Meal Plan Monday 8/17

kvh22

What's on the menu this week? If you don't have the whole week planned out, any ideas? Since many of us might be feeling nauseous or have normal food aversions, you could just share what's working for you and/or getting you through the week.

goldpolkadot

Morning all!

I’m a meal planner for sure 🙌🏻 I usually try to plan on Thursday or Friday and then grocery shop (and/or order pickup) Friday or Saturday. Here’s what we’ve got planned for this week:

Mon: steak leftovers & salad (my birthday was yesterday & the hubs made a huge steak dinner - yay for leftovers for tonight!)

Tues: chicken pot pie & salad (this is my go-to meal-train meal for new parents; a friend in the neighborhood just had a baby so we’re bringing them dinner - I always just double up the recipe and then we have it for dinner too!)

Weds: taco salad (kids get tacos, the hubs and I get taco salad)

Thurs: black bean burgers on salad

Fri: ham pasta bake 
Sat: frozen pizza
Sun: baked ziti w/ garlic bread

(This week I’ll be gone Fri & Sat doing a volunteer thing so I’ll be prepping meals for Friday & Sunday earlier in the week so hubs can just pop them in the oven!) 

On the food aversion note: I am just now starting to feel sick. Especially if I let myself get hungry. With all previous kiddos nausea usually didn’t start until six weeks so it feels like it’s a little earlier this time 🤷🏼‍♀️ In any case, I usually keep a bag of almond with me and snack most of the day to try to keep the sick feeling at bay. Guess I need to do that now 😆

rexnie

No aversions yet, but it’s still early. I had a strong meat aversion my entire first tri and survived on white carbs until it eased. I hope that doesn’t happen this time since I’m stuck cooking well rounded meals for the toddler anyways. 

M: grilled chicken and veggies (whatever comes in our CSA box)
T: grilled chicken wraps, sweet potato fries 
W&R: chicken curry 
F: pizza 
S: takeout for my son’s birthday celebration 
S: bolognese and ravioli 

kadeephd

This is great motivation/source of ideas to actually make a plan.  Tonight we are having this cabbage, potato, and chickpea sheet pan dinner.  I'll probably make a non-vegan dressing because we aren't vegan. 

Tuesday: black bean burgers and roasted sweet potatoes
Wednesday: spiced coconut chickpea curry
Thursday: lentil baked ziti
Friday: fish with roasted potatoes and cucumber salad
Saturday: roasted red pepper, eggplant, and goat cheese pizza and salad
Sunday: lentil stew over rice

We'll see how much of this actually gets made but it's good to have a plan, even if I abandon much of it as the week goes on.

cagncoo12

I am pretty hit or miss with meal planning... but here is my idea of what this week will look like:

Mon: Leftover spaghetti 
Tues: Tacos
Wed: Pineapple BBQ Burgers w/ potato wedges and watermelon 
Thurs: Pork loin w/ sweet corn and watermelon 
Fri: Make your own pizza 
Sat: Take out from our favorite restaurant! 

I just told DH this afternoon that i think chicken breasts and I need to take a break. The aversion hit me this morning, although rotisserie chicken and ground turkey still sound fine. Just the breasts. 

Maybe this board will hold me accountable so i actually make these dinners this week! haha 

thedomesticgeek

Ugh, I'm normally on top of my meal plan, but I don't know where we'll be living in the next couple weeks and we're trying to eat everything we have on hand so we don't have to move groceries. We're selling our house and buying a new one 3 hours away, the buyers of our house just had their first loan fall through so we'll probably be stuck at our house for another month. 

@kadeephd Ooh, your meal plan sounds so good!

rexnie

Pineapple bbq burgers sound soooo good! 

cagncoo12

Currently, it's the only way i'll eat a burger 

kvh22

I'm horrible at meal planning but love getting inspiration from these meal plan threads. I'm still only 4 weeks and change so eating as usual but trying to make extra of a few things and freezing things to make it easier when I literally can't get off the couch to cook for 8 weeks. It was perfectly fine the first time, DH just had to fend for himself, but when I was pregnant with DD2 and DD1 had to eat and I had to sit at the table it was a disaster so I'm treating this like a mini-postpartum prep couple of weeks and doing what I can ahead of time. We also will be continuing the meal delivery kits we've been doing the past month or two (just started but I'm hooked for now with trying to avoid the store and takeout as much as possible).

