In order for a back pocket meal plan to reduce my mental load, I want to put it on the table

and know that there aren't complaints or groans. Because when I'm overwhelmed, even if I can

push through the task that's overwhelming me, I can make dinner, I can follow the meal plan,

I can do all the things,

but I just feel like I'm slogging through. The worst is to finally get at the end of that

and like have people complain. It sort of is like, well, then why did I just push myself through that?

Welcome to didn't I just feed You. A podcast about feeding kids.

Hey, I'm Stacy. And I'm Megan. This month, we're talking a lot about the mental labor and

overwhelmed that comes along with feeding families. And while we're having lots of high-level

conversations about things like fair play in the kitchen and what to do when you're overwhelmed, we also know that y'all just need some really practical meal ideas.

So this episode is all about backpocket dinners.

I love this so much.

Backpocket dinners are actually one of the strategies. It's a category of recipes

that we employ as a strategy for thinking about how to get dinner on the table when we are

feeling overwhelmed. They save time. They also save mental load. So the mental load piece is that like these are just

dinners that you know work. They should be things that make your family happy or at least you know

you won't have a fight if you put them on the table. They save you time because they should,

I think of them as being recipes that are pretty quick

cooking that you can throw together at the last minute, maybe if you didn't even have a meal

plan. But even bigger than that, if you are still making a meal plan, you, when you just

feel overwhelmed and the idea of like, oh, I have to make a meal plan and you feel kind of down on it.

And you feel like you're at risk for losing your grip on your, you know, on your systems.

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