Weekly Meal Planning Session
Happy Saturday everyone! This week was a little crazy with my birthday being on Monday and I can say my plans really didn’t go very smoothly this week. Hey, here’s to being human. I think it’s important to try to minimize food waste, but at the same time, we have to be compassionate with ourselves. We sometimes miss the mark and all we can do is learn from our missed planning.
3 tips for making weekly meal planning easier
Before creating your list, check your refrigerator and pantry for what you already have in stock. If I have a bunch of rice, I will create a specific dish that includes rice. If I have a bunch of pasta, I will make a dish that includes pasta…you see where I am going with this
Before creating your plan for the week see how much time you will have each night for dinner and plan dishes that correspond with the amount of time you have. Below you will see that Thursday’s plan takes quite a bit longer than I would usually take for a week night dinner, but I have more time that evening to dedicate to cooking.
If you are cooking, always plan a night for leftovers. That way you don’t over cook and have more flexibility. If you don’t have any leftovers, even if you did cook, that evening can be take our items from your freezer.
This Week’s Meal Plan
Breakfast Options:
Option #1 - Noosa or Siggy’s 2% Yogurt + Kind Honey Granola + Almonds + Berries (Blueberries + Raspberries + Blackberries)
Options #2 - Hard boiled egg + spiced muffins + strawberries
Lunch Options:
Option #1 - Adult lunchable including turkey, sopresatta, cheddar cheese, and crackers. A side of veggies (sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes), and side of fruit (mango that I had in my refrigerator, leftover berries from last week).
Option #2 - Turkey sandwich on sourdough with lettuce, mustard, and mayonnaise. A side of veggies (sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes), and side of fruit (mango that I had in my refrigerator, leftover berries from last week).
Dinner:
Monday: Dinner out at Carbone’s for my birthday
Tuesday: Grilled Red Fish (butter, lemon, cajun seasoning), cajun pasta (pasta, butter, whole milk, garlic, cajun seasoning, lemon), steamed green beans
Wednesday: Fish Tacos - Pan seared trout with adobo chilis, tortillas, purple cabbage, pico, avocados, and queso blanco
Thursday: Pan seared chicken, twice baked broccoli and cheddar potatoes
Friday: Dinner out with friends at Mesero
Saturday: Leftovers, out, take out
Weekly Meal Planning Session: Preparation Beforehand
On Sunday I spent 20 minutes preparing breakfast and lunches for the week. I prepared 3 lunches for myself and my husband. Later in the week I will make turkey sandwiches to mix in with the adult lunchables.
Lets start prepping. For breakfast this week I made spiced muffins from a box. I also hard boiled several eggs and pre-peeled them. I find when I pre-peel them, I am actually more likely to eat them. If I don’t, they go in the trash (oops sorry) or they just sit in the fridge. I placed two muffins in a reusable plastic container along with one hardboiled egg. I put a handful of strawberries in plastic baggies. For my other option for breakfast I planned to use the leftover yogurt and fixings from last week. I usually buy individual yogurts, but if you buy in bulk go ahead and portion the yogurt into containers. Next portion berries into tupperware, place granola in small zip lock and place zip lock bag into tupperware with berries so everything is in one place.
For lunch I made adult lunchables. In a reusable plastic container place turkey, sopressatta, and cheddar cheese (you could also buy individual string cheese, baby bell or other brand). In zip lock bags place crackers and then place zip lock bag into plastic container. Portion fruit and veggies in containers or bags. I did sugar snap peas and cherry tomatoes because thats what I had in my refrigerator, but do whatever veggies you prefer. All the prep can be seen in the videos below.
Weekly Meal Planning Session: What Really Happened
Plans are a great starting place, but we need to be flexible with our food. So here is what really happened…
So my husband went fishing on the coast, which is why there is so much fish on the menu this week. The Sunday and Monday plan went great, but Tuesday I had forgotten we were going to my mother-in-law’s house for dinner so everything got bumped a day. Wednesday was very long and very emotional so we opted to eat the leftovers from Monday’s birthday dinner rather than cook. Thursday my husband’s dad came in town, which I am not sure if I forgot about or was a last minute trip, but we ended up cooking the red fish and fish tacos at my brother-in-law’s house to feed everyone for the evening. That was pretty lucky because I was worried all the fish was going to go to waste, but we actually ended up eating the majority of the fresh caught fish. Since we never got to the chicken and twice baked broccoli and cheddar potatoes I will plan to make those on Sunday instead.
This week is definitely wasn’t perfect, but it worked out.
Cheer’s to the week ahead and don’t forget to sign up for my FREE PANTRY STAPLES LIST below.
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Weekly Meal Planning Session Casey Bonano RD LD, Dallas Nutritional Counseling #dallasnutritionalcounseling #balancedeating #homecooking #quickrecipes #easyrecipe #weeknightrecipe #carbfatpro #quickeasyrecipe #balancedeating #intuitiveeating #weeklymealplanningsession #mealplanning #mealprep
Weekly Meal Planning Session Casey Bonano RD LD, Dallas Nutritional Counseling #dallasnutritionalcounseling #balancedeating #homecooking #quickrecipes #easyrecipe #weeknightrecipe #carbfatpro #quickeasyrecipe #balancedeating #intuitiveeating #weeklymealplanningsession #mealplanning #mealprep
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