The other day I was easily preparing dinner in the kitchen for my children and my sister and her children. My five year old nephew was sitting at the table very anxiously awaiting our chicken fettuccine meal and assuring me that this was going to be a very good dinner. He was clearly excited. I was enjoying putting together a meal and was amazed at how effortless it seemed. However, having Fibromyalgia this isn’t always the case. I began to think about different ways I organize and plan meals so that on the days I am not feeling like dinner is an effortless task, I can still pull together a decent meal.

Put Together A List of Meals – Like most children, my own are very picky about what they eat. Not only are they picky, but they seem to like the opposite foods as the other one. Because of this challenge, I’ve put together a list of about twenty different complete meals to ensure each child will have something from each food group. Sometimes, the menu looks a bit interesting from the food combinations I’ve come up with to ensure they are both meeting their nutritional needs, but it works for them. I can easily review this list prior to grocery shopping, pick out a few meals and just write on my list the items that we need to be able to put together these meals.
Take Some Tips From the Make-It/Take-It Kitchens – I’ve had the opportunity to go to these franchise businesses and assemble meals with a group as a fun night out. If you haven’t been to one of these businesses, they have stations set-up for each meal and you just rotate from station to station preparing your meal and packaging to take home and place in your refrigerator. If you have one of these businesses near you, that is a great solution to assemble your meals. Some of the tips I’ve learned from packaging these meals I’ve incorporated at home. I’ll buy chicken and place them into a Ziploc bag with a marinade and place into the freezer. It’s easy to pull these out and thaw them to broil quickly for an evening meal. When, I have the energy to make a lasagna, I’ll double the batch and put one in the freezer for another night. Often times, I’ll break up the preparation of a meal. For example, if we are having tacos, I’ll brown and season the ground beef the night before. Then, the next day I just warm up the ground beef and pull out the toppings to assemble tacos quickly and easily. Often times, I’ll brown twice the amount of ground beef and place half in the freezer for another night.
Pre-made Items For Children’s Lunches – Preparing lunches every evening for the children to go to school can be difficult on the nights you aren’t feeling your best. Most nights, we’ll make fresh sandwiches for school, however, there are many nights when a pre-made frozen peanut butter and jelly found in the freezer section of the grocery store is placed into their lunch. We’ll also buy snacks in individual packages or divide up snacks and place them into snack bags, which are easily grabbed and placed into a lunch.
Article written by Lisa Meloche, President and Massage Therapist, Bodywork Alternatives Massage Therapy butyoudontlooksick.com ©
*No changes in treatment should be undertaken without the supervision of a physician.