November 11, 2025 • 23 mins
The 5 p.m. dinner question doesn’t have to send your nervous system into a spiral.
In this episode, we dig into why that moment feels so charged and offer a grounded path to replace panic with peace—starting with one simple anchor meal each week that fits your real energy, your calendar, and your family’s rhythms. Instead of chasing perfect recipes, we build a plan that actually works on a Tuesday.
I share what I learned from a nutrition certification about eustress vs. distress and how those states show up in the kitchen. We map the alarm–resistance–exhaustion loop many parents know too well—opening the fridge, scrolling delivery, burning out—and then flip it with practical tools that cut decision fatigue. From theme nights like Taco Tuesday or Breakfast-for-Dinner to tiny preps that take minutes, you’ll learn how to design dinners that support you, not drain you.
I'll also walk you through a short guided visualization to feel the difference between scramble and steady, plus journal prompts to pinpoint your personal stress trigger and choose one anchor meal that meets your true capacity. We talk realistic time windows, kid preferences, backup 15-minute meals that still feel nourishing, and how to gently teach better habits without ditching the joy of eating out. By the end, you’ll have a clear framework to avoid the 5 p.m. spiral and move through evenings with more ease.
If you’re ready to trade burnout for better rhythms, press play and pick your anchor meal for the week.
Grab my FREE meal plan and prep workbook and join the Cook Like a Mother Circle to plan with us every week.
Thank you so much for listening in! If this episode spoke to you, it would mean the world to me if you left a review or shared it with a friend. And don’t forget to tag me so I can personally thank you for helping me spread the word.
Follow and chat with me on Instagram:
Podcast account - @thrivelikeamother.podcast
Personal account - @thrive.empowered
Sending you light and love always!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hey love, I'm Ebony and welcome to Thrive Like a
(00:03):
Mother.
On this podcast, we're scaredfor our truth, but that fear is
what feels us to truly live.
You're in the right place if youfeel like you're stuck in
survival mode and you're readyto step into who you would truly
meant to be.
I'll share resources and tools Iuse daily to help you in your
(00:25):
journey with healthier mindsetand to break the wheel of
survival.
The journey may not be easy, butyou won't have to face it alone.
I'm a mama of three healing dayby day from past trauma, and I'm
on a mission to build a lifeI've always dreamed of, but
never thought was possible.
So love, if you're ready tobelieve in what's possible,
(00:48):
let's link arms and thrivetogether.
Hey loves, welcome back to theThrive Like a Mother podcast.
Y'all, we're talking aboutstress and meal prep today.
And honestly, I know you saw thetitle.
For some of us, those two wordsmight as well be the same thing.
(01:12):
Like, am I right?
Because honestly, the secondsomeone, some sometimes a little
someone, asks what's for dinner,our bodies literally go into
full panic mode, right?
You're like, oh my gosh, I haveno idea.
Why are you asking me that?
Because here's the thing stresscan show up in different ways.
(01:35):
There is the kind of stress thatmotivates you, and then there's
the kind of stress that feelsway too overwhelming.
But either way, our bodies arein a strict state of stress and
they function differently,depending on which type it is.
(01:55):
And we want our bodies alwaysworking at optimal levels,
right?
Even or especially when,especially when we're trying to
feed ourselves and our families.
And so, y'all, I'm excited forthis episode because we are
about to break it down howstress shows up in the kitchen,
what happens when we get stuckin that cycle of alarm
(02:19):
resistance, exhaustion.
And we're gonna talk about howwe anchor our meal planning and
our prep to our real life sothat we can stop scrambling at 5
a.m.
and stop the crash out when ourkids ask us what's for dinner,
and so that we can start feelingsupported instead.
(02:40):
So, y'all, I recently a fewweeks ago, I started working on
a level one nutritioncertification and really just to
start gaining my own learning sothat I can continue to pour into
you guys the best knowledgepossible, right?
And in this course, of course,of course, the first lesson was
(03:01):
about stress.
And so I want to share a littlebit with you of my education
about what I learned and thelight bulb that immediately
started to go off from me.
So I learned that there are twodifferent types of stress.
Did not know this.
I just used to think stress isstress, right?
If I'm stressed out, that's abad thing.
(03:22):
Come to find out, you stress isactually a positive motivating
stress.
That's like planning a party.
