Real Food Meal Plan Week 2
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One afternoon last week, my daughter asked me what we were having for dinner. I always get tense when I hear this question. I brace myself for the sighs and complaints that sometimes follow my response. But rather than answer my daughter’s question, I had an idea. This is an idea that I suggested in my post about how to meal plan, but I hadn’t actually started doing it myself. I walked across the house to my computer and opened up last week’s meal plan. I printed it out and returned to the kitchen. Inside the pantry door, I taped up the sheet of paper with the meal plan.
Here’s what happened from there.
8-Year-Old Daughter: Oh, cool! Sloppy Joes. Can I make lasagna next week?
10-Year-Old Son: We’re having Taco Night on Friday? Awesome!
Mom (in my head): Oh, cool? Awesome? Can I cook dinner next week? This isn’t how it’s supposed to go. What happened to ‘Aww, can’t we have pizza?’
Mom (out loud): Sure, I’d love for you to make lasagna next week. I’ll put it in the meal plan.
Why have I waited so long to try this?
Hopefully this week’s real food meal plan will receive another positive reaction. I’m including some fun, family-friendly recipes that I think we’ll all enjoy. I like to try a new recipe most weeks, so I went over to my “Recipes to Try” Pinterest board for inspiration. This gorgeous broccoli salad from Damn Delicious got my vote this week, so we’ll be trying it (using whole wheat pasta) on Tuesday. I’m guessing the leftovers will be great for lunch.
This Week’s Real Food Meal Plan
Saturday: Citrus tilapia, twice baked potatoes, green beans
Sunday: Vegetarian chili, cornbread, carrots
Monday: Homemade pizza, salad
Tuesday: Tomato Soup, grilled cheese, broccoli salad
Wednesday: Lasagna from ChopChop cookbook (cooked not by me!), salad
Thursday: Vegetarian chili, Quinoa/rice blend
Friday: Lasagna, broccoli (mom out for dinner with friends)
Putting together a weekly meal plan can be a challenge, but I think life without a meal plan is much more challenging. Things are less stressful for me when I have a plan in place, even when I don’t stick to the plan exactly. On last week’s meal plan, my friend Kirsten from Farm Fresh Feasts wanted to “peek behind the curtain” and hear if I followed the plan as written. In reality, I never follow my meal plans exactly. Last week, I didn’t get around to making biscuits on Monday, so we served the sloppy joes on baked potatoes. I didn’t make it to the store that had cauliflower on sale, so we had broccoli instead on Tuesday. And for the Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese, I didn’t end up putting pumpkin in it because the kids requested it plain this time. Even with these adjustments, meal prep wasn’t stressful because I knew the big picture of what I’d need to prepare each night.
Linking to Menu Plan Monday.
I linked to this article in my February Real Food Meal Plan post http://www.morewithlessmom.com/index.php/2014/02/01/february-real-food-meal-plan/. Thanks for posting.
Thanks for including me! This post looks like a great resource.
We do the same thing. The kids might groan about liver night, but they like to know what’s coming, like most of us do! Our nights are flexible, too. We move dinners around as necessary or on whim. The menu plan is critical for weekly grocery shopping though,and helps to keep you on to of what’s in the freezer, too. This week’s plan for us is…
Monday: Hamburgers, melon
Tuesday: Roast chicken, sweet potatoes, and broccoli
Wednesday: Chicken breasts, rice, and broccoli
Thursday: Shepherds pie with ground turkey
Friday: Chuck roast in the slow cooker with carrots and potatoes, and a green salad
Saturday: Breakfast for dinner (kids love this); almond flour pancakes, bacon, melon, scrambled eggs
Sunday: Leftovers buffet
It’s great to have a plan, isn’t it? I don’t know how I used to shop without one.
Oh that is good to hear you had positive responses from the kids. 🙂 I started meal planning maybe 4 months ago and I usually stick to it unless something doesn’t come out right the way I wanted it. It’s been nice to not have the “what do you want to eat” battles with my husband. 😛 I just finished my menu planning today.
Tues: Asian rice bowls
Wed: baked lemon herb chicken,mashed red potatoes,salad
Thurs: Any leftovers
Fri: Pancakes and bacon(found an awesome sale on bob’s redmill pancake mix last week)
Sat: Going out to dinner with family
Sun: Chicken pasta with cheese and zucchini
Great meal plan! Thanks for reminding me about Asian bowls. I’ll have to put that into my plan soon.