Menu Plan for Jan. 31 – Feb. 6
Last week I went to our local Weston A Price Foundation chapter meeting and had a great time learning all about menu planning. While I have done almost everything that was covered, I did learn a few new things and left with a new found need to organize again. Lately our meals have just been thrown together and I would love to be able to have meals and snacks ready to go again. So I decided to get my menu for next week ready to go so that I can prep it this weekend.
And really quickly, I’ll just list our dinners:
- Sunday: Burrito Bake
- Monday: Chicken noodle soup
- Tuesday: Crockpot beef roast
- Wednesday: Lentil soup
- Thursday: BBQ beef sandwiches (made with leftover beef roast)
- Friday: Crockpot roast chicken
- Saturday: Homemade pizza
I also set up an entire weekly calendar for you to check out and/or print if you’d like: Weekly Menu Plan
As well as my entire To Do list for my weekend prep: Prep List (includes some granola bar making and muffin baking as well as most meal prep)
And for ease of shopping: A Grocery List (I think I got everything!)
So there you have it, my over organized menu plan.
Hopefully this helps me stay more organized! And I’m also hoping that with my husband home on Saturday I can sneak into the kitchen by myself for an hour or two and get the majority of my prep work done uninterrupted.I’ll let you know how that goes!
Also – I’ve started putting my recipes all organized like in a tab at the top of the page here. Soon, I’ll have them all up there, but I at least got a sart on it over the weekend!
This post is linked to: Menu Plan Mondays
** Please do not construe my posts as medical advice, because *ahem*, I am not a doctor or medical professional. I am but a student of Nourishing Nutrition and Natural Health. I only hope to ignite a passion within you to do your own research and begin your own journey to better health. And to make sure you don't miss a single post, you can add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email.Menu Makeover: My Dinners
To give you some ideas of how you might be able to change your daily dinners, I’m going to show you a week of what our dinners used to be, and show you what I’m serving up this week (while we mostly eat out of our pantry) by making those same meals better or replacing them.
Used to be:
- Monday – Hamburger Helper (sometimes a veggie made it onto the plates as well) can of soda or glass of skim milk
- Tuesday – Spaghetti with store bought sauce, 1lb conventional beef, white flour pasta, skim milk
- Wednesday – Hamburgers on white buns, store bought fries, store bought ketchup, skim milk
- Thursday - Grilled chicken, broccoli, boxed au gratins, skim milk
- Friday – Order Pizza, pop
- Saturday – Eat out, pop
- Sunday – Taco meal kit, pop or skim milk
And now?
- Monday – Omelets made with free range chicken eggs, loaded with pepper, onion, and mushroom. Sourdough toast with organic butter, and sausage made with grassfed beef.
- Tuesday – Spaghetti made with 1/2 lb grassfed beef, homemade sauce and brown rice pasta. Salad on the side.
- Wednesday – Grassfed beef burgers on homemade buns, sweet potatoes, green beans
- Thursday – Grilled free range chicken, broccoli and homemade au gratins
- Friday – Salmon, baked potatoes, and green beans
- Saturday – Homemade pizza with homemade sauce
- Sunday – Tacos made with grassfed beef, homemade seasoning, and homemade tortilla shells served with a mexican rice (which is made w/ bone broth) and possibly guacamole
- (we drink water w/ each meal)
Now is my menu perfect? No.
I always have room to grow and make it better, but at least now we’re getting veggies at each meal and most of what we eat is made here at home. And we’ve essentially gotten rid of all of the preservatives, colorings, fake flavors, etc.
So what are the biggest ways your menu has changed over the years?
Want some ideas to get out of your junk food rut? Send them my way!
