meal plan
sunday:
dinner: grill and chill
brett grills chicken for tonight’s dinner + plenty of lunch leftovers
freeze a breast or two of grilled chicken for easy future meals
tacos or quesadillas. whatever speaks to our heart!
instant pot black beans or slow cooker refried beans
I omit the onion in both recipes out of personal preference
freeze half in these containers
jk I can’t limit myself to only two favorite bean recipes. I also love this copycat chipotle recipe, or this beloved slow cooker bean recipe of mine. i love beans so much.
plenty of mashed avocado + pinch of salt to taste
pico, queso*, shredded lettuce, salsa, crema, onion, cheese, etc
flour tortillas
could also grab sauces/sides/fresh tortillas from one of our favorite Mexican restaurants
we THRIVE on this Build Your Own Dinner and we thrive even more on the leftovers all week.
monday: sandwiches
why we love a weekly sandwich night
build your own turkey sandwiches
freeze leftovers in these containers - here’s how i freeze (and reheat!) soup
tuesday: quick, make-ahead, or crockpot
my favorites strawberry spinach salad (except I omit the avocado bc I’m a monster)
(brett can add leftover grilled chicken to his)
one of those rice side dish packets lurking in our pantry
could always make that random thing of canned biscuits taking up space in our fridge to help fill brett up, too
big bowl of melon and/or apples and/or berries
wednesday: pizza, pasta, or rice
(brett can add leftover grilled chicken to his)
garlic knots using that can of refrigerated breadstick dough hanging out in our fridge
big bowl of melon
thursday: quick, make ahead, or crockpot
quesadillas with leftover chicken
or my favorite bean and avocado bowl or burrito bowls using sunday’s leftovers
or paninis with leftover turkey with leftover salad
or leftover soup and leftover salad with leftover garlic knots
or or or
friday: leftovers or takeout
kk’s birthday!!
saturday: snack dinner saturday or dinner with loved ones
instead of doing a birthday party for kk, we’re doing a fun breakfast with brett’s parents in the morning, and a special pizza dinner by the pool with my family after her nap :)
meal prep
i usually do a little meal prep on Sundays as a part of our Grill and Chill, but I may instead do a bit here and there throughout the week. (you’ll notice I allow space in my daily rhythm for potential meal prep.)
below is the list of what I hope to meal prep this week - it may not all happen, and that's okay! even 5 minutes of prep is super beneficial.
prep some dinner components:
during the summer, I prep as much dinner stuff on Sundays as possible, so that KK and I can spend plenty of time at the pool after her nap
prep produce, make veggie box
prep ingredients for my favorite strawberry spinach salad
make a big batch of homemade croutons for the week (post coming soon)
roast a big batch of broccoli for the week, if time/energy
make monday’s veggie rice soup
make wednesday’s caprese pasta salad, if time/energy
prep some sort of dessert for the week:
see here why this is our new favorite thing for our marriage.
lemon zucchini bread (give second loaf to neighbors)
prep some things to make breakfasts/snacks/lunches smoother:
make sure to buy stuff for my favorite, go-to sandwich or my absolute favorite turkey wrap sanckbox for my lunches this week
make the weekly pot of beans so I can make this other favorite quick breakfast/lunch - see the above “sunday” section of my menu plan for my go-to bean recipes!
make chocolate chip muffins, freeze leftovers
make a batch of oatmeal like this
excerpt from my “my breakfast and lunch favorites” blogpost:
up until, like, a year ago, i swore I disliked oatmeal. but it turns out I was just eating the wrong kind. my mom one day made oatmeal like this with good oats, and served it to me plain with a generous slab of butter stirred in. it was this savory risotto-like situation. it was heavenly. and from then on, I was a converted oatmeal lover.
move some frozen mango/pineapple/cherries to mason jars in the fridge for KK like this
slice lemons for hot lemon water
make a big batch of carrot orange juice, if time/energy
read more about my juicing routine here
Need more ideas for make-ahead breakfasts and lunches to meal prep? Here’s my list of favorites!
favorite things
our new menu plan display for our home - will post about this once we’ve had it for awhile! but this gem solves our need to have our menu plan displayed somewhere in our home for reference, as well as my general itch to always hand-letter everything always :)
if you’re new, I used to be a teacher and I used to do wedding signage, so writing with markers always brings an incredible amount of joy
summer meal prepping - if you missed the blurb above, my meal prep looks slightly different once we reach the summer season. I plan easyyyy dinners that are either quick or make-ahead, and I prep as much of our dinner food as possible on weekends. and then KK and I go to the pool most days after her nap, and we either bring dinner with us or eat when we get home. either way, we get to play in the pool longer since dinner is done! you do whatever works for you in this season.
the big list of things, systems, and routines that help me feel my best - I’m always updating this post and it’s the best place to start to get a lot of FAQs answered!
want more?
i’m always sharing our favorite routines, our favorite systems, and our favorite dinners on Instagram.
and know that when you share kind words with me or share my page with your followers, I do a happy dance. your support means everything, and your support allows me to spend time creating free content, like this menu plan. xo.