MEAL PLAN MONDAY: WHAT’S ON THE WEEKLY MEAL PLAN?

It’s Meal Plan Monday!

Welcome to the first edition of Meal Plan Monday! Every Monday in the month of October the #blogtober post will be on our family’s weekly meal plan. I will link to or post recipes used for the week.

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What’s on the Menu?

This week’s menu is simple, easy, and frugal. I do tend to try to make dishes as healthy as possible. It’s not perfect, but it gets better with time.

Monday – Sheet pan chicken and veggies. This is on fairly regular rotation in our house. It is a very versatile dish. This week I will likely use potatoes and bell pepper.

Tuesday – Tacos. Most Tuesdays in our house we have Taco Tuesday. It’s quick, healthy, easy to get on the table, and everybody eats it! This week I have scoop tortilla chips so I will likely whip up a little batch of salsa to go with tacos and give the option of taco bowls or traditional soft tacos.

Wednesday – Pasta salad with turkey sausage. This is an easy dish my husband and oldest love. Cook the sausage, cook the rotini pasta, chop up some tomatoes or saute some peppers, and combine with zesty Italian dressing.

Thursday – Beef stew. I have a soup kit I picked up at Aldi and some beef from my cattle raising dad to eat up. I plan to slow cook this all day in the pressure cooker. This would also be simple to do without the kit – just buy some beef and vegetable broth, dice up some tomatoes, and use your favorite spices. Add in some meat and let it simmer for at least 4 hours.

Friday – Pizza Night! Almost every Friday night is pizza night at our house. I make my own dough and sauce.

Saturday – Leftovers or baked pork chops and roasted vegetables.

Sunday – Chicken pot pie. I will loosely follow this recipe from All-Recipes. I have not made any pot pie since last winter so I do not have my own version… yet.

This post was proofread by Grammarly

Meal Plan: Breakfasts and Lunches:

For breakfasts, I have eggs, waffles, oatmeal, and cereal on hand. My kids prefer Cheerios most days but when as the weather gets cooler I like to try to start the day off with something warm in their bellies. The hubby and I typically have a liquid breakfast of coffee.

For lunches, my husband is happy with a sandwich, apple, yogurt, and chips every day of the world. My daughter gets one of several dairy-free school lunches. I keep most of these foods on hand. I also keep some crackers, pretzels, pistachios, peanuts, granola, and trail mixes on hand for morning snack time at school.

My two-year-old enjoys brunch with me (he’s big on second breakfast) typically a second bowl of Cheerios, or he steals some of my scrambled eggs or breakfast sandwich. I love melting a slice of Colby jack on a slice of homebaked bread and topping with a fried egg. Sometimes he’ll eat some gluten-free chicken nuggets.

How to Make Your Own Weekly Meal Plan

The first step in making a meal plan is to do a full inventory of what it is in your fridge, freezer, and pantry. Throw out any expired or moldy food. Try to think of meals you can make to use up what you have while buying as little as possible. This will help reduce food waste and save money in your budget.

If you want some inspiration for dinner be sure to check out my recipe page. I anticipate it to grow quite a bit during blogtober! Write out your meal plan and make a shopping list with the ingredients needed. When it comes to breakfasts and lunch be realistic about what you have time to prepare and what your family will eat. Add some simple breakfast and lunch options to the shopping list. Once you get to the store stick to the list. It also helps to bring the list!

You can download and print this week’s meal plan and add items needed to the shopping list on this free printable! The blank weekly meal plan printable is also available for download if you’d like to come up with your own meal plan. I like to keep my meal plan and shopping list out where I can see them in the kitchen. Now you can keep them both in the same place! Save yourself some paper and if you like this week’s plan keep it and reuse it. Have a rotating list of meal plans (and corresponding shopping lists) to make life a little easier.

 

 

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