Hey,

Everyone that tells people how to cook for a family, will tell you this:

Make a meal plan for a week in advance.

But today, I want to go a little “nontraditional” and give you my second best piece of advice:

Keep your favorite recipes on hand so when there is no meal plan, you can still make a delicious dinner.

Now, after many years of homeschooling and raising 4 amazing adults, I've realized that it's okay if I don't have a meal plan for the week.

So why is this important?

• Meal planning is great when you have an extra half our over the weekend.
• If a meal plan didn't happen, that doesn't mean that you can't cook great meals that week. 
• We think everyone else has everything organized in their life, but we're all just doing the best we can with the time we have.

And that, my friend, will make all the difference in overcoming the dreaded "What's for dinner?" question.

Okay. That’s my second biggest tip for you - keep a folder of 10 recipes that you know your family likes (or that most of them like). Use those meals when you feel like you're flying by the seat of your pants.

To help you today - Here is our favorite Easy Meatloaf recipe. If you don't have anything planned for dinner, give this one a try. 

Heidi

PS. Really want to take this advice and run with it? Here's a post that gives you all the details of how I Cook from my Cupboard. It only takes 1 list - ever!