It’s October’s How We Wednesday linkup with Shay & Erika! Talking about meal planning & sharing some favorite recipes. For previous topics see here.
I’ve shared before about how I meal plan, you can read more about it here. Basically between browsing my grocery store ad & gathering any digital/physical coupons, plus asking my hubby for what sounds good – I use all of that to plan meals with items on sale or have coupons & things that sound good to eat. The basis for my meals is that I typically plan 2 with chicken, 1 using beef, a meatless meal, and a pasta entree (which is also usually meatless). We’ll end up eating leftovers one night and then I leave one night open for us to go out. I don’t assign a specific meal to each night but rather have enough for 5 nights and we just choose what sounds good or fits our schedule each night.
Those dinners also serve as leftovers for our lunches the next work day, so we do try to keep that in mind each night as we decide what to eat. Some days one of us might not need leftovers for lunch. I shared more about how I pack our lunches here.
On our menu for this week we have:
- Sloppy Joe’s & Mashed Potatoes – I always make my sloppy joe’s by dicing up a couple whole carrots along with a pepper to add to the meat, then just eyeball adding in Worcestershire, ketchup, & various seasonings.
- Chicken Wings & Squash Fries – we love the buffalo wings from Whole Foods, then slice up butternut squash & season
- Pasta – We mostly used veggie pasta, our favorite sauce is from Whole Foods, & we’ll add in more veggies to keep this a meatless meal
- Orange Chicken & Stir Fry Veggies – both of these are just from the freezer section of Trader Joe’s, we’ve made both ourselves too but TJ’s is just too good
- Pizza – the same brand of pasta sauce from whole foods also makes our favorite pizza sauce, sometimes we make our own dough & sometimes me just buy a crust, then pile on the veggies for another meatless meal
These are a few of our FAVORITE Fall recipes: Baked Spaghetti, Kielbasa & Veggies over rice or quinoa, Spinach & Swiss Meatballs over rice or quinoa, Sausage Stuffed Squash
Great approach..my mom always does the same—she decides ok how many meats, veggies and sides she needs for the week and doesn’t assign the meals to specific days.
Thanks, it makes it so much easier for us, so we feel like we still have choices each night
Such a great idea to shop the grocery flyers- I need to do that! Your menu for this week sounds so delicious too!
Thanks Holly! I never used to shop the flyers but then I realized I was missing out on savings, like I’d plan a meal the week after a sale ended – so silly!
I wish I was better at meal planning!
It can be hard, I had to make it a habit so that it has really stuck for me!
Happy Wednesday! Your kielbasa with veggies is similar to what’s for our dinner tonight! I meal plan by choosing the meat first – fresh or frozen – then incorporate veggies and a carb. I cook about 3 times a week. And I make each dish large enough for at least 4 portions. Then we will leftovers for dinner (usually on the nights I have evening workout) or lunch. And definitely use the store flyers and coupons!
Yes, leftovers are key for us! And using the flyers/coupons makes a big difference so I feel like we get more for our buck
We LOVE leftovers as well! It’s so much easier for us to make a few large entrees for the week and use them for later nights where we can’t cook or lunches for the next day. Great tips!
https://shivers.family.blog/
Yes, SO much easier!
Your meals look so tasty and I like the system you use!!!!! I really need to get with it with food planning. A great learning day for me!
Thanks Shannon! I definitely had to just make meal planning a habit so that it stuck & now its hard for me not to