Maybe you're launching abusiness, maybe you're planning
a vacation.
That is a positive stress,right?
We're active, we're excited,we're activated, we are
motivated to make sure that thathappens.
(03:45):
And then there's the other sideof things, right?
Distress.
That is the negative side ofthings.
That is where we feeloverwhelmed.
That is where the panic, thecrash out comes when someone
asks us what's for dinner atfive o'clock, and we have no
idea.
But here's the thing I want toreframe for you.
(04:06):
Instead of labeling stress aseither good or bad, we're gonna
look at it in a different lenshere.
We're going to look at how ourbody actually responds in either
one of those states, you stressor distress.
Like, don't you want your bodyand your kitchen working at the
(04:26):
levels that they're supposed tobe working at, right?
We all want that.
And so let's do a connection,right, between when we feel
stressed and how that equates tohow we prep our meals and how we
eat, how we provide sustenancefor our body.
(04:48):
And it's a cycle, right?
It's the first part of the cyclethat starts where we're alarmed,
right?
Our kid asks us what's fordinner, or just in our head,
it's 5 p.m.
and we're like, oh my gosh, Ididn't even think about dinner.
What am I supposed to do?
Right?
The panic starts to set in.
(05:10):
Then comes the resistance.
We start scrambling to somehowreduce that stress.
We start looking through theDoorDash app.
We start looking at the frozenpizza in the freezer.
We start looking at our pantryand tapping our foot, like we're
opening the fridge.
I know that's a big one for me.
(05:31):
Opening the fridge and seeing,like, okay, something's supposed
to magically come together tohelp me level out, right?
Then comes the exhaustion.
Think about the amount of timesthat you've done these things,
the alarm, what's for dinner,and then the resistance.
(05:53):
I gotta figure this out quickly.
Continuing to do that over andover again leads to a cycle of
overwhelm, guilt, and quitehonestly, y'all, burning out,
being like, I can no longer, ifsomeone asked me this question
again, I am going to lose it,right?
(06:16):
Or if I get to another day, 5p.m.
and I don't know what's fordinner, I'm gonna lose it.
I I want to take you back to2019, 2019 ebony, where I had
just started my own health andwellness journey.
Um, I started picking upweights, you know, I started
working out, feeling good,seeing the results, and
(06:39):
realizing that I still did notfeel confident in how I was
feeding myself.
I still was in this same exactcycle of, oh my gosh, what's for
dinner?
Uh, let me scramble, drive-thruis fine, right?
I'm still working out, it's allgood.
And doing that over and overagain and just feeling
(07:00):
exhausted, exhausted.
Then you want to throw in 2019.
I was a first-time mom.
And this little girl, myfirecracker, Olivia, was
starting to eat a lot.
She started to build her ownhabits about what she wanted to
eat.
(07:20):
And I started to realize becauseof the cycle that I've been in
of not knowing consistentlywhat's for dinner, of always
feeling like I had to scramble,of just going the easy route and
just going through thedrive-thru or ordering something
because it's right there.
At least we ate, right?
(07:41):
Because of the cycle that I wasin, I was starting to help her
build her own food story.
And she started to realize, Iwant the quick thing.
I want the fries and the chickennuggets.
I want the burger, right?
Over and over again.
And now we still love thosethings in our household, right?
(08:01):
We still very much love to eatout, but now it looks different.
Now I'm working to teach herthat that is not always the
answer.
We don't have to always gostraight to that because we can
prepare our foods at home.
Because we can answer thequestion confidently and say,
(08:24):
no, I know it's for dinnerbecause I planned it, you know,
two, three days ago already.
And so we're talking about adifferent way, right?
We're talking about not gettingin this cycle or staying in this
cycle of consistent stress,right?
Instead of being in that cycleof being alarmed, resisting the
(08:47):
alarm and the crash out, andthen still ending in exhaustion.
We are talking about using ourmeal planning as prevention of
that cycle.
We are talking about actingbefore that alarm goes off,
before the what's for dinner at5 p.m.
alarm goes off.
(09:07):
We want to already know what'sthe plan because we've anchored
our meal plan into our life.
Not just the, okay, these soundgood to have on the calendar,
but truly anchoring our meals towhat our energy levels are gonna
be.
What are our busy, busier daysduring the week?
(09:27):
What are our slower days?
