Work for a day...

So, having three children is wonderful, but there is a certain hour of the day when all members of my family disintegrate.  All you moms and dads out there know what hour that is.  The dinner making hour.  Pretty much the hour you would need to be slaving over a stove to get dinner on the table, my precious darlings turn into gremlins.  Not the Star Wars cute, fuzzy guys; the horrible gnaw-your-leg-off-at-the-knee kind (from some '80's movie I was never allowed to watch).

Once upon a time (five minutes) when I had one child, I prepared dinner during his (consistent, three-hour) afternoon nap (and cleaned the house and did the folding) then when Annabel came along, I got a lot more serious about meal planning.  I found the most awesome web site:

I love this site...love, love, love.  I have been trying to create something like it on my own for years, but I always over complicate things.

Here's the deal...you import/input your recipes.  Drag and drop them into the calendar.  Then they make you a shopping list.  Brilliant!  Through the help function you can get it to sync with your personal calendar of choice (don't ask me how...I just followed the help guide).

This month I did something I knew was in my future since I heard about a mother doing it when I was in high school.  For some reason, I heard my mom talking with this woman and my heart grew tremulous.  I knew someday I would have to make all my meals for a whole month and freeze them.  I don't know why this made such an impression on me, but I knew I would have to try it.  Someday.  When I grew desperate.

I have grown desperate.

So, I planned December in Plan to Eat, made out my shopping list, went on a insanely long trip to the grocery store, hired a babysitter and cooked all day long.  All day.  But now all I have to do to make a homemade dinner is thaw and heat or pop open a jar of home canned soup.  The best part? I can play with my babes during the witching hour without any anxiety about getting dinner on the table or eating pb&j too many nights a week.

Only problem is it makes about a month's worth of mess in your kitchen!