Meal Planning & Flexibility
If there is one thing I've learned since I started planning meals for the week it's that you need to be flexible, or at least it makes things a lot easier. No matter what your plan is, something will always come up, deciding to go out for dinner, feeling really sick and not wanting what was on the menu, or just switching it up.
What I love about having a plan is that you have four or five or six meals that you can choose from on any given day of the week which makes it that much easier to pull something out of the freezer in the morning to make for dinner.
I think we've also saved money since we started as well. Before, Mark was always running to the store to grab something for dinner, and now we just buy everything and we're good to go! For the most part anyway, sometimes there is the emergency milk grab or something like that.
It's been a rough weekend and week, sleepwise, so this week's meal plan is pretty low key for me. Especially since I'm going out to dinner on Wednesday (Mark is not, but he can fend for himself). That's why I got him some mac 'n cheese.
Sunday - Steak with baked potatoes and corn. Mark bought steak a couple weeks ago and I've had this on the weekly plan a time or two already and it just didn't happen, but after the beef stir fry we had on Friday, I'm feeling the beef again. Corn just happened to be on sale and I love it, so any reason to have it I will take.
Shopping List:
Steak
Baker Potatoes
Corn on the Cob
Monday - Pasta with Philly Cooking Sauce and Brocolini. I may or may not add chicken, onion, and garlic to the pasta. I'll just see how I feel when it comes time to make it. I like to use what I have on hand so I don't have to buy as much stuff.
Shopping List:
Spaghetti
Philly Cooking Sauce
Mushrooms
Brocolini
Onions
Garlic
Chicken
Tuesday - Chicken Fajitas! My new favourite, this time we are definitely using four chicken breasts so we have enough for both of us to have for lunch!
Shopping List:
Chicken
Fajita Flavour Packet
Burrito wraps
Peppers
Onions
Tomato
Lettuce
Sour cream (optional)
Wednesday - I'm going out for a buffet dinner and leaving Mark to fend for himself.
Thursday - Homemade Burgers, salad, and homemade fries. To be honest, Mark usually makes the burgers but you probably have a good family recipe, or can find one on-line. I will definitely have to get around to posting some of our favourites!
Shopping List:
Ground beef
Onion
Egg
Potatoes
Lettuce
Salad Veggies (whatever you want!)
Oil & Vinegar or salad dressing
Friday - Shepherd's Pie (we did not end up having this yet, so I just brought it back from last week!) See last week`s meal plan for my super basic recipe.
Shopping List:
Ground Beef
Potatoes
Frozen corn, peas, carrots
Gravy Packet
I just want to send out a little gratitute to my hubby, I notice there are a lot of days when I write, Mark usually makes this so I'll have to get a recipe. I really, really appreciate how much he helps out, especially now that I'm pregnant. He cooks a lot or will at least help me chop things or whatever. I'm pretty lucky.
What`s on your menu for the week?
