Plan It - Don't Panic: Week 1

The "Plan It - Don't Panic Meal Planning Challenge" has begun! Today is the day that everyone is sharing their first week's meal plan - so here's mine! 

My meal plan contains only dinners.

I always make a large enough meal for dinner, that both Ben & I take leftovers for lunch to work the next day. That makes lunch planning a breeze! And on the (rare) days that we don't have leftovers, we keep the sandwich essentials on hand - bread, peanut butter/jelly, lunch meat/cheese. 

And breakfast -we're on our own! Since Ben wakes up at 3am for work (and I, um... don't.) we don't eat breakfast together. We have fast breakfast stuff on hand: eggs, cereal/milk, sometimes oatmeal, etc. Weekends we eat the same stuff, or if we're feeling especially un-lazy, we might make pancakes or french toast on a Saturday morning. :)

To start the meal planning process, I sat down and thought up every meal that we regularly enjoy, that are fairly easy/fast to make. I ended up with a list of over 30 meals. A lot of these "meals" are broad-ended, too. For example, one might be 'sandwiches'. This could be BLT's, Reuben's, grilled cheese... the sky's the limit. If I draw "sandwiches" when putting together the meal plan, we get to decide then which kind of sandwiches we'd like that week. :) We also have a 'homemade pizza' option, and 'soup' option. Those are also open-ended, and I can choose what kind of pizza, or what kind of soup, to make. This means our 30 meal options is really more like 50 options or more! Meaning... we should be able to go about 2 months without repeating meals! :)

So, without further ado, here's this week's plan! I've included links to recipes where applicable, in case you're interested in trying one out for yourself!

Monday (today!): Taco Salad

Tuesday: Lazy Chicken Pot Pie

Wednesday: Ground Beef Biscuit Stew

Thursday (lazy, fast day):Chili Mac
Friday: Southwestern Chicken w/ Rice

Saturday: Breakfast for dinner - bacon, eggs & hashbrowns

Sunday: Dinner at Ben's mom's house - a standing invitation every Sunday afternoon

Well there you have it! What we're eating this week. Thursdays are a day that we need to leave the house within an hour of me getting home - so those are always going to be super lazy/fast meal days. Chili Mac is obviously not the healthiest option - but its fast and everyone likes it, so it's a winner in my book for nights like that! 

Be sure to head over to Keeper of the Home and check out everyone else's Week 1 Meal Plans!

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