Meal Planning

I have been saying lately that I am in the "Mom's taxi" phase of life. My boys are 14 and 9 and both are rather self-sufficient except for getting themselves places. (Although I have taken them on bikes to show them how to get the library and a close by shopping center safely. And DS14 has gotten the bike out a few times this summer and trerated himself to McDonald's. )

At the beginning of May I knew it was going to be a hectic month with baseball games and practices. We had just recently purchased a membership at Costco and if there was not a plan in place for meals, Hubby would default to eating out eventhough he is trying to plus that hole in his wallet. Thus I made a monthly menu. I did write down somethign for each day, but at least the days when I knew we woudl be rushed. I also did a first of the month shopping trip to Costco (I get paid once a month, so that was the easiest) and divided up super-huge parcels of meats into meal-sized or individual sized servings (such as hamburger patties).

My family liked having that spreadsheet ont he fridge so much. My 9 YO has a habit of asking first thing in the morning or when he gets pciked up "What's for dinner? If the meal planned was an oven thing, I could have it prepared in the fridge and have the 14 Yo put it int he oven so it was ready when I walked in the door.

So here it is, the end of July. I am ready to start this process for August, I have the 14yo's band schedule (I think) but I only have information on the 9 YO's first Football practice.

I am worried. the 9 YO will be at after school care. Most liely we will not have time to take him home before football practice. He will have to be fed soemthing before practice. He's not much of a sandwich eat, so that will most likely mean fast food (Yuck! and expensive).

So here is what I am thinking:
1.) load some gift cards for Wendy's for once a week. I think football for the 3rd and 4th graders will be 2 nights a week.
2.) Make him eat a sandwich the other night.
3.) I will be picking the 14 yo up at school after practice. So we will need something quick.

I know a lot of busy people use their crock pots. I find that many of the crockpot meals I have tried do not hold up well after 10 hours. I just do not find them appetizing.

Anyways, I'll update on my progress.