also is a trigger. i tell all the time, I am not a short order cook.
00:05:45
Speaker
And I think the interesting thing in that, people are like, what's for dinner? like But it's not that simple. It is all the stuff that you've got to do beforehand to make sure that it's ready. So today, as we get through the mental anguish of the question and the physical appearance when like Krista Jones, you eat a Reese's peanut butter cup for dinner.
00:06:05
Speaker
When we get through like all of that at the end of this, like we're going to show you that if you really can just do some really easy steps to get ahead of yourself, it's going to save you, they say two to three hours a day.
Sparrows Nest Charity Introduction
00:06:19
Speaker
And I think that's where we bring in Sparrows Nest. For those of you that are just listening, welcome. And you're like, what a strange title, Exhausted Sparrows Unite. That is because here in the Hudson Valley in New York, we have this amazing charity that I founded. And Chantel is my assistant extraordinaire.
00:06:36
Speaker
And we feed families and individuals throughout their cancer treatment. So we already know, and it already says on our website, this is not just a meal. This is the two or three hours that you just saved because you didn't have to plan for it.
00:06:50
Speaker
This is the 50, 60, $70 that you didn't have to spend for it. This is the mental load that is completely off your plate because now you have to do is heat it up. It's already cooked for you. It is a lot of stress that goes into that.
00:07:03
Speaker
Not only, you know, If you're like me and Chantella and I, I think, you know, we're a lot alike. Like like if if I'm getting whatever, you know, a big turkey and I'm making that, you better believe there's turkey souffle and there's going to be, you know, a turkey frittata the next morning and maybe even some turkey ice cream. Like I'm really trying to use my turkey to the best of my turkey abilities.
00:07:26
Speaker
Yeah, i I once a week, I make a meal that I know will have leftovers, whether it's meatballs, and I make enough for two meals so that in two or three days, we have it again. And that saves my sanity, but it also saves financially. 100%. You know, when I shop chopped meat or ground beef that's on sale... Yeah, you get it in bulk.
00:07:44
Speaker
Yeah. You're saving a little bit. So like there is a lot of time that goes into this and it is such a micro decision that turns in such a mega decision that we really need to like dive into it. So, right, you have no idea what's going on.
00:08:01
Speaker
You're having a lot of compound pressure now when you haven't planned ahead because the chance of you making a healthy choice is really, really slim if you do not have something planned out.
Avoiding Poor Choices with Meal Planning
00:08:15
Speaker
And I say this because the older I get, i'm perimenopause, menopause, I don't know, I took my jacket off before we started this, I'm like, isn't it hot in here?
00:08:24
Speaker
i don't know what's happening with me. But I can tell you that no matter how many times people have said to me, listen, if you don't meal plan, you're going to screw up. Like I really am starting to pay attention to that because I noticed that, you know, for me to take an hour or two on a Sunday so that really my week is planned out. Why wouldn't I do something that not only is relieving a bunch of my mental stress, but actually physically is good for me because you don't have energy when you're grabbing that delicioso Reese's peanut butter cup.
00:08:54
Speaker
It might be good in the moment, but when you get done with that one, you have guilt because that was not an appropriate dinner. And you're still hungry. And you're still hungry too because, I mean, it does have peanut butter, but still not the protein you need.
00:09:05
Speaker
I did read somewhere if you eat like 14 of them, it is like 40 grams of protein or something. That's that's a lot. I know. It is. But, you know, you and and and and honestly, it zaps your energy because it is this sugar rush and then this big old crash and you're for nothing. Nothing.
00:09:22
Speaker
Nothing. Meal prep. It's important. And had you have known that, that is the only thing you need to do in your life, just meal prep and everything else will be better. I don't know if I agree with that because I do meal prep and it's still a lot.
00:09:36
Speaker
There's also a lot of decision fatigue, I think, with meal prep too, right? Yeah, so I started getting really overwhelmed because I, like I said, I sit down on Monday, I sit down with the the sales flyer yeahp and I meal prep according to what's on sale.
