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meal plan
sunday:
dinner: grill and chill
brett roasts a chicken (his go-to is this)
my favorite creamed corn to use up that corn in the freezer
let’s roast that one sweet potato in the pantry, maybe my favorite way
big bowl of watermelon
and/or my absolute favorite easy green salad - prep triple the ingredients for easy dinner sides + easy lunches this week (could make a few mason jar salads?)
and/or our veggie box with our ranch dressing
and/or salad with our ranch dressing
monday: sandwiches
why we love a weekly sandwich night
naan pizza to use that jar of pizza sauce in our pantry, and the 47972394 leftover pepperoni in our freezer
not really a sandwich per se, but that’s okay. themes are meant to be gentle guidances, not set-in-stone rules. follow them whenever works best for you, ignore them whenever works best for you.
my absolute favorite easy green salad - prep triple the ingredients for easy dinner sides + easy lunches this week (could make a few mason jar salads?)
and/or our veggie box with our ranch dressing
and/or salad with our ranch dressing
big bowl of watermelon (or whatever fruit we prepped on Sunday)
tuesday: quick, make-ahead, or crockpot
fish tacos with that frozen, breaded Costco fish in our freezer
corn tortillas + cabbage + red onions + avocado + limes + crema
if time/energy, grab creamy jalapeno from Chuy’s
whatever fruit I prepped on Sunday
Remember how I said I’m a very selective eater, but I make dinners that Brett would like? (I would get so bored only cooking things I like - and making meals Brett likes mean I might try/like something new.) And I make sure to always have Haley-approved sides just in case so that we can all eat the same meal? In this case, I’ll probably just eat some fish and mashed avocado and fruit - and be perfectly content. And Brett will eat a fully loaded taco. Everyone’s happy.
wednesday: pizza, pasta, or rice
with these crazy food prices, we’ve been much more intentional with using what we already have. so I’ve been really focusing on peeking through our pantry, fridge, and freezer to create our menu plan.
and I found a pan of chicken spaghetti (one of our favorite freezer meals!!!) lurking in the freezer, perfect for an easy Wednesday dinner. TYSM, PAST HALEY!!
want to see other dinners I like to freeze? see my impromptu freezer cooking day!
let’s grab those two cans of green beans in our pantry and make my favorite way to use canned green beans
big bowl of whatever fruit I prepped Sunday (but most likely watermelon)
thursday: quick, make ahead, or crockpot
but let’s omit the bacon and use the two bags of leftover deli ham in the freezer. and let’s use that frozen Pillsbury pie crust in the freezer, too.
I’m not an onion fan, but if I cut the onion on the small side, I like this quiche.
and this is our favorite recipe, but instead of doing a deep dish pie like the recipe states, I split the filling between two normal pie crusts, and I freeze one quiche for later.
(supposedly when freezing quiche you can freeze it baked or unbaked - I freeze it baked, simply because I don’t trust myself to flawlessly make it to the garage freezer with a pan full of unbaked egg.)
my absolute favorite easy green salad - prep triple the ingredients for easy dinner sides + easy lunches this week (could make a few mason jar salads?)
and/or our veggie box with our ranch dressing
and/or salad with our ranch dressing
big bowl of watermelon (or whatever fruit we prepped on Sunday)
friday: leftovers or takeout
saturday: snack dinner saturday or dinner with loved ones
those taquitos in our freezer
big bowl of mashed avocado + salt to taste
leftover creamy jalapeno from tuesday
an even bigger bowl of whatever leftover fruit we have at this point
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
pick up ranch dressing
make croutons - post coming soon!
prep some sort of dessert for the week:
see here why this is our new favorite thing for our marriage.
prep some things to make breakfasts/snacks/lunches smoother:
make sure to buy stuff for my favorite, go-to sandwich or my absolute favorite wrap for my lunches this week
let’s prep my favorite Instant Pot Creamy “Baked” Ziti (or this creamy tomato pasta) because I’m craving it hard, because it’d make a great, easy Sunday lunch, and because having pasta leftovers in the fridge works really well for us
make the weekly pot of beans so I can make this other favorite quick breakfast/lunch
favorite bean recipes: instant pot black beans or slow cooker refried beans or this copycat chipotle recipe, or this beloved slow cooker bean recipe of mine
make the mini blueberry muffins I never got around to making last week
freeze half
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 anniversary tradition :) :) :)
1000 things under the sea - i LOVE this book (and so does KK, even if she’s a little young for it)
three things that revolutionized my smoothies - and actually got me to make a daily smoothie
why we love play themes - and a (growing) list of all our themes
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.