This post is linked to: Menu Plan Mondays
** Please do not construe my posts as medical advice, because *ahem*, I am not a doctor or medical professional. I am but a student of Nourishing Nutrition and Natural Health. I only hope to ignite a passion within you to do your own research and begin your own journey to better health. And to make sure you don't miss a single post, you can add my blog's RSS Feed to your reader or you can sign up for free updates by Email.Menu Plan: Nov. 30
Good Monday Morning!!! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend! We stayed home and made thanksgiving dinner ourselves and our only dinner guest was my youngest sister. So we had a nice leisurely and slow paced day. For the first time this year I tried out Amy’s “cook the turkey the day before” tip and really liked how much easier it made my day! I put the turkey in on Wednesday and once it was finished, cut all the meat off the bone and popped it in the fridge. Then I took the whatever was left of the turkey and placed it in my canning pot, covered with water and a bit of vinegar, and let sit and simmer all night. The next morning I tossed in some veggies, bay leaves, salt, and pepper and let it simmer yet some more. It was great having such nourishing broth sitting on the back of the stove! I boiled my potatoes in it for mashed potatoes and it made gravy making a bit easier as well. Plus I got over 2 gallons of it to freeze! I’ll definitely be making it this way again, so Thank You Amy!
This week will be another busy week in the kitchen as I join in on another ‘once a month cooking‘ adventure! It’s something I’ve fallen in and out of habit doing for the last few years, but it definitely makes my life a bit easier come dinnertime each night!
Here’s what I’m thinking I’ll cook up for dinners:
- Burrito Bake (x2)
- Turkey soup (x2)(minus the noodles)(I just cook the noodles when I need them in some homemade broth)
- Spaghetti sauce (x2)
- Chili (x4)
- Bean soup (x4)
- Taco seasoned ground beef and homemade tortillas (x3)
- Sausage patties (x1) for nights we have ‘brinner’
- Premade salad (just for this week)
- Meatballs (x1)
- Italian Cream Cheese Chicken (1 batch split int two dinners)
- Mac and Cheese w/ chicken and broccoli (1 batch split in two dinners)
And for snacks/misc:
- Homemade wheat thins (adjusting and playing with the recipe)
- granola bars (x2)
- Blueberry muffins (x2)
- Gluten free carrot muffins (x2)
- Banana bread (x2)
- Soaked pancakes
- Caramel corn (x2)
- Deviled eggs (x12)
- Cut veggies for the week
And the ‘if I have time/energy’ items:
- marshmallows
- mozzarella cheese
- chocolate ‘pudding’
This list should give us plenty of snacks as well as about 14 dinners and a few lunches for Todd. And while not all of it is likely to be finished, a list like this helps me out immensely in my grocery shopping. I tend to make one large shopping trip each month and buy most of the staples I’ll need for each meal and then shop the other weeks for simple things like fresh produce.
Our dinners this week:
- Monday – Tacos and salad
- Tuesday – Bean soup/Turkey soup
- Wednesday – Omelets, potatoes fried in beef lard, and sausage
- Thursday – Steak and steamed veggies
- Friday – Italian chicken casserole and salad
- Saturday – Homemade pizza for the family, mom’s night out for me!!
- Sunday – Beef roast and veggies
So what kind of meals do you make ahead? I’d love some new ideas for next month!
Menu Plan: Nov. 23
I love the holiday season! It means plenty of good food and great times with family!!
And while I haven’t implemented a lot of new foods, that I learned we should be eating at the conference, I am trying to change the way we eat what we do eat and making sure we get a fat and protien at each meal. (something that was talked about in the food and mood session)
Monday:
- breakfast – smoothies, toast
- lunch – salad and deviled eggs
- snack – celery and PB
- dinner – soup (bean soup fro Todd, homemade chicken noodle soup for me)
Tuesday:
- breakfast – eggs
- lunch -
- snack – fruit and cheese
- dinner – salad and spaghetti
Wednesday:
- breakfast – soaked oatmeal w/ cream and butter
- lunch – leftovers
- snack – cut veggies and dip
- dinner – veggie omelets and lard fried potatoes
Thursday:
- breakfast – smoothies and toast
- dinner – Turkey (hoping I can get a fresh one at a local farm!) mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade green bean casserole, something with sweet potatoes, and apple crisp for dessert.