00:09:49
Speaker
And I plan for the entire week, every meal I'm going to cook, what side, what vegetable, so that when Jeremiah goes to the store, he knows this is what I'm buying. This is all I need. That's how I make my shopping list. So I started, my husband has to pick a meal a week so that I don't have to make that decision. What do you want to make? What are you cooking?
00:10:06
Speaker
What do you need? And then I asked the kids, what's one meal you want this week? And it's one decision off my plate. And then I know Avery wanted chicken nuggets this week. We have chicken nuggets. So she's going to be happy one day.
00:10:19
Speaker
One day. day out of seven. But I mean, I consider that success. I think that is a really great idea. I just caved on MyFitnessPal, which by the way, doesn't pay me anything to say that MyFitnessPal is part of my app, but they can if they want to. We would love sponsors on our show.
00:10:37
Speaker
So with MyFitnessPal, I caved and I did the
Tech Tools for Meal Planning
00:10:41
Speaker
$99 subscription for the year. And then there is an area of this that says plan. And it says plan for two weeks, four weeks, whatever you decide.
00:10:49
Speaker
And then it says, what do you like? What do you not like? Like it gets pretty, you know, do you like strawberries? Do you like fish? do you like Do you like Mediterranean diet? Do you like carnivore diet? Like it gives you all of these things. And that's what I did.
00:11:02
Speaker
and it said everything. how much variety do you want? And I was like, let's do the same stuff every two days. So that, right? Like, cause I'll eat it two days in a row. I don't really care. And plus it's cheaper, like to buy in bulk.
00:11:13
Speaker
And let me tell you, it came out with this amazing list of things, a grocery list that I could print and bring to the store with me with what I needed.
00:11:24
Speaker
And I was like, that is the best $100 for the year I've ever spent. That's pretty fancy. It's amazing. And I'm the type of person, I've said it before on the show, My mom and my dad, you know, growing up, we were very poor, which I don't, I didn't grasp in many ways, especially when it came to dinners.
00:11:43
Speaker
We always had a different me on the table. I never had Taco Tuesday, like every, you know, all my friends, families. And um I was not jealous about that. I was like, i don't even know what I'm having to eat tonight.
00:11:55
Speaker
I didn't realize it was because my mom was shopping the circulars and then saying, all right, this is on sale and this is on sale and we can make this, you know, and this will be great. But it made me feel like...
00:12:07
Speaker
really loved. So even with my kids, I don't repeat a lot of recipes for quite a long time. Like in my family, probably six weeks at least. And I try really hard to do that, but that leads to a lot of fatigue.
00:12:21
Speaker
And when you've got that kind of decision fatigue, what happens? You eventually give up go, I don't even care. And that is where the worst choices come in. If you're not, you know, doing the research and going through Pinterest is a great place to go through stuff.
00:12:34
Speaker
Yeah, they've got a lot of fun recipes. They do. You could put anything in there. in yeah Chicken, squash, and you know strawberries, and it'll be like, here's a... I'm just saying, Chantel, it will. You need to try. And it'll come up with 10 different combos.
00:12:48
Speaker
Maybe it's a soup. I'm not sure. But I'm just saying. It's... You just got to take a little time to do it. So yeah, you have to give yourself three or four hours. i think we, we can say that's true.
00:12:59
Speaker
If you're a coupon clipper, please tell me how to do that too. I find that fascinating. Yes. If you do that, can you teach us? Teach us. i want a course Yeah. But I don't want to be buying a lot of toothpaste. I want, I want like rotisserie chicken. and Like, I don't feel any of you couponers are getting that at sale. I feel you have 11 Dove Soaps, and I'm not eating that. mean, you can get a rotisserie chicken for like $5. Yes, you can. But you got to be there at the right time. you Because it becomes warfare at the rotisserie chickens at Sam's Club. Oh, okay. It's aggressive.
00:13:29
Speaker
Okay. I go to different places, and then I'm always like, I don't know how long this has been out, so then I go to the back. Well, you got to go to Sam's because they come out so fast and they're gone so fast. They're always fresh.
