So I slacked on the blogging last week – I swear time just got away from me – but thank goodness I had a meal plan or we might have been eating sandwiches all week! Below is a look at my planner, that I posted on Instagram, from last week so you’ll see what I’m talking about!
I wish I could say it was a one off week, but the craziness is just going to continue until school lets out for summer break in 4 weeks (What?!? we’re almost done with school this year?).
A lot of my time this week was spent creating my newest product the Meal Plan Collection (releasing tomorrow 5/2 in my Etsy shop). Hmm.. wonder why I created that? I recently purchased a Mini Happy Planner to use as my meal planning planner. I was using my Erin Condren Horizontal Planner to keep my meal plan in along side our everyday plans, but I saw on a Facebook group that some people were using the Mini Happy Planner as a meal planner as it fits right into your purse. Well, that makes grocery shopping MUCH easier if it fits in your purse, am I right? I LOVE my Erin Condren Life Planner, but the down side is it’s heavy. I made the switch to the Life Planner back in September and so I purchased an 18 month planner so I could switch immediately. I didn’t think about the weight/size of it I was just excited to be getting an Erin Condren Planner.
The Meal Plan Collection contains stickers to help you organize your meal plan in your planner. I created boxes that have a space for the recipe book, or website, and page number for the recipe. I also created icon stickers to use if you want to flag your recipe if you’re using the slow cooker, spending a day meal prepping. etc. etc. I have used them this week in my meal planner and they fit my needs perfectly.
So far, I have used only a few of the products and I have managed to use them to create a month’s worth of meal plans – not all weeks have a plan yet, but there are cute stickers! For each sticker sheet – Basics Variety Pack excluded – there is enough meal plan stickers to plan for at least one week. I also created Headers/labels that would allow you to create a place for your meal plan without having to be a full or half box on your page. I really think having a versatile sticker kit allows for your meal planning to be simple and fit your needs, whatever they may be.
I will be posting a “plan with me” type post soon so you can see my full meal planning process. I have a feeling it will be picture heavy, but it will be a good overview of what I’m doing while I meal plan.
So enough about the stickers and planning the meals, let’s get to the food! This week’s menu includes 2 new recipes. One is a one pan – sheet pan meal and the other is something that just looked amazing, I’m not gonna lie! I have been making a few sheet pan meals and they are so easy and the whole family likes them that I’d like to get a few more into the meal plan as they make busy nights super simple.
I have linked the recipes I am using this week, should you wish to use my meal plan for yourself.
ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:
- Monday (game day) – Ham & Swiss Poppy Seed Sliders, veggies & dip/chips
- Tuesday (band rehearsal & umpire duty) – Sausage Potato Bake with fresh bread
- Wednesday (game day) – Slow-Cooker Honey Bourbon Chicken with rice
- Thursday (baritone lesson & baseball practice) – One-Pan Chili-Lime Chicken Fajitas *new recipe*
- Friday – Meatloaf Muffins, mash potatoes & veggies
- Saturday (Scrapbook Expo – Kate) – Creamy Broccoli, Chicken & Bacon Pasta *new recipe*
- Sunday – Shabu Shabu, Pot Stickers & Shrimp Spring Rolls
You’re probably looking at this and thinking I may have lost my mind with the last item on the meal plan. I promise, I haven’t. It’s SUPER easy and the whole family really enjoy this type of dinner. I first saw Shabu Shabu when Ali Edwards had blogged or mentioned it – I can’t remember which – and so we did this as a New Year’s Eve dinner, we had SO much fun. Sunday’s around here are Family Dinner days, so I spend most of the day in the kitchen and cook a huge meal and we spend the day together. I also crazily made the Pot Stickers & Egg Rolls as part of a bigger Dim Sum style meal a LONG time ago and the kids have been asking for both the Shabu Shabu and Dim Sum, so I figured why not pair the 2 together?
I also have written in my meal planner to prep for next week a couple of things – This doesn’t always happen, but it’s there this week. This will save a little bit of time on Monday and make dinner easier to pull together as we have the Girls last Middle School Band Concert that evening, so we won’t be home until late. While I’m in the kitchen on Sunday making the Shabu Shabu & Dim Sum I will be roasting some chicken breasts and boiling eggs for our Cobb salad.
I hope this was helpful in some way, if not, you’ve at least – hopefully – found some new recipes to try.