fyi: the menu plan newsletter is being paused until I get some energy back - which may not be until after baby boy is born! (missed the pregnancy announcement? see the post here!)
meal plan
sunday:
dinner: grill and chill (or Brett cooks something from his favorite cookbook)
brett grills chicken for tonight’s dinner + plenty of lunch leftovers
freeze a breast or two of grilled chicken for easy future meals
see full list of what I’m freezing for postpartum here
set out the following ingredients so we can make quesadillas, tacos, tostadas, my favorite bean and avocado bowl, burrito bowls, nachos, etc. whatever speaks to our heart for dinner!
the weekly pot of beans (see meal prep section below for recipes)
plenty of mashed avocado + pinch of salt to taste
pico, queso*, shredded lettuce, salsa, crema, onion, cheese, etc
flour tortillas, tortilla chips, tostadas, rice
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. and that way if I’m too tired to make dinner later in the week, nbd. we just throw together some quesadillas or my favorite bean and avocado bowl or something.
monday: sandwiches
why we love a weekly sandwich night
one of our favorite dinner combos: potato soup and Build Your Own BLT Bar!
loaded baked potato soup (omit green onions out of personal preference)
good bread, crispy bacon*, goooood tomatoes, diced green onions, cheese
*make extra bacon for Thursday’s dinner
and/or veggie box
and/or big bowl of fruit
tuesday: something easy
double recipe, freeze leftovers for postpartum
i give more details on this in my big list of things I love to freeze
big bowl of fruit
wednesday: pizza, pasta, or rice
pasta + jarred sauce + that ground beef in our freezer + goooood parm
garlic bread
and/or veggie box
and/or big bowl of fruit
thursday: something easy
build your own breakfast tacos
use Monday’s leftover bacon - I just reheat for a few minutes in oven
“refried” black beans
I use this recipe, but use black beans and omit onion
roasted Yukon gold potatoes
cheese
big bowl of fruit
or, or!
build your own grilled chicken sandwiches OR build your own grilled chicken wraps
set out grilled chicken (leftover from sunday)
set out goooood sliders and tortillas
also set out: lettuce, tomato, mashed avocado, bacon, red onion, cheese cheese, bacon, ranch dressing, buffalo sauce, honey mustard dressing, caesar dressing, etc
like, Brett’s #1 favorite is to do a buffalo ranch style slider or wrap with blue cheese crumbles, but I almost always do a chicken caesar wrap with crushed croutons and parmesan cheese. or a grilled chicken slider with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. THE BEST.
another one of our absolute favorite Build Your Own Dinners - we usually have these ingredients on hand anyway, and the leftovers serve us well all week.
with a big bowl of fruit. or veggie box
friday: leftovers or takeout
saturday: snack dinner saturday or dinner with loved ones
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. 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 sort of dessert for the week:
see here why this is our new favorite thing for our marriage.
none this week - I’m tired!
prep some things to make eating at home this week smoother:
make veggie box, prep produce (like wash + destem grapes)
prep gooooood salad ingredients for an easy, delicious dinner side for this week
let’s just chop up a bunch of greens/carrots/etc to make a basic green salad like my favorite green salad
we learned we eat a ton more salad 1) when it’s gooooood salad and 2) when I do the prep work for multiple salads ahead of time
(ie prep greens, cut produce, make dressing, crumble cheese, etc)
could make some Mason Jar Salads for Future Haley’s lunches, too.
make a salad dressing or two
pick up our ranch dressing for the week if needed
and/or make homemade salad dressing for this week’s salads in my favorite dressing containers
make the weekly pot of beans
for a quick dinner if I’m too tired to cook (like Our Quesadilla Dinner), for a quick lunch, and/or a quick Leftover Night option
I love to eat beans plain, with eggs, with rice, in this favorite quick breakfast/lunch of mine, as my favorite tostadas, in breakfast tacos, in quesadillas, in a bean and cheese taco, as nachos, etc etc etc
recipes I love:
instant pot black beans or slow cooker refried beans, but I omit the onion in both recipes out of personal preference, and often times I’ll use black beans in the refried beans recipe
my slow cooker pinto beans, omit sausage
freeze leftover beans in these containers
see full list of what I’m freezing for postpartum here
make a double batch of some sort of muffin/pancake/waffle/bar
make our favorite yogurt muffins, freeze half for postpartum
make bread, if needed
Brett’s been getting into sourdough, so finger’s crossed he makes a loaf this week. we find a lottttt of joy in homemade bread, and I love how it also stretches our grocery budget…and elevates our dinners.
if he doesn’t make a loaf, I may make one of our easy favorites, like this recipe
make a batch of pasta, if needed
Brett works from home, and one of his favorite things is just a basic bowl of pasta, jarred sauce, and gooood parmesan. so making this (or whatever Wednesday’s dinner is) on Sundays can be a big gift for him. (and a wonderful Leftover Night option for him, too.) KK also loves this for lunch or as a quick dinner.
and in all seriousness, Baby Boy lovesssss the plain cheese tortellini from Costco. so we may just make a batch of that to keep in the fridge. (and Brett can add jarred sauce or pesto to his separately. or here’s 10 things to do with tortellini - GENIUS.)
let’s prep smoothie cups in these containers, if needed
make some sort of egg dish, if needed
let’s try these potato egg muffin cups (omit bacon out of personal preference) that I never got around to making a few weeks ago
make yogurt parfaits, if needed - post coming soon!
make a big stack of freezer pb&js for postpartum if time/energy
make our weekly batch of beloved oatmeal
favorite things
this year’s christmas gifts - done!
for my in-laws and for all our gifts, we follow a Decide Once list - it’s WONDERFUL and SO MUCH FUN.
I wanted to finish gifts early this year as one of my ways to prep for Baby Boy - due in December! yayyyyy!
setting out our December Month of Play - KK is already obsessed with the play kitchen items and her books
like this book, this sticker book, and this cookie set
our full list of Christmas Traditions
making a Trader Joe’s run to stock up on a few things before my induction so we can still do our Christmas Eve food tradition…if we feel up to it in that newborn haze. :)
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.