Simplifying Your Mealtime Routine (So You Can Write)

I’m sure your calendar this month is jam-packed. Even though I’ve tried to cull much of the clutter from our schedule, December still leaves me feeling like my head is barely above water. But I’ve at last found a way to get my mealtime routine under control, and I wanted to pass this tip along to you.

For years, I’ve tried to become more organized in the kitchen so that we can save money by eating all our meals at home. I’ve always admired those super-talented women who could do their cooking once a month and freeze meals to pull out each day.

I could never get my act together enough to do this.

Yet for the past several months, some women from our church Bible study have been getting together to go to Dinner A’fare. These types of businesses are cropping up all over the country, so you may have one near you, with a different name.

It’s quite amazing. In one hour, I can put together 12 main-course meals, which I bring home to freeze. They only take up two small shelves in my freezer because the process involves putting the ingredients in ziplock bags, then wrapping the bags in saran wrap, along with a typed-label of what’s inside.

The label reminds me to take the meal out of the freezer at least 24 hours in advance, and there are step-by-step instructions to show me how to cook the meal. It’s so easy, even for someone like me who is easily distracted! (I’m the one who gets in trouble if I try to cook and check email at the same time!)

We eat these meals three nights a week, and I fill in the rest of the month by eating our church suppers on Wednesday nights, then making some family favorites I know by heart. What’s great about the Dinner A’fare meals is that I don’t have to plan or shop, and my kitchen stays clean while I pop the already-prepped meal into my oven!

Sometimes I just unload what’s in the ziplock bags into my crockpot, and the meal cooks all day. Then at suppertime, all I have to do is make a pot of rice and add a salad and bread. For parents who are busy trying to balance family with carving out a productive writing life, this is one tip I wanted to pass along.

I also see this experience as somewhat of a cooking school for me, since I’ve never tried many of the recipes. And they all have fancy names, which make it fun. Instead of saying, “Kids, we’re having pork chops for supper,” I can tell them we’re having “Apple sage pork tenderloin.” Baked fish becomes “Asian Tilapia with five-spice Panko Crust.” Crockpot roast beef sounds more tasty as “Italian Brachiole Stuffed Flank Steak.” Eh?

A week after we ate a delicious tilapia Dinner A’fare meal, my second-grader told me she and her classmates “cooked supper” on the playground.

“I was in charge,” she told me, her chin raised high in the air.

“What did you make?” I asked.

“Oh, we gathered sticks to make our oven, then I told them how to cook Asian tilapia,” she smiled.

Sounds better than take-out pizza!