An idea. I have had this little idea swirling around in my head for a while now. I found that I felt so accomplished when I planned my meals ahead of time, went grocery shopping, and actually prepared the food that I had bought. The problem was, that for me, I couldn’t make it a consistent plan. My family didn’t always like the healthy meals I prepared. I would plan two meals a week usually, but that left 5 days worth of “winging” it for dinner. Leftovers anyone? Nacho’s and bean burritos had become a staple.

More time. I felt that when my youngest daughter started kindergarten, I would get this whole dinner thing figured out. I would have healthy snacks prepared when my kids got home from school, dinner prepped and in the oven, and, of course, they would eat lots of vegetables! Funny thing is, since I wasn’t doing any of this with young kids at home, nothing changed when I had more time on my hands. I would plan, prep, and prepare one day and then the next we’d be eating chicken nuggets on paper plates again. I knew there had to be a better way. I wanted there to be a better way. Learning about all of the processed, unhealthy junk food we were consuming was a big motivation in changing our eating habits as well.

So many meals. I started dabbling in meal prep when my husband started having meals delivered to him as part of a meal plan. These meals were very costly, but helped him achieve his goal of weight loss. Most of these meals were simple; veggies with a hamburger patty, chicken wings and broccoli, grilled chicken and a salad. But planning 3 meals a day, multiplied by six of us in our family, is 18 meals a day and 126 meals per week! Just thinking about this is exhausting. I realize that I’m not actually making 126 separate meals per week for my family, but I am responsible for knowing where we are getting our meals and what foods my family is putting into their bodies. So I made a choice to put more effort into the planning and prep work involved in eating healthier.

Thus, Meal Prep for Six was born.