00:13:40
Speaker
if That's interesting because I was at Sam's the other day and there was a guy saying to his wife, I'm waiting for the rotisserie chicken. There was nothing out there. And I was like, is this a thing? Yes. It's, it might've been my neighbor because he goes and he gets her and he brings me home. He brings us home a rotisserie chicken every time he goes because they're $5. I swear it was your neighbor. I brought you a chicken. and And I don't even know why I remember that, but I was like, that is the oddest thing. You know, I,
00:14:05
Speaker
I was like, all right, there was nothing there. Fresh, hot, and delicious. So it's like one at a time. It's not like 12 come out. It's like, there's one. I think they put out a bunch, but like people are waiting for those chickens. Right.
00:14:16
Speaker
But what a good meal prep. Like you can get two, three meals out of a rotisserie chicken. And you're not cooking it and you can spend five, six bucks. Sam's and i think like Walmart, I spend a little bit more in other stores. Shoppers are a little bit more, but they're still good. But that's okay.
00:14:29
Speaker
Because you know what? that that Then cheat that way. If you're going to do any cheating, you know, get some really good products that, you know, you don't have to, I mean, sometimes I'm going to be honest with you. It is way more expensive, but if I am in a rush and I don't have the time to meal prep, I may get my vegetables already cut. Yeah.
00:14:46
Speaker
Like there are, you know, the celery, the, you know, it's all diced. And I'm like, I can use this in a soup. Is that mise en poie? It is. I just didn't know how to say that. There you go. i did not say it like that. I said like miso soup.
00:14:59
Speaker
Poo. I think I said miso poo. No, it's mise en poie. Well, but there's a million different things you could do because this whole thing about getting fatigue is real. And let's be honest, your brain is fried if you wait until even four o'clock in the day.
00:15:14
Speaker
You know, if you've even waited till four, you're so screwed. Because if you get done at even 4.30 and get to a grocery store, you're not going to have dinner on the table at 7. And I want to talk about that too. That's not healthy. There are a million of you out there that are like, we eat at 8, 9.
00:15:26
Speaker
And I know you guys do, and I get it, sports and all this stuff. But the earlier that you can eat, the better your digestive system works, the less nightmares you have. That comes from my mom. i don't know if that's true.
00:15:39
Speaker
But she did say eat before bed. sure indigestion can create some rocking nightmares. Some monsters. Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Maybe that could be the new shirt. In the middle of the night. But you know, you you need to eat early. So you've got to do all this stuff.
00:15:53
Speaker
You're melting over chicken thighs, not because they're chicken thighs. You're melting over the chicken thighs because you did not prep for it. You didn't plan. Shame on you. Shame. So I hope that you can do that this week. You know, it's funny.
00:16:06
Speaker
ah have chicken thighs for dinner tonight. Chicken thighs are very good. I like chicken thighs. Studies show decision fatigue. I probably have to shut my computer off. Impacts. Our impulse control, our mood, and our focus.
00:16:21
Speaker
Food choices are the absolute most frank frequent and emotionally weighted choices and decisions that we make. And when we are unprepared, it leads to guilt-ridden takeout or cereal for dinner shameful spirals.
00:16:38
Speaker
Yeah. it happened I mean, it happens to the best of us. It does. We all have those. There are nights where I'm like, we're having we're having pancakes, kids. Absolutely. Cereal. I mean, none of that. and Listen, none of that is bad. But if consistently you're making that mistake, you have to you really got to put some meal prep in. For sure. and And did you know that meal prep also soothes your nervous system?
00:17:00
Speaker
I feel better when I start my day knowing that I'm going home and making chicken thighs and polenta and beets. And this is exactly what that says. when you When your brain knows what's coming, it stops scanning for jane danger. It starts feeling safe.
00:17:17
Speaker
It's not worried when your three redhead daughters call to say what's for dinner because it has a response. It knows. Your nervous system will thank you if you just do a little bit of meal prep.
00:17:29
Speaker
And think about if you're like an over-anxious person to begin with, what does that do to you? If you already are over-anxious and you have not like really strategically kind of figured that stuff out, you're in a spiral, ah chaotic moment.
00:17:44
Speaker
That doesn't sound like fun. Not at all. Especially over food. Right. Food's my happy place. Food is my happy place too. And you know, it's interesting you say that because I don't make as good quality meals when I'm rushed.
