November 6, 2024 – Why Are They Always Hungry? Meal Planning Help

Mercy Every Minute

Deborah Wuehler, TOS Senior Editor

What to Keep in the Kitchen

Having a plan for meals is a very helpful tool for busy homeschool families. On top of that, it is a powerful life skill to train all your little eaters to be little cooks. It actually starts with that baby on your hip while you are stirring that soup. Then, you push that chair up to the counter so the toddler can stand and watch you. You eventually give that growing child a task and let them help. 

Yes, you will be cleaning the counter, the floor, the cupboards, and your little one. Eventually, they make fewer messes and you let them help prep daily meals. Though having children in the kitchen may make meals take longer, that extra work when they are young will be a blessing to you when they are older. 

Week after week turns to year after year, until soon that chair disappears, and a good cook appears in your kitchen. Now that’s true meal planning all the way from toddlerhood to adulthood! 

On those days/seasons when it is too overwhelming to plan ahead, I make sure I keep three things in the kitchen: a meat, a vegetable (or salad), and a side dish (fruit, rice, pasta, or bread). 

Oh, make that four things I keep in the kitchen: a child. 

~Deborah

Here is a one-week meal plan from the archives:

Go-To Meals for Busy Back-to-School Nights (theoldschoolhouse.com)

More on Meal Planning through our magazine Issue Library

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Todd Wilson

Familyman Ministries

The Familyman’s Guide to No-Guilt Meal Planning

Okay, giving advice on meal planning is a first for me, but I’m up for the challenge. So, here is the Familyman’s Guide to No-Guilt Meal Planning.

1. If your dog won’t lick the plates afterward, then don’t serve it.

2. Sugar is not poison.

3. Just because it comes in a box, plastic package, or a can does not mean it’s evil.

4. Macaroni and cheese served with hot dogs is the perfect meal.

5. If you want to serve macaroni and cheese and hot dogs twice in one week . . . that’s Okay.

6. If cooking something from scratch makes you cry or causes great emotional distress, then don’t cook from scratch (see rule 3).

7. Teach your children to cook and then make them do it . . . for school.

8. Serve Twinkies for dessert to your gourmet friends the next time they come over. If you are a natural-only foods eater, stop reading this email, get in your car, run to the store, buy a box of Twinkies, and serve them for dessert tonight to your family (they’re going to love you).

9. If you like Frosted Flakes for breakfast, whatever you do, don’t hide the boxes in the back of the pantry. Consider displaying them on top of your refrigerator to let people know where you stand.

10. Remember Jesus told us it isn’t what goes into a man (woman or child) that makes him unclean but what comes out (of his mouth). (Matthew 15:11). See rule 8.

11. Avoid articles, books, or people that discuss the spiritual qualities of eating only what you can pick from your front yard.

12. If you enjoy gourmet cooking, eating organically, and grinding your own . . . whatever, enjoy it . . . just keep it to yourself. Oh, and don’t write mean letters to me.

13. And last but not least . . . Be Real!

Bon Appetit!
Chef Todd

About the author

Todd Wilson is a dad, granddad, writer, conference speaker, and former pastor. Todd’s humor and down to earth realness have made him a favorite speaker at homeschool conventions, retreats, and churches across the country. As founder of Familyman Ministries and the Smiling Homeschooler, his passion and mission are to remind dads and moms of what’s most important through weekly e-mails, podcasts (The Familyman Show & The Smiling Homeschooler), seminars, and books and products that encourage parents. Todd, and his wife Debbie, still homeschool two of their eight children (six have graduated with four married) in northern Indiana. You can read more at www.familymanweb.com.

Do you have a homeschooled student looking to the future? Check out the “Preparing for the Future: High School and Beyond” Resource Guide in the Fall 2024 issue of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine® for information on high school and college options.