What are our own family rhythms?
What appointments or afterschool programs and clubs do we
have?
What routines do we have builtin place already?
And then once you start thinkingof that before you get to the 5
p.m.
alarm, you start to reduce yourdecision fatigue.
(09:50):
You get to that 5 p.m.
and you're like, I'm good.
I already know that I have thisand the food in the fridge
prepped to cook, or I knowexactly what I'm cooking for
dinner because I've alreadyplanned it and I planned it
around our lay, not just someideal, yes, this recipe sounds
(10:12):
cute.
Yes, we can do that sometimes,but we really want to be mindful
of how that fits into our lives.
So I want to invite you to takea pause with me just for a
moment, and you can close youreyes.
If you're able to, if you'redriving, please do not close
your eyes.
Please stay alert and safe onthe road.
(10:36):
But if you're in a safe place,you can either close your eyes
or soften your gaze and start totake a slow deep breath in
through your nose and exhale itout through your mouth.
Now, I want you to pictureyourself at 5 p.m.
on a Tuesday, you're tired,you've been working all day, you
(11:01):
have had meetings back to backto back, and your kids are
asking, what's for dinner?
And your body starts to feelthat familiar rush of stress,
that alarm.
Maybe your chest starts totighten, maybe your thoughts
start racing.
(11:22):
You start to see yourselfscrambling, opening the fridge,
looking and seeing that there isnothing that's going to be
helpful for you there.
You start to scroll through theDoorDash app and you feel that
pressure that you felt at first,that alarm, it starts to build
as time seems to be movingfaster and take on, and your
(11:47):
kids ask again, what's fordinner?
That's the resistance.
And as this cycle repeats overand over and over, you remember
how exhausting this feels thatyou are carrying the weight of
dinner on your shoulders byyourself every single night.
(12:10):
It's exhausting.
Now I want you to take anotherdeep breath.
Inhale through your nose, exhalethrough your mouth, and this
time I want you to imaginesomething different.
I want you to picture yourselfwaking up on that same day, but
this time you've already chosenyour anchor meal.
(12:32):
Maybe you even prepped a littlelast night or a few days ago, or
maybe you just wrote downexactly what y'all are going to
have for dinner that night.
Something simple.
And as dinner time approachesthe same 5 p.m.
Your kid asks, What's fordinner?
(12:55):
You start to feel steady and youanswer them clearly,
confidently.
You know what's coming.
You know what's for dinner.
Notice how your body feels inthis version of your story.
How your chest feels more open,your mind feels calmer, how you
(13:18):
move through the rest of theevening with ease.
I want you to take one more deepbreath in through your nose.
And as you exhale, hold on tothis truth.
Stress and meal prep don't haveto go hand in hand.
They don't have to mean the samething.
(13:41):
With just a little intentionduring your week, you can create
peace in your kitchen, in yourhome, in your heart, even at 5
p.m.
Dinner doesn't have to bestressful.
And repeat this one for me.
I release the cycle of panic andoverwhelm.
(14:04):
I keep breathing.
I choose peace in my kitchen.
My meals can be simple,nourishing, and enough.
I am capable of creating rhythmsthat support me and my family.
And last one, y'all, meal prepis not pressure.
(14:24):
It is permission to breathe abit easier.
And now I want you to start tocome back to self.
Maybe wiggle your fingers andtoes.
If you had your eyes closed orsoftened, your gaze softened.
Start to open them and become abit more alert.
(14:49):
Welcome back.
Y'all, I wanted to do thatduring this episode because I
wanted you to feel thedifference between having that
constant cycle of stress andhaving what is possible of
feeling at ease at 5 p.m.
when your kid asks you what'sfor dinner.
(15:11):
Because they're gonna ask.
Right.
And it is possible to feel atease when that question comes
up.
And so now I want to give yousome tips on how you can make
that possibility a reality.
It's gonna start with startingwith one anchor meal every
(15:32):
single week.
Every single week.
You want to evaluate yourcalendar, look at where your
energy levels, where your yourday ends, how busy is your day,
when are you guys realisticallygoing to get home?
And what time you want todedicate to cooking, right?
(15:54):
Be realistic about that.
If it's 20 minutes, say, hey,I've only got 20 minutes to
dedicate to this cooking today,and your anger meal is going to
fit that capacity, right?
