Cooking for the Rushed

Last weekend, my friend Bethany and I attended an amazing event in St. Thomas called There's a Meal to my Madness.

It was a fusion of lifestyle tips for better family connectedness, and awesome nutrition advice in the field of meal planning.

It was hosted by Sandi Richard. If that name sounds familiar, you may have seen her show on the Food Network called Fixing Dinner, where she helped busy families make a plan for how to get home-cooked meals on the table every night of the week. She used little magnetic icons to say who was prepping and cooking the meals, and involved everyone to come up with a solution. My sisters and I were massive fans, so it goes without saying that I was elated to meet her at the event.

Sandi runs a website called Cooking for the Rushed, which you can also find on Facebook, that helps families achieve dinner success.

One great tip I learned was to make an Eat Sheet. Rather than choose a few meal ideas and scribble down a horrible grocery list.

You have your family pick 5 dinners for the week, that you have printed recipes for. Using the recipes, you write all the ingredients into categories based on the grocery store (Produce, Dairy, Meat, etc.) then walk around your kitchen to see if there's anything you can scratch off because you already have it.

Once you've had a successful week you can lamintate that Eat Sheet, and keep the printed recipes, and use it again for another week. Save a few up and you have a real meal plan.

We had an amazing night - it was a real treat. If you get a chance to see her live, take it, or make a point to buy one of her books!