Dinner is DONE!

Last night, I had one of those highly motivated organizational moments.  I am generally a very organized person but this occurred with one of my weaker links in running a household.  Meal Planning.  I'm inconsistent.  Sometimes I plan, sometimes I plan well and other times... most times... I wing it.  And I've become good at winging it because it's just the two of us, that is until I've had a long day at work, want to get to the gym to run off my stress but have the daunting task of "what to make for dinner?".  Queue "wide-eyed spaced out" look into my cabinets.

Wide-Eyed Spaced Out Look

I should preface by saying my husband is extremely understanding.  He reminds me that I'm not obligated to make dinner every night, or at all, if I choose to.  This lets me off the hook mentally from time to time... there have been many no-fuss grilled cheese and soup nights (and yes, breakfast-for-dinner or cereal nights too) even though that wouldn't be his meal-of-choice.  Nonetheless, I try to be a good wifey and cook since I am the one that God gave that gift to.  If I wasn't around, Adam would starve... wait, no... he'd go broke from take-out and then horn in on dinner at my parent's house every night.  (if I die, be prepared Mom!)

So back to my motivated organizational moment- yes, I meal planned last night.  Not only that, I meal PREPPED last night and organized little pre-cut, prepared food containers in my fridge based on the meal and evening we'll eat it.  (I even labeled them... aren't they cute?)  It only took an hour and this will save me a lot of time when I get home from work this week.  I didn't run out to buy anything special... all the meals are using what I already had in the house.  Yes, be impressed.

My adorably labeled little fridge.  :)

So what did I do in that hour?  I peeled and chopped potatoes.  I sauted ground beef for bolognese.  I sauted more ground beef and seasoned for southwest pie.  I breaded Jamaican Jerk Chicken.  I made a meat loaf.  I separated leftover pasta into meal portions.  I used homemade tomato sauce to make more vodka sauce.  I'm excited about this because I'm basically coming home from work, taking something out of the fridge and putting it in the oven.  DINNER IS DONE!!

This week's work-day menu...
Monday- Homemade Penne Vodka
Tuesday- meat loaf, potatoes, brown gravy (Adam's favorite!)
Wednesday- Jamaican Jerk Chicken and couscous
Thursday- Southwest Pie
Friday- Rigatoni Bolognese

What do you think?  Is this a little OCD or genius?  If it works, Sunday nights will become my weekly prep night.  I'll let you know how the execution of this plan works out in next week's post.  And if you are interested in any of the above recipes, let me know and I will post them next week. :)