00:18:00
Speaker
No, absolutely not. So if I can do in two or three hours on a Sunday, just three really nice meals that whatever I prep it and it's not cooked, maybe it's raw and then I freeze it or however I decide to do it.
00:18:12
Speaker
But I know, you know, that is what brings me joy to make a nice meal. You know, we're a lot of like, i always say my, that food is my love language. Mine too. It's how I show love.
00:18:22
Speaker
And I think that's why I fit in so well here. You do fit in very well here.
00:18:28
Speaker
so all right, here's the thing. We're talking about this and people out there like, yeah, I'm going to start tomorrow, which Christa Jones says almost every single week. I finally started consistently about maybe eight weeks ago. And the reason I did it is because I had a surgery and I was really, really inflamed. I only gained five pounds on the scale um through the surgery. I had a rotator cuff.
00:18:53
Speaker
And if any of you have done that before, um i really thought... That year thing is a joke. That's not true. And then now I'm really humbled. I'm like four months, five months in going, ow. So I had a lot of inflammation. I said, I have to just change everything because I was so disgusted.
00:19:09
Speaker
So I really started prepping and I've only lost maybe two and a half pounds, but I just feel the inflammation in my body, getting out of bed, my knees, all of that is just...
00:19:21
Speaker
I just feel so much better because I did it. And I am guaranteeing, I understand you guys are busy. We have talked on plenty of these episodes about how we don't have a minute in the day to breathe.
00:19:32
Speaker
But we also say in every single episode that self-care is the most important thing because you can't take care of anything else in your day, including other people. if you don't take care of you. So this has to be part of a self-care routine. It just, it has to be, it, it is so important because we want you to be around for a long time and we want you to be healthy and you have a lot of people that love you.
00:19:57
Speaker
So that's kind of the way I had to start looking at it because I wasn't getting out of bed. I was like, I don't feel good. And my kids were like, what? I got a daughter getting married. You know, she wants to dress shop and I don't want to say don't feel good.
00:20:08
Speaker
who And meal prepping really is just, it's that simple task that I'm putting now into my week that is honestly changing the entire week. Yeah. Just because the way i'm eating. And for me, meal prepping isn't, I don't prep any food ahead of time.
00:20:22
Speaker
I just make the meals. Like i I lay them out. I have an app. It's called Any List. Again, i don't get any points for saying this. But maybe they'll give us some. We we pay, my husband and i pay for the yearly subscription because you're It's a shared grocery list and a shared meal like list. We make our own list.
00:20:40
Speaker
So he sees the grocery list. I see the grocery list so I can add things while he's at the store. We add things as we go out about our day and then he can see the meal. So if I forgot to take out chicken thighs, he goes, oh, Chantel didn't take out the chicken but chicken thighs for dinner and takes them out.
00:20:55
Speaker
So it's it's, I plan what I'm gonna eat or prep or make all week, but I don't prep anything ahead of time. It's just, for me, it's that peace of mind of these are the things we're having, this is what I need from the store.
00:21:06
Speaker
You've got it ready in the fridge and it's ready to go for that night. And for me, because I have so many night meetings and I'm out and about and I'm doing all these things, I sometimes will literally get it all ready and in the pan and put them in the fridge. So I'll do like two days in a pan And then I might do a day or two that are actually in the freezer, you know, because chicken only lasts a few days. So I'll know that i have to just pull it out.
00:21:31
Speaker
Or like you said, I'll do a huge sauce. You know, if I'm going to do something that's really intricate to make, I might make two to three of them and I will freeze the others. And three weeks later or four weeks later or six weeks later, it probably is six weeks, um I'll take something out and then I'll put it back in the mix.
Organizing and Involving Family in Meal Planning
00:21:48
Speaker
Yeah. And it makes it easier. It sure does. you know So I think it just depends on how busy you are in life because like Chantel's saying, that's a really easy fix. Just deciding this is what we're eating today. You could put it on a calendar in your fridge. You could have it on an app, whatever it is. And then as a household, you guys can make sure it's in the fridge and ready to go for that day.