Yesterday we had enchiladas. I make this sauce and freeze half of it: https://cookieandkate.com/enchilada-sauce-recipe/
Tonight: teryaki ground beef with broccoli, peppers, and pineapple over brown rice
Tues (meal delivery kit): Beef Bourguignon Pot Pie with Mushrooms and Peas
Wed (meal delivery kit): Mushroom Steak Floutas
Thurs: ???
Fri: Pizza (and movie) night which we do every Friday
Sat (meal delivery kit): crispy onion crusted steak with corn and potatoes on the grill

I made eggs this morning and on Friday and did egg cups with half the eggs to freeze for easy breakfasts. I don't use a recipe but found something similar here: https://fitfoodiefinds.com/spinach-and-sun-dried-tomato-egg-cups/ Mine are a lot less high maintenance than this since I just mix together the eggs, feta, tomatoes, sauteed spinach, basil, and I add sauteed sausage for extra protein, then pour it into the muffin tin with silicone liners.

kadeephd

@kvh22 I love Cookie & Kate!  It's a good idea to make some extra meals now.  I hadn't thought about dealing with the nausea and taking care of a kid's meals. 

@thedomesticgeek Thanks!  Cooking before moving is always tough.  Sorry you are in limbo like that.

Here are the recipes for a few of the dinners we're having if anyone is interested.  I love when people post recipes so I may as well reciprocate.

chickpea curry
black bean burgers
lentil baked ziti

kvh22

@kadeephd you're vegetarian, right? I didn't even realize she was vegetarian until I started trying to find an enchilada recipe to go with the sauce when I was bored with what I usually do for them 😂 I use her baking recipes all the time. I haven't made many of her non dessert recipes but figure 1st tri will be perfect for that since I hate all animal proteins (except eggs and milk if you count those). I enjoy her cookbook, though. DH can cook the food if I give him a recipe so I'm going through and stickying my cookbooks so he can make them later.

kadeephd

@kvh22 Yes I'm vegetarian.  My husband and son eat meat, but at home we usually don't have meat in the house.  I actually mostly use Cookie & Kate for baking too -- her banana bread and granola recipes are my go-tos.  And my husband cooks too but he prefers not following recipes.  Sometimes the results aren't quite what I'd hoped to have for dinner, so I usually cook.

kelseyyh

I'm thankful for this thread lol! I have gotten pretty consistent with meal planning since COVID started, but slacked a bit this week. 

Vegetarian as well! 

M: Corn cob, roasted veggies, rice, BBQ tofu
T: Taco Pizza 
W: Pad Thai with rice noodles, tofu & whatever veggies are afloat 
T: ?? Maybe breakfast sandwiches or bagel pizzas 
F: Fast food Friday / Drive In Food (special date night as our anniversary was yesterday)
S: Pasta with cream sauce, kale & butternut squash (it'll be a spin-off Hello Fresh aha) 
S: Tofu, broccoli, cheesy noodles (basic protein starch veggie plate) 

goldpolkadot

@kvh22 we do pizza & movie Friday too! Also, you’re SO smart to anticipate needing meals NOW! I’ve always been the same way - usually around 6 weeks until 14/16ish I just can’t handle cooking food, food smells, ughhh! It’s still fine now so I really should be prepping. You’ve inspired me!

Thanks @kadeephd (&others!) for posting the recipe links! I love love getting meal ideas from others!

Here are the links to the ones I posted:

Chicken Pot Pie (one of our FAVS!):
https://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/classic-chicken-pot-pie/1401d418-ac0b-4b50-ad09-c6f1243fb992

Black Bean Burgers (so yummy!):
https://www.thepioneerwoman.com/food-cooking/recipes/a11831/black-bean-burger/

Baked Ziti:
https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/baked_ziti/

Ham bake (haven’t actually made this one before so can’t vouch for it...but trying it!):
https://www.missinthekitchen.com/baked-ham-penne-pasta/

goldpolkadot

@kelseyyh happy anniversary!!
Also, do you have a link to the pasta with cream sauce recipe? Sounds delish!

cagncoo12

@goldpolkadot Black Bean Burgers sound so good right now!  

juliebird6

I’m seriously impressed with how often you all cook. We eat leftovers like 3-4 days in a row because we don’t have time to cook. 

Sun-Tues - grilled big batch of chicken that we’ll eat with sweet potatoes, frozen veggies, put into wraps, etc.

Wed-Fri - Thai peanut ground pork bowl https://mealplanaddict.com/2019/05/thai-peanut-ground-pork-bowl/

Sat-Wed we will be on vacation so that’s all I’m planning this week.

