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 makes one of the following (and makes plenty of extras for his lunches this week):
(these aren’t dishes I’ll be a fan of, but these days I’m not super hungry in the evenings anyway, so I’ll just set up camp at some Haley-safe sides, like some meal-prepped bread, a meal-prepped salad, and/or a big bowl of fruit. see “meal prep” section below for more.)
could also come up with some sort of easy grain bowl instead
monday: sandwiches
why we love a weekly sandwich night
tuesday: something easy
I use this refried bean recipe (but omit the onion out of personal preference)
freeze any leftover beans in these containers
wednesday: pizza, pasta, or rice
the pan of baked ziti in our freezer
or my favorite ranch dressing + salad
and/or veggie box
thursday: something easy
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 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
or my favorite ranch dressing + salad
and/or veggie box
friday: leftovers or takeout
saturday: snack dinner saturday or dinner with loved ones
maybe that frozen fish in our freezer and that box of Annie’s in our pantry with whatever produce is still hanging around
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.
oatmeal chocolate chips cookies and/or my favorite oatmeal cookies
double recipe and freeze for postpartum
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 the weekly pot of soup, if time/energy
make a batch of IP chicken stock to make my favorite veggie rice soup
i need to write out the recipe for my favorite veggie rice soup, but know the gist is good chicken stock + cooked brown rice + sauteed mirepoix, heavyyy on the carrots
for a quick lunch for me, for an easy dinner, and/or a quick Leftover Night option
freeze leftovers in these containers
here’s how I freeze + thaw soups
see full list of what I’m freezing for postpartum here
make a double batch of some sort of muffin/pancake/waffle/bar
banana oatmeal muffins, freeze half for postpartum
and or blueberry yogurt muffins, freeze half for postpartum
and/or try peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal bites
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)
make our weekly batch of beloved oatmeal
favorite things
bringing back puzzles since I’m so slow-moving these days. very, very grateful for my puzzle board with drawers to protect the puzzle from three curious poodles (and toddler)…and to move my puzzle from room to room.
also very into teas these days since Baby Boy won’t allow any form of coffee unless it’s a latte. and let’s just be real - puzzle (or a book) and tea is just divine. my tea organizer is bringing me all sorts of joy.
received the most wonderful questions this week on Instagram - one of which was asking how we built our home library for KK:
I used to be a teacher and held onto my precious classroom library
KK receives books for every holiday and celebration as apart of her gift formulas - her birthday, Christmas, Mr. Valentine, Easter Baskets, etc. we also keep a wishlist of books to share with loved ones and we’re lucky that family loves to give her books.
I became a Usborne consultant just to earn free/discounted books for KK. so whenever you shop through my link, know that KK and I send you the biggest hug of gratitude for helping us add to our library! (I keep the link in my IG profile, too.) We love love love these books.
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.