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meal plan
bear with me - we were sick last week, so this week has a lot of recipes that we didn’t get around to making. because that’s my first step when menu planning - what do we already have on hand in our pantry, fridge, and freezer?
sunday:
dinner: grill and chill (or Brett cooks something from his favorite cookbook)
brett grills chicken + plenty of chicken for lunches
freeze half the grilled chicken for future quick meals
let’s make burrito bowls YAY!
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
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
our favorite oatmeal pancakes* + our favorite scrambled eggs + bacon
brett loves to eat this McGriddle-style, like a breakfast sandwich - hence why I’m calling this a perfect Monday Sandwich Night Dinner!
*sorry, no recipe - I follow my mom’s. but a google search yields lots of similar results!
((save some leftover bacon for Thursday’s dinner))
double (or triple!) the pancake recipe, freeze leftover pancakes!
bigggg bowl of fruit
tuesday: tacos, tostadas, or bean bowls
Build Your Own Tostadas with Sunday’s leftovers
or! this dinner I never got around to making last week when we were sick:
our absolute favorite wraps we love year-round, but live off of during the summer
use leftover grilled chicken from Sunday
the sweet potato tater tots in our freezer
big bowl of fruit
wednesday: pizza, pasta, or rice
easy tomato cream sauce with jarred pasta sauce + pasta
this was a dinner I never got around to making two weeks ago, thanks to our overabundance of leftovers - so I just moved it to this week’s menu plan
freeze any leftover pasta like this for easy toddler lunches
frozen breadsticks + blistered garlic green beans
whatever produce is still hanging around
thursday: soup, crockpot, or IP
my favorite slow cooker broccoli cheese soup
but here’s the deal. brett detests broccoli cheese soup. and I love this recipe in particular. so I make it and I eat mine with saltines and I’m GIDDY.
for brett, I make a few baked potatoes, and I may offer him some of Monday’s leftover bacon, some leftover cheese in our fridge, some green onions, and some sour cream. and he’s THRILLED. but also? he’s okay with broccoli cheese soup when it’s a baked potato topping. win, win!
freeze leftover soup in these containers - here’s how i freeze (and reheat!) soup
big bowl of fruit
and/or our veggie box with our ranch dressing
and/or salad with our ranch dressing
and/or a favorite bagged salad
friday: eggs, pasta, or leftovers
our monthly dinner date!!
saturday: snack dinner saturday or dinner with loved ones
visiting brett’s family
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 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 the weekly pot of beans so I can make this other favorite quick breakfast/lunch
I’ll use whichever recipe I make for Sunday’s dinner
let’s prep smoothie cups in these containers
make our weekly batch of beloved oatmeal
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
favorite things
our subscribe and save order - one of my favorite ways to lessen the mental load of running a household. that and my “if haley dies” document. and my yearly tasks and expenses list. and our fridge whiteboard system.
this sticker book on trains held kk’s attention for a longgg time this week while we were getting over Covid - BLESS.
my parents also dropped off this play salad set and this play pasta set - kk was smitten.
eventually I’ll add the pasta set to our February Play Theme (since our Vday tradition is a special pasta dinner - food traditions make the best play inspiration!) and I’ll add the salad set to our March Play Theme (since March is our farm/produce theme, so that seems fitting). I love setting out only 2-3 food/cooking toys at a time in our play kitchen, and rotating each month. this works really well for us!
curious the favorite toys we always have available that get played with all the time? see the list here! want to see all 12 of our monthly play themes? click here!
the vitamins + supplements we take all the time and what we take when we’re sick.
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.