Dianne Riveiro

Meal Planning Tips

If I had a choice between a laundry fairy, a cleaning fairy, or a cooking fairy, I would choose the cleaning fairy every time! I don’t mind laundry, and I enjoy being in the kitchen. However, there are times I despise the meal planning stage of cooking. 

Here are some tips I use to make the daily meal prep game a little easier . . . 

• Utilize a meal planning service like eMeals (which can integrate with Walmart grocery pickup).
• Consider making a monthly meal planning calendar. This will take an upfront investment of time, but it will make the rest of the month smooth sailing. There are lots of free printables on Pinterest too.
• Assign a theme to each day of the week. For example, Meatless Mondays, Taco Tuesdays, Crockpot Wednesdays, Sheet Pan Thursdays, Fun Fridays, etc.
• Keep a running list on your phone of family favorites—those tried-and-true meals that everyone loves. Plug them in on weeks when you feel meal planning fatigue.
• Lastly, get the family involved! Have your spouse and kids join you in suggesting meals for the week. This can also be a part of your home economics class—a win-win.

Eating is a necessary part of life, but meal planning stress does not have to be! Try one of these tips and see if it works for you.

-Dianne

About the author

Pastor Adam and Dianne Riveiro live in Easton, Massachusetts, where Adam leads Liberty Baptist Church. They’re the authors of several books, including Hope from Our Heart to Yours: A 30-Day Devotional Journey for Special Needs Families, available from their family’s publishing label at www.readyscribepublications.com. They have four children: Bethany, Kaylee, AJ, and Peyton. They’re passionate about helping their fellow special needs families find joy and contentment in Christ.

Pillar of Faith

Heidi Mosher

Meal Planning with a Revolving Door

If you have teens with jobs, a job yourself, a saturated calendar, young adults home for a few weeks now and then, and/or a traveling husband, this one’s for you. 

“What’s for supper?” depends on who is home for supper. 

Such is life during the revolving door years when it’s tricky keeping track of comings and goings. I cherish the times when all six of us share a meal around the table because these days, those days are so very rare. Here’s how I’ve adjusted.

Change the timing. Meal prep doesn’t have to be about the evening meal. Offer a big breakfast or noon meal if that’s when most of the family happens to be home. “Big Lunch” at our house means a satisfying meal for the day without expectation of a second large meal later. 

Stash leftovers. Throw single servings (soup or lasagna, etc.)in the freezer. Someone will appreciate them on a busy day or in a packed lunch for work.

Teach big kids basic cooking for times when you’re not home. Over here, that means my guys are happy if they can fry brats or cook burgers on the Foreman grill.

Try meal kit delivery. When I was in a cooking rut, a friend’s discount code convinced me to try a subscription kit. Ingredients come in a box, premeasured, and ready for simple assembly. A few weeks of a few meals per week transformed my kitchen to a delightful place.

Pass on stress when bringing a dish to pass. Keep it simple and bring purchased items (rolls, fruit, etc.) for gatherings and potlucks if that helps you show up with a smile. I admire those who put time into their dish to pass. I am not one of them. I don’t attempt to bring something perfect; I just bring something. 

As our home has transformed into “home base” and family meals are largely history, it strikes me that the natural opportunity for devotions following our evening meal has also mostly disappeared. Yet we can keep feeding our families the Bread of Life—the most important meal of all. 

About the author

Heidi Mosher is honored to write for The Homeschool Minute, as it was a lifeline of her early homeschooling years. She is thankful to be the mother of four—two recent homeschool graduates and two who are currently homeschooled.

Would you like to get the whole family involved in meal preparation? With this SchoolhouseTeachers.com course, Whole Foods Cooking with Sue Gregg, the entire family can learn to cook together. The course includes cooking techniques, step-by-step photo demonstrations, informational printouts, and recipes. Students learn to prepare breakfasts, soups, finger foods, and main dishes. With a whole-foods approach, this course not only teaches cooking but also provides resource materials in health and nutrition. Try it today on SchoolhouseTeachers.com.