One of the best ways I’ve discovered to feel more organized and less frazzled in the afternoons and evenings is to have a plan for dinner and have it already made before the kids come home from school.
That way, when they come home, I can just be present with them instead of trying to fix dinner and oversee homework and help kids with projects and get ready for whatever activities we have in the evening. Plus, it also saves us money because we’re not running to the store or through the drive-thru at 5:30 p.m. at night!
I’ve found that the best way to make this happen is to either have dinner already made and just needing to be heated up or to put dinner in the crockpot in the morning. I look for quick and easy meals that only take minutes to make in the morning or can be pulled out of the freezer and heated up in the Instant Pot or Crockpot or oven.
Want to Try Prepping Your Dinners in the Morning?
I want to challenge you to try implementing this habit of having dinner prepped in the morning in your home and see how it works for you. And to help you out, I’m going to do a fun Eat at Home challenge on my blog and on Facebook Live and Instagram Stories for the next 6 days — where I’ll be prepping our dinners on live video before we head to school in the mornings (I’ll be on live around 6:50-7:10 a.m.).
I’ll likely be in my workout clothes with no makeup on and the kids will be doing last-minute prep for school. It’s going to be real and raw and unedited… and I can guarantee there will likely be some mishaps or real-life scenes that take place. But I want to bring you into our morning and our kitchen to encourage you that you don’t have to do it perfectly for it to still make a big difference!
How This Challenge Will Work
The challenge will run for 6 days — September 13-18, 2018. Thursday, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday morning around 6:50 a.m. to 7:10 a.m. CT, I’ll be on Facebook Live prepping our dinner to throw in the slow cooker for the day so that when 6 p.m. rolls around dinner is READY!
(I’m taking the weekend off since we’ll be camping with our Community Group on Saturday morning and running the Tough Mudder on Sunday morning.)
Every day, in addition to doing a Facebook Live video on my Facebook Page, I’ll be posting here on the blog what I made that day, along with a link to my video (in case you missed it).
My hope is that this will inspire you with some new recipe ideas, encourage you to not wait until the last minute to think about what you’re having for dinner, and motivate you to eat at home more (even on busy nights!) so you can save money.
I’d love for you to join me in this challenge!
I know that many of you are in the middle of getting back into rhythms and routines after summer break so I hope this Eat At Home Challenge will inspire you with simple and easy meals that you can make in the morning before your kids head out the door to school or before you head to work or before you start your day and then you won’t have to think about dinner the rest of the day!
Lynne Huysamen says
OK so I see that I am years too late to follow you live but I am inspired by your post to start preparing meals early every day from now on. I wish I had an instant pot! I’ve heard such fantastic things about it. I do have a slow cooker though, in fact I have two – a small one and a big one. I am now motivated to pull them both out and start making use of them every day.
Meg says
Glad it inspired you! Crystal does live videos about the Eat At Home Challenge several times per year, so be on the lookout for one in the near future! Also, be sure to sign up for our Eat At Home Challenge for more tips and encouragement! -Meg, MSM Team
Kralova says
Beautifully written.
Kristina says
Great tip!
Anna Tulip says
Thank you so much for sharing!
Trish McCourt says
I’m late to the party, but joining in now. My family needs this terribly. I hope to grt buy in from everyone so we can all pitch in (my girls are 15 & 17 and home a couple of hours before me everyday).
Crystal Paine says
I’m so glad you’re joining us!
Olga says
I’m excited to participate in this challenge with basketball games and football practices my afternoons are extremely busy. I do find myself running around prepping dinner while the boys get homework done before we all have to rush out the door for a sport practice or game.