Holiday System Day 6 - menu planning

This originally posted November 2009.

For me, the holidays are about one main thing... besides the family, friends and faith I've already talked about here... FOOD. If you follow along here, you'll have noticed that food is a major part of my life. The holidays are all about dinners, special family recipes, and cookies (yum!) The importance of these meals can be overwhelming, but this only means you have a great opportunity to

De-stress with Meal Planning

Holiday menus are often traditional, and troublesome. Family members who insist on certain dishes, friends with special dietary needs, and finally your own tight budget... What can be done to bring these different points together and allow you to have an easy, stress free season? Plan it out!

The meal on the holiday (either Thanksgiving or Christmas) is something that most families have a set way of doing. This doesn't mean that you can never change anything, though. Plan on what dishes you all like, allowing for any dietary needs that anyone has. Figure out how much can reasonably be made. Take into account how many stove burners you have, how big your oven is, and how long each dish will take to prep and cook. Is there any sides that can be made mostly ahead of time? These will save you a lot of sanity when it's only 5 hours to Christmas dinner with your large extended family. Trust me.

If you will be entertaining guests for other dinners, plan ahead some easy meals. I love dishes that are either crockpot, one-pot, or completely make-ahead. I'll be sharing some of my favorite meals that fall into these categories over the next few weeks.

Holidays are meant to be enjoyable, and reflective- how can you focus on joy and faith when you're up to your neck in side-dish stress? Don't do this to yourself- plan ahead!

I am happy to share this post at Homemaker Monday, visit for lots of great ideas.