What I do to get ready for the week ahead

Weekdays are crazy between my husband and myself. He works third shift (6pm-3am) and I have activities going on anywhere between 8am and 10pm. Basically, Monday through Friday we are just ships passing in the night, and to sit down together and have a proper dinner just isn't realistic. With that, I try to prepare 3-4 meals on the weekend that will keep good in the fridge/ freezer throughout the week.
On this lovely labor day, I planned, shopped for and prepared four meals plus a dessert that will easily reheat and still be delicious.

With the help of Gizmo, we got this done in about 4 hours:
While I worked, he slept the four hours away.
First step: planning  what you're going to make.
1. I had just eaten. They say not to shop on an empty stomach because you end up buying the entire store, but it is also quite difficult deciding what you're in the mood to make when on an empty stomach.
2. My dinner choices usually are made because of a.) what's in my fridge/ pantry and b.) if the recipes I'm looking at contain similar ingredients.
Step Two: Buying the groceries
1. This go around my groceries were only $30 dollars. I'm extremely frugal and this is why I am so careful about meal planning
2. (side notes) The walmart was SO BUSY. Maybe because small businesses would be closed? (that's why I was there). Too many people for my liking.
Step Three: Cooking
1. I made a classic meatloaf with a twist. My husband and I are the same as children when  it comes to eating vegetables. If it is by choice, we'll go for french fries instead. I know that sounds horrible and I hate to admit it, so i take the mom approach to hiding veggies in meals so we can't taste it! I just made the meatloaf as normal and added pureed carrots and celery (the recipe called for diced).

2. I made a bolognese sauce next, again packing it with carrots, celery, onion, and diced tomatoes in the meat and tomato sauce. This made a lot, in this case I split the contents into two containers  -one for this week and one for freezing.

3. Freezing extras of a meal is so nice for later. Last week or so i made stuffed green peppers, but the filling made too much for just a few green peppers we realistically would eat. I froze the filling then and took it out to make a green pepper casserole. I was pre-prepared and all I had to buy were green peppers for chopping. I kind of made this up and used the filling as the base of the casserole and then layered diced green peppers, frozen corn, and mozzarella cheese.

4. Last, but not least, I made a broccoli and shrimp Alfredo, with homemade Alfredo consisting of butter, cream, milk, and Parmesan. For this I will boil noodles as needed because I personally don't think they keep well in the fridge (same for the bolognese sauce).

Step Four: Dessert!
I don't mind cooking. My mom got me involved in the kitchen from a really young age, but for whatever reason, I would rather bake. Taste testing is more fun, and my husband LOVES when he comes home from work with the smell of cookies left over from that night and fresh cookies as a snack. This time I decided to make oatmeal cookies with chocolate chips and peanut butter. YUM!

This will definitely hold us over till next weekend! As far as other preparations, I just try to do all homework (I am aware of) that is due so I don't have a reason to stay up toooo late because I love my sleep way too much. Also, I try to give the apartment a good clean so on the nights that I do get home after 10 and have had a 12+ hour day, all I have to do is pick up, do a few dishes, and go to bed!