Sunday Morning Ritual

Is this you?  Some say routine is boring.  Some say routine is necessary.  Some say routine is predictable, stable and comforting.  However you define it or describe it, there's no denying that there's "just something about routines."

For me, Sunday mornings are one sacred time that I can truly count on to be routine---in the best way.  I'm usually up before everyone else on Sunday mornings (I suspect that'll change when Sprout arrives on the scene, as he/she will be my human alarm clock!) and savor a few moments of quiet before the day gets going.

Then there's the family snuggle time before we make it downstairs to the kitchen.  Breakfast gets under way and so does meal planning.  All while sounds of acoustic, coffee house music fills the rooms.

Since becoming a Beachbody Coach, I've really gotten back to meal planning/prepping on Sundays.  Once upon a time, Mark and I were good about that habit, but then we fell out of it.  Getting back into it has been such a saving grace--on so many levels.

Each week, I share a meal plan with my Challengers.  Let's face it, we all get stuck in food ruts from time to time; making the same 5 or 6 meals.  But my 5 or 6 meals are likely not your 5 or 6 meals.  So if we swap lists....see what I'm getting at here!?

Writer's note:  I am getting a serious case of blog dejavu right now.  If I've written a post like this one before, forgive me.  Read on, but forgive me. 










Anyway, I aim to find clean eating recipes--or at least find recipes that I can clean up with a few simple modifications.  It gives me a great excuse to try new things and gives me an outlet for all those Pins I find...usually at the worst time of day...pinning in rush hour traffic trying to get home leads to some moments of pure regret...like "Oh my gosh, I cannot believe I pinned that 34 layer chocolate caramel Oreo dessert, but DAMN did it look good at the time."  I feel like you could look at my Pins and guess, within 20 minutes, what time I found it!

But back to how this process is a saving grace.  No more "what are we having for dinner?" phone calls from the Hubs at 4:45pm.  Besides the fact that he's interrupting my pinning (ahem!!), those phone calls make me nuts.  He's not saying that it's my job to figure out dinner, but that's what I hear.  Now we don't do that anymore.  We have our list made on Sundays and we know the plan. 

Plus, once we've identified our menu, we gather the recipes and shop our pantry first, then make our very specific grocery list.  Having this list does two awesome things; (1) it saves money on buying random stuff we either don't need or will wind up wasting (we've all done the "Ooooh, that looks good.  I'll get 4 and we'll totally {not} use them." method of shopping way too often, have we not?).  And (2), it allows me to send Mark to the store without me because he'll totally stick to the list....money and time saved!  Boom!

Setting up the entire week at once doesn't mean we aren't flexible.  If anything, it gives us more flexibility.  Switch Monday's dinner to Wednesday and Tuesday's to Thursday?  Sure thing--we've got everything we need, so no worries.  Also, no bad choices.  On the rare week that we don't get a meal plan made, it usually means we also didn't food shop and THAT means that we're far more likely to choose something quick, easy and less than wonderful simply because nothing's on hand.  Bad, bad, bad!

If you'd like to check out a sample meal plan or get more information on what/how we eat (and it is a family gig; I'm not a short order cook here!), let me know.  Fill out the comment section in the pop up, leave a comment, email me...something.  I'll be glad to share our meals and ideas with you.  We can all be in this together, right!?