Meal time prep

Parenting: where you become a master of mealtime madness, juggling grocery lists, shopping carts, and mealtime meltdowns like a pro! 🍔🥗🍝 🤪
Before starting a family did you also fail to realize how much thought and time it would take to ensure three meals were ready to go for your kids each day? Meal prep can feel like a huge burden, especially when you get in a rut about what to serve your little ones. And it can be so frustrating to spend hours of your time prepping only to receive an "ew, gross" from your toddler when the meal is served.
But remember, meal prep doesn't have to be so daunting! Getting into a rotation of some easy meals can lighten the mental load of deciding what to cook. Also, involving your children in age-appropriate prep tasks can be a fun way to connect AND can increase their likelihood of trying that food when it's served!
In our house; we have simplified things by having a night of the week for various cuisines. Based on that night, we rotate various dishes from that culture. This not only allows diversity of cuisine, seasonings, and flavors; but makes it easy on our mental load: (ex: Mexican food night, Indian food night, Italian food night, Noodles or Thai food night, Mediterranean night, takeout night, etc).
For lunch and breakfast for the kids we have 6-7 meals on rotation.
If you struggle with meal prep or are looking for tips on how to simplify the process be sure to check out my PedsDocTalk podcast episode with @yummytoddlerfood. It includes tons of tips on how to bring the joy back into mealtime and you can access it wherever you listen to your podcasts!
Do you dread food prep? Have you tried anything that's made it a little easier or more enjoyable? Let's help each other out by sharing our favorite tricks in the comments below!