Pick a struggle. Any struggle. We all have at least one, or likely all the way up to thirty-two different ones...depending on the day. Am I right?

BUT THE DINNER STRUGGLE...

Picky eaters.

Mama-guilt about not feeding your little people the best of the best foods.

Food allergies.

Power struggles.

Time constraints.

Not knowing how to cook.

Sick of cooking. Everyday.

The list could go on for days...

Look, I don't want to do the math here. But I know that is a whole lot of meals my friend! And it's no wonder this feeding-your-family-every-day business starts to feel so heavy and overwhelming.

When this gets to be too much, we often fall into the convenience trap or the fast-food trap. Which is easy. But then the guilt starts to trickle in because you've spent too much money... or because you know what you just fed your family isn't the healthiest.

So let's dig in. Let's talk about how to be more intentional with dinner. Because we want to get back to the dinner table. We want to enjoy a meal with our family.

What can we do?!

Prioritize dinner again. Because it's a time to connect with each other. An opportunity to be silly and have fun, or share important things happening in our lives. It's a time to discuss challenges and learn from each other. Essentially, it's a time to nourish our bodies but also our souls.

Follow P-I-E. If you haven't listened to the previous episode, you're going to want to tap here and lite. Plan better around your schedules, energy levels. Plan to stay one step ahead. All the planning. Planning is crucial.

Stay one step ahead. Do one thing in the morning for a future meal. It can be as simple as setting out a jar of spaghetti sauce for dinner later. This gives you a visual and mental cue, for easier follow through and takes away the mental anguish that comes with deciding what to cook for dinner.

Follow through. Make the stinkin' dinner. Even when you don't want to. Take the trouble spots in your schedule and mood, and work around it so that you can follow through on your plan and stick to my budget. Speaking of budget, have you compared the cost of cooking at home vs hopping through the drive-thru? Yikes! When you follow through with your plan, you can feel confident about what you've spent on food at the end of the month.