Friday: The 3-Day Rule in Action
This morning the kids had bacon, toast, and cereal before one of them headed off with my parents for Friday morning Mass and breakfast at Chick-fil-A. They do that together pretty often, and it’s become one of their favorite little traditions.
I made my husband a potato breakfast skillet using some of the leftover roasted potatoes from last night. I filmed it and hope to post it tomorrow. It’s one pan breakfast that comes together in about 8 minutes!
I sautéed a little bacon grease with some diced onions and peppers, then added a couple small handfuls of the cold roasted potatoes and some cooked pork sausage. I let this heat up then added a dash of salt, pepper, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and dried onion. Scoot it all over the side, then add a little butter and crack some eggs. I cooked those till just over easy and served it with some sliced green onions.
We skipped school today because my husband had the day off. He and our 13-year-old spent the morning outside mowing the yard while I caught up on things around the house.
My parents, as always, overestimated how much Chick-fil-A breakfast everyone would eat, so they sent the leftovers home. That meant everyone got a bonus little Chick-fil-A breakfast snack later in the morning, which nobody complained about.
Lunch
I made hot dogs for the kids, while my husband and I finished off a good portion of the grilled chicken thighs.
Of course, I had mine on a big salad.
My husband recreated one of his favorite summer meals with:
- Pasta
- The leftover roasted vegetables
- Grilled chicken
- Fresh tomatoes
- Basil
- Homemade vinaigrette
It’s one of those meals that never gets old around here.
Afternoon
My husband took three of the kids to see the new Toy Story movie.
Daphne stayed with me.
Even though she’ll be four soon, she just isn’t at the stage where sitting through an entire movie sounds enjoyable for either of us. We’d probably spend more time walking the hallways than watching the movie.
Instead, we ran errands together and made a Costco trip.
Whenever I take a preschooler to Costco, I always pack a snack bag ahead of time.
Dinner: Thinking Three Days Ahead
This afternoon I was really thinking through my 3-Day Rule, and honestly, I should probably talk about this more because people ask about it all the time.
The idea is simple:
I’m not planning seven days of meals.
I’m only thinking about today, tomorrow, and the next day.
Especially during the summer, plans change constantly.
The weather changes.
People get invited places.
Appetites change.
So instead of creating a rigid weekly meal plan, I simply ask:
What food do I need available for the next three days?
Today I knew we needed:
- Dinner tonight
- Breakfast tomorrow
- Lunch tomorrow after the parade
- A quick but solid dinner after swimming before fireworks
- Enough leftovers to comfortably get us into Sunday
That immediately made tonight’s decision easy.
I made burgers.
Twenty-four of them.
Tonight we ate burgers.
Tomorrow at lunch we’ll have burgers, hot dogs, or the little bit of grilled chicken that’s still left.
Tomorrow night I’m planning flank steak because it’s one of the fastest dinners I can make after a day at the pool, and it’s a meal I know everyone happily eats before we inevitably end up having popcorn and treats at the fireworks.
Then Sunday we’ll still have plenty of leftovers, and Sunday night we always eat dinner at my parents’ house.
That’s my rolling three days.
Tomorrow I’ll look at what’s left and decide whether Monday needs something pulled from the freezer—or whether we already have enough.
That system keeps me flexible without feeling like I have to make daily grocery store runs.
I hear people say they stop at the grocery three, four, even five times a week, and if that works for them, that’s great.
For me, with our family, that would feel stressful.
I’d rather spend a little time thinking ahead so I know Future Me already has options.
Dinner
Dinner was those burgers fresh off the grill with all the usual toppings.
Simple.
Easy.
Then after dinner we headed to the pool because…holiday weekend.
When we got home later this evening, everyone was still a little hungry, so they grabbed some of the fresh Costco bagels for a late-night snack before bed.