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why can?t i surive a week of
meal
planning
? by lisa a. beach in every issue t h e l a s t wo r d t o make life easier, some people follow the once-a- month
meal
planning
and cooking approach, where you basically buy, prepare, and cook a month?s worth of
meal
s in one day, and then freeze them until later. i am not one of those people. i like the idea of stockpiling 30 days of ready-to-heat dinners in my freezer like an end-of-the-world underground bunker, but that would require way more
planning
than i?m capable of. besides, even my best- laid plans usually fall apart with my
family
?s hectic schedule. top that off with the typical craziness of the
meal
-prep witching hour, and you can understand why i shy away from once-a-month cooking. but i figured i could handle seven days of
meal
planning
. so i buckled down one sunday a?ernoon to tackle the weekly plan. i knew that weeknights would run smoother when i planned what to make for dinner and stocked my kitchen with all the necessary ingredients. but the reality of
meal
planning
took a turn for the worse mid-week, as my carefully cra?ed
meal
plan morphed into a
meal
ban, one dreadful dinner at a time. meatless monday i made a no-fail vegetable soup for veggie-haters, falsely believing that my recipe would convert my meat-loving-men to healthier eating at least once a week. my carnivore clan (less than thrilled with the lack of a dead animal in their entrée) immediately started dissecting their soup. my husband pushed all the carrots to one side hoping no one noticed (i did). the boys picked out the onions and green stuff. a?er much cajoling, my finicky teens pushed their half-empty bowls away and claimed they were ?full? as they grabbed a couple more slices of bread and bolted upstairs. day one: fail. tasty tuesday tonight, i tempted taste buds with gourmet cuisine, taking my cue straight from the barefoot contessa herself. i channeled my inner ina garten as i whipped together an elegant
meal
of chicken with asiago cheese and basil, oven-roasted dill carrots, and penne pasta with roasted red peppers, garlic, and sun-dried tomatoes. it was piping hot and ready to serve?until
family
plans went awry. my husband needed to work late, my older son had to help with a group project at school, and my younger son had his soccer practice rescheduled. a?er an extra two hours of keeping dinner warm, my
meal
melded into charred chow. win-them-back wednesday i attempted to appease everyone?s picky palate with a
family
favorite: a crock-pot full of chili. i tossed a couple pounds of beef in the slow-cooker, added some onions, herbs and diced tomatoes and we were good to go. eight hours later, we walked through the door, anticipating the spicy aroma of chili to welcome us home. strangely, we didn?t smell anything. i headed to the kitchen and saw the cord dangling next to the crock-pot. crap! i forgot to plug it in. the opposite of last night?s overcooked dinner, tonight?s
meal
sat raw and bloody in my cold crock-pot, practically mooing when i cracked open the lid. i grabbed a bag of tortilla chips, dumped salsa in a bowl and dubbed it a tex-mex appetizer. thankless thursday a?er three failed attempts, while cursing the
meal
plan, i popped open cans of condensed soup, wondering if anyone would even notice it?s not homemade. trying to make me feel better, my sons both remarked on how delicious the soup was and encouraged me to ?make this more o?en.? yeah, i?ll hold on tight to that campbell
family
recipe. dear god, why do i even try? free-for-all friday with everyone on a different schedule tonight, i ditched the idea of a home-cooked
meal
together. my
meal
plan is on life support. suck-it saturday by the weekend, i was crying into my cookbook as i threw frozen fish sticks at the kids. sanity-saving sunday tonight i?m dining alone with wine and my head in a book. i picked up the phone, dialed, and heard the words that brought joy to my heart: ?china wok, may i help you?? ? 11 6 b r p a r e n t s . c o m | j a n u a r y 2 0 1 8
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