Weekend Food Plan…or Compromising to Eat with Kids

What are your plans for this weekend?  I’m eagerly anticipating picking up a certain second-grader this afternoon so we can get started on our weekend fun. Joe’s out of town for work all weekend, and my mom just had surgery—(sorry guys, both of those things sound pretty crappy to me) and I’m totally thrilled to not have to share my little BFF with anyone till Sunday. That doesn’t mean we won’t make plans (anyone free to go to Bounce-It-Out or the planetarium for the star show?), but when it’s just us, we get to be the center of the universe.

One thing I try to be mindful of when Matthew is around is food—it’s easy for me to go to the store and buy a bunch of kid food (that I’d rather not eat—it’s usually pretty healthy for him, just not for me), but then chances are he won’t eat all of it and I’ll be left with it when he goes home. On the other hand, if I just ask him what he wants, we end up on a wild goose chase looking for a fish sandwich that suits him. My little dude has a tendency to crave things like ribs (third to fish sandwiches and pizza). He loves canteloupe and cucumbers too, so those are more easily accommodated.

I am generally less organized about food on the weekend, and tend to go out more (which is still not a lot)…so that by Monday, I’m trying to re-group.  Food affects me a lot—if it doesn’t affect you, you’re lucky.  But I can’t afford to be foggy on Mondays since it is my busiest day of the week work-wise.

For this weekend I’m planning: More spaghetti squash, this time with Joe’s secret recipe red sauce (ok, it’s not secret—he got the recipe out of Runner’s World and has made it every week since then). However, I don’t expect Matthew to eat that (and I’m certain he’ll think it’s de-stusting).

If he doesn’t want the fish and veggies I bought for him, we do have a last resort—Wegmans prepared food. Their vegetarian bar is so awesome, and Matthew can get pizza (and canteloupe and cucumbers from the salad bar). Then we can go upstairs and sit by the window and have plenty to look at and talk about while we eat. There has sometimes in the past been a little stress about food with my weekend guest, but I think we’ve come up with a good system that works really well for us. It helps that we live around the corner from Wegmans, and although he says he hates to walk all the way there…we do make it there and back every time with no distress.