This is the first weekly meal plan I am going to write and I really hope I can stick with these every week. My goal as a working mom is to have a mix of easy to medium meals we can pick and choose from partially based on the season and partially based on what our week looks like. I primarily cook but my husband chips in depending on how things are going. Since having a baby, these last three months have been filled with boxed mac and cheese, bagged salads, and meals involving multiple frozen aspects.
When I think about how I want to raise my child, I want her to experience a wide variety of food. I want her to know different types of fruit and vegetables. I want her to see us cooking and learn how to cook for herself so that she is off to a good start when she is older.
We currently get a weekly farm box for a reasonable price. As we live in the Bay Area in California, we have a lot of access to a variety of year round produce. This varies week by week and focuses on seasonal fruits and veggies. It is delivered every Tuesday and we grocery shop over the weekend.
This week’s box:
- 1 acorn squash
- 4 apples
- 1 bunch green kale
- 1 green lettuce
- 2 oranges
- 1 bunch white turnips
- 1 bunch beets
- 1 lb potatoes
- 1 yellow onion
- 2 celery roots (celeriac)
It’s also worth noting that I am vegetarian and my husband doesn’t eat much meat.
As this is my first weekly meal plan and this is Thanksgiving week, I am only going to loosely write out what we have planned. I’m not sure what days we will be eating the dinners and we like to have some options. We have Thanksgiving plans on both Thursday and Friday and will likely be sent home with leftovers. We also usually get takeout 1-2 times on the weekends.
Breakfast:
An assortment of oatmeal, toast, smoothies, cheese, and fruit. On the weekends one or both of us will do eggs and potatoes.
Lunch:
This week I work 2 days and my husband works 3.5 days (a half day on Saturday 11/30). We are keeping it easy by making a Mediterranean pasta salad loosely based on this one from Peas and Crayons. We will eat this for lunch Monday – Wednesday.
Dinners:
- Boxed Macaroni and Cheese with the Trader Joe’s Harvest Apple Salad (essentially lettuce with some cheese and apples with a congrats dressing) – the salad has dehydrated apples but we add fresh apple.
- Garlic Rosemary Roasted Acorn Squash and Chickpeas from Plant Based RD
- Uses acorn squash and kale from our farm box
- Roasted Beets over Celery Root Puree by Downshiftology
- Uses beets and celery root from our farm box
- Frozen Trader Joe’s gnocchi with broccoli or kale
- Roasted potatoes and turnips from our farm box with Thanksgiving leftovers
Random Extra Meals:
- Instant ramen with baby bok choy and tofu
- Pasta with red sauce and kale or broccoli
- Canned and frozen soup with toast
I’m excited to mix a few medium effort meals in with our easy effort meals and get some variety in our dinners. We also haven’t had pasta salad in a while which will be light and refreshing.
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