@kvh22 genius to do some extra meals right now! I should totally do that too while I am still up for it.

kelseyyh

@goldpolkadot

This is the one I was thinking of. I would rather gnocchi, but I didn't buy it this week lol. I'm going to use macaroni instead & we don't usually add ricotta. Swapping arugula with kale, because I like kale and don't like arugula lol. We don't have pine nuts so I might use walnuts or just skip that. Like I said... a spin off LOL. I love HelloFresh, we were ordering them for a few weeks pre baby #1, and also at the start of COVID. 

https://www.hellofresh.ca/recipes/pan-fried-gnocchi-582ddbda4348d205191105b2

kelseyyh

@juliebird6
I'd probably do leftovers more if my hubby ate them! Though it sounds like you are able to re-purpose your leftovers more creatively than me aha. We definitely have to adjust depending on the season of life we are in. We've had times where the most I felt I had the energy for was boiling pasta water. 

goldpolkadot

@kelseyyh yum! Pinned that for later. Thanks!

We've tried (what feels like) ALL of the subscription meal things and Hello Fresh was by far my fav 👌🏻

kelseyyh

@goldpolkadot Absolutely the best one, I agree! I will subscribe again near the end of this pregnancy / early days with this baby. Unless I think I can magically do it all (I could barely cook with my DS as a newborn lol. I was fussed about every peep he made and didn't love baby wearing while cooking.)

kvh22

@kelseyyh yes, that gnocchi recipe looks yummy!

@juliebird6 ha I HATE leftovers so I'm the problem. DH could eat the same thing for every meal and be perfectly fine. My love of cooking is somewhat wasted on him. I do try to prep proteins or, like I said, make a double batch and freeze for later (as long as it's not the next day).

@goldpolkadot I love chicken pot pie. Unfortunately, that's one of the few foods DH says he dislikes and it makes me sad. DD1 on Friday mornings wakes up and goes "PIZZA AND MOVIE NIGHT!!!!" She loves it. I feel like she'll be a teenager and want to go out with her friends after thousands of pizza and movie nights and it will break my heart. DH reminded me today that we are moving pizza and movie night to Thursday for her birthday dinner. So I'm also making a cake this week which I should start tomorrow.

@kadeephd oh DH only cooks when I can't. He hates it but will do it if I'm traveling or at work late or in my 8 weeks of first tri morning sickness. That's veryyyy rare lol. We basically learned that he can cook or come up with the food idea but not both so I give him recipes or meal kits (or freezer meals).

And for all those impressed with the meal-prepping - it was a complete disaster last pregnancy without it so I'm trying to mitigate as much as possible. No one ever said to meal prep for first tri but when I was in it with my pregnancy with DD2 I was like "why didn't we do the same stuff we'd prepped for postpartum b/c this feels like we need it even more?"

Lexibizzel

@kelseyyh @kadeephd I don't eat meat or dairy, it's nice to see a couple veggies in the group. Too late for me to get into my meal plans now, but look forward to sharing ideas.

givemeallthefood123

I try to meal plan the week before and pick up groceries on Monday- my husband and I will be out of town for my brother in law’s wedding Thursday through Sunday this week so I only had to plan for 3 days! Score! But this week:
Monday (yesterday): coconut lime chicken with jasmine rice and roasted broccoli
Tuesday: chicken Parmesan zucchini boats 
Wednesday: spaghetti squash shrimp scampi with asparagus 

I don’t have any food aversions right now thank goodness, but if I start getting too hungry- it’s not a pretty sight.

It’s so funny to see everyone that does pizza Friday’s- my family does as well and it’s nice to have 1 day of the week to already know what’s for dinner

kvh22

@givemeallthefood123 oo the coconut lime chicken and chicken parm zucchini boats sound great! Do you use a specific recipe or something you know by heart? Do you just marinate the chicken in coconut milk and lime or is there a coconut breading? I feel like I can probably look up the zucchini boats but I've never made them before. Have definitely seen various recipes for something like that floating around. I have so much zucchini right now and need to find ways to use it before it goes bad.

givemeallthefood123

@kvh22 I found both recipes on Pinterest and they are sooo easy and good. The coconut lime chicken is more of a marinade, but you don’t marinade before cooking. The zucchini boats are awesome because you could pretty much do any filling you want- taco boats, etc but I just love the chicken Parmesan (I do use ground turkey instead of ground chicken though). I added the recipe links below 😀

https://thewholecook.com/coconut-lime-chicken/ 
https://www.instrupix.com/low-carb-chicken-parmesan-stuffed-zucchini-boats/

kadeephd

@juliebird6 I don't mind leftovers but we somehow rarely have them around for dinner.  My husband eats a ton and we also eat leftovers for lunch, so we wind up having to cook almost every night.  Honestly it's exhausting and I feel like we constantly make the same stuff.

goldpolkadot

@givemeallthefood123 yaaaaas! I was JUST going to ask for recipes - the coconut lime chicken sounds fantastic! 

kadeephd

I just came back here to see what recipes I posted and so far we've only made 2/7 

cagncoo12

@kadeephd I only did 3/7 haha