week of 8/29 menu plan

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meal plan

sunday: 

dinner: grill and chill  (or Brett cooks something from his favorite cookbook)

• I’ll have Brett roast a chicken - he loves referencing the above linked cookbook for this!

  • or I may have him roast our favorite, favorite spicy honey whole chicken

  • (or our favorite, favorite spicy honey thighs!)

• twice baked potatoes

  • (or mashed potatoes + gravy if Brett does a plain roast chicken?)

• my favorite brussels sprouts

  • and/or our veggie box with our ranch dressing

  • and/or salad with our ranch dressing

• brett’s been on a homemade bread kick, so finger’s crossed he makes another loaf this week

monday: sandwiches

why we love a weekly sandwich night

• our go-to easy, last-minute dinner: air fryer breaded chicken sandwiches

  • hoping to post this on Instagram, but know I keep these frozen patties from Costco in our freezer always for dinners like this. I heat them in the airfryer, I buy our favorite buns (Martin’s), and offer up onion, tomato, lettuce, etc. SO GOOD.

• big batch of comeback sauce (and either roasted broccoli and/or frozen fries)

tuesday: tacos, tostadas, or bean bowls

• my all-time favorite meal!!

  • use this beloved slow cooker bean recipe of mine

  • make Brett his favorite cornbread

• biggg bowl of whatever fruit we have hanging around

wednesday: pizza, pasta, or rice

• balsamic glazed sheet pan gnocchi with sausage

  • one of our family favorites and the reason I keep TJ’s sweet potato gnocchi and TJ’s sausage in the freezer!

• leftover cornbread

• big bowl of fruit

thursday: soup, crockpot, or IP

• one of our favorite dinner combos

  • ft. my favorite potato soup

  • and Build Your Own BLTs (with Brett’s homemade bread, pretty please)

    • or leftover cornbread?

or

my favorite slow cooker broccoli cheese soup since I never got around to making it last week

• 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 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

friday: eggs, pasta, or leftovers

• that ravioli in our freezer + that leftover goooood marinara sauce I randomly froze

• that frozen garlic bread in our freezer

• some frozen bag of vegetables in our freezer

  • I think we have a few different ones from Trader Joe’s to try - I always grab a random handful when I’m there!

saturday: snack dinner saturday or dinner with loved ones

• first UT game of the season!!!

• let’s celebrate with our go-to nachos (an old, old post!)

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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 our ranch dressing for the week

• 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.

• the oatmeal cookies I never got around to making last week

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 Tuesday’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

• september’s sensory bin…and bookshelf…and play kitchen items

• my new kitchen drawer organizers - this week I purged the kitchen, vacuumed out the drawers, gave the drawers a good wipe down, and added these expandable drawer organizers. giving some of my most-used drawers some overdue TLC brought me a substantial amount of joy

• a retractable box cutter and a rechargeable lighter - two things I finally invested in that have already proven to be solid additions to our kitchen drawers

• my favorite childproof locks for all our drawers and cabinets - I love that I can turn these “on” or “off” so that I can choose if we need that drawer or cabinet locked or not, like, our utensil drawer is usually unlocked, but I love that if KK takes a sudden interest in unpacking the whole drawer, I can quickly lock it

• 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.

week of 8/22 menu plan

want my weekly menu plan delivered straight to your inbox each week? subscribe here!

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

    • *we always get the Queso Mama queso at Costco, but I love this or this recipe

  • 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!!

  • here’s why we love this little ritual + a few things that help us prioritize it

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.

• oatmeal cookies!!

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.

week of 8/15 menu plan

want my weekly menu plan delivered straight to your inbox each week? subscribe here!

meal plan

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

• burrito bowls or my favorite bean and rice bowl

  • 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

    • *we always get the Queso Mama queso at Costco, but I love this or this recipe

  • 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 club sandwich bar

  • or chicken salad with grapes and walnuts (use leftover grilled chicken) on rolls

• if time/energy, make my favorite apple pecan salad with creamy lemon dressing

  • could also sub veggie box

• big bowl of fruit

tuesday: tacos, tostadas, or bean bowls

• 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

• caprese pasta salad

  • (brett can add leftover grilled chicken to his)

  • or cheese tortellini in garlic basil sauce? creamy tomato tortellini?

  • or that frozen ravioli in our freezer? with jarred pasta sauce?

• frozen breadsticks + whatever fruit is still hanging around

thursday: soup, crockpot, or IP

• my favorite soup - creamy tomato parmesan soup with a ton of veggies, made via crockpot

  • freeze leftovers in these containers - here’s how i freeze (and reheat!) soup

• but because brett won’t touch soup when it’s above 40 degrees outside, I’ll serve this with a bagged salad and a big pile of grilled cheese with caramelized onions so that he’ll hush

friday: eggs, pasta, or leftovers

• easy tostadas or quesadillas using Sunday’s leftovers

• or leftovers

saturday: snack dinner saturday or dinner with loved ones

• that trader joe’s mandarin orange chicken hanging out in our freezer

• white rice? that trader joe’s fried rice lurking in our freezer?

• any leftover fruit still hanging around

• that bag of edamame also hanging out in our freezer

  • this dinner may be questionable in terms of authenticity, but it’ll be delicious and it’ll clean out the freezer. YES.

  • and really, in terms of “My Word, Groceries are So Dang Expensive so We’re Eating at Home Way More and Trying to Be More Intentional With What We Have, But Also Planning Easy, Restful Meal so Haley Doesn’t Burn Out,” this dinner scores an A++.

---

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 our ranch dressing for the week

• 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.

• none - brett is sick :)

prep some things to make breakfasts/snacks/lunches smoother:

• thaw veggie rice soup for brett

  • pulled from the freezer in these containers - here’s how i freeze (and reheat!) soup

  • I follow my own recipe - and need to write it down - but the linked recipe is a similar version

• 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

• let’s prep smoothie cups in these containers

• 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

• my new silicone face brush + cleanser

  • my skin is loving this serum, too

  • added the cleanser and serum to our Subscribe and Save order

• our list of the vitamins + supplements we love - there are ones we take every day (especially me), but right now we’re also taking very specific ones (listed in the post!) since Brett is sick.

  • like my zinc and KK’s zinc

  • like my vitamin d and KK’s vitamin d

• did you see? I finished alllll the Monthly Themes for Play except November! weeeeee!

  • october, december, may, and april were recently finished! kk is going to lose her mind over april’s zoo-themed sensory bin. and may’s play kitchen items!

• our capsule-ish wardrobes - mine, brett’s, and kk’s

• 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.