Then I want y'all to get intousing themes every week.
You don't have to recreate thewheel every week.
(16:15):
This can be something that canbe fun for your family to maybe
get the kids involved insomething that you know that
they'll love.
You know, do a poll, right?
Whether it's Taco Tuesday or ohmy gosh, mom, I really love when
you do that slow cooker meal,that crock up, that crock pot
(16:35):
meal on Sunday, right?
That makes me feel good.
Figure out what that is and haveit be consistent.
Because that's one last day,y'all, that you have to plan.
That is one less day that youhave to make a decision.
And I want you to prep small.
Meal prep does not have to meanyou are in the kitchen for four
(16:59):
hours at a time or more.
I'm saying that because it usedto be me.
Used to be me, y'all.
I used to be sitting in thekitchen and prepping and
bouncing back and forth betweenall of these meals.
And at the end, I would feelexhausted.
And I realized I don't have todo this every single week.
Why am I keeping myself indistress?
(17:20):
How can I make this easier?
Instead of prepping for hours,be realistic about what amount
of time you want to dedicate toprepping, what amount of time
you realistically have.
And whether that looks like justchopping your veggies up for the
week, cleaning your fruit forsnacks, putting your snacks in
(17:40):
certain places so that they'rereadily available, or just
making one meal that you canbatch ahead of the week that
will help things move a littlebit smoother.
And keep a backup list, y'all.
This is for my mamas with thekids who are in their picky
phase, right?
(18:01):
I feel like even if you feellike your kid isn't picky, there
are some times when they gothrough moons, they go through
phases where something theyliked last month suddenly they
no longer like it, or they maylike it one night and dislike it
the next night, right?
Kids are wild like that, andthat's okay.
(18:22):
Keep your backup list.
These are your go-to 15-minutemeals that you know they're
going to enjoy and are also notgoing to cause you a lot of
stress and preparing.
This could be like breakfast fordinner.
I talked about Taco Tuesday.
Those are really easy things toput together, things that don't
(18:45):
take up a lot of your time.
And so I want to give you somejournal prompts to walk away
with today.
And I'm going to put these inthe show notes as well.
The first one is like when itcomes to meals, what is your
most common alarm moment?
Maybe it's not the kid askingyou what's for dinner at 5 p.m.,
(19:07):
but what is the one that comesup for you most often that keeps
you in that cycle of distress?
And then number two, what partof the cycle, whether it's the
alarm, whether it's theresistance, whether it's the
exhaustion, which one of thosedo you feel like you find
(19:27):
yourself in most often?
Right?
We want to pinpoint what that isso that we can come back with
our anchored meal plan andreally hone in on okay, how is
this going to impact that cycle?
Where do I need to focus in at?
And then what is one anchormeal?
(19:48):
Last one, one anchor meal thatyou can plan this week to break
the cycle.
What is one thing that you knowaligns with your time capacity,
with your energy, with youractual real schedule?
What is that one meal?
And as we wrap up today, y'all,I want you to remember this.
(20:09):
Stress and meal prep, they don'thave to mean the same word.
They don't have to even live inthe same sentence.
When you anchor your meals intoyour rhythms of your real life,
your energy, your familyschedule, your real bandwidth,
you take yourself out of thatdaily cycle of alarm,
(20:33):
resistance, exhaustion.
Because who wants to be stuck inthat?
Not me.
Absolutely not, right?
Instead of the panic, you startto get peace.
Instead of feeling like you haveto scramble, you start to feel
structured.
Instead of burning out, youstart to get a little bit more
(20:55):
room in your day and your weekand your season to breathe.
And so this week, I want tochallenge you, like I said in
those general prompts, chooseone anchor meal, just one.
Something that's simple,something that's repeatable too,
that you can use, put in yourbank so that you don't have to
(21:16):
recreate the wheel every singleweek.
And something that's grounding,right?
I want you to let that onedecision, that five minutes of
choosing that anchor meal, letthat decision reduce your stress
this week before it even starts.
And y'all, don't forget, I haveresources for you.
(21:39):
If you are listening to thisepisode and you are thinking,
gosh, this still feels heavy.
I feel like I need more support,then I have resources for you.
You can grab my free meal planand prep workbook in the show
notes.
