It’s been awhile since I’ve posted a weekly meal plan so I thought I’d share what I put together today.Normally I plan out one weeks worth of dinners but decided to try planning and shopping for 2 weeks this time (crazy, I know). There will most likely be a few extra stops in those two weeks for produce (mostly bananas – Stella would eat them all day every day if I let her) and milk but I’m interested to see how it goes. I already like knowing what we’ve got planned and that there’s ingredients for a variety of meals in the fridge and freezer. I’m sticking with our clean eating and it’s going really well in our house – my body feels great and my hungry eaters (all 3 of them) aren’t complaining. All of these recipes I’m trying are new (so no guarantees they are good even though they all sound good) and almost all from the two cookbooks I bought when I started this challenge.I’ve also included two yummy treats to satisfy that sweet tooth!
I planned for 7 meals to get us through the two weeks. Most of these recipes should have leftovers for lunches or other meals to fill in those days and I know there are days we’ll eat out so I didn’t want to plan meals for every night. I know this looks like a ton of food but I was surprised when I made my grocery list how much I already had on hand and my grocery cart didn’t look that much fuller than compared to a normal one week shopping trip. Decide what works for your family and you’ll have your meals all planned and all the ingredients to give you and your family a healthy, easy dinner that you can feel good about eating and serving.
Because I was hiding out from my family had nothing better to do tonight I typed up the recipes from my cookbooks to share with you. Please let me know if you try any of them and what you think so I know it wasn’t a wasted effort. 🙂 You can download the recipes and print them out here: Recipes.
Here you go — write it out and stick it on your fridge and your dinners are planned for the next two weeks!
1. Easy Baked Fish Sticks (make enough so you have leftovers for the Mexican fish tortillas), Sweet Potato Fries & Broccoli**
2. Mexican Fish Tortillas, Brown Rice, Spinach Salad
3. Turkey Meatballs, Brown Rice, Cauliflower
4. Swiss Cheese & Spinach Quiche, Broccoli, Fruit
5. Whole Wheat Pasta w/ Broccoli, Spinach Salad, Fruit
6. Loaded Black Bean Burritto, Roasted Carrots
7. Chicken Fajitas, Brown Rice, Broccoli
And the yummy treats:
Pear Oatmeal Crisp & Skinny Monkey Cookies
** I just have to comment on the broccoli since I know it’s on there a ton. I buy the big bag at Costco (it’s like $3.99!!!) and it will last us almost two weeks. I try to change up how I cook it so it’s not just the same steamed broccoli every night. A favorite way is roasting it in the oven with olive oil and then squeezing fresh lemon juice and lemon zest on top when it comes out — delicious! I’ll also stir fry it up with any extra veggies that are in the fridge, or just steam them in the microwave.
How do you plan out your dinners? I’d love to hear!
Mom's Secret Weapon 
I love how you made PDF’s for easy print out or ease of reading; that makes it so nice. I find myself bringing my laptop into the kitchen when cooking to read off recipes.
Some of these I could substitute almond meal for a gluten free meal. We also purchase the big ole’ bag of broccoli. We actually went to Costco yesterday and got the broccolettes (?). This is our second bag and we really like it, it’s a nice change from the regular broccoli. Not sure if it would be cook to roast though.
What are other staple veggies you purchase for the family and how do you make them? Depending on the season our veggie selection changes, but currently we usually purchase:
Broccoli – steamed mostly
Asparagus – steamed, grilled with onions (EVOO, salt, and pepper)
Brussel Sprouts – roasted
Diakon – crockpot (reminds you of a potato)
Celery – raw, crockpot
Carrots – raw, salads, crockpot
Bell Peppers – stuffed, omelette, salads, raw
Spinach – salad, cooked
Onions – stirfry, grilled, salads, crockpot
You know I love this Lindsay. I will have to show you my binder. I plan for the whole month. I have weekly grocery lists and menu’s already done for the rest of March. I can tell you whats for dinner on March 31st! So when its time to go shopping instead of combing through all of my recipe books I just pull out my grocery list, cross off what I already have and go. I HATE going grocery shopping almost as much as I hate planning whats for dinner. So doing it only once a month is awsome for me, and it saves time also. Hope you enjoy your new found time.
Blaire you should see me cooking – I’m always poking my head into the computer in the laundry room trying to read and remember how much of what or what to do next. 🙂
I just saw the little brocolettes (?) at Costco today and they looked good. I stuck with our usual but will be tempted to try them. I bet you could roast those easily! Probably not very long since they are so skinny though.
We are pretty boring with produce and I should try some more you have on your list:
Broccoli
Carrots – Roasted in the oven with olive oil and paprika!
Sweet Potato – love them as baked fries
Butternut Squash (the 3 girls love this – the hubby not so much) roasted with a little butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon – it’s like dessert!
Spinach – I’ll saute it with garlic and olive oil for dinner, throw it in scrambled eggs, or my new favorite – green monster smoothies!
I do frozen corn a lot for the girls just because it’s easy and they’ll eat it.
I want to do more brussel spouts and am tempted to try diakon. How do you do it in the crockpot?
Mitzi I want to see your book! I love how you have it tied in with grocery lists — that’ll be my next step. I don’t mind planning it all out but I hate writing all the grocery lists and figuring out what we need. And one month shopping – what an idea! Good for you!
Dang Mitizi! A whole month of planned meals and grocery list! Talk about motivation to try that; shoot, even a two weeks would be great! I think that is so awesome. It seems so time consuming, but I’m sure you actually save time and money by planning.
I find that Mitch gets bored and unhappy with my home cooked meals after awhile. In fact, we were just talking about this yesterday. I told him that he is lucky to have a wife that cares about his health and wants to make healthy meals for him almost every night. Because we are mostly meat and veggies I do find that I stick with what I know because it’s easy and I’m lazy to find something new. This is where I think planning would be very helpful. It would allow me to try new things without the last minute stress of “do I have everything, will it taste good…etc”.
Linds, we cracked open the bag of Broccolettes last night. They are yummy and they seem sweet; a bit different taste than regular broccoli. You have to trim the ends and pull off the small leaves, but it’s worth it for the change. Oh man, sweet potato fries are amazing! With two weddings I’ve got to be in this year, I’m trying to lay off the high dense carbs…But yes, those are to die for! I love sharing new veggie ideas, especially since it’s a guarantee we’ll be eating something of the sort every night. As for the diakon, I simple wash it and slice it like you would potato and toss it in the crockpot. It doesn’t turn mushy, it’s nice kind of like a potato but not as heavy.
I do crockpots at least twice a week because they are so easy, but as Mitch told me yesterday in our “I’m tired of your cooking” conversation, he said “NO MORE CROCKPOTS!” HaHa! My crockpots do taste the same though, I will admit! Basically I throw in whatever I have in the refrigerator. Usually a variation of: onion, celery, diakon, chicken broth, carrots and a meat source – pork, beef and chicken. Then for seasoning, when I get home I open up my spice cabinet and just throw in what sounds good – smell it and if I like it toss it in.
Do you have any staple crockpot recipes? Or staple dinners?