Being a full-time working mother, with a child who goes to bed early (by 7:30 P.M.), I try to maximize my time with my son without jeopardizing his nutrition. We have never been ones to eat at fast food restaurants, but have done our share of eating out when we just didn’t feel like cooking. With a child, we knew this was not practical. It was too expensive, and his behavior isn’t always predictable.
Eating Out
On the RARE occasion we do eat out, we go to dinner at 5 P.M. This way there are fewer people in the restaurant and we have a better chance of him being in a good mood. I usually bring snacks and sometimes other food that he might like in case he isn’t “in the mood” for what is on the menu, since at 18 months old, he has his own opinions and meal times are much more challenging than when he was 8 months old. Although, if pasta is an option, there is a good chance he will be happy. There are only a few restaurants that we choose from as well. Places like Red Robin and Panera are good choices for him because they are usually loud (which drowns out his noise) and have things on the menu that he will eat. Many times I ask for his food to be brought out first so that he can begin eating. He also takes longer to eat than we do so this allows him more time to eat his food. We have been known to ask for our food to be boxed up so that we could leave because he was not in a good mood. Just another thing we now have to realize might happen with a child.
There are also ways that we save money when we eat out. We look for coupons so that we aren’t paying for our entire meal. Some restaurants offer Kids Eat Free nights. They may be more crowded, but everyone there has a kid so we know ours won’t be the only one being loud. Everyone there is in the same position as us so we all understand. Finally, we MAYBE eat out once a month, but usually not that often. I can’t remember the last time we went out to dinner???
While it is a rarity for us to eat out in a restaurant, we do feel it is important to do this on occasion so that Derek will learn how to behave in public. If he were to never go out to eat until an age that we think he might behave, we still might not get the result that we want because he had never practiced it before.
Eating In
I am a Costco shopper. I go once every couple of months and stock up on meat. I am also a planner. I plan out my dinners a week in advance so that I know what I need to get at the store and so when I get home from work I don’t have to figure out what to have for dinner. Well, in October, I decided to kick it up a notch. After my Costco shopping trip, I planned out my meals FOR A MONTH!!! Then, I prepared a bunch of them ahead of time! I made spinach stuffed shells, meatloaf, taco meat, hamburgers in gravy (a family favorite), and I marinated chicken before freezing. I did 4 different flavors: Bar-B-Que, honey mustard, Italian, and balsamic vinegar. Then I froze the chicken in their marinades. I left some of the meat as is in case I wanted to make something different. I already had pork chops and tenderloins in the freezer and we always have frozen pizza on hand and frozen veggies.
When I planned out my meals, I took into consideration all of the things that were prepared ahead of time and other items that I had on hand. I also made sure to schedule in the nights that we had outings already planned and nights that it was just Mommy and Derek or Daddy and Derek. The month just ended yesterday and it was a success! I was less stressed when I got home from work because most of the meals were already prepared. All I had to do was take it out of the freezer and put it in the oven for about an hour and it was done. This gave me more time to spend with Derek instead of spending all of my time preparing dinner and not getting to play with him and then having to put him to bed almost immediately after we ate. I have already begun my next month of planning which will take me up until Christmas.
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