Plan:

Stake/bake potatoe/broccoli
Spaghetti/salad/garlic bread
Oven fried chicken/mashed potatoes/corn
Hamburger/oven french fries
Grill cheese/soup
Pizza/salad
Breakfast for dinner

Now if you know that your child has soccer practice on Thursday at 6:30 it is not a good idea to cook a meal that takes an hour to cook. That would be a good night for:
pizza/salad or grilled cheese/soup. But if on Tuesday you want Stake you don’t feel pressured to cook the chicken you had written on that day.
You will be amazed at the time, money and stress you will save!

I shop very very seasonally, both in a local store and at farmer’s markets. We’ve got fabulous ones out here.

I get a box of fruits and veggies from our CSA every Saturday from June through September.

We buy some meat on the weekends and I make one or two or dishes on a weekend day (cook for a day-eat for a week concept). I rarely follow recipes word-for-word. I get inspired by them, but then go off on my own tangents!

We eat leftovers pretty much all week long. Except I will prepare new veg on a daily basis.

I soak my own dry beans overnight or for a few days and then cook a huge pot of them. We turn them into whatever. A soup. A salad topping. A main course with avocado and garlic or something. I have lentils, mung beans, pintos, or red beans on hand to make into a dish or two weekly.

Things I always have in my pantry/fridge: herbs and spices, dry beans, raw nuts that I soak and roast, nut butters, shelled hemp seed, dried coconut, coconut butter, coconut oil, olive oil, butter, coconut milk, sardines, quinoa, amaranth, rice, frozen squash and spinach, frozen fruit for smoothies, hemp protein for smoothies, flax to grind, raw milk, homemade yogurt, and eggs. I usually have either hemp milk, rice milk, or almond milk to dilute and add to smoothies, too.

Things that turn over quickly that I get on an as-needed basis: whole chickens, wild salmon, bulk turkey breakfast sausage, fresh fruits, veg. Occasionally other protein sources like tofu or edamame, lamb, or cheese.

Things I like to have/make for us as snacks: my own energy bars (dates, soaked roasted nuts, seeds, coconut, cocoa powder), my own trail mix (soaked roasted and/or raw nuts and seeds, coconut, dried cherries), eggs, avocado, fruit or carrots/celery with nuts or nut butter, nitrate-free jerky, cassava or sweet potato chips.

It’s ridiculously simple, I don’t always make the most complex meals, and my “meal repertoire” is rather small (though always growing!), but it’s definitely worked for me. Now all I have to work on is making sure I remember to thaw the chicken overnight or start the crock-pot early enough in the day for dinner…those kinds of things I tend to forget.

Also, I usually try and plan meals that share at least 1 or 2 ingredients, so as not to buy ingredients that just end up going to waste. For example, I use tortillas and lettuce for both tacos and caesar chicken wraps, so I’ll usually plan to have both of those meals in the same week.

Also, I don’t know if lunch menus have been an issue for you, but my sister in law has a great method: rotating lunches on a weekly basis. (e.g. Mondays are pizza day, Tuesdays are macaroni and cheese, Wednesdays are pb & j, etc.). That way she always has the ingredients for lunch on hand, and she doesn’t have to stop every morning and think about what she’s going to serve her 4 girls. This is definitely something I plan on doing as my kids get bigger!

My organization of menu planning ebbs and flows and I hate coming up with meals too. Right now we are eating tomatoes and corn on the cob and cucumber salad all of the time because it’s never better than right now. I go to the farmers market and buy whatever looks good.

BUT, when I’m in my usual state, one thing that I found helpful is that I have three “regular” meals every week. One is soup and bread (the bread from Turtle Bread which we eat with smoked gouda from Trader Joe’s) along with some homemade soup. That’s usually our Sunday night meal so we eat leftovers during the work week.

Another meal is a ground beef meal – tacos or hamburgers (which means black bean/vegetable nachos for me . . . the vegetarian on taco night).

And thirdly, we have a pizza night probably every week. I often times make homemade pizza (great herbed pizza dough in the refrigerator at T.J’s) or else it’s good ‘ol Papa Johns.

Bon Appetite!