HWDI Basics of meal planning and mealtimes the Francophile way

Here's my first "how we did it" or HWDI (because I loathe people thinking that their way is the only way, ESP in reference to parenting, did I mention that I have an issue with authority? Haha)

Ok, so this is HWDI Meal Planning the Francophile Way:

After reading "Bringing up Bebe" by Druckerman, (a little over a year ago now) I was feverish in my attempt to implement the tactics and methods she mentioned. I formulated a plan that involved making a list of our meals, making meal plans, eating the appropriate amounts of the food groups, following the mealtime rules, and setting times for meals. 

At first my sweet husband thought I was crazy. To top it off, I had just had Sutton, (she was about 3 weeks old at the time) and I'm sure I was a hormonal mess. Poor George went along for the ride for a few weeks and after her realized this wasn't just a phase, he was just as resistant as our 1 year old (at the time) haha but we braved through and this is how we did it. 

So first step first, I made a pitiful list of our foods, things we eat consistently, enjoy and are easy to make. 

This is sad isn't it? Full of 'Merica foods and they were in unhealthy portions. I was also going on 10 years of being a vegitarian and therefore I made most of the meals so I could enjoy them too. Bah! It was a mess. (Side note: I am happy to report that our list has now grown to a little booklet that I will explain about further down) 

Nonetheless, I pushed on and made a weekly meal plan around the meals listed above. 

Next step was the meal plan and this current meal plan has been reworked more times than a Hollywood starlet's face. Mainly beacause I am a slut for good aesthetics. I studied art, used to sing, do graphics, am an ameture impatient crafter/DIY-er and I refuse to put anything in my house/ on my body (or my babies) or accessorize with anything that doesn't "work". Short story= I am super picky. 

This is version 8.2 (haha just kidding, I am not that TypeA to name the versions, I'm too impatient for that) 

So this is pretty straight forward. The left hand column notes the meal time: B= Breakfast, L= Lunch, Gouter= snack and D= Dinner. Also in the columns I noted what we need it eat at each mealtime. Fru=  Fruit, Carb=Carbohydrate, Veg= Vegetable, Che= Cheese, and Pro= Protein. And they are listed in order of the courses. (Again as defined in "Bringing up Bebe" as the french way) The following columns are the days of the week and the bottom rows are for our shopping list. 

This is a current meal plan filled out. 

*Please ignore any misspellings etc, I was super rushed to get this mealtime made this week. 

Ok so in the top row, I note which shift my husband is working (I like to save the culinary masterpieces for nights he is actually home for dinner) and I also plan out our week, adding in playdates, meetings, preschool, etc. more often than not, looking forward to a busy day etc will help me make a better choice about which meal will be easiest to prepare. I think about everything, it's a mental condition really haha, (if the girls eat peanut butter they will need a bath.... Bath days are every other day, will that be a baths day?) it's a busy and loud world in my head, haha but it's so much fun!

Then I go about planning which food we will eat when. I used to actually plan out which fruit we would eat at each meal but my girls have never had trouble with eating fruit so "girls fruit" in the grocery list portion or "Fru" in the meal box usually means whatever fruit looks good, in season and fresh when we are shopping or digging in the refrigerator. Same for "Che" = cheese, we LOVE cheese and usually have some crazy yummy option in available. I do however plan out which veggie we will eat to make sure I will have enough and we eat a variety. (Again, this is a working/ living thing for us, we are not perfect)

I also keep a few blank pages behind the current working meal plan so I can add groceries we need to get the next week on the next weeks meal plan. 

The next step was to define the rules. I took a look at what Druckerman advised and adapted them to our family. 

Sorry if is the type is hard to see. But they read:

Eating is education

No emotional eating

No snacking 

Parents plan meals

Kids eat what the parents eat

We eat together at scheduled times and we enjoy the time

Taste Everything!

"You don't have to like it but you do have to taste it" then take away happily

"I am serving this" 

"We are eating this"

Talk about the food- name, flavor, texture, color

No distractions- no tv, no phones, no toys

"We will try this food again later"

* I WILL DISCUSS ALL OF THESE RULES IN DETAIL IN FUTURE POSTS, check back if you have questions or feel free to leave a comment,

Next was getting my husband on board with the mealtimes. 

Thankfully, I am already a sleep training dictator so the 8am wake, 12pm lunch, 4pm snack and 8pm dinner was already being used. (With the exception of dinner, we eat in the 6 o'clock hour because at this time because our girls are still small and 8pm is bed time but we are slowly but surley pushing this back. It will be a great thing when the girls are school age and we can do evening meals without a babysitter. Ah, heaven!) so our current schedule is:

8/830 am - breakfast

12 pm- lunch

4 pm- Gouter (snack) 

6/7ish pm- dinner

The dinner time was a big deal for us. We had to move the girls back slowly. On weekends that my husband works, he gets home around 630/7. At the time of my massive Francophile overhaul, we were eating dinner at 530/6 and therefore I was eating alone with the girls and George alone when he got home from work. We wanted to eat together and having the girls adapt was the easiest solution. 

After the dust settled in my culture/ parenting/ mealtime Francophile renovation I actually decided to not be a vegetarian any more. (That is a whole other long story that I might share later) 

There are so many more food options for our family! I still don't eat beef but man, I am loving the variety now. 

So where are we now?

We are eating together when possible, at the times above. We eat lots of foods. We don't snack. (unless at a play date / preschool when other kids are eating, to me, my kids are still too young to respectfully refuse a snack) My food list has grown! Look!

I keep our foods in a little cute journal, I list out the meals by time of day,  (breakfast, lunch, dinner, sides and desserts) then list them and the source. So the chicken curry- pint. (On the top right page) means that it's pinned on Pinterest and that's where I look if I need help remembering ingredients or steps. 

Also, every few weeks I look back through my kindle, recipie books, pin boards and write the new recipie in my notebook so I can plan it into a future week of food. 

I also now plan a more formal meal every week or so. We put out the cloth napkins, placemats, Kenzington "dresses the table" and we take our time and talk about the food. (This is a very "French Kids Eat Everything" by Le Billon adaptation. Again, I will discuss in a future post.) 

Haha just kidding! We dont use candle sticks and white table cloths. That's George at a fancy dinner in London

Ours look more like this...

And yes, I know there isn't a placemat and cloth napkin in this pic (I was too much of a control freak that night to have my placemats stained with curry and chocolate mousse) but you get the idea. 

Ok, so that's HWDI (how we did it) let me know in the comments below if you have any questions, or if you have done any of these steps in your home.

- Bon Chance Mon Ami