I love to plan, really love to plan. I have binders, dividers, notebooks and tabs. I love to plan for our yearly vacations and as soon as they're done I start planning for the holidays. I loved when I was pregnant and planning for my new sweet baby. I work in my Christmas binder year round. I love working on my homeschooling ideas, portfolios and lesson plans. And lately I've been working on my dream of someday going to Disney, what a binder of plans that is turing into!
Sounds good, right? Organized?
Well as much time as I spend planning and organizing my plans I have to admit there are some plans I make and just dont carry out. Not my vacation or Christmas plans, thats too much fun! My meal plans. I will sit and make a list for the store, plan my meals and somewhere along the line or my week, I get wrapped up and too busy to stick to the plan. This can get hairy when its 5:00 and I have 10+ hungry people! So I've started researching and working on sticking to a meal plan. I thought it might be helpful to me to read on why its important to stick to a meal plan, some motivation. Heres what I found -
Lets start by looking at the word of God
I know, you're thinking what does the Bible say about meal planning? Not much specifically, but many principals can and should be applied to running our homes, including our kitchens.
-God is a God of order, not chaos
One of the first things God shows us in Genesis is that He does things in an orderly fashion with creation, building one day at a time.
He also had a "back-up plan" - He knew Adam and Eve would need it. We need back up plans too!
-Proverbs 31 woman
She did A LOT! Who can find such a woman?
She gets up while it is still night, provides food for her family and servants, buys land, sells & shops wisely, spins wool and flax, serves others in need, provides clothing for herself and family, keeps lamps filled so they will not go out in the night, she is wise and happy and is not idle. And those are just some examples of what she does!
With all that she was doing, do you think she was just winging it? Or maybe she had some sort of plan, even if it was just in her head, from repetition, and good training.
She had help! She had servants! We often see that and think we don't have that help, so we can't do all of that. You do have help! You have things she did not! You have electricity, washer/dryer, stores, cars, fridge/freezer, crockpot, kids, and more! Use them! Lets be good stewards of what God has given us! Lets also remember that God had given us our homes to run, and our responsibilities need to be fulfilled there before we are venturing out for other obligations.
-Don't be a slave to your plan
Sometimes we can let our plans hold us captive and let it rule us. That feeling can often get in the way of wanting to make a plan.
Proverbs 16:9 In his heart a man plans his course; but the LORD determines his steps.
Use your plan to help you do what God has planned for you. Your plan needs to work for you, if something comes up look at your plan. See what you can change around to make things work. Think ahead. Plan simple meals or crock pot meals for those busy days you know are coming up.
Meal planning examples -
There are many ways to plan meals and can be as simple or as detailed as you want. Make it work for you.
Week at a time.
Month at a time.
List of meals that you have everything available to make.
Being prepared thinking ahead
Matthew 25 1-13 - We need to be prepared, we need to be able to serve our families and others. What good works do we miss out on because we are not prepared?
A well stocked pantry will help you.....
When your plans fall through (you have extra to fall back on)
When you have guests (you are able to serve, and can supplement your planned meal)
Save money (stock up on sales, and avoid extra trips out)
When life gets too crazy to plan or go shopping (you can pull something together from your panty)
Improvise (or not have to)
Since part of planning and being prepared in the kitchen requires that you be fairly comfortable IN your kitchen I wanted to touch on Titus 2: 2-5
It speaks to having the older women teaching the younger women to be keepers of the home (among other things), and that includes the kitchen. So often though, we shoo our daughters and young women out of the kitchen. We need to be brining them in to the kitchen and giving them responsibilities in there daily.
My goal is to make a meal plan, have quick meals in my pantry for busy days, use my crock pot more and have all my kids, not just my girls, help in the kitchen more! :)
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