It's full of tools to reallyhelp you create that one anchor
(22:03):
meal that works for your lifeand not against it.
And if you're like, okay, I lovethat, but I don't want to do
that by myself, then you canjoin the Cook Like a Mother
Circle where we meal plantogether every single week,
lightening your decisionfatigue, lightening the load of
(22:24):
having to do it by yourself,where it's not all on just your
shoulders anymore.
I want to end this episode witha reminder that you don't have
to meal prep or plan from aplace of stress.
You can, if you start to take toheart these tips and strategies
(22:44):
I've taught you on this episode,you start leaning into the
resources I have for you, youcan meal prep from a place of
strength.
Thank you so much for listening,love.
If anything in today's episoderesonated with you, share it
with your bestie or share it onsocial media and tag me so we
can chat about it.
(23:05):
As always, sending you light andlove.
And remember, you are worthy,you are enough, and you deserve
to thrive.
Hey love, I'm Ebony and welcome to Thrive Like a
(00:03):
Mother.
On this podcast, we're scaredfor our truth, but that fear is
what feels us to truly live.
You're in the right place if youfeel like you're stuck in
survival mode and you're readyto step into who you would truly
meant to be.
I'll share resources and tools Iuse daily to help you in your
(00:25):
journey with healthier mindsetand to break the wheel of
survival.
The journey may not be easy, butyou won't have to face it alone.
I'm a mama of three healing dayby day from past trauma, and I'm
on a mission to build a lifeI've always dreamed of, but
never thought was possible.
So love, if you're ready tobelieve in what's possible,
(00:48):
let's link arms and thrivetogether.
Hey loves, welcome back to theThrive Like a Mother podcast.
Y'all, we're talking aboutstress and meal prep today.
And honestly, I know you saw thetitle.
For some of us, those two wordsmight as well be the same thing.
(01:12):
Like, am I right?
Because honestly, the secondsomeone, some sometimes a little
someone, asks what's for dinner,our bodies literally go into
full panic mode, right?
You're like, oh my gosh, I haveno idea.
Why are you asking me that?
Because here's the thing stresscan show up in different ways.
(01:35):
There is the kind of stress thatmotivates you, and then there's
the kind of stress that feelsway too overwhelming.
But either way, our bodies arein a strict state of stress and
they function differently,depending on which type it is.
(01:55):
And we want our bodies alwaysworking at optimal levels,
right?
Even or especially when,especially when we're trying to
feed ourselves and our families.
And so, y'all, I'm excited forthis episode because we are
about to break it down howstress shows up in the kitchen,
what happens when we get stuckin that cycle of alarm
(02:19):
resistance, exhaustion.
And we're gonna talk about howwe anchor our meal planning and
our prep to our real life sothat we can stop scrambling at 5
a.m.
and stop the crash out when ourkids ask us what's for dinner,
and so that we can start feelingsupported instead.
(02:40):
So, y'all, I recently a fewweeks ago, I started working on
a level one nutritioncertification and really just to
start gaining my own learning sothat I can continue to pour into
you guys the best knowledgepossible, right?
And in this course, of course,of course, the first lesson was
(03:01):
about stress.
And so I want to share a littlebit with you of my education
about what I learned and thelight bulb that immediately
started to go off from me.
So I learned that there are twodifferent types of stress.
Did not know this.
I just used to think stress isstress, right?
If I'm stressed out, that's abad thing.
(03:22):
Come to find out, you stress isactually a positive motivating
stress.
That's like planning a party.
Maybe you're launching abusiness, maybe you're planning
a vacation.
That is a positive stress,right?
We're active, we're excited,we're activated, we are
motivated to make sure that thathappens.
(03:45):
And then there's the other sideof things, right?
Distress.
That is the negative side ofthings.
That is where we feeloverwhelmed.
That is where the panic, thecrash out comes when someone
asks us what's for dinner atfive o'clock, and we have no
idea.
But here's the thing I want toreframe for you.
(04:06):
Instead of labeling stress aseither good or bad, we're gonna
look at it in a different lenshere.
We're going to look at how ourbody actually responds in either
one of those states, you stressor distress.
Like, don't you want your bodyand your kitchen working at the
(04:26):
levels that they're supposed tobe working at, right?
We all want that.
And so let's do a connection,right, between when we feel
stressed and how that equates tohow we prep our meals and how we
eat, how we provide sustenancefor our body.
