So in speaking to my sister-in-law this weekend on a little zoom happy hour, she suggested that I post my weekly meal plans and shopping lists. She wanted to nab some ideas and said, “well hey, you are doing it anyway, so why not?!” And I have to agree with her, why not?
I am somewhat of an oddball when it comes to being organized and I have to admit that the satisfaction of making weekly meal plans runs deep for me. It allows me to have one less step taken care of in my day. I am not searching the pantry or the hollows of my overworked brain for ideas for dinner at 5pm when I have a hangry crew all around. It also allows me to stick to a list for groceries thus not arbitrarily impulse buy things that either go bad or are bad for me. I often look through my pantry too, to see what types of things I could make with some of my staples.
I will do my best to include recipes/links to recipes or products where I can! However, if you must know, I will say that I only LOOSELY follow recipes I post. I get ideas, and then I tweak them to my own tastes (and my husband and son, I suppose…)
Also, if you want to follow my pinterest - www.pinterest.com/mflaggd I have loads of stuff on there, but the “Good Cookin’” page and the “Recipes I’ve Tried” is where I typically go for my weekly stuff if I need any inspiration.
Alas- this is this week’s plan!
Monday: Homemade chicken soup and salad
(I will make this in a crockpot since I am working Monday, I am going to use two large chicken quarters and make my own broth, but you could very easily just use a rotisserie chicken with chicken stock OR a few chicken breasts with chicken stock, whatever makes it easiest for you! The linked recipe gives you a simple way to do it- I am using potatoes instead of noodles since it will be snowing and I want something heartier)
**Also when I make soup, I make a lot of it so I freeze one half of it, and then I can pull it out as an easy meal another week!!!
Tuesday: Chicken tacos
(no recipe for this I use just ground chicken, taco seasoning that is low sodium, stand n stuff shells, tomatoes, lettuce, shredded cheese, avocado)
Wednesday: Cheddar and dill mac n cheese
(the link is to my own pinterest page where I wrote up the recipe- I got this from a winery YEARS ago, and it has become my husband’s favorite, I sometimes add broccoli or chicken, even turkey after Thanksgiving)
Thursday: Flank steak with arugula salad and rice
(I got the idea from the link but tweaked, I put some white balsamic vinegar with olive oil and lemon juice, a splash of soy, salt, pepper and garlic together for a marinade, and save some for dressing for the arugula- then just thinly slice the steak when it is done and make some rice pilaf)
Friday: Coconut chicken and broccoli
(I got the idea from the link, I halved it, as I was not making that much. if you have time, fresh broccoli is great to steam, otherwise the frozen steamer bags are A OK)
Saturday: BLT salads
(I actually usually follow this recipe to the T as it is delicious and simple)
Sunday: Chorizo pizza and salad
(no real recipe, I use wheat pizza dough- or naan is good too, mozzarella, chorizo)
Okay- so these two paragraphs of information will not be in my other meal plan posts if I do any in the future, but throwing in some information here since this is my first go at this. I will put the grocery list that I used below. I will not list EVERY single ingredient in the recipes as I have a lot of staples (olive oil, balsamic, garlic, spices, etc…). Ironically, I have almost every single thing listed under the “other” category below, however, I put those things on there as the average person may not have them on hand. I will break every list up by category and after the ingredient, I will put what day(s) it will be used.
I cater the numbers of what I get to what I know my husband, son and I eat. For example, Alden LOVES salads and tomatoes as well as broccoli, so we get a lot of that stuff. But I also sometimes go with what is on sale/cheapest (sometimes baby carrots are 2 for 1, or certain lettuces, etc…) This is really just to give you an idea of what I get. Of course this list does not include snacks, lunch or breakfast stuff- we sometimes use some veggies and things that need to be eaten for lunches or snacks, too! Very little goes to waste for us. Leftovers for lunches, veggies that cannot be used up are for lunch, you get it.
Produce:
4 Avocados (Tuesday and Saturday and on salads as we please)
3 packs Cherub or cherry tomatoes (Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday)
1 pack sunny crunch salad greens or any crunch lettuce (Tuesday, and left over for other salad days)
2 packs of mixed greens and.or baby spinach (Monday, Saturday, Sunday)
1 pack arugula greens (Thursday)
2 large cucumbers (Monday, Saturday, Sunday)
1 pack carrots baby or regular, your preference (Monday, and on salads as we please)
1 pack celery (Monday)
1 vidalia onion (Monday)
1 small bag of baby gold or red potatoes (Monday)
1 bag of apples- I often put some apples on salads throughout the week, and we eat the others for snacks (Monday, Saturday, Sunday)
2 bunches broccoli (Friday)
2 lemons (Thursday and Saturday)
Dairy:
Crumbled Feta Cheese (mostly Saturday, but can go on any salads)
2 packs shredded mozzarella (Sunday)
1 pack shredded Mexican cheese (Tuesday and on salads)
2 packs shredded white cheddar cheese - the sharper the better! (Wednesday)
Meat:
Family pack of quarter chicken thighs (Monday- freeze whatever I won’t use)
Family pack chicken breast (Thursday- freeze whatever I won’t use this week
1 pack of ground chicken
1 flank steak
1 pack Chorizo (Sunday)
1 pack Bacon (Saturday)
Other:
1 carton coconut milk UNSWEETENED - I use Thai Kitchen and it keeps well after opening in the fridge for other recipes in the furture (Thursday)
1 pack of shredded coconut (Thursday)
1 packages of bread crumbs (Thursday)
1 box rice pilaf
1-2 cartons chicken stock (Monday)
1 package of stand and stuff taco shells (Tuesday)
1 packet of 25% lower sodium taco seasoning (Tuesday)
1 jar salsa (or I like the Jack’s Special in the produce aisles) (Tuesday)
1 jar of dried dill (Wednesday)
Pizza dough or Naan (Sunday)
1 package of macaroni or a fun pasta (Wednesday)
1 bottle of dry white or cooking wine (Wednesday)
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