Who say's You HAVE to cook everyday?

It is well intentioned that we aspire to cook a healthy and balanced meal everyday and plan meals for the week, for the ,and all the stuff that the magazines tell you, but really who has time? We have to be realistic with ourselves, how many meals can you cook during the week that are cost-effective, nutritious, and delicious? To be honest it can be done with a little planning and a little help from those sources and philospohies which are in alignment with our own.  One idea is to gather all your friends on a Saturday and have a cook and swap healthy meals party (casseroles, quiches, salads, soups, etc.)

Let me be the first to say that I often lack the energy and motivation to cook everyday. Take tonight for instance, my husband suggested we go to EarthFare (a healthfood grocery store) for groceries. It's Thrusday and I compltely forgot that kids eat free on Thursday with the minimum purchase of a $5 adult meal. Now they are talking my lanuage because not only does this store give great weekly coupons and freebies during the week (when you sign up for their email list), they also want to feed your whole family for nearly free! To boot we had warm cider while we shopped for groceries afterwards. They get an "A" for the day in my book because Thursday's are now a no brainer for dinner. Our adult dinner total was $11.71. I spent $40 in the store but the trade-off was worth it (I can be lured with good free food-LOL).

I say all of this to say, make dinner a priority but also make it easy and inexpensive by signing up for coupons, email lists, and checking to see who's offering free meals for the kids. Also, WholeFoods has a kids membership where kids sign up and earn a free snack each time they are in the store. Can somebody say "afterschool snack" made easy and free! Hello out there, we can eat good, eat free, and be healthy all in one. Any more ideas, please share on the blog as we build a strong network support of working moms! Don't forget to pencil in that family walk from time to time and to keep up prayer : )

http://www.earthfare.com/FamilyDinnerNight.aspx