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by: LisaCopen
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So, your mother tells you that your family is eating out too much and your kids will never know a home-cooked meal. And you have to admit that the cost of eating out is starting to make you a bit sick to your stomach, but not enough to get rid of those few extra pounds you've been putting on. With your busy schedule, however, and limited energy, where exactly can you find the best meal planning strategy that will succeed for your family? If you're you are someone who checks with an online search engine about how to plan a spaghetti dinner, you may just need some tips.

Here are five ideas to get you started:

1. Agree to try exchanging meals with one or two families a couple times a week and give it a trial run for a month or two. It's easy to double your batch of your signature lemon chicken dish one night, and know that you will receive back a prepared meal another evening. To simplify exchanging meals, split the cost in advance of inexpensive disposable containers and lids that can be swapped between homes.

2. Recreate your favorite restaurant recipes. Search for "copy cat recipes" and soon you will be baking up a batch of Red Lobster's garlic cheese biscuits and a Bloomin' Onion. Just search online for the words "copy cat recipes" or "top secret recipes." Your family will quickly be saying they want to stay home and eat from your kitchen, which is a step toward creating healthy meal plans for teens who don't want to make time for a family dinner any more.

3. Check out a meal preparation service, for example Dream Dinners, which is in 37 states. It gives you fast healthy dinner plans as well as the food. Your costs include all the ingredients for the meals. You choose meals centered around your own family's likes, dislikes, eating limitations, and budget. Then you cook the meals right there, package them up, and bring them home to your freezer. Although the cost may be a more expensive than if you'd done it all in your own kitchen, it's considerably less than the cost of eating out and much healthier. You'll also pick up some great meal planning and cooking tips.

4. Avoid the temptation purchase entire meals of take-out. Instead, mix part of a meal from your favorite restaurant with a partially prepared meal at home. For example, it simple and inexpensive to make a large Greek salad with tossed with dressing, olives and feta cheese. Then order a large side order of Gyro meat from your local Greek restaurant. You'll get more value for your money and also have a fresh meal of something you typically would not make at home.

5. Few people actually desire to sit down and come up with a meal planning system that works for them, but when they do, they often wonder how they lived without it. Don't copy other's ideas, but come up with whatever works best with your schedule and available energy. Perhaps it's easy to make a double batch of that tortilla soup and freeze half for another meal. There are a few dinner menu planning software systems. Or design a blank print out of a weekly meal plan. Try breaking down the dinners by style of foods. For example, plan six night's meals as: one - beef; one - salad; one - sandwich; one - poultry; and two - fish.

So, flip through the magazines, dust off the cookbooks, ask your family members their favorite recipes and start planning. In no time you'll have at least twenty solid recipes that can easily get you through six weeks of meals. And don't hesitate to get everyone involved. Put the kids in charge of a meal a week, or have your spouse accompany you to a Dream Dinner style meal preparation outing. Soon your dinner blues will be gone and filled instead with a sense of accomplishment . . . and relief!

About the Author

Get a free download of 200 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend from "Beyond Casseroles" by Lisa Copen when you subscribe to HopeNotes invisible illness ezine at Rest Ministries. Lisa is the founder of Invisible Illness Awareness

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