Menu: Sept 23-30 : Keeping it Simple


And I thought last week was going to be busy! Due to the nature of off-week scheduling (i,e, not Sun-Sat or Mon-Sun) and multiple short shifts, Mr. Moon has to work 6 days in a row this week with no likelihood of overtime. So it's all about SIMPLE. Thankfully, the cooler temperatures make comfort foods more enticing anyway. 

For chores this week we're just focusing on just maintaining our daily & weekly tasks, without worrying about extra projects. This will be the big test of our newfound habits. I made a point this week of writing down any pre-cooking tasks that need to be done the day before, and tomorrow I'm going to put together a prep list so we can do things like chopping onions only once. It really saves time later in the week, and it means I can ask Mum for help whenever she's feeling up to it. 

So without further ado, what's for dinner?

Breakfast is smoothies, apple spice muffins, and egg sandwiches. Beans on toast for the day after I make baked beans. 

Lunches somehow ended up being all sandwiches, so I'm going to make some pasta salad for a quick and easy lunch side. 

Dinner. As I said, it's all about comforting, simple foods that can be ready for whomever wants it, whenever they're ready to eat. 

Monday: Chicken stew with dumplings. [freezer, backstock, chicken, crockpot]

Tuesday: Pulled pork sandwiches (aioli, ciabatta roll, cilantro & caramelized onion, maybe some pickled jalapeno for Mr. Moon and myself), baked beans, chunk salad. [freezer, meat, new recipe]

Wednesday: Sloppy Joe's (made with lentils as a base instead of meat) and potato salad [freezer?, vegetarian, crockpot] I can't remember whether we have a dinner's worth of this in the freezer, if not I may make it from scratch or swap for something else vegetarian. At least I know there's split pea soup.

Thursday: Everybody's on their own. I'm going to make something with the abundance of squash. 

Friday: Salmon Chowder [freezer, fish, crockpot]

Saturday: Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup [vegetarian, backstock]

Sunday: Everybody's on their own. Leftovers, or some delicious Date Night Dinner concoction. Or possibly pizza after such a long week.

How did we do on our weekly menu goals?
  • 2 vegetarian days: Check!
  • 2 freezer meals: Check! With at least one bonus day for a total of 3-4. 
  • 2 batch meals: no, but that's intentional because the freezers are PACKED to the gills.
  • 2 "On Your Own" days: Check!
  • 1 Fish Day: Check!
  • 1 salad day: Cheating, but all days have pasta salad one one day has chunk salad as a side, so Check!
  • 1 crockpot meal: Check! With 2 bonus days!
  • 1 (red) meat based dinner: Check! Technically there's two, because chicken should count for this. But at least I managed to pare it down from three (we had swedish meatballs on here too!) and chicken is more acceptable than red meat on Pops' diet, so I call it a win. Plus the chicken and dumplings will have a lot more veggies than meat. 

And all that without even knowing where I stashed my reminder card until after we were done with the menu. I'm pretty proud of us!
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What's on your menu this week? Planning on joining us at orgjunkie.com for Menu Plan Monday?

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 24, 2012 at 2:13 PM

    Our family loves grilled cheese sandwiches. Sometimes I'll add sliced tomato or bacon. They love it.
    I love Pinterest for recipes too. We’ve actually discovered some new family favorites, like Korean Beef. Have you discovered Pinterest yet?
    You have a wonderful week. I know my week is going to be busy too but I’m going to try and not get too stressed over it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. HJSeptember 29, 2012 at 4:03 PM

      I love Pinterest! I have a whole board dedicated to food ideas, and I think I need to make a separate one for drink ideas.

      Delete

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