Friday -
- breakfast – french toast with homemade whipped cream, scrambled eggs, sausage, and fruit
- lunch – leftovers
- snack – veggies and dip
- dinner – homemade pizza
Saturday -
- breakfast – soaked oatmeal
- lunch – sandwiches and salad
- dinner – turkey bake
Sunday -
- breakfast – eggs
- lunch – leftovers
- dinner – hamburgers, potatoes, green beans
Hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving!!!!
This post is linked to: Menu Plan Monday
Menu Plan: Nov. 8
After last weeks baking days this weeks menu plan is going to be a piece of cake. And even more so due to the fact that I’ll be leaving early Friday morning for the Wise Traditions Conference! (if you’re going to be there, look for me! I’ll be at the WAPF booth during scheduled breaks) So this week I only have to plan 5 dinners.
Breakfasts:
- yogurt smoothies
- soaked oatmeal
- eggs
Lunches:
- homemade chicken noodle soup
- leftovers
- sandwiches
- hard boiled eggs
Dinner:
Monday – Homemade pizza, salad
Tuesday – Spaghetti, garlic bread, salad
Wednesday – Omelets, sausage, roasted potatoes
Thursday – Tacos and mexican rice
After Thursday, I’ll be fed some fabulous healthy and nourishing foods! You can check out the menu here. I’ll be stepping out of my comfort zone for sure with some of the dishes, but I do want to at least try some new things! Oh, and they also have the recipes listed as well! How cool is that?
And don’t forget to enter to win Nina Plancks newest book “Real Food for Mother and Baby”! It’s a fabulous book and every woman should read it!
Baking Day #2: Tis the season
Tis the season of my life where my littles run my schedule. Last night my baby didn’t nod off to sleep until midnight and then my 3 year old woke up at 5am with a runny nose and barky sounding cough. And when my baby awoke, I noticed the new little grin she’s sporting.
That’s right, teething has begun!
So with both of them on the fritz today, I realized my whole list was not going to get done and just worked when I could. I did end up getting 4 bags of spaghetti sauce bagged up for the freezer as well as some fermented ketchup. I also had some rice to go in the freezer but I forgot it was still on the stove until I looked at the pictures I took today.
It had only been on the stove for 2 hours!
Tomorrow I need to just brown and season 3 lbs of meat for tacos, and make up some chicken noodle soup (minus noodles – I’ll add those when we cook it) for a quick nourishing meal should one of us start to feel unwell.
All in all here’s what I accomplished today:
Wednesdays plan:
- make pancakes (some for breakfast, some for later)
- make cream cheese chicken pasta casserole (half for dinner, half for later) Done. Except we ate it all
- make fermented ketchup – DONE
- make mayo
- marinate and freeze steaks
- marinate and freeze chicken – forgot to buy extra chicken
- make playdoh - NOPE
- make spaghetti sauce, 4 batches – DONE
- make pizza sauce, 4 batches
- make bbq sauce, 2 batches
Better than nothing that’s for sure! And I won’t have to bake snacks for my husbands lunch for a few weeks, plus once I finish up tomorrow I’ll have about 14 quicker to get ready meals.
Not in my written plan, but other accomplishments:
- Loved my babies
- Served as a chew toy for a teething baby
- Doled out multiple kisses to an ill feeling toddler
- Put an end to a few earth shattering tantrums
- Made some good old fashioned cold fighting lunch: homemade chicken noodle soup
- Made a dinner that my husband raved about
- and again – I loved my babies!!!
Baking Day #1 – A Sad End
Today started so fabulously, I was sure I’d get everything and more done today! And I did get a lot done, just a few hiccups along the way. And then my mayo flopped while my granola bars were burning. My 3yo was getting crabby and my baby wanted to nurse for the millionth time. I decided I was done for the day!
