Megan's Grocery List and Meal Plan

Does grocery shopping stress you out?  It has been a great source of stress through the years for me too but I have to admit I've figured out a few things over the years.  I have come up with a simple way of planning my meals and grocery list that makes it more of a simple habitual routine...no stress!

These have become my best friend!  I'll tell you why...

I hang one of those Post-it notes on my kitchen cupboard door; there's one there everyday!  I always have somewhere to write a list of things we need to buy:  Spence runs out of toothpaste, Justin needs deodorant, Alli has to take snacks to school, I just used the last bottle of ketchup.  Whatever it is, I'm able to have one of the kids go jot it down quick or I can simple walk over there and write it down.  One less thing to try and remember in my brain is super helpful!

I try to make it to the store once a week.  Right before I go, I grab that Post-it note and flip it over.  I write a few things down:

1-  3 dinners
(Why only 3? Because our family usually has enough leftovers for another dinner.  If there isn't leftovers than I fall back on my famous "go to" meals:  burritos or canned soup with toast.  Then we always have a Friday night pizza night too.  That little plan gets me 7 dinners!)

2-  6 vegetables
(I usually steam fresh vegetables or make a salad but my favorite "go to" veggies are frozen peas or frozen mixed veggies.)

3- Any breakfast, lunch or snack items I need
(School days are oatmeal, eggs or cereal days.  Weekends get pancakes, muffins, waffles, etc.  Lunches are meat or peanut butter sandwiches or something to fill their thermos in their school lunches.  I always make sure I have a drawer full of fresh fruit in the fridge--we eat lots of fruit with lunches and snacks.)

4-  A dessert
(We make one dessert on Sunday nights so I just make sure we have ingredients for something fun.)

While I'm writing this plan down I can flip it over and add things I don't have on hand to my list I've already started for the week.

I can stick that post-it note to my phone and it's there when I make it in the store.  When I return from the store I stick it to my recipe book holder so I can follow my plan for the week.  Then a new post-it note is started on my cupboard for next week.

When Your Kids Argue About Everything

Justin and I have been on a mission for the last two weeks.  Sarah has had the worst behavior at school that we have ever seen and it doesn't stop there.  Home hasn't been peachy either.  She has always been a good arguer but recently has become The Queen!  When I came across this article today on facebook it set my mind on thinking about what other solutions I have "When Your Kids Argue About Everything".

I knew it was a prayer answered today when I came across a wonderful lesson with Sarah while working on her Personal Progress for her Young Women Group that she is apart of at our church.

One of the goals that she chose to work on today talks about Obedience being an attribute of the Savior. She is supposed to work on being more obedient to her parents and read Luke 2:40-51 and John 6:38.
 
Click on those links to refresh your memory of the actual scriptures but if you remember the story in Luke, it's talking about when the Savior goes to Jerusalem with his parents at 12 years old (hmmm, how convenient that Sarah's 12 yrs. old).  Remember when Joseph and Mary realized he was still back in Jerusalem teaching in the temple and it took them some time to find him again.

 Remember Mary's words:

"Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing."

Remember Jesus' words back:

"How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my father's business?"

It actually states that Joseph and Mary "understood not the saying which he spake unto them."  My favorite part, Jesus "went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them."  Adding the foot notes on the word "subject" that this covers the topic of duty of children and self-mastery means even more to me.

Then you can flip and read John 6:38...

"For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me."

As I read these scriptures today, my mind propelled back to when I would hold my newborn babies in the hospital.  In quiet moments with all three of my babies (nobody was around...not even Justin), I would hold those little faces right up in front of me and tell them "I just want you to Love God!"  That's it.  I would tell them that one wish I had for each one of them.  One Megan wish to her children..."I will do everything in my power to teach you to Love God!"

Oh ya....our Savior came to do "His Father's will" not his own.  He loved God!  He loved his parents and therefore didn't stay to teach in the temple any longer whether they understood each other or not he followed his parents back to Nazareth because he respected and honored them.

I was touched.  I sit here feeling touched again as I think how Sarah responded to reading all of this with me.  We talked about how Jesus followed his parents even though it wasn't his idea but just because they asked him to.  We talked about Jesus coming to earth and doing very very hard things not because it was his idea or what he wanted to do but because His Father in Heaven had asked him to do it.  All the sudden I saw connection and light bulbs turn on in her little blue eyes.  She said "Oh ya, and I need to follow Jesus' example!"

So, to that wonderful face book article I read this morning and loved...one more thing I would add...the most important thing...remind them and you that it's because you Love God!!!  What I should do when she doesn't stop arguing is find a moment to teach both of us with the spirit about our Savior and he obeyed his parents (earthly and heavenly parents).

When it's calm and we are able to feel our love for God, I as a daughter can do and say and command my children the way he wants me to and in turn those little children can follow because they are following their Savior.