New Year, New You with Dream Dinners

Of the many challenges of parenthood, one of the biggest adjustments I found with becoming a mom was time management.  Sure, having a baby and learning how to care for and raise a child is hard work and requires persistence and flexibility (among other skills), but the ability to get things accomplished in a timely manner has changed entirely from before I had children.  There is too much to do and not enough time to do it all.  Whether you are staying at home, working outside the home or working from home, it is hard to get things done without feeling like you are balancing/juggling too many balls at one time (personally, it often feels like many of those balls are falling all around me).

In addition to caring for our children and performing our jobs (if you work outside the home), there are the unending, and often thankless tasks such as laundry, grocery shopping, making meals and all the other day to day household chores that arise.  Finding ways to make these mundane tasks easier is the key to feeling like you have this job of “being a grown up” under control.  When you are a new parent, the simple act of feeding yourself can be difficult.  A new baby wants what he wants when he wants it (as he should!) and as moms, feeding ourselves (and sometimes personal hygiene) often takes a back seat.  As our children get older and begin eating solids, eating becomes a social activity and one that, as parents, we model the actual act of eating so that our children can learn how to do it.  I am always encouraging moms to eat in front of their babies, 1) because then they may take the time for or remember to eat and 2) because when you eat in front of your baby, your baby learns what to do when food comes towards him.

But who has time to prepare meals?  And finding the time to shop for and create a healthy meal can be daunting when you are already struggling with finding time to go to the bathroom.  When you have a newborn, you and your partner can often get away with eating cereal for dinner (at least a few times a week) when you don’t have the energy to prepare anything.  But as our children get older and we want them to eat what we eat, meal planning can take on a more important and sometimes labor intensive role.

What if there was a way to make quick, healthy, and affordable meals that would take the “work” out of planning and shopping for your family’s meals?   There is and it’s called Dream Dinners.  Here’s how it works:  pick a session and date that you want to go to in order to prepare your meals, choose your menu, arrive at the store for your meal prep session with your cooler, assemble your meals with the pre-cut, fresh ingredients, leave with 3 meals for the week to put in your freezer(you can do several week’s meals at a time) and you don’t have to come up with an answer to the dreaded question, “what’s for dinner?” for most of your week.  All meals are easily heated at home when you are ready to eat them.

Skeptical about whether this is something that will help your family save time, money and still taste good and be good for you?  See for yourself.  Please join The Chicago New Moms Group and Active Moms Club to make a meal at Dream Dinners and give it a try.  Our “New Year, New You” event takes place on Thursday, February 6 at 7pm at Dream Dinners , 740 N. Damen, Chicago.  Register today!