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 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!