10/1 menu plan

sunday: 

• dinner:

  • grill and chill, explained in this ig post about our latest dinner themes

    • something easy, because the kids are still sick (at the time of menu planning, both kids are sick), or because we’ll be coming home from fall family photos (if the kids are miraculously well, that is).

    • my favorite, easyyyyyy build your own bar of all time

• meal prep:

  • unload groceries for the week

  • prep some protein for the week since Brett was working out of town last week and we don’t have time to grill anything today

    • throw chuck roast, 1 cup beef broth, and 1 cup salsa verde in a crockpot on low for 8-10 hours

    • crockpot chicken breasts or ip chicken breasts

  • prep any fruit for easy snacking + easy dinner sides

    • here are my produce boxes

  • assemble our veggie box

  • prep goooood salad stuff for the week

  • make bread

monday:

• dinner:

  • friend dinner, explained in this ig post about our latest dinner themes

    • build your own sandwich bar if it falls through for whatever reason

• meal prep:

  • make a big batch of our favorite ip oatmeal for the week

    • here’s why this serves us well all week long

  • make a few yogurt parfaits

tuesday:

• dinner:

  • something with beans

    • Tuesdays are my day I meal prep all this. so Tuesday Dinner is something with all that, and something with beans.

    • Quesadilla Night or Pinto Bean Bowls, again. We can’t get enough lately.

  • big bowl of fruit + big bowl of mashed avo

• meal prep:

  • make some sort of egg dish for the week

    • the broccoli cheddar egg muffins or quinoa cheese egg muffins I never got around to making last week, or the week before.

  • and here’s everything else I meal prep on Tuesdays and why - Tuesday is a very, very important cooking day and it takes care of us the entire rest of the week

wednesday:

• dinner:

  • leftovers

    • because it took me awhile to realize Leftover Night can be any night of the week. And because I have a standing weekly playdate with my BFFs Wednesdays after nap, cooking dinner wasn’t working. Wednesday Leftover Night it is!

    • I usually pack a dinner for KK - here’s my favorite containers and things for eating away from home!

• meal prep:

  • brett roasts a chicken like this

  • make a batch of mini muffins (and/or other baked good) for the week

    • make peanut butter muffins or these banana oatmeal cookies that I never got around to making last week

  • make some sort of soup and/or pasta

    • make the instant pot creamy tomato basil soup I never got around to making last week or the week before

thursday:

• dinner:

  • something with fish (or chicken)

    • air fryer salmon + our favorite ip mac and cheese, roasted carrots, and perfect instant pot sweet potato + leftover bread

• meal prep:

  • bake a treat for brett - my favorite apple cinnamon crumble I never got around to making last week :) :) :)

  • brett makes stock like this

  • do this quick little routine of seeing if there’s any leftovers from the week I can freeze

  • throw any lurking produce into these containers to make smoothie cups

friday:

• dinner:

  • something easy, frozen, or IP

    • because Friday nights call for something easy, but our weekly habit of getting takeout was no longer working. and once I realized we had upcoming roadtrips, I reframed my mindset to look at Fridays as an opportunity to practice quick, road trip-friendly meals. (a second Leftover Night - or a trip to my parents’ house - is definitely an option, too.)

    • one of the frozen costco meals in our freezer? or build your own breakfast tacos?

• meal prep:

  • make croutons

saturday:

• dinner:

  • a costco meal + leftover produce from the week

• meal prep:

  • clean out the fridge

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new posts this week

• annual waffle dinner: a silly, simple tradition we love

• the humble dinner we love anytime, but especially when we need an easy meal

• why we leave the house every single morning (and the simple halloween treat I left on my friends’ doorsteps)

• my favorite reason to prep a pot of beans each week

• 10 behind-the-scenes things I did for my family + household this month

• why we love blueberry pediatrics

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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.

9/24 menu plan

sunday: 

• dinner:

  • grill and chill, explained in this ig post about our latest dinner themes

    • OUR WAFFLE DINNER TRADITION

• meal prep:

  • unload groceries for the week

  • prep any fruit for easy snacking + easy dinner sides

    • here are my produce boxes

  • assemble our veggie box

  • prep goooood salad stuff for the week

  • make bread

monday:

• dinner:

  • friend dinner, explained in this ig post about our latest dinner themes

    • but we’re skipping this week!

    • we’ll do one of my favorite meals with those sweet potato tots in our freezer, a big bowl of fruit, a great big salad using our goooood salad stuff for the week

• meal prep:

  • make a big batch of our favorite ip oatmeal for the week

    • here’s why this serves us well all week long

  • make a few yogurt parfaits

tuesday:

• dinner:

  • something with beans

    • Tuesdays are my day I meal prep all this. so Tuesday Dinner is something with all that, and something with beans.

    • Quesadilla Night or Pinto Bean Bowls, again. We can’t get enough lately.

  • big bowl of fruit + big bowl of mashed avo

• meal prep:

  • make some sort of egg dish for the week

    • the broccoli cheddar egg muffins or quinoa cheese egg muffins I never got around to making lasat week

  • and here’s everything else I meal prep on Tuesdays and why - Tuesday is a very, very important cooking day and it takes care of us the entire rest of the week

wednesday:

• dinner:

  • leftovers

    • because it took me awhile to realize Leftover Night can be any night of the week. And because I have a standing weekly playdate with my BFFs Wednesdays after nap, cooking dinner wasn’t working. Wednesday Leftover Night it is!

    • I usually pack a dinner for KK - here’s my favorite containers and things for eating away from home!

