Menu: Feb 25-Mar 3


Five doctor appointments this week, five work shifts at Mr. Moon's new job, and three hours a day of physical therapy... We looked at the schedule for the week on Saturday and realized that this was going to be a DOOZY! Fortunately, I was having a spectacular day on Sunday, and we realized in enough time to do something about it.

We made easy dinner plans, and if we're having soup four days this week, at least they're all drastically different. We made breakfast and lunch plans that are fast, easy, and portable. We even made snack plans! And believe it or not, we even scheduled out the chores so as to not forget them.

Since we got two solid months of having a monthly dinner plan behind us, we were able to evaluate the differences. On the one hand, it was nice to have a short list of options, and a way to focus on rotating through the freezer. On the other hand, we noticed more waste as some days didn't pan out according to the plan, or simply couldn't accommodate leftovers and over-purchasing. So we've decided to forego the monthly plan for now. We may come back to it, that's the nature of flexible systems, but for now it's not working for us.

Instead, we put together a checklist that can go to the whiteboard meeting with us. It looks a little something like this:
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  1. Clean out/inventory fridge
  2. Ask Pops his schedule
  3. Write
  • Dates
  • Weather
  • A/B week (some chores get done every other week)
  • Schedule
  1. Schedule:
  • Date night
  • Laundry day
  • Swimming/Gym time
  • Social events?
  1. To Do list
  2. Meal Plan (see below)

Meal Planning:
  1. Grab freezer inventory list
  2. Dinner plan
  • Use up fridge stuff
  • Use up freezer stuff (inside first!)
  • Re-stock freezer meals too!
    2 On Your Own
      1 Meat
      1 Bird
      1 Fish
      2 Veggie
  1. Breakfast/Lunch/Snack plan
  2. Shopping list
  3. Freezer fetch list (for Mr. Moon to grab everything for the week's meals at once)

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What's on the menu?

Breakfasts: Yogurt with granola and fruit; fruit; cranberry orange muffins; eggs (and toast or as sandwiches).

Lunches: Homemade Lunchables! (That's a post for a different day.); quesadillas; pasta salad (which never got made).

Snacks: Lunchables; fruit; cottage cheese and pineapple; granola.

Dinners:
Monday: Chicken Tortilla soup (uses up enchilada sauce, and we got to make black beans for it in the pressure cooker!) [chicken; brothy soup; crockpot; leftovers; batch]

Tuesday: Split Pea Soup (uses up minced ham from chicken cordon bleu last week) [pork; thick soup; crockpot; leftovers; batch]

Wednesday: On Your Own! Mum is making Pops the pork roast that he asked for. I'm probably having steak and mushrooms. Mr. Moon, who knows? [OYO]

Thursday: Potato Leek Soup [vegetarian; thick soup; crockpot; freezer]

Friday: Rockfish, couscous, random vegetable [fish; pasta; traditional; freezer]

Saturday: "Stuffed Cabbage" soup. (Cabbage, tomato, rice, and I'm sure some carrots and onions) [vegetarian; brothy soup; crockpot; batch?]

Sunday: OYO; no idea what I'm having yet, but I want tacos soooo badly. [OYO]
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What's your meal plan this week? Need more ideas? I'll be linking up with orgjunkie.com, where there are plenty of other menu plans to help jog some ideas for your own family's needs.

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