Meal Planning Monday

KrisM86 · February 2013

What's on the menu?

KrisM86 · February 2013

Monday: Super Bowl party leftovers

Tuesday: Penne with sausage and peppers, Roasted broccoli, Sour cream, cheddar & green onion biscuits

Wednesday: Beer can chicken, Potatoes, peppers & onions on the grill

Thursday: BBQ chicken crescent rolls, Salad

Friday: Chicken & black bean quesadillas, Cheddar stuffed jalapenos, Guacamole

Saturday & Sunday: No clue yet

Chunstad · February 2013

Monday: Grilled salmon, roasted veg, salad

Tuesday: Rotisserie chicken, roasted veg, salad

Wednesday: Cheddar meatloaf, mashed potatoes, some sort of cooked carrots

Thursday: Leftover rotisserie chicken-stirfry or alfredo...depends on mood

Friday: Pizza made with crusty pinterest bread dough?

emunbalanced · February 2013

Monday: Mini meatball sandwiches (we never had these last week), salad, and steamed broccoli with cheese (since my toothless DD can't eat the salad)

Tuesday: Baked pork chops, baked potatoes, hot rolls, salad

Wednesday: Salmon burgers on hot rolls and steamed broccoli

Thursday: Fried chicken strips, peas, mashed potatoes or egg noodles or stuffing ... whatever is easiest and we decide that night

Friday: Pizza

Saturday - Sunday: My parents cancelled this last weekend, but are coming this weekend, so we'll eat out once and then my mama and I will hit the kitchen the rest of the weekend! I'm excited Big Smile

blu-eyedwife · February 2013

Monday: Potato, Kale, and Sausage Soup

Tuesday:Spaghetti

Wednesday: Stroganoff

Thursday:Southwestern Enchiladas

Friday:BL(A)Ts

Saturday: Dinner at a friend's house

Sunday: Skillet Macaroni and Cheese

patchen30 · February 2013

I just have to duck in for a min and tell you ladies how impressed I am w/ your meals. I'm not a cook but they don't seem like simple dishes to make! How do you do it - cooking and balancing your family and everything else?

I live in NYC so the culture is not heavy on cooking and is a little different here, but my menu looks something like this

Mon - take out

Tues - DH out for work, eat a bowl of cereal

Wed - re-heat prepared food from grocery store

Thurs - take out

Fri - pizza

Sat - DH cooks something

Sun - eat DH's leftovers

I feel like such a bad wife!!!

emunbalanced · February 2013

AA0417:
patchen30:

I just have to duck in for a min and tell you ladies how impressed I am w/ your meals. I'm not a cook but they don't seem like simple dishes to make! How do you do it - cooking and balancing your family and everything else?

I live in NYC so the culture is not heavy on cooking and is a little different here, but my menu looks something like this

Don't feel bad for doing what works best for your situation. However, I will say that a lot of the dishes I make may sound complicated/time consuming to make, and while they are typically homemade (mostly from scratch, but not all), many of them really aren't (and this is probably true for some other people as well). A lot of what I make is actually fairly quick and easy (especially during the week; on the weekends I sometimes make the truly complex or time consuming dishes). It also helps a ton to prep things in advance (for example, I always cut all of my veggies ahead of time, all at once, generally on the weekend, so all I have to do is throw them in).

Yea, the stuff I make is pretty quick and easy! Whoever gets home first starts the prep, and then we both jump in and finish it up together. I save the time consuming meals for the weekends. Also, just because this is my plan doesn't mean it's what's going to be served! Some nights we're just not in the mood for what was planned, so it might be spaghetti or cereal or waffles or mac and cheese. Or some nights we're just not hungry, so we'll fix DD something, but we won't eat at all. Definitely don't feel bad!

CMonkey515 · February 2013

M- eggplant parm, meatballs, garlic bread

T- steak, roasted potatoes, green beans

W- Mexican pasta, salad

T- pork chops, steamed mixed veggies, cous cous

F- baked chicken, roasted broccoli, mashed potatoes

S- sausage and peppers, rice, whatever veggie we have on hand

S- probably take out

KrisM86 · February 2013

patchen30:
I just have to duck in for a min and tell you ladies how impressed I am w/ your meals. I'm not a cook but they don't seem like simple dishes to make! How do you do it - cooking and balancing your family and everything else?

I'm a SAHM, so I definitely have more time and flexibility to meal plan, prep, and cook. I will say, though, that most of my recipes aren't really all that complicated.

I tend to try out new recipes on the weekend when there is more time and use tried-and-true recipes during the week. I also try and make things that can be used for multiple dinners. For example, this week my husband will grill a whole chicken on Wednesday night and we'll eat some of it then along with grilled veggies. Thursday I'll use chicken leftovers to make BBQ chicken crescent rolls. Friday I'll use the rest of the chicken leftovers in chicken & black bean quesadillas. So Thursday and Friday will require very little effort and actual cooking.

The other key for me is just planning out the week and grocery shopping once a week to make sure I have everything I need. There are certainly weeks where our schedule gets messed up a bit, but for the most part I am able to stick to the plan.

blu-eyedwife · February 2013

patchen30:
I just have to duck in for a min and tell you ladies how impressed I am w/ your meals. I'm not a cook but they don't seem like simple dishes to make! How do you do it - cooking and balancing your family and everything else?

For me, it's all about meal planning. If I know what we're having for dinner, it takes me less time to make it than it would to figure out where to get takeout from, go pick it up, bring it home, etc. (For instance, Saturday we had to eat and be out the door by 5:30, so I planned on giant salads for dinner. It took less than 5 minutes to chop the veggies and get the meal on the table, which had us eating sooner than if we had picked up something on the way)

And usually my meals only take 20-30 minutes to make and I have more control over the ingredients than ready-made stuff.

Chunstad · February 2013

patchen30:
I just have to duck in for a min and tell you ladies how impressed I am w/ your meals. I'm not a cook but they don't seem like simple dishes to make! How do you do it - cooking and balancing your family and everything else?

Before the kid I used to do totally elaborate meals. Now I do things that can cook within 30 min. because usually his afternoon/early evening is the most clingy time. Also, to be honest, going out just isn't in the budget with our one income household. I'm sure if I worked outside of the home, I'd be getting more help from the store and/or takeout.

patchen30 · February 2013

I also have to say that I could spend more time cooking...I guess I just choose not to. I have those big chunks of time in the morning before the nap and in the afternoon after the nap where I could cook. But, I work 3 days a week and on my 2 days home w/ LO I want to do fun things w/ him, so during his free time and my free time (i.e. not feeding a meal or napping) we go to classes and play dates. Is that bad??

Chunstad · February 2013

patchen30:
I also have to say that I could spend more time cooking...I guess I just choose not to. I have those big chunks of time in the morning before the nap and in the afternoon after the nap where I could cook. But, I work 3 days a week and on my 2 days home w/ LO I want to do fun things w/ him, so during his free time and my free time (i.e. not feeding a meal or napping) we go to classes and play dates. Is that bad??

Hell no that's not bad! I'd totally do what you are doing! Besides, if you live in NYC, you have so many awesome choices to choose from, and I'm sure that they all deliver, too. I don't think that I could even get a pizza delivered where I live.

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