• meal prep:

  • brett roasts a chicken like this

  • make a batch of mini muffins (and/or other baked good) for the week

    • make peanut butter muffins or these banana oatmeal cookies

  • make some sort of soup and/or pasta

    • make instant pot alfredo

    • and/or make the instant pot creamy tomato basil soup I never got around to making last week

thursday:

• dinner:

  • something with fish (or chicken)

    • air fryer salmon + leftover instant pot alfredo + roasted carrots + great big salad using our goooood salad stuff for the week

• meal prep:

  • bake a treat for brett - my favorite apple cinnamon crumble :) :) :)

  • brett makes stock like this

  • do this quick little routine of seeing if there’s any leftovers from the week I can freeze

  • throw any lurking produce into these containers to make smoothie cups

friday:

• dinner:

  • something easy, frozen, or IP

    • because Friday nights call for something easy, but our weekly habit of getting takeout was no longer working. and once I realized we had upcoming roadtrips, I reframed my mindset to look at Fridays as an opportunity to practice quick, road trip-friendly meals. (a second Leftover Night - or a trip to my parents’ house - is definitely an option, too.)

    • the frozen taquitos in our freezer + big bowl of mashed avocado + a big bowl of fruit

      • or that frozen costco meal in our freezer

• meal prep:

  • make croutons

saturday:

• dinner:

  • snack dinner saturday, explained in this ig post about our latest dinner themes

    • usually a toddler-friendly movie is involved, too

• meal prep:

  • clean out the fridge

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new posts this week

• why tuesday is a big meal prep day around here, and how it takes care of us all week long

• my make-ahead yogurt parfaits

• one small thing that dramatically improved our weekends

• 10 easy household systems I can’t live without

• our weekly meal prep rhythm

• our favorite bedding and my favorite, easy systems to take care of it all

• our october activities: our books, our sensory bin, our playdough tray

• our morning outings

• this year’s boo baskets

• this year’s easy halloween costume for the whole family

• 7 things we keep on hand for easy kid gifts

• our cold and flu favorites for our kids

---

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.

9/17 menu plan

sunday: 

• dinner:

  • grill and chill, explained in this ig post about our latest dinner themes

    • let’s grill some easy chicken and caramelized onion burgers I grabbed at costco (here’s a homemade version).

      • I’ll make some some garlic aoili and/or comeback sauce or honey mustard dressing?

      • let’s grill those random hot dogs in the freezer, too

      • steamed broccoli + frozen fries or sweet potato fries + roast those sweet potatoes in our pantry for Joey this week

• meal prep:

  • unload groceries for the week

  • prep goooood salad stuff for the week

  • assemble our veggie box

  • prep any fruit for easy snacking + easy dinner sides

    • here are my produce boxes

  • make bread

  • try this ranch dressing recipe

monday:

• dinner:

  • friend dinner, explained in this ig post about our latest dinner themes

    • but if for any reason this falls through, we’ll do our favorite wraps or our favorite build your own biscuit bar

• meal prep:

  • make a big batch of our favorite ip oatmeal for the week

    • here’s why this serves us well all week long

  • make a few yogurt parfaits, if time/energy

  • hard boil eggs, if time/energy

tuesday:

• dinner:

  • something with beans

    • because I meal prep here and there throughout the week, Tuesdays are my day I make my beloved Weekly Pot of Beans. so Tuesday Dinner is something with beans.

    • Quesadilla Night

  • big bowl of fruit + big bowl of mashed avo

• meal prep:

  • make some sort of egg muffin or bake for the week

    • broccoli cheddar egg muffins or quinoa cheese egg muffins

  • make Weekly Pot of Beans*

  • make a big batch of rice* with chicken/bone broth for added flavor

    • I love my beloved rice cooker for this

  • caramelize onions, or roast onions and peppers*

  • oven roast some bacon*

  • dice onions and jalapenos*

  • put cilantro* in water (here’s why)

* Brett works from home, and loves having components for bowls, quesadillas, tacos, etc to eat lunch at home. Taking half an hour to prep these things each week really helps our food budget…and elevates our at-home eating. Since I prep them on Tuesday, I plan something for dinner that use these components for a two birds one stone situation.

wednesday:

• dinner:

  • leftovers

    • because it took me awhile to realize Leftover Night can be any night of the week. And because I have a standing weekly playdate with my BFFs Wednesdays after nap, cooking dinner wasn’t working. Wednesday Leftover Night it is!

    • Or we’ll do our favorite wraps or our favorite build your own biscuit bar - things that we already had on hand just in case for Monday.

    • I usually pack a dinner for KK - here’s my favorite containers and things for eating away from home!

• meal prep:

  • brett roasts a chicken like this

  • make a batch of mini muffins (and/or other baked good) for the week

    • make yogurt muffins

  • make some sort of soup and/or pasta, if time/energy

    • make sweet potato mac and cheese for the kids

    • and/or make instant pot creamy tomato basil soup

thursday:

• dinner:

  • something with fish

    • because we realized an easy family favorite follows this formula: fish + grain + produce + bread. with a good sauce.

    • sunday grill and chill usually follows a similar formula, too.

    • let’s make fish tacos + beans and rice (or fish taco bowls) with Tuesday’s leftovers, using the frozen Costco fish in our freezer

• meal prep:

  • bake a treat for brett - blackberry cobbler, but use blueberries

  • brett makes stock like this

  • do this quick little routine of seeing if there’s any leftovers from the week I can freeze

  • throw any lurking produce into these containers to make smoothie cups

friday:

• camping!

saturday:

• camping!

---

new posts this week

• my weekly meal prep rhythm

• the 10 easy household systems I can’t live without

---

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.