(04:48):
And it's a cycle, right?
It's the first part of the cyclethat starts where we're alarmed,
right?
Our kid asks us what's fordinner, or just in our head,
it's 5 p.m.
and we're like, oh my gosh, Ididn't even think about dinner.
What am I supposed to do?
Right?
The panic starts to set in.
(05:10):
Then comes the resistance.
We start scrambling to somehowreduce that stress.
We start looking through theDoorDash app.
We start looking at the frozenpizza in the freezer.
We start looking at our pantryand tapping our foot, like we're
opening the fridge.
I know that's a big one for me.
(05:31):
Opening the fridge and seeing,like, okay, something's supposed
to magically come together tohelp me level out, right?
Then comes the exhaustion.
Think about the amount of timesthat you've done these things,
the alarm, what's for dinner,and then the resistance.
(05:53):
I gotta figure this out quickly.
Continuing to do that over andover again leads to a cycle of
overwhelm, guilt, and quitehonestly, y'all, burning out,
being like, I can no longer, ifsomeone asked me this question
again, I am going to lose it,right?
(06:16):
Or if I get to another day, 5p.m.
and I don't know what's fordinner, I'm gonna lose it.
I I want to take you back to2019, 2019 ebony, where I had
just started my own health andwellness journey.
Um, I started picking upweights, you know, I started
working out, feeling good,seeing the results, and
(06:39):
realizing that I still did notfeel confident in how I was
feeding myself.
I still was in this same exactcycle of, oh my gosh, what's for
dinner?
Uh, let me scramble, drive-thruis fine, right?
I'm still working out, it's allgood.
And doing that over and overagain and just feeling
(07:00):
exhausted, exhausted.
Then you want to throw in 2019.
I was a first-time mom.
And this little girl, myfirecracker, Olivia, was
starting to eat a lot.
She started to build her ownhabits about what she wanted to
eat.
(07:20):
And I started to realize becauseof the cycle that I've been in
of not knowing consistentlywhat's for dinner, of always
feeling like I had to scramble,of just going the easy route and
just going through thedrive-thru or ordering something
because it's right there.
At least we ate, right?
(07:41):
Because of the cycle that I wasin, I was starting to help her
build her own food story.
And she started to realize, Iwant the quick thing.
I want the fries and the chickennuggets.
I want the burger, right?
Over and over again.
And now we still love thosethings in our household, right?
(08:01):
We still very much love to eatout, but now it looks different.
Now I'm working to teach herthat that is not always the
answer.
We don't have to always gostraight to that because we can
prepare our foods at home.
Because we can answer thequestion confidently and say,
(08:24):
no, I know it's for dinnerbecause I planned it, you know,
two, three days ago already.
And so we're talking about adifferent way, right?
We're talking about not gettingin this cycle or staying in this
cycle of consistent stress,right?
Instead of being in that cycleof being alarmed, resisting the
(08:47):
alarm and the crash out, andthen still ending in exhaustion.
We are talking about using ourmeal planning as prevention of
that cycle.
We are talking about actingbefore that alarm goes off,
before the what's for dinner at5 p.m.
alarm goes off.
(09:07):
We want to already know what'sthe plan because we've anchored
our meal plan into our life.
Not just the, okay, these soundgood to have on the calendar,
but truly anchoring our meals towhat our energy levels are gonna
be.
What are our busy, busier daysduring the week?
(09:27):
What are our slower days?
What are our own family rhythms?
What appointments or afterschool programs and clubs do we
have?
What routines do we have builtin place already?
And then once you start thinkingof that before you get to the 5
p.m.
alarm, you start to reduce yourdecision fatigue.
(09:50):
You get to that 5 p.m.
and you're like, I'm good.
I already know that I have thisand the food in the fridge
prepped to cook, or I knowexactly what I'm cooking for
dinner because I've alreadyplanned it and I planned it
around our lay, not just someideal, yes, this recipe sounds
(10:12):
cute.
Yes, we can do that sometimes,but we really want to be mindful
of how that fits into our lives.
So I want to invite you to takea pause with me just for a
moment, and you can close youreyes.
If you're able to, if you'redriving, please do not close
your eyes.
Please stay alert and safe onthe road.
