Feeding the crowd

When I write my "how to survive your first year of adoption" book (ha ha...)

there will be at least one chapter dedicated to meal times.

I wrote yesterday about "self-care" and on that list 

was the need to plan meals

so that I don't self-destruct.

The problem with "meals" at our house is that

my littles eat like Hobbits.

How do I mean?

Well...

"Hobbits eat at least seven meals known as breakfast, 

second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, 

afternoon tea, dinner and supper."

Yep. Sounds like my children!

Breakfast - the meal eaten around 6am when I am getting the big 2 off to school.

Their bus comes at 6:40, so I have to prepare something FAST, 

and normally warm since it's dark and like 20 degrees outside at that time of "day".

Second Breakfast - the meal eaten around 7:30 when 

I am getting the middle 2 off to school.

Their bus comes at 8. This is a little more 

flexible and cereal is a common request.

Elevenses - Some sort of snack... which is actually not at 11, but more like 10.

Luncheon - Yeah... lunch. Around 11-11:30, depending on how soon

I can get my act together.

This usually leftovers from the night before, 

PB&J or something fast if they are cranky 

and need to go to bed ASAP.

 - - - Nap Time!! - - -

Afternoon Tea - Snack once they wake up from naps.

Dinner - The snack they think they should also get when 

the kids get home from school and are eating a snack.

Supper - Our ACTUAL dinner.

As you can imagine, it's difficult to plan meals, grocery lists, and budget on this type of schedule.

I like to keep lots of fruit in the house for those in-between meals/snacks, but that's not always possible without many, many trips to the store during the week. 

So for other Hobbit Mommies out there...

here are some of my meal/snack go-to items.

Breakfast/Second-Breakfast:

Other than cereal (which is normally the generic brand of O-shaped stuff),

we do scrambled eggs and cheese on flour tortillas (good on the run),

Egg sandwiches,

and sometimes a slice of apple with cinnamon-sugar 

rolled up in a crescent roll and baked.

These are our less-messy choices for school days.

Snacks before lunch and after nap:

You know those cute little bathroom cups 

that only hold about 2 oz of liquid?

Well they are my portion-control for snack time.

I fill them with O-cereal, pretzel sticks, a few animal crackers,

or whatever small snack food I have on hand.

Lunch:

As I said, a lot of days this is leftovers.

Some days, we need nap-time to come quickly...

and on those days I throw together a sandwich or tortilla roll 

and a small piece of fruit - 

sliced apples, orange slices, grapes, or half a banana.

Dinner:

Confession... I HATE dinner.

I hate cooking dinner when Paul is out of town.

I hate cleaning up after dinner and I would prefer to feed 

everyone ice cream and just be done with it.

However... I realize they need to eat an actual meal...

so I cook simple food for dinner.

Sometimes its convenient food like pizza, 

corn dogs (don't judge me), 

or nuggets...

other days its something requiring more effort 

than opening a bag from the freezer.

Some of my go-to dinner solutions are

Baked pasta (like ziti - but made with whatever I have on hand)

Roasted chicken with rice and vegetables

Tacos

Fajitas

Mexican "lasagna"

and

Fried Rice

 I should add the little note that

I can't eat gluten.

Gluten is in most of those dinner items...

which means I make something for me.

I am easier to please.

I grab a bunch of lettuce, 

some lunch meat, some cheese and whatever

and dip it in homemade honey mustard.

Sometimes I eat the same leftovers I had for lunch.

Sometimes I have cereal.

Sometimes I have gluten-free oatmeal.

Whatever...

I don't really care.

BUT...

when Paul is home...

he cooks wonderful, magical things!

The other night he made fish tacos and beef tacos

 and Mexican rice! Yummmm!

He makes delicious soups in massive quantities so I have

plenty of leftovers for the week, which is super helpful!

So... there you have it.

A glimpse into our meal-time "routine"!

Any other tips you have are very welcome!!