Episode 34: How To Get Dinner On The Table More Consistently

Listen, feeding our families shouldn’t have to be this huge pain point in our lives. And it certainly doesn’t need to be another way that we measure or define our success as mothers.

Ya know what I mean…..  I have been totally guilty of this. When we have a week  where life is just crazy busy…and there’s sports every night .and we’ve hit the drive thru a few too many times…..I get this creeping up feeling like I’m not a good enough mom cause my kids are living off of chicken nuggets. 

But the flip side can be just as true! Weeks when I cook for 4 or 5 days in a row and I feel like freaking Betty Homemaker just killing it and my family is dang lucky to have me. 

The truth is, we all need to eat and feed our families. And being the person in charge of that can feel like a lot sometimes. But today I want to share with you 7 things that have helped me eat better, feel better, and get dinner on the table more consistently. 

Now, before I go on I need to add a FULL DISCLOSURE. I am not perfect. This should come as a shocker to no one.  The people at the Chick Fil A drive through recognize us and know who we are ( story:....) Also, the Doordash people are probably our most frequent house guests…….so yeah…. 

Ya know the saying “Fail to plan, Plan to Fail”, well it’s 100$% true in this case. And I know from experience. Too much experience if I am being perfectly honest. 

But the weeks where I DO show up as the best version of myself...the weeks where I take a few minutes on Sunday night to plan and create a grocery order and make sure that our house is stocked with food and that I have looked at the calendar to make sure I’m aware of everything going on- those weeks I feel on top of the world.

 I eat healthy, which means I feel good. When I feel good, I operate at my best, and the world is just a much better place. 

So getting all that out of the way. Here are 3 tips to help you eat better, feel better, and get dinner on the table more consistently: 

Number 1: MINDSET! You literally cannot change or improve anything in your life without first shifting your mindset around it. Think about it, if eating healthy or getting dinner on the table for your family is always surrounded by thoughts of “it’s so hard to eat healthy. Healthy food is too expensive. I hate cooking, I’m not a good cook. It’s so draining to plan dinners EVERY NIGHT……...blah blah blah…. Then guess what. Your brain is programed that every time the subject come up, it goes straight to negative-ville and you operate from there. 

Instead: shift those thoughts to a more positive and empowering place. Eating healthy helps me feel my best. When I plan out our dinners, our week goes so much more smoothly. With each recipe I try, I become a better and better cook.” 

See the difference!?! Small shifts in your thoughts are gonna put you on a track towards success and feeling good. 

Number 2.  START SMALL. Yep, my start small theory applies here too. (spoiler: it applies to literally any area of your life that you are wanting to change or improve in) If you are someone who NEVER cooks, you aren’t going to go from 0-60 in one week. So don’t try! Instead, give yourself a small goal that you can easily hit. For me, I know it’s completely unrealistic to say that I am going to cook 7 days a week. I will burn out by day 3 or 4. Or sometimes our family schedule just doesn’t allow for full cooking days,(hello having 3 kids all involved in sports and extra cirriculars and me being a taxi driver)  or sometimes I just plain want some take-out. Nothing wrong with that. But instead of me making a goal of cooking every night of the week, I would start with what I know I can do. 2 nights or 3…So start small. Give yourself an opportunity to succeed and feel good and build momentum. 

Okay so this applies to dinners. But I wanna touch on the goal that a lot of us have to eat healthier and the lengths we go to do that. 30 day cuts, keto diets, juice cleanses, no sugar, intermittent fasting…..you name it.

If you’ve been around here a while you already know that I am not a fan of extremes. I would so much rather change one small thing at a time and build on those healthy habits until weeks, months, and years later you are just naturally living a more healthy lifestyle. 

So instead of jumping on the latest challenge or diet, just ask yourself “ what is ONE thing I could do today with my nutrition that gets me closer to my goals” - identify what that ONE thing is and then do that. It could be drinking your water. It could be hitting a protein goal. And for one day just focus on that. Then build from there. The small changes matter. I know they seem small and like you aren’t doing “enough” but I promise you- the small, slow, CONSISTENT starts are what will make all the difference. 

3.  PLAN AHEAD. Now again….you don’t have to go to extremes and go buy all these meal prepping containers and prep all your meals for the week and have every last morsel of food that you are going to eat planned out. Because you know….extremes. But- having a loose plan will help you SO MUCH. When I am living my best life…..it goes like this: Use the weekend to plan for the week ahead. Usually on sunday afternoons or evening I take a look at the calendar and see what nights we’ve got things going on. I know for those nights- dinner had got to be EASY PEASY. I also don’t plan each day specifically. My goal is to get dinner on the table 4 nights a week. That leaves a weekend day for a date night, a day that we can use leftovers or have it just be a make whatever you want day…..

To recap:

Shift your mindset, don’t be afraid to start small, and make sure to plan ahead.

Links and other helpful resources:

Follow along on IG to see more hacks and keep up with new announcements.
Join the Positively You Community on Facebook
Try JUCE Organics. Use the code POSITIVEU to get a BUY ONE GET ONE deal!