The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner

Did you know "that the more often children and teens eat with their parents-the happier, more structured these mealtimes are-the more children gain these benefits:  

• Better nutrition
• Better language & literacy
• Fewer eating disorders
• Fewer risky behaviors"

The Food Nanny, Liz Edmunds, wants to bring families home for dinner with her Nanny plan.  I got to meet Liz in person when she taught a class at Honeyville Grain.  Liz wants you to make dinner a priority and to help, she has created plan that helps you know exactly what is for dinner.  First of all, you need to create a theme for every night of the week.  Don't worry this isn't like having a party every night for dinner, it is a category that your recipes will come from.  Liz has Monday as Comfort Food night, Tuesday as Italian, Wednesday as Fish/Meatless, Thursday as Mexican, Friday as Pizza, Saturday as Grill Night, and Sunday as Tradition Night.  You can use her themes or come up with your own, but the idea is to stick to the theme so your husband and children will know what to expect, and you know what is for dinner.  In creating a theme you know exactly what type of recipe to cook.  Using the Nanny Plan calendar, you write out every recipe and side dish for 2 weeks.  Now you also have your shopping list because you have just gone through each recipe.  This plan is very similar to how I do dinner at my house.  I don't have themes, but I do have all the recipes written out, with an ingredient list.
 

If you haven't heard of the Food Nanny before, you are in for a treat.  She has a TV show on BYU television, called The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner.  Her bubbly personality and infectious laugh make it so fun to watch.  The class that I attended could have gone on for hours!!  Liz has so much personal experience (she raised 7 children) and so many recipes and ideas that we didn't want the class to end!!

Liz's cookbook is set up to follow her themed meal plan.  There are recipes for every theme that I listed above.  And let me tell ya...she knows how to cook!!  We tried her Arugula Pizza with Fresh Mozzarella and Cherry Tomatoes and WOW, it was delicious!!! I walked out of class with my own signed copy of her cookbook :)  If you need your dinner to be rescued, I would recommend buying her book.  It has full color pictures and her dinner plan is all planned out for you.  Even if you have dinner planned, it is always fun to get new recipes and try them on your family.  I know that I get stuck in a rut with dinner sometimes and it feels like I make the same thing over and over again, so it was inspiring to read through The Food Nanny's cookbook.  


Check out Liz's website, thefoodnanny.com and try out the plan for yourself.  There is a 2 week calendar that you can drag and drop meals into to create your own personalized plan.  It was really fun to play around with.  

To have a functioning home storage you need a PLAN!!  Knowing what you are going to eat every night allows you the ease of storing only the food your family eats.  Your challenge is to find the plan that works for you and your family and to stick with it.  I love knowing that the food in my storage room can be used to create 5 weeks worth of dinners.  I feel peace and when Mom is not stressed out, everybody is calm!!   


"Be faithful."
"Unencumber your life."
"Lay up in store."

 Keith B. McMullin