Year 1 Week 5 Meal Plan

Just a quick reminder that this week I am starting to add one dinner a night meal theme for you to choose a family favorite according to the theme! Nothing very fancy this week just revisiting so of my favorites. You might think I am crazy with the lentil tacos but they are VERY good. Make sure you get lots of veggie toppings to make it a complete meal. (i.e tomato, radish, corn, cabbage, carrot etc…) Make sure you check out the money-saving post I have also posted today!

Our next nutrition post is up tomorrow!

Year 1 Week 5 Meal Plan

Year 1 Week 4 Meal Plan

Sorry this is getting out a little late I have been busy quilting my heart out lately. This week we have a couple of my favorite recipes and one great freezer meal. The lasagna recipe is by far my favorite and freezes very well. The Deluxe Cheeseburger Salad is always a hit in the house and is extra yummy with bacon and avocado as added toppings.

You will start to see a couple changes to our meal plans soon. Starting next week I will be post a theme as a dinner option to give you inspiration on what to choose for that night. We have a pot luck bible study so I will be using our theme from that. In about a month or two we will have a weekly pizza night. Our family likes to have a pizza and movie night on Fridays and we will be able to start this back up with the return of my husband!

School is just around the corner! This brings me to our last meal plan change. I will be adding in a couple more freezer and crock pot meals to try and help out with the hectic schedule that comes along with school.

Next up is our post on nutrition.  Have a great week!

Meal Plan Year 1 Week 4

Year 1 Week 3 Meal Plan

I hope everyone is enjoying these meal plans and that you are getting a little more diversity in your diet! Not much to say about the meal plan this week there is nothing special. We do have a couple of our family’s favorite this week though, Breakfast for dinner and Lemon Pepper Chicken and Rice. I am going to experiment with usuing brown rice in mine for the first time. I will let you know how it goes. What are some of your family’s favorite meals?

As always the meal plan is posted below and on the meal plan page for quick reference at a later date and the recipes are all on the recipes page.

Next up is another post of nutrition!

Year 1 Week 3 Meal Plan

Year 1 Week 2 Meal Plan and How to Stay Ahead of the Cooking!

Before we get to this week’s meal plan I thought I would include a couple of time saving cooking tips. Like a said in Nutrition of Meal Planning the key to me eating right is planning it out. The 2^nd problem I run into is being a busy mom so I might not have time to make a tuna salad, chicken wardolf or whatever else might be on the menu for the day. On the night that we are having leftovers for dinner I like to prep a couple lunches for myself so I can grab and go. On the same night if anything needs to be marinated I will go ahead and put the meat in the marinade. The last thing I like to prep meat.

In the morning I will put a bunch of chicken in the Crockpot and shred it and portion it up for freezing. I freeze in 1 c. portion and 3 oz portions. The 1 c. portion I use for casseroles like the chicken and stuffing we had last week. The 3 oz. portions I use for lunches like the chicken wardolf, chicken Cesar etc… (3 oz. is the amount I need for my height and weight for the 40-30-30 diet plan in case you were wondering where I got that from). I stained the chicken stock from the Crockpot put it in the refrigerator overnight. In the morning I scrap off the fat and freeze it in 1 c. portions. The last thing I like to do is brown ground beef. I leave some plain and add taco seasoning to some. About 2 cups equals a pound of 80-20 ground beef that has been browned. This take a lot of time out of cooking time when a recipe calls for cooked meat.

I love the marinade my meat for a long time unfortunately it never seems to happen when I am trying to do it all in the same day. So when I make things like the teriyaki chicken we had last week and the Cashew Chicken we’re having this week I usually triple the recipe in the marinating process. So I have 3 bags of meat marinating at the same time 2 I throw in the freezer (labeled of course) and leave the one I am cooking that week in the refrigerator.

A quick mess-free marinating tip. I get out 3 (because I usually triple my recipes) drinking glasses. I then place a Ziploc bag in each glass and turn the top part inside out so it stay open over the glass. I now have an easy assembly line to easily make 3 portions of the marinade. This also works great to keep open a Ziploc or icing bag when decorating a cake or cupcakes.

I hope everyone enjoyed last week’s meal plan. Same as last week I have included the link to the meal plan below and you can find all the needed recipes under the recipe tab.

