Date Night: How to Make It Happen In and Out of The House!
If you are like many of us, you have grand expectations of fancy meals and time alone without the kids. But it is tough to plan a date night. That is just a reality.
You have to clear your schedule, arrange for a sitter, and actually get yourself dressed and out the door. Plus don’t forget budgeting for your meal or activities!
All that said, we don’t want to deter you, because quality time is so important in relationship building! Some of the best advice we ever received as young parents were the idea to feed and put the kids to bed early so that we could have a date night in.
Whether you decide to go out or stay in, it won’t happen unless you plan it!
Let us here at Once A Month Meals help you plan a date –– both in or out of your home!
Tiramisu Ice Cream Cake
The Date Night In
1) Decide on your menu!
We have three date night mini meal plans for you to choose from.
At Once A Month Meals, we specialize in making meal plans that work for real people.
Each plan comes with:
- 6 Recipes Doubled to 12 Meals
- An Organized Grocery Shopping List (that you can send to Instacart!)
- Prep Instructions
- Step-by-step Cooking Instructions
- Individual Recipe cards
- Printable Labels
- Thaw sheet
Our system doubles each recipe so that you can eat it twice –– saving you both time and money.
These date night minis include main dishes, sides, and desserts. They should give you enough food for several weekly dates throughout the month!
Winter Valentine’s Date Night Mini
Includes: 2 dinners, 2 side dishes, 2 desserts
This meal plan includes two restaurant-worthy main dishes, two side dishes, and two chocolatey dessert choices. Pour some wine, light some candles, and you are all set!
Spring Date Night Mini Meal Plan Vol. 1
Includes: 2 dinners, 2 side dishes, 2 desserts
We partnered with the Dating Divas to bring you two baseball-themed dinner options for their Knock it Outta the Park date night and movie. See the post for more fun ideas! If you have older children, you might even want to turn this into a fun family movie night.
Spring Date Night In Mini Meal Plan Vol. 2
Includes: 3 dinners, 1 side dishes, 2 desserts
Linger over fondue in the comfort of your home instead of shelling out the big bucks for date night. Complete with side dishes and dessert.
If you’re a member of ours, you can also get creative and make a custom plan. You can even add a kid-friendly dish for the kids to eat before bed!
2) How To Start Cooking
Choose a Plan to Make!
Start with a Membership or Try One of Our Free Plans!
If you Subscribe to our membership and get access to all our freezable recipes, pre-made meal plans, and dietary filters! You can make and customize a meal plan from one of our meal plans, from a recipe, or from scratch!
Once you become a member you can take our quiz to see what your freezer cooking personality is, and where you should start!
Print Your Instructions
After you edit and customize your meal plan, choose your serving size, and print your documents to get started!
Shop Your Grocery List
Gather your ingredients (or get them delivered via Instacart!) from your optimized and organized, ready-to-go Shopping List.
Prep Your Ingredients
Chop, dice, and slice to prepare all your ingredients ahead of time according to your Prep Sheet.
Cook Your Recipes
Follow the step-by-step Cooking Day Instructions to prepare your freezer meals quickly and efficiently.
Freeze Your Meals
Cook, package, and freeze your meals according to your Recipe Cards for proper storing and freezing.
Thaw and Serve!
Prepare or reheat your meals according to the instructions on the Printable Labels or your Thaw Sheet. Then serve and enjoy!
3) Plan your evening!
What time are the kids going down?
- If they are younger, you can probably get away with pushing bedtime back 30 minutes or so and having plenty of time for your date.
- If they are older, you may need to plan a special activity for them to do quietly in their bed (iPad, special movie or book, etc.) and give them instructions for lights out and not to disturb you.
You may want to decide how you are going to divide up tasks. Maybe dad takes over bedtime activities to give mom a break, while mom handles date night set up.
Even if you don’t have children, you can still enjoy a night in! For one thing, it can save money, but it can also be romantic, more personal, and lots of fun.
4) Enjoy the fun details!
What other plans do you need to make?
- Are you going to watch a movie or binge-watch a favorite TV show?
- Play a board game or cards?
- Have a list of questions to ask each other
- Make a custom Spotify playlist!
The goal here – Make it fun!
Again, you can see the Knock it Outta the Park date night and movie idea here, or check out more movie-themed ideas from Dating Divas.
Are you going to do any special decorating?
Think table cloth, candles, cozy blankets for cuddling on the couch, crackling fireplace, bubble-filled bathtub – whatever you want to do to make things romantic. Sometimes just being together and having a real, uninterrupted conversation is enough, so don’t feel like you have to go crazy – unless you want to of course!
The food is ready from the freezer, the mood is set, and now all you have to do is enjoy!
The Date Night Out
Anyone else scrambling for what to make the kids when you finally get a date night out?!
Yes, there will be times when you leave the kids with a sitter and you actually get it together to plan a night out. Woo hoo! On those special occasions, we often find ourselves struggling to determine what to feed the kids.
- Do I cook it before the sitter comes?
- Do I have her cook?
- Order a pizza? PB and J?
We have you covered with this “The Babysitter’s Coming” Mini Meal Plan.
It includes 2 dinners, 2 side dishes, 2 snacks.
All of these are freezer friendly and can be made ahead of time so you can just reheat and eat for when your sitter arrives! The kids can choose pizza and garlic bread or tacos and rice. And we even included two breakfast options in case it is an overnight trip!
Bonus Resource!