00:22:07
Speaker
That's great. And if your husband's involved, your children are old enough, maybe you know you guys need to you know slice the peppers for the sausage and peppers. like This is what we're having tonight. Get that ready before I get home. Like it can really be that simple. Yeah. And you know, I find that my kids are more apt to eat what I'm making if they had a hand in it, if they helped, if they contributed. They're proud. Yeah.
00:22:28
Speaker
So even the planning part, again, if I say, what do you want to have this week? They're more apt to eat the meal that they've chosen or the meals that they've spoken up on than if I just pulled them out of thin air.
00:22:40
Speaker
Absolutely. Because it makes them proud at Sparrows Nest. It's something that we're looking into now is, you know, doing classes for children where someone in their family has a cancer diagnosis so that they can feel empowered, right?
00:22:54
Speaker
Bringing them in because there's not a child wants to know that they're contributing and for you to say, Oh my gosh, this is so great. Or even if, you know, you just say, oh my gosh, this recipe looks amazing. We'll do this.
00:23:06
Speaker
You know, also letting your kids see that they're a part of that process gives them a passion for food. It makes them want to cook. And it's not, you know, we, you know, we go out every night and, you know, I'm, I'm not really involved in, cause really, you know, you're, you're a part, you're a product of your environment, whatever, you know, you grew up with a lot of times you bring into relationships as an adult. Mm-hmm.
00:23:28
Speaker
So how are we going to get this done, Chantal? Well, i i I think finding a central place to plan, write down what you want to eat or what you're going to plan to eat for the week.
00:23:41
Speaker
um If you're looking to save money, planning around what is on sale. um I shop that flyer religiously every single week. And, you know, I also stockpile in the freezer.
00:23:51
Speaker
I'll buy meat when it's on sale and then I'll go through the freeze and say, oh, I have chicken breast. I'm going to make, you know, chicken tikka masala this week. that That's my biggest input on this is finding a place to to decide and planning at least a few days ahead.
00:24:08
Speaker
This is what we're going to have each night. And this is what I need from the store because it's got to be exhausting to run to the store every day to pick up ingredients. I despise the grocery store. So I try not to go.
00:24:19
Speaker
i do too. And I do like a, I love to do like number things. So I do like a three, two, one. So i one week we'll three easy meals, then I'll do two more intricate meals, and then I'll do a leftover.
00:24:33
Speaker
And then I may say Friday night can be pizza. Okay. Right. Or then I may do three intricate meals and then two leftovers and then, you know, one easy one.
00:24:44
Speaker
So like I will kind of like get this balance and then, you know, we may have enough leftovers for all week or like once a month I try to say, let's go have pizza or something because I think that's fun.
00:24:56
Speaker
We don't do that in the la our house. I didn't do that growing up because we didn't have the money. And so it was just something that, you know, I put into my everyday life too because, you know, if if I can make it, it's great to sit around the dinner table when it's a home cooked meal, I think. I think there's a whole different ambiance behind that.
00:25:12
Speaker
Yeah. and And finding simple meals like we make pizza. You know, we buy pizza dough and sauce and cheese. It's simple. It's easy. Anybody can do it. And it's one less. The kids get their hands involved. It's less for you to do.
00:25:27
Speaker
A hundred percent. And there's cookbooks out there that are, you know, the three meal. I mean, you can find it on Pinterest. Anywhere you go, you could say, I just want four ingredients. I want something really simple. or many of these places now, you just put what you have in your fridge and they'll say, here's what you can make with that. Yeah.
00:25:43
Speaker
Right? Yeah. AI is a... Oh gosh, it's crazy. But like we said, cooking double batches, that might be more up your speed. I do that all the time if the meal's intricate, like I said. Like if it's a harder meal for me and you know I'm making lasagna roll-ups, you better believe bad boy, I've got enough for Chantel if you want him and your neighbor who's getting a Sam's chicken and a couple other people in your life. You're going to trade them a Sam's chicken for some lasagna roll-ups?
00:26:08
Speaker
Oh my gosh, because those things break. You've got to roll them individually. There's a lot that goes into that. you know, I made crock pot lasagna once. And you don't have to cook the noodles because all of the moisture in the sauce and the cheese cook the noodles.
