Post # 1
Member
1629 posts
Bumble bee
Hey Bees…my fiancee and I are trying to save money for the wedding and lose some pounds. I find that meal planning is the best solution. We’re also vegan so we’re trying to steer clear of high-priced, high-sodium, processed vegan foods. This week I am mainly using recipes from the website ohsheglows.com
Here is our meal plan. Share yours!
Feb 11th-17th Menu
Monday – Feb 11th:
Breakfast
Sugar free “Strawberry Shortcake” pancakes
Lunch
Leftover Field Roast with veg from Sunday dinner
Dinner
Creamy Avocado Spaghetti Squash Pasta
Tuesday – Feb 12th:
Breakfast
Early Morning Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal with Chia
Lunch
Chickpea Salad Wrap, Mixed nuts, Clementines
Dinner
Roasted Butternut Squash with Kale and Almond Pecan Parmesan
Wednesday – Feb 13th
Breakfast
Museli with Fresh fruit & carrot juice.
Lunch
Back on Track Brown Rice & Chickpea Salad. Hummus and Carrots. A piece of fruit.
Dinner
Lentil burgers (Store bought) with baked sweet potato fries. (Salad for manny since he hates sweet potatos).
Thursday – Feb 14th
Breakfast
High Protein Vegan Breakfast Burrito (tofu)
Lunch
Maple Baked Lentils with Sweet Potato. Mixed nuts. Piece of fruit.
Dinner
Taco Chili with Nacho Cheeze Sauce
Friday – Feb 15th
Breakfast
High Protein Vegan Breakfast Burrito (tofu)
Lunch
Leftover Taco Chili with Nacho Cheeze Sauce. Dark chocolate bar (70%, no more than 200cal)
Dinner
High Protein Tortilla Pizzas
Saturday – Feb 16th
Breakfast
Neapolitan Vegan Overnight Oat Parfait (Vanilla, Chocolate Carob, Strawberry)
Lunch
Tofurky club sandwich with avocado on Ezekiel bread. Served with Red Quinoa and Black Bean Vegetable Salad
Dinner
Vegan Lasagna with Basil Cashew Cheeze
Sunday – Feb 17th
Breakfast
Mushroom, Spring Onion & Chilli ‘Omelette’ served with basic mixed green salad
http://www.chocolateandbeyond.co.uk/2012/11/recipes-mushroom-spring-onion-chilli-omelette.html
Lunch
Broccoli & Cheeze Soup
Dinner
Field roast (Store bought) with roasted seasonal vegetables
Dessert
Lightened Up Magical Coconut Bars
almost all of these recipes are from ohsheglows.com
Post # 3
Member
1856 posts
Buzzing bee
We only really plan dinners, because my daughter brings leftovers for lunches and eats eggs/pancakes/bagels/similar things and fruit for breakfasts. We eat almost no processed foods and mostly vegetarian.
Tonight’s meal was Chinese dumplings (home-made, vegan).
Monday: Plantain tostones with black beans and avocado, and rice (mixed with corn and lime).
Tuesday: Pasta with veggies.
Wednesday: Potato pancakes, side of roasted asparagus and whatever other veggies I buy tomorrow.
Thursday: Probably a beef roast with veggies (carrots, potatoes, turnips, etc); I have one in the freezer that really ought to be used sooner rather than later.
Friday: Lentil soup with roasted cauliflower.
Saturday: Black bean burgers or breakfast burritos or something else very simple.
Post # 4
Member
2268 posts
Buzzing bee
We only have to cook for ourselves three nights a week and just plan dinners, not breakfasts and lunches. This previous weekend our meal plan was:
Friday: Sour cream and chives pasta with chicken, mushroom, onion and garlic.
Saturday: Garlic steak with peas, roasted potatoes, kumara, pumpkin and carrots.
Sunday: Risotto with chicken, pumpkin, onion, garlic and white wine.
This coming weekend, our meal plan is:
Friday: Honey Soy chicken with broccoli, carrots, capsicum, beans and rice.
Saturday: Greek salad with sundried tomatoes, feta, olives, lettuce, grilled lamb and tzatziki.
Sunday: Green Thai chicken curry, with bamboo shoots, broccoli, carrots, capsicum, cashews, beans and rice.
FI-to-be does most of the cooking, so he usually chooses the meals for the ‘week’.
Post # 5
Member
4788 posts
Honey bee
I plan 3 dinners for the week (the days I cook) – we use leftovers for lunch. DH eats eggs for breakfast, and I eat oatmeal. DH cooks Monday and Tuesday using whatever is in the house that’s not been reserved for my meals and on the weekend we eat leftovers or cook together with whatever we have.
This past week:
Wed – Cheeseburger Soup (with venision instead of beef or turkey)
Thurs – Stuffed Buffalo Chicken Breast (from SkinnyTaste)
Fri – Blackened Tilapia
Post # 6
Member
1460 posts
Bumble bee
I only plan dinners too. Breakfast and lunch are fend for youself type meals…I normally take some leftovers for lunch. I’m the family cook so I do 90% of the cooking on the weekends because I commute to work and don’t want to cook when I get home and also don’t want eat dinner at 10 at night. You’ll see that my weekly meal plan reflects easy meal preps. 🙂 This past weekend I made cheeseburgers on Friday, spaghetti and meatballs on Saturday and, chicken pot pie on Sunday.
