Tuesday, January 18, 2022

The week's meal planning

Hi everyone

I thought I'd switch things up a bit and post some of my meal planning. I usually cook our meals for the week on a Sunday, but since yesterday was a holiday, I decided to cook everything then. I really enjoy cooking and baking, but don't like to slave over a stove every single day, so once a week cooking works for me. Plus it frees up time for me to work the rest of the week.

I used to cook a meal for every weekday, but then noticed that we end up with lots of leftovers. So I've been cooking 2 meals per week (from scratch. that's the only way I cook). We rotate the meals for the first 4 days, then I fix something easy for Friday night dinner. We used to dine out every weekend (Saturday & Sunday), but since the pandemic started, we have been getting food to go from our favorite restaurants on weekends. We do still occasionally dine in at select restaurants, but it's very rare. Before anyone judges us for eating out so much, please remember that DH & I are both self employed and work from home. So weekends is our time to get out and enjoy some good food & drinks. 

Here's what I've cooked for the week


Chicken roll. This is just puff pastry filled with cooked chicken, butternut squash, fresh spinach and feta. It's one of my favorite things to eat, because I love puff pastry. 



French onion chicken. You can't see the chicken, because I like to cut the breasts down into strips or cubes. It cooks faster that way. I also added extra broth and oodles of onions. It's like a french onion soup with chicken. So good. It might not be the prettiest thing, but it sure tastes good. 

Veggie sides : Carrots, peas, brussel sprouts, broccoli, mashed potatoes

We'll rotate these 2 meals until Thursday

Friday we'll have Italian sausage smothered with onions & peppers, baked potatoes and either baked beans or a side salad. 



Breakfasts : Muffins and breakfast burritos. I tried a new banana & almond muffin recipe and it fell flat. You can see my muffins didn't rise at all and it's also very dense. This is a jumbo muffin baking pan. My muffins are normally overflowing in these pants. So I'll just go back to my old banana muffin recipe. 

Last week I made a big pot of chicken soup and meatloaf with mashed potatoes and veggies. I froze the leftover meatloaf and soup. I also made BWW tenders. I picked up some ciabatta rolls and spring mix salad at Sams and made chicken sandwiches for dinner. Ciabatta, BWW chicken, spring mix, cucumber, tomato & CFA sauce. I know, I know. BWW & CFA together...lol, but it works. DS insisted on a burger and fries instead, so that's what he got. My sandwich tasted far better though. Besides, no fast food place is gonna give you non GMO chicken and organic salad. You're gonna pay through the nose for it if you're lucky enough to find it at a fast food place. 

So that's our meals for the week. I always eat leftover dinner for lunch too. I tend to cook too much food, so there's always plenty left over. So, here's proof that I do more than just shopping...lol. 

Have a great day everyone!

8 comments:

  1. I like to cook on weekends as well. I try to cook on Fridays (was my long standing work from home day, even before the pandemic), Saturday & Sundays. We have leftovers three other nights, and then one night is either the last of the leftovers, or something easy from the freezer.

    Your puff pastry dinner sounds delicious.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you. I'll post the puff pastry recipe soon. It's very easy to make.

      Don't you just love having all your meals prepared ahead of time HP? It's so nice to not have to think of 'what's for dinner' every night.

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  2. The meals look good!
    I never decide what I want to eat for lunch. Whatever is leftover decided for me!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Anne! That's my favorite part of leftovers - just heat & eat. No wondering what's for lunch.

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  3. I have never worked with puff pastry, my sister uses it all the time.

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    1. Mine comes from a box Kim....shhh :) It's very easy to use. In SA, we make all our meat pies with puff pastry. I could eat the baked pastry without any filling, it's so good.

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  4. We will eat leftovers for lunch and/or breakfast. We are not picky. LOL I like to cook once and eat several times. Your dinners sound so good. That chicken roll looks delicious!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Belinda! We do the same. Nothing beats leftovers, if it means I don't have to cook...lol

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