(10:36):
But if you're in a safe place,you can either close your eyes
or soften your gaze and start totake a slow deep breath in
through your nose and exhale itout through your mouth.
Now, I want you to pictureyourself at 5 p.m.
on a Tuesday, you're tired,you've been working all day, you
(11:01):
have had meetings back to backto back, and your kids are
asking, what's for dinner?
And your body starts to feelthat familiar rush of stress,
that alarm.
Maybe your chest starts totighten, maybe your thoughts
start racing.
(11:22):
You start to see yourselfscrambling, opening the fridge,
looking and seeing that there isnothing that's going to be
helpful for you there.
You start to scroll through theDoorDash app and you feel that
pressure that you felt at first,that alarm, it starts to build
as time seems to be movingfaster and take on, and your
(11:47):
kids ask again, what's fordinner?
That's the resistance.
And as this cycle repeats overand over and over, you remember
how exhausting this feels thatyou are carrying the weight of
dinner on your shoulders byyourself every single night.
(12:10):
It's exhausting.
Now I want you to take anotherdeep breath.
Inhale through your nose, exhalethrough your mouth, and this
time I want you to imaginesomething different.
I want you to picture yourselfwaking up on that same day, but
this time you've already chosenyour anchor meal.
(12:32):
Maybe you even prepped a littlelast night or a few days ago, or
maybe you just wrote downexactly what y'all are going to
have for dinner that night.
Something simple.
And as dinner time approachesthe same 5 p.m.
Your kid asks, What's fordinner?
(12:55):
You start to feel steady and youanswer them clearly,
confidently.
You know what's coming.
You know what's for dinner.
Notice how your body feels inthis version of your story.
How your chest feels more open,your mind feels calmer, how you
(13:18):
move through the rest of theevening with ease.
I want you to take one more deepbreath in through your nose.
And as you exhale, hold on tothis truth.
Stress and meal prep don't haveto go hand in hand.
They don't have to mean the samething.
(13:41):
With just a little intentionduring your week, you can create
peace in your kitchen, in yourhome, in your heart, even at 5
p.m.
Dinner doesn't have to bestressful.
And repeat this one for me.
I release the cycle of panic andoverwhelm.
(14:04):
I keep breathing.
I choose peace in my kitchen.
My meals can be simple,nourishing, and enough.
I am capable of creating rhythmsthat support me and my family.
And last one, y'all, meal prepis not pressure.
(14:24):
It is permission to breathe abit easier.
And now I want you to start tocome back to self.
Maybe wiggle your fingers andtoes.
If you had your eyes closed orsoftened, your gaze softened.
Start to open them and become abit more alert.
(14:49):
Welcome back.
Y'all, I wanted to do thatduring this episode because I
wanted you to feel thedifference between having that
constant cycle of stress andhaving what is possible of
feeling at ease at 5 p.m.
when your kid asks you what'sfor dinner.
(15:11):
Because they're gonna ask.
Right.
And it is possible to feel atease when that question comes
up.
And so now I want to give yousome tips on how you can make
that possibility a reality.
It's gonna start with startingwith one anchor meal every
(15:32):
single week.
Every single week.
You want to evaluate yourcalendar, look at where your
energy levels, where your yourday ends, how busy is your day,
when are you guys realisticallygoing to get home?
And what time you want todedicate to cooking, right?
(15:54):
Be realistic about that.
If it's 20 minutes, say, hey,I've only got 20 minutes to
dedicate to this cooking today,and your anger meal is going to
fit that capacity, right?
Then I want y'all to get intousing themes every week.
You don't have to recreate thewheel every week.
(16:15):
This can be something that canbe fun for your family to maybe
get the kids involved insomething that you know that
they'll love.
You know, do a poll, right?
Whether it's Taco Tuesday or ohmy gosh, mom, I really love when
you do that slow cooker meal,that crock up, that crock pot
(16:35):
meal on Sunday, right?
That makes me feel good.
Figure out what that is and haveit be consistent.
Because that's one last day,y'all, that you have to plan.
That is one less day that youhave to make a decision.
And I want you to prep small.
Meal prep does not have to meanyou are in the kitchen for four
(16:59):
hours at a time or more.
I'm saying that because it usedto be me.
Used to be me, y'all.
I used to be sitting in thekitchen and prepping and
bouncing back and forth betweenall of these meals.
