In its simplest form, “Not the Way I Planned” happens in our everyday lives. Your child comes home sick from school, your neighbor needs help, your boss loads you up with unexpected tasks. When my day doesn’t follow the agenda, the first thing that tends to go out the window are my plans for dinner.
I’m embarrassed to admit how often I feed my children pizza and chicken nuggets. My mother would hang her head in shame if she saw the simplicity of our weekday meals, but life has a tendency to get in the way!
Pizza and chicken nuggets aside, I take a lot of pride in mealtime. It’s a moment in our day where the cell phones are set aside and the t.v. is turned off. We breathe slower and talk. Most days of the week I take time to create at least a semi-homemade meal. I also relish in the fact that my kids are less picky now at 11 and 13. I hear far less “I don’t like this” than I used to, but time is my greatest enemy.
My common go-to quick meals can be found HERE and HERE, but I’ve been intrigued by the whole “meal delivery” services that are so popular these days.
I have yet to give any of them a try myself, but I appreciated this study by ConsumersAdvocate.org. They put 20 different meal delivery services to the test. They looked at the quality of ingredients, variety, convenience, shipping costs, and eco-friendly packaging.
A lot of what they found is that the different meal delivery boxes are good for different types of families. If you’ve wondered about those convenient little boxes that come to your door with everything ready to make a home-cooked meal inside, their research does all the hard work for you! It left me most intrigued by “Every Plate” which got the best review for those on a slim budget.
Have you tried any of these services? If so, which one did you like? Do you use them regularly?
When life gets super busy, anything that simplifies mealtime is welcome in my mind. I learned a long time ago, that it’s not really what is on your plate that matters as much as the people that you choose to spend that meal with.