00:26:22
Speaker
And does it stay in the whole time or does it go in at the end? No, it all stays in the whole time. Really? They're not mush? No. Nope. You cook it less time. got to say, I was ah was very happy with it, except it's a mess to clean up.
00:26:36
Speaker
Okay, but it's hearty. It's very hearty. A lot of protein. And you think about the size of that crock pot. That's two meals. That is two meals. You could use ground turkey if you don't want to use beef. Low-fat cheese, like whatever you need to do.
00:26:47
Speaker
Crock pots are really good. We should talk about them. but Listen, i don't watch This Is Us. Have you ever seen This Is Us? I have seen Is Us. Well, then don't watch it because I'm about to tell you, putting that crock pot on in the morning and then, you know, having a meal ready at night.
00:27:00
Speaker
What? It is good. My husband works from home. So, you know, he does watch it. So I do recommend maybe you do that. But I mean, plenty of times I've done that too. Crock-pot, instant pot. Yes. Those pressure cookers.
00:27:12
Speaker
You can cook frozen chicken. In no time. In no time. And I like themes. I'll do themes every day, all day. like I do. kind of themes? Well, like, you know, I'm from Louisiana. I say that I was not born there. I just lived eight or nine years there, but I feel like it was all my life.
00:27:29
Speaker
um So like, you know, when we get into Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras, like forget it. We're all, ah yeah, we're wearing the Mardi Gras hats. We're doing the king cakes. Like we're all over it. We're talking with Mardi Gras absence and we're using slap your mama sauce on everything.
00:27:42
Speaker
What is Slap Your Mama sauce? It's really not a sauce. It's really a seasoning and it goes on everything. If my friend April, my BFF, from when I was little is listening, she like eats it on toast in the morning. It's fantastic. I'm going to bring you some. It's very good.
00:27:53
Speaker
It's very good. I'll do like, you know, um for Cinco de Mayo, we'll do things like you breakfast for dinner. We'll have a theme. You know, and then I break out all the fun things. I don't know.
00:28:05
Speaker
Paper plate day, appetizer day. I wish you could see Krista throwing her hand up like, laying here. She's so excited. I love themes. I love appetizer. That's like empty out the freezer of all of the little picky stuff that we've collected over the past couple months. And that's a great way to to have your kids. Like I'll say to my kids, you each make an appetizer.
00:28:25
Speaker
And then we all bring something to the table and then i'm like, cheese crackers are not an appetizer, buddy. Not an appetizer. You did not cook that. Fiona. Yeah. Oh, yes. It's always Fiona. So anyways, you know, I think like this is all stuff that, I mean, I know that we're talking about this and we did for 30 minutes and some of you are giggling.
Consistency: The Key to Stress-Free Dinners
00:28:43
Speaker
But honestly, I think the key takeaway here is like consistency makes everything less complex. And this is a really a big deal. This small, what's a dinner thing is really like a way bigger deal in our lives than, than maybe we're really realizing. And if you stop and think about it, i think you'll be like, yeah, I think you're right.
00:29:06
Speaker
So here's the thing. This is your reminder that feeding your family, it doesn't have to train your soul, right? You just need a system that gives you breathing room. That, that I think is the win.
00:29:18
Speaker
And I don't know what that's going to look like for you, but I hope listening to this podcast, you're going to do something this week. Take action. it could mean that you do my three, two, one system. It can mean you do what Chantel does. And every morning before you go to work, all your ingredients are at your fingertips and ready to go when you get home.
00:29:34
Speaker
Whatever that system looks like, just create something because I'm telling you, this is going to create peace and you can start small.
Encouragement to Start Meal Planning
00:29:41
Speaker
Plan two or three meals. You don't have to go crazy and plan a week at a time, but I'm telling you, it's going to take some anxiety off your plate.
00:29:49
Speaker
It's going to leave you less triggered. And at the end of the day, it's actually to fill your plate. So please, this week, take care of yourself. and each other. We will see you next week for another episode of Exhausted Sparrows Unite. And if you like what you hear and want to check out our website, please do sparrowsnestcharity.org.