Today we’ll have the leftover burgers and I’ll throw some tater tots in the oven
Tomorrow we’ll have left over spaghetti and meatballs, a salad, and garlic bread. I only make enough pasta for a meal so I’ll make fresh pasta and garlic bread for this meal. Any sauce or meatballs leftover from this meal will be frozen and I’ll pull it out in 2-3 weeks and we’ll have it again. I always freeze soups/strew, sauces, etc., so we can have it again with very little prep.
Wednesday I’m going to put a pork roast in the crockpot and make Mexican shredded pork to serve over some rice. I’ll probably make a salad too. This will be the only thing I cook this week and if it wasn’t for the crockpot we would just eat out. 🙂
Thursday we’ll have leftover pot pie. When I served it this weekend I roasted brussel sprouts but we ate them all. I bought some broccoli to steam with the leftovers.
Post # 7
Member
3261 posts
Sugar bee
I only plan dinners, but I do it a bit different.
I’m the one who cooks in our relationship, so every monday I print out a “menu” with 3 different options for dinner each day. Each day has a protien or theme, so Mondays I do chicken breast, Wednesdays fish, Saturday pizza or pasta etc. Then I put it up on the fridge and DH checks off which dinner he wants for the whole week on Monday. Then I grocery shop for that week. It’s SO much easier for me because it saves me from having to endure the “What do you want to eat for dinner?” “I dont know..whatever” convo. It’s also great for budget purposes, because after every dinner I write down how much it cost next to it, so I can have options in the future according to budget as well.
Post # 8
Member
2622 posts
Sugar bee
I plan dinners, but mostly in my head. And cook parts of them on Sunday so save time during the week.
DH eats whatever I put on the table. I do ask if he has a preference for something when I go grocery shopping but I rarely get a specific request.
Lunches- Baked chicken and leftover veggies from dinner or salads
Sunday– Poached lobster tail and seared scallops
Monday– Provencale Meatloaf
Tuesday Grilled jerk chicken
Wednesday- Thai chicken meatballs
I dont have the rest of the week planned yet. Thursdy will probably be a crockpot dish.
Post # 9
Member
523 posts
Busy bee
- Wedding: March 2013 - Callanwolde Fine Arts Center
I’ve found that we have to meal plan and shop on the weekends or dinners for the week either take too long to make or we’re grabbing food out instead of eating at home. We only really plan dinners unless something special is going on or we’re going camping.
On the menu this week:
Sunday: Sloppy Joes, Green Beans, and Salad
Monday: Chicken Parm, Spaghetti, Broccoli, and Salad
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Garlic/Balsamic Roast Pork Loin, Oven Roasted Potato/Sweet Potato Wedges, and Sauteed Spinach
Thursday: Grilled Chicken Breasts, Peas, and Salad
Friday: Co-worker’s going away dinner at Big Lou’s
Saturday: Free day
Post # 10
Member
257 posts
Helper bee
We just plan dinners since I’m a Stay-At-Home Mom and FH eats breakfast and lunch at work.
This week
Monday:peanut chicken stirfry
Tuesdsy:chickpea patties and salad
Wednesday: homemade chicken soup
Thursday: Chicken yakasoba
Friday: chilaquiles
Post # 11
Member
2538 posts
Sugar bee
Wow! You guys are inspiring!
This is one of our biggest challenges, I usually cook what I feel like at the end of the day, I find it hard to know on Monday what I’ll want to eat on Friday.
But my DH is dying for this kind of routine, he cooks once in a while, but really only can bake a chicken or make salmon.
I think this makes great sense from a budget perspective! So often we do the staring into a full fridge thinking we have nothing to eat.
Post # 12
Member
1629 posts
Bumble bee
@Sunshine09: I usually take about 45 minutes on Sunday and just map it out…then I go grocery shopping. I honestly feel that if I don’t do a meal plan we end up spending an extra $100+/weekly on take out and random grocery store purchases.
Perhaps if you did a meal plan with a recipe book or online recipes your DH could make those recipes and learn some more cooking skills? I personally learned everything I know about cooking by completing cook books 🙂
Post # 13
Member
2175 posts
Buzzing bee
I only plan dinners. I eat protein bars for breakfast and my husband doesn’t eat breakfast until after he is done with morning practice and I am at work. I get free lunch at work and he is on his own.
Dinner plans this week
- Monday – Crockpot chicken soft tacos, beans & rice
- Tuesday – Polish sausages, pierogies, cabbage
- Wednesday – Baked chicken, stuffing, broccoli
- Thursday – (special this week for Valentine’s Day) heart-shaped pizza
- Friday – Leftovers or grilled cheese and soup
My husband is a very picky eater, so our meals are usually pretty boring.
Post # 14
Member
2175 posts
Buzzing bee
@Sunshine09: I buy groceries once every two weeks. I make a list in excel of 12-14 meals based on what our calendar looks like. I buy the ingredients for those meals and put a list on the fridge. Before we go to bed each night, I pick out what we’ll have the next day so I can thaw the meat or do any other prep to make my life easier when I get home from work. It also helps us not eat out so often since we know we have thawed or prepped food waiting to be cooked!
Post # 15
Member
3075 posts
Sugar bee
@bretonvirgniia: Oh my gosh! Creamy Avocado Spaghetti Squash Pasta sounds amazing! Would you mind sharing this recipe with me?