I like to make way more pulled pork than we will eat so I can freeze individual portions for on the go lunches. If I have a lot of leftovers I will save it all together for the next time we have pulled pork. A couple more doubled up freezer recipes for you to get your freezer stocked!

Do not forget to head over to Fort Hood Savers to find a breakdown of all the great deals in all the stores this week! Be on the lookout for our next nutrition post!

Organization Among the Chaos

I really should be unpacking everything from our trip but blogging is much more fun. Since I have been gone I had one of those mega grocery shopping trips where it felt I bought one of everything. The key to remembering what I have so it does not go to waste is and so I can find it is organization. I have attached a printable sheet you can use to keep track of everything in your freezer. I use it for my pantry too. It is very helpful when making a grocery list to not buy unneeded ingredients or have to keep going back and forth to see what you have.  I have a chest freezer in my garage where I keep the majority of my meats. I made some dividers from ply wood to separate types (chicken, pork, and beef) of meat. I also label the Ziploc bags with the date cut of meat and quantity.

In the indoor freezer, because I usually have less quantity, I use a shelf for turkey and a shelf for fish and vegetables. The rest of the freezer I use for prepared meals. If the meal is wrapped in foil or in a disposable pan on top I label it with the date, what it is, and cooking instructions. On the side that is facing outside I label what it is so I do not have to pull everything out to see what something is.

Pantry Organization

I do tend to stock up and things I use all the time so I like to keep of log of what is in there and use the oldest thing first. I keep everything as forward as possible in the pantry that way when I am putting things away I can put it behind what I already have so I do not have to rearrange everything to put my groceries away.

I like to keep everything together so I can easily find it. One shelf I have breakfast items oatmeal, cereal, granola bars, etc… Another shelf has all my canned goods starting with all tomato products to vegetables to beans then soups. My pasta and rice then come next. Another shelf has everything baking. Knowing where everything is really helps to speed up the cooking process and helps you know what you have if you choose not to keep an inventory list.

Freezer Meals Prep Tips

When I completely use my freezer meal supply or when I started using freezer meals I took one day to cook a bunch of meals. Now I find it easier to double or triple a recipe I am making for dinner and throw the extra in the freezer. If you find it easier to do a  large cooking day or want some help starting out I have attached a prep list I find helpful to remind you of everything you have to do so you can do a bunch of meals at once.

If you would really like to get a good variety of freezer meals you can set up a freezer meal swap with your friends. You choose the number of meals everyone will make and the day you are to have them ready. If you have 3 people total participating and you choose to make 3 different meals. You make each recipe 3 times so you and your 2 friends each get one. So you are able to have 9 different meals for your freezer but only have to triple 3 recipes!

I hope these organization tips help you not let food go to waste and speed up your grocery shopping list process. If you have any tricks that you find helpful please share by commenting below!

Look out for our first children’s activity in the next post!

First Meal Plan!

You don’t know that you’re beautiful. That’s what makes you beautiful. These are 2 lines from the song What Makes You Beautiful by One Direction. As some of you might know I have spent the past 5 weeks at my parent’s house. Every time I am in spin class with my mom and this song comes on she yells out “This is your song!” Of course it puts a smile on my face to hear my mom tell me I am beautiful but it also made me think of all my friends and their daughter who think they are an average and nothing special. All you ladies are beautiful. The best part is we are all fearfully and wonderfully made by God and He always thinks we are beautiful.

This is our first meal plan together so I wanted to take a minute to explain what you should expect out of them. I will include daily breakfast, lunch, and snack options and 6 dinner options. This will leave one night a week for leftovers.  The breakfast, lunch, and snack options are always pretty simple (cereal yogurt with fruit, sandwiches, fruit and cheese etc.) If I feel a recipe is needed I’ll include it but they usually will not. I will post the dinner recipes under the recipe tab. If I am testing out a new recipe (which will probably be quite frequently to start with) I will let you know. I will post the meal plan under the meal plan tab so you can easily download print and alter it to your families tastes. I will usually post these on Sunday and try my best to use sales in my grocery store (HEB for my local readers). I love your feedback as to what is (or is not) helpful or if there is anything you would like to see added. Please let me know if you have any trouble opening anything.

Be on the look out for the next post on nutrition which will help you better understand why I meal plan the way I do!

Year 1 Week 1 Meal Plan