Weekly Meal Plan

I have to preface this by saying this is kind of our “survival weekly meal prep.” Our methods change and get tweaked every so often when we enter a new season of life. This weekly meal plan has worked really well for us in this postpartum season. When we aren’t sleep deprived and focused on keeping a tiny human alive I tend to make more from scratch meals and invest more time into this part of our life. Right now though, this works for us.

I love the idea of meal prep. I especially love the reward of meal prepping. Precut fruits and veggies? Ready to go lunches and snacks? Dinner coming together quickly after a long day at work? Yes please! Sign me up.

But again, I like the idea if meal prep. In all actuality, I’m not always very good at it. Yes, I know I should make time for it. It’s also not that I don’t technically “have the time” either, I just don’t always want to use the time I do have at home to prep. I’d much rather sleep in, play with my son, or hang out with my husband.

With that said, our meals need to be quick, easy, and healthy. I really do enjoy cooking and baking. I especially love trying new recipes. But in this season of life, the time I spend doing those things is smaller. This meal plan has helped create a bit more balance between easy and “more involved” meals.

We’ve tried a lot of different things to make meals easier. Some worked for a week, some for a season, and some not at all.

Trying something new

Most recently we’ve begun planning our weekly meals based off of a general list. We eat at home most nights during the week, but we keep things flexible in case something comes up.

After Laken was born we were basically in “eat to survive” and also “eat whatever other people cook for us” mode. We moved when he was a month and a half old, so it took some time for us to really feel “settled” again. There came a point when Travis and I both went back to work when we thought we would get back into the swing of things, but it turned out the rhythm we once had was surprisingly hard to find.

We’ve never been ones to fight or bicker much, but meal planning and grocery shopping became a new (absolutely ridiculous) pain point for us. I used to spend an hour or two a week planning out our meals and snacks for the week. We would go grocery shopping together. Sometimes we cooked together, sometimes we cooked for each other instead. Everything surrounding the food we ate seemed easy. Post baby, everything seemed charged with frustration, exhaustion, and a little resentment.

It felt like it didn’t really matter if I spent the time to meal plan or not. We still went grocery shopping and we still bought and ate food. Travis seemed frustrated because he ended up cooking (and cleaning) most nights while I nursed LJ before dinner and got him ready for bed after dinner.

A few things changed…

Our “meal plan” is really helpful to make planning and grocery shopping a little easier, but there were two other huge changes that also helped turn the tide of frustration. One, I started feeding LJ before we left school, so he didn’t need to nurse right when we got home. This freed me up to help with the cooking and gave Travis time to play with LJ. Two, Travis and I had many (many) heart to hearts about how we were feeling and what we each needed to not be frustrated. Communication really is everything in a marriage.

The “Meal Plan”

Adjust this how you see fit for your diet and lifestyle. We try to eat as many whole foods as we can. We both follow a mostly vegetarian/pescatarian diet. Each week before we go shopping we pull out this list and think about what we want to eat. To make things a little more affordable, and to help prevent food waste, we try to plan at least a few of the meals around a theme. For example, if we do Tex Mex one week, we might have tacos one night, burrito bowls another, enchilada soup, etc. that way we can use up all the cheese/sour cream/avocado we buy.

“Premade” Meal

This might be as simple as a frozen pizza. Sometimes we do a plant based meat with roasted veggies or fries. We also love the veggie fried rice and vegetarian orange chicken from Trader Joes. Naan and Chanamasala is another good option from TJ’s; really, the possibilities are endless. We’ve found having at least one easy, pop-in-the-oven meal during the week helps us have more time to relax and spend as a family. We do our best to choose healthier premade options when possible.

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Grain Bowl/Salad

We like to make up a big batch of couscous, quinoa, rice, etc. and top it with a variety of veggies. Sometimes the base is a salad, sometimes it’s just a grain. We love a spin on fajitas using peppers, onions, black beans, and whatever cheese we have on hand. Roasted beets (red and golden ones) with carrots and herbed goat cheese is another favorite.

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Grain Bowl #2

So good and easy, we usually eat it twice. They also make great leftovers for lunch!

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Soup/Stew

We love soup. Like, we could probably eat soup everyday for a month and never tire of it kind of love. Some of our favorite soup recipes are from Ali’s blog Gimme Some Oven. She has a lot of naturally vegetarian options, but also gives adjustments to make her other soups vegetarian. We’ve loved everything we’ve ever made. A few of our favorites are her Zuppa Toscana (we use vegetarian Italian sausage from Aldi’s) and her Egg Roll Soup.

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Fish & Veggies

We typically have salmon, but we occasionally grab tuna steaks, tilapia, or tuna (Travis recently turned a regular packet of tuna into delicious tuna cakes by adding breadcrumbs, an egg, and some spices). We most often roast our veggies in the oven with a little olive oil and seasoning.

Tofu & Veggies

Tofu and “veggie meat alternative” are interchangeable here. Sometimes we bake the flavored tofu from Trader Joe’s, other times we grab Beyond Meat Burgers to grill. Aldi’s also has a great selection of meat alternatives. I really like the vegetarian Italian sausage. I use it in soups, stews, and pastas like this cozy Italian veggie pasta.

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Wildcard

We save at least one “wildcard” day for whatever comes up. Sometimes we eat out, sometimes we have leftovers, or sometimes we have Travis’s favorite: a snack meal. Once in a while we like to have a “date night” on the couch. We made a cheeseboard and watch a show or movie. It’s nice to have a day built in for whatever comes up.

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What about fruit? breakfasts? lunches?

I didn’t include this, but we typically have fruit with each meal. Mangos, peaches, strawberries, raspberries, and pineapple are some of our favorites for “dessert.” There is also ice cream, dark chocolate, or mug cakes hidden about if a craving strikes and I need a more decadent dessert.

For breakfasts we typically choose two options a week. I LOVE bagels, so I eat them often. I recently just learned the Everything Bagels from Trader Joe’s are actually vegan! Bagels, toast, smoothies, yogurt & granola, cereal, oatmeal, and fruit are all on rotation.

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For lunches we pack leftovers from dinner if we made enough. Otherwise we have snack meals. Our snack meals consist of a few pieces of fruit, a cheese stick, a sandwich or veggies, and nuts/seeds/trail mix.

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We strive for balance in our meals. We don’t have enough time in the week to make everything from scratch, and we aren’t willing to sacrifice other parts of our day to make time.

This is what works for us right now. The biggest thing I’ve learned over the last few years is how necessary it is to be flexible. If something doesn’t work out perfectly, or you work late, or you’re too tired, or you just. can’t. even. for whatever reason, it helps to have some simple, healthy, go-to options.

How do you plan out your meals for the week? Are you a tried and true recipe repeater, or a reinvent the wheel and try something new all the time kind of cook? Regardless, happy meal planning!

with Love from our Wild,

Caitlyn