As a homeschool mom, meal times don’t always go as planned. Since we don’t follow a traditional school schedule every day, this can sometimes mean we don’t finish our lesson plans until late at night. As much as we would love to have a regular meal schedule around our home, it doesn’t always work out that way. This is why I put together a guide for meal planning tips for homeschool parents.
Make a plan
With any successful meal plan, you need to make a plan. Start by finding about five or six meals for the week. Typically, we will either eat out or ordering pizza one night or use the other for a leftover night, so having a little bit of wiggle room can help. Often we are eating all three meals at home, and making a plan will help you figure out when to start making dinner as well as what you’re making. Write down a plan for each meal you plan on cooking at home, and keep it visible where both you and your family can read it.
Grab the free printable meal planner pages at the end of this post!
Order groceries when possible
As a homeschool parent, sometimes hitting the grocery store isn’t plausible. Between all of the other errands we need to run, lesson plans to teach, and everything else, spending time at the store isn’t an option. Prime Pantry, Kroger, and even Walmart allow you to order your groceries online. Find a store in your area (most grocery stores offer this now) that has online grocery shopping options, and pick up your order when you can find the time (some stores even deliver)!
Do meal prep whenever possible
Meal prep should be a part of your meal planning routine as a homeschool parent. Since your time is limited, cutting up veggies or even freezing meals for later, can impact the amount of time you spend in the kitchen. Whenever possible, and when you have time, do a little bit of meal prep! Prepare your lunches the night before, and even set up your slow cooker, so it’s ready to have dinner put in when you’re ready. If your kids are old enough, have them help!
Let your appliances do the heavy lifting
Instead of focusing all your efforts on cooking, have your appliances do the heavy lifting for you! Use your slow cooker, pressure cooker, rice cooker, Instant Pot, and any other appliances you have to do your heavy lifting. Look for meals that require little effort on your part to make it easier for you to whip up meals without being in the kitchen all day.
Be flexible
Remember that you are a homeschool parent and one of the great joys of that is the flexibility. Take advantage of your flexible schedule to do mealtime when it works best for you. If it means your family needs to eat at 8 pm every night to stay in, then do that. Frozen pizzas are an okay back up plan when things don’t go as planned too. Be flexible with your meal plan to make it fit your family’s needs.
As a homeschool parent, you don’t have to rush around to get a meal on the table for your family. If you follow these tips, you’ll be able to plan delicious meals for your family without all the chaos.
Download these printable meal planner pages to make meal planning for your homeschool family a little easier and hopefully mealtimes will be less stressful with a plan in place. Fill out the form below to get access to the meal planning pages.
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