And at the end, I would feelexhausted.
And I realized I don't have todo this every single week.
Why am I keeping myself indistress?
(17:20):
How can I make this easier?
Instead of prepping for hours,be realistic about what amount
of time you want to dedicate toprepping, what amount of time
you realistically have.
And whether that looks like justchopping your veggies up for the
week, cleaning your fruit forsnacks, putting your snacks in
(17:40):
certain places so that they'rereadily available, or just
making one meal that you canbatch ahead of the week that
will help things move a littlebit smoother.
And keep a backup list, y'all.
This is for my mamas with thekids who are in their picky
phase, right?
(18:01):
I feel like even if you feellike your kid isn't picky, there
are some times when they gothrough moons, they go through
phases where something theyliked last month suddenly they
no longer like it, or they maylike it one night and dislike it
the next night, right?
Kids are wild like that, andthat's okay.
(18:22):
Keep your backup list.
These are your go-to 15-minutemeals that you know they're
going to enjoy and are also notgoing to cause you a lot of
stress and preparing.
This could be like breakfast fordinner.
I talked about Taco Tuesday.
Those are really easy things toput together, things that don't
(18:45):
take up a lot of your time.
And so I want to give you somejournal prompts to walk away
with today.
And I'm going to put these inthe show notes as well.
The first one is like when itcomes to meals, what is your
most common alarm moment?
Maybe it's not the kid askingyou what's for dinner at 5 p.m.,
(19:07):
but what is the one that comesup for you most often that keeps
you in that cycle of distress?
And then number two, what partof the cycle, whether it's the
alarm, whether it's theresistance, whether it's the
exhaustion, which one of thosedo you feel like you find
(19:27):
yourself in most often?
Right?
We want to pinpoint what that isso that we can come back with
our anchored meal plan andreally hone in on okay, how is
this going to impact that cycle?
Where do I need to focus in at?
And then what is one anchormeal?
(19:48):
Last one, one anchor meal thatyou can plan this week to break
the cycle.
What is one thing that you knowaligns with your time capacity,
with your energy, with youractual real schedule?
What is that one meal?
And as we wrap up today, y'all,I want you to remember this.
(20:09):
Stress and meal prep, they don'thave to mean the same word.
They don't have to even live inthe same sentence.
When you anchor your meals intoyour rhythms of your real life,
your energy, your familyschedule, your real bandwidth,
you take yourself out of thatdaily cycle of alarm,
(20:33):
resistance, exhaustion.
Because who wants to be stuck inthat?
Not me.
Absolutely not, right?
Instead of the panic, you startto get peace.
Instead of feeling like you haveto scramble, you start to feel
structured.
Instead of burning out, youstart to get a little bit more
(20:55):
room in your day and your weekand your season to breathe.
And so this week, I want tochallenge you, like I said in
those general prompts, chooseone anchor meal, just one.
Something that's simple,something that's repeatable too,
that you can use, put in yourbank so that you don't have to
(21:16):
recreate the wheel every singleweek.
And something that's grounding,right?
I want you to let that onedecision, that five minutes of
choosing that anchor meal, letthat decision reduce your stress
this week before it even starts.
And y'all, don't forget, I haveresources for you.
(21:39):
If you are listening to thisepisode and you are thinking,
gosh, this still feels heavy.
I feel like I need more support,then I have resources for you.
You can grab my free meal planand prep workbook in the show
notes.
It's full of tools to reallyhelp you create that one anchor
(22:03):
meal that works for your lifeand not against it.
And if you're like, okay, I lovethat, but I don't want to do
that by myself, then you canjoin the Cook Like a Mother
Circle where we meal plantogether every single week,
lightening your decisionfatigue, lightening the load of
(22:24):
having to do it by yourself,where it's not all on just your
shoulders anymore.
I want to end this episode witha reminder that you don't have
to meal prep or plan from aplace of stress.
You can, if you start to take toheart these tips and strategies
(22:44):
I've taught you on this episode,you start leaning into the
resources I have for you, youcan meal prep from a place of
strength.
Thank you so much for listening,love.
If anything in today's episoderesonated with you, share it
with your bestie or share it onsocial media and tag me so we
can chat about it.
(23:05):
As always, sending you light andlove.
And remember, you are worthy,you are enough, and you deserve
to thrive.
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