Meal Plan Cycle 001

Well hello there! It’s been quite some time since I’ve posted. Work has been busy, life in general is crazy, and in all honesty I’ve been struggling with ideas for what to post. I feel like with my blog I am trying to do something - while being relatable, I also want to add value to the lives of those who take the time to read my blog. I’ve been thinking long and hard about what that is, and it goes back to one of my earlier blogs - food.

Quite a few years ago I had a food blog (Busy Bee Eats) where I shared meal prep and recipe ideas for those with a busy life. However, my life was SO busy at that time (it was while I was in nursing school and working full time!) that my ability to keep up with that blog fell to the wayside. I’ve been thinking for a while about what I am an “expert” on (because all blog-writing advice says that you should be an expert on whatever you’re writing about), and I’ve realized it’s meal planning.

I am not going to change this blog 100% to meal planning; I still like sharing the books I read the travels we go on, and other “mom” advice, but one thing I am constantly doing is meal planning. I am so good at it, in fact, that Adam actually compared my meal planning to writing hit songs (you better believe I will ride that compliment out forever). So, here we are, Meal Plan Cycle 001. Going forward, I will share my current meal plans and what items I had to buy specifically for that current Meal Plan Cycle. I am incredibly lucky that I have the space for a pantry and a deep freezer, I am well aware that this is not the case for everyone; however, even if you can’t meal plan the same way I can, perhaps you can get some meal inspiration when you just don’t know what to cook!

For those of you that haven’t read it yet, I’ve previously written about meal planning, as well as meal planning for two weeks. I plan my shopping and meal plans around my paychecks - it’s what makes the most sense to me. My check deposits on a Thursday, so I go grocery shopping on Thursday. My plans last for 14 days (duh, two weeks, though it technically spans through 3 weeks with the way I shop), and I generally plan around social events and days I work in office. My system may not work for everyone, and that’s ok. So, what is my current meal plan cycle? Keep reading!

Week 1

Thursday - Stuffed Peppers For the stuffed peppers, the only thing I had to buy was the actual peppers! I always have dry rice, canned corn, canned beans, and canned tomatoes in my pantry. I also always keep ground meat in my freezer, the type of meat you use doesn’t matter (I used ground chicken this time). Season as desired, add a little grated parm on top, and voila! A delicious dinner. Bonus: My stuffed pepper recipe (which I will share in the near future!) makes extra “stuffing” so you can freeze half and have almost an entire meal ready to go in the future - just buy more peppers!

Friday - Leftovers How am I going into Day 2 with leftovers, you ask? Well, meal planning is a continuous cycle, and there’s still leftover pineapple shrimp stir-fry in the fridge. Fridays are usually an office day for me, so something that can just be quickly heated up after getting home from work & picking Jack up is key. Don’t have to buy anything for this meal.

Saturday - Pork in Coconut Kiwi Sauce For the life of me I cannot remember where I got this recipe from, but it has been one of my absolute favorites for the past decade. When kiwis are in season/on sale this is one of my go-to dishes. I knew for sure I had porkchops in my freezer, and I literally just chopped up and froze some fresh pineapple a few days before shopping. The only items I had to buy for this meal were the kiwis and sunflower seeds (such a nice crunch in this dish!). This is another recipe I’ll have to share eventually!

Sunday - BBQ Pretty much every Sunday in the summer we BBQ because we host Sunday Funday, but this week no one was able to make it. Steak was on sale so I decided to grill up a London broil and spoil us a bit. I actually ran out and grabbed the veggies for the skewers because I thought that would be a nice addition, and I always keep compound butter in the freezer for a tasty addition to cooking.

Week 2

Monday - Skillet Chicken & Roasted Cauliflower This is an easy one; I always buy chicken when it’s on sale (a rarity these days, so I really stock up!) and I just recently saw a video on Facebook for some really delicious-looking chicken. Cauliflower was on sale, so boom, meal done. The sauce on this chicken was fantastic (it was a honey-soy glaze) so I will absolutely be adding this one to the regular rotation.

Tuesday - Leftovers With leftover stuffed peppers, steak, chicken, and porkchops, we had a variety of options for this day. I didn’t have to buy anything for this night.

Wednesday - Steak Tostadas I recently fell in love with making tostadas. My tostadas definitely aren’t authentic but they are delicious, and this is a meal I didn’t have to buy anything for - I keep tostadas frozen in the freezer so I had to defrost them, it’s easy to whip up a batch of refried beans, I chopped up some of the leftover steak and chopped up a tomato, then used canned corn, salsa, cheese, and sour cream for toppings.

Thursday - Falafel Bowls I love LOVE LOVE falafel bowls! There used to be a great place a few blocks from work where I would get falafel bowls, and when the place shut down, I taught myself how to make falafel. Falafel is such a cheap, easy thing to make, and for the bowls I just had to buy lettuce. On hand, I had jarred artichokes, olives, roasted peppers, and tahini sauce, and I reheated some of the leftover veggies from grilling over the weekend as a nice little addition to the meal.

Friday - Leftovers There were tostadas and falafel leftover, so this was an easy-peasy night!

Saturday - Parties I had a friend’s birthday party, and Adam had a friend’s BBQ so I didn’t have to worry about making a meal.

Sunday - Sausage Pasta Skillet I started making this dish a few months ago when I was struggling with what to make for dinner, and now I always keep the ingredients on hand, it’s become a family favorite! It’s best with some sort of cheese-stuffed pasta like ravioli or tortellini, but I’ve done it with all kinds of pasta. As for the rest of the dish, I didn’t have to buy anything; I keep pasta, pasta sauce, fresh onions and garlic, smoked sausage, and frozen pepper strips on hand at all times. I almost always have shredded mozzarella in the fridge as well which is a delicious addition to the meal.

Week 3

Monday - Leftovers

Tuesday - Leftovers

Wednesday - Burrito Bowls Burrito bowls are such an easy-peasy meal, and 99.9% of the time I always have everything needed on hand. Either rice or lettuce for the base (or both!), ground meat (defrosted from the freezer), a can of corn, a can of black beans, a can or two of rotel, sour cream and cheese (always on hand in my fridge!), taco sauce, salsa, cheese, avocados if we have them…. literally can’t go wrong with a good burrito bowl.

What are your thoughts on my meal plan cycle? Would this type of meal planning work for you? Do you meal plan, or do you cook on the fly? Let me know in the comments below, and stay tuned for Meal Plan Cycle 002 in a few weeks!