So far – here’s what my list for today looks like:
- Granola Bars, 2 batches – 1 batch DONE, 1 batch BURNED
- Blueberry spelt muffins, 2 batches – DONE
- GF zucchini muffins -spent time nursing a baby
- GF applesauce muffins – spent time nursing a baby
- cooked ground beef, 2 pounds placed in 1/2 pound amounts in ziplocs - DONE
- cooked taco meat, 2 pounds – Ran out of ziploc bags
- make crockpot chicken (some for dinner, some for later) – DONE
- make chili – DONE
- make mexican rice – ran out of ziploc bags
Tuesday night prep;
- clean kitchen – Eh, kinda done
- get chicken broth going in crockpot – DONE. Looks disgusting, smells delicious
- soak pancake batter – Should be doing right now
I also tried a recipe I planned on doing tomorrow:
- Homemade Mayo – FAIL, due to my crummy blunder I’m sure, because it was perfect and then flopped. Maybe if I get a chance tomorrow I’ll try and fix it.
Tomorrow I’ve got another decent list of things to don I just need to run to our small town general store first to pick up some ziploc bags at about 10 times the normal price.
See you in the kitchen tomorrow!!
Baking Day #1 in Progress
This morning I took advantage of the time change and got an early start at 5:40am (babies sure don’t know what a time change is! We’ve been up at 5 the last couple mornings) First up was to set out the butter to soften and the eggs to warm to room temp (makes it easier when I use coconut oil in recipes as a cold egg can solidify the oil again). Also emptied the dishwasher, washed the crockpot and tossed the chicken in, and started cooking the kidney beans.
After making my husbands lunch and sending him off to work, I had to take a break while the baby needed some love and then help drifting off to sleep.
A double batch of blueberry spelt muffins (I made mine w/o the crumb topping) then went into the oven. A couple for breakfast, a couple to leave out, and most to freeze.
Once we ate breakfast and the beans were done, I cooked up 3 pounds of ground beef. One pound for the chili and two pounds ro freeze in 1 pound increments for when we have spaghetti. I finished up the chili, let everything cool (helps the freezer not have to work so hard plus it helps to prevent against chemicals leaching form the ziploc bags.) and tossed it in the freezer. Except a couple servings of chili which will be used for Todd’s dinner tomorrow.
So that’s what I’ve gotten done thus far on Baking Day! Hopefully the baby will take a nice long nap now……
*coming up this week on Naturally Knocked Up:
- Thursday – The ins and outs of sugar: pt one
- Thursday 9-11pm – First ever Real Food Twitter Party!! Come talk real food and have some Q&A with some fabulous real food folks. Use hashtag #realfood Plus, at some point during the evening I’ll be giving away a copy of “Nourishing Traditions”!
- Friday – try your hand at winning the book “Real Food for Mom and Baby” on Figure it out Friday
Menu Plan: October 26
With the end of farmers markets in sight here in gloomy ‘ol Michigan (yes, it’s been gloomy for like 3 weeks now!), we’ll be eating as much of the summer goodness that’s left while beginning to use what I’ve preserved over the last few months. Most of the meat is from the freezer as well, finishing off what we have! (Come on honey – let’s get some venison in the freezer! Nope – no pressure here)
Monday:
- breakfast – soaked oatmeal w/maple syrup, cinnamon, raisins, butter, and raw cream
- lunch – grilled cheese sandwiches, homemade applesauce, carrots
- snack – celery and peanut butter
- dinner – hamburgers on homemade spelt buns, roasted potatoes, broccoli
- snack – yogurt smoothies
- To Do – make milk and water kefir, bake sandwich bread, soak rice
Tuesday:
- breakfast – veggie/cheese omelets, yogurt w/ honey and frozen blueberries
- lunch – spaghetti, salad
- snack – apple, cheese
- dinner – crockpot chicken used in a cream cheese/brown rice pasta casserole, green beans
- To Do – can grape juice and more applesauce
Wednesday:
- breakfast – yogurt smoothies, whole spelt toast w/ butter
- lunch – salad, hard boiled eggs, soaked millet cakes
- snack – canned peaches, almonds
- dinner – homemade chicken noodle soup, bread and butter, applesauce
- To Do – make milk and water kefir
Thursday: (my weekly baking day)
- breakfast – scrambled eggs, peaches
- lunch – tuna sandwiches, celery and carrots
- snack – fruit, cheese
- dinner – tacos and mexican rice
- snack – homemade “over the stove” popcorn
- To Do – make 2 batches of granola bars, bake muffins(x2)and zucchini bread, sandwich bread, can grape juice and/or applesauce if needed
Friday:
- breakfast – soaked oatmeal
- lunch – hardboiled eggs, salad
- snack – fruit
- dinner – grilled cheese sandwiches, garlic “fries”, green beans
- To Do – make milk and water kefir
Saturday:
- breakfast – soaked pancakes, fruit
- lunch – leftovers
- snack – cut veggies
- dinner – homemade gluten free pizza
- snack – homemade raw milk ice cream
- To Do – finish canning if needed
Sunday:
- breakfast – eggs, fruit
- lunch – chicken noodle soup
- dinner – beef short ribs, au gratin potatoes, broccoli
- To Do – make milk and water kefir
I also love the fact that because I buy so many whole foods in bulk (I’ll also be going to the whole foods store on Monday), that my grocery list will be rather short for this menu plan. All I need to buy for this week is milk and eggs from the farm, butter, cheese, broccoli, carrots, celery, lettuce, potatoes, and rice! Short trips to the store are always a welcome occurrence when I have to bring to littles with me!
This post is linked to:
Menu Plan: October 19
I’ve been busy buying up apples for applesauce and grapes for juice, so I’m a bit low on the remaining grocery budget for the rest of the month. So this week I’ll be eating mostly meat from the freezer and simple/cheap meals using what I’ve already canned, frozen, and stored away for the winter!
Monday:
- breakfast – soaked oatmeal with cream, butter, raisins, and maple syrup
- snack – celery and peanut butter
- lunch – red leaf lettuce salad with carrots, celery, soaked sunflower seeds, cheese, organic ranch dressing
- dinner – crockpot chicken, green bean casserole made w/ homemade cr. of mushroom soup
- snack – kefir smoothies
- To Do – make milk kefir, make water kefir, feed sourdough starter
Tuesday:
- breakfast – scrambled eggs, peaches
- snack – celery
- lunch – cheese, carrots, pears, bread with homemade butter
- dinner – beef short ribs, steamed veggies, roasted sweet potatoes with butter and maple syrup
- snack – apples, almonds
- To Do: soak rice
Wednesday:
- breakfast – kefir smoothies
- snack – carrots
- lunch – hard boiled eggs, homemade applesauce, salad
- dinner – chicken noodle soup with brown rice pasta and brown rice
- snack – homemade popcorn
- To Do – make milk and water kefir, make chicken broth
Thursday:
- breakfast – soaked oatmeal, peaches
- snack – apple and cheese
- lunch – salad
- dinner – veggie and cheese omelets, hashbrowns, toast
- snack – kefir smoothies
Friday:
- breakfast – fried eggs, toast, and pears
- snack – ants on a log
- lunch – tuna sandwiches, carrots, apples
- dinner – beef roast with potatoes, lots of carrots, celery, and onion, and spelt rolls
- To Do – soak pancake batter, make milk and water kefir
Saturday:
- breakfast – soaked pancakes, peaches
- snack – carrots and celery
- lunch – grilled cheese and salad
- dinner – homemade gluten free pizza
- snack – chips and cheese with homemade salsa
Sunday:
- breakfast – scrambled eggs, smoothies
- lunch – leftovers
- dinner – hamburgers, roasted garlic fries, corn, apple crisp
So that’s what I’ve got planned for this week! Anything good going on in your kitchen? And for more meal ideas,
you can always check out the Org Junkies site.
*And don’t forget, you only have until tomorrow to enter to win the $20.00 gift card to Mountain Rose Herbs!!!
