Monday Meal plan Nov. 11-17

Hi friends!
If you are anything like me, a foodie, who has more foodies to feed and the grocery bill can't handle the foodieness going on around your house then you probably have to stretch out your hauls and use up every food item in the kitchen before your next run. Well this week that would be us!

Right now we are just throwing together all the canned good and leftovers to get us through the next week until our next grocery haul. I shop for my two weeks at a time, so that means costco is my jam and winco/walmart has the rest of my heart.

This is the meal plan I have for our family that will still keep me on track to lose weight as long as I am watching my proportions!

We spend around $125/week to feed the three of us, animals and clean the house. If you have read a few of my meal planning blogs then you would notice that we have upped our bill...turns out if you bring two foodies together then the little one they create can eat like his mom and dad after all. Plus we have a few new paw and claw members now.

Like I said earlier I plan two weeks at a time, but every monday I write out our meal plans for the week. I recently got a little whiteboard to put on the fridge that has the Dinner menu on it and then I write out our snack options, it helps remind me what I have to eat, so when I am starving and about to grab whatever I find first, that I still have a kind bar, or apples in the fridge.

Here is our meal plan for the week:

Dinners:

Monday:  Leftovers (gumbo, marsala and chix noodle soup)
leftovers night we lay out all the options and each person dishes up what they want and plop it in the microwave. This goes for most of our lunches, I tend to cook a lot so we can freeze the extra, or eat it throughout the week.

Tuesday: Chix. brown rice and veggies.
I love stir fry with my whole heart, Spencer on the other hand hates it. So usually what I do is doctor it up for the boys by plopping the chix in the crock pot with some kind of sauce like teriyaki, BBQ ect. I have been fortunate to find sauces at natural grocers that hasn't put me over my macros. However I actually like just plain baked chicken.

Wednesday:  Spaghetti, bread and salad
I am gluten free, I have found these amazing noodles that are only made with chickpeas and water from walmart. They cook fast, but we love them and I heart them for the minimal ingredients. As for the garlic bread, I usually pass on it because there is already enough carbs that comes with spaghetti, Every now and then I will also substitute the noodles for spiraled zucchini. Our salads are pretty simple, spinach with the veggies we each like and then the boys use ranch and I opt for a simple balsamic vinegar dressing.

Thursday:  We also get one freezer meal from costco for the days we have no time, but do not want to eat out. This week the boys wanted chicken patties to eat as sandwhiches. I usually opt for leftovers, or a quick chicken salad. We also buy the big salad packs at costco and then I will throw some chicken breasts in the instant pot with some chicken stock. This is our easy and rushed dinner night.

Friday: Ground Turkey burrito bowls
I brown some ground turkey in a frying pan and add peas, diced carrots, peppers and spinach to the meat and then we put that over some brown rice with corn and black beans and all the toppings to make up our burrito bowls. Cilantro is always a must!!

Saturday:  Leftovers or out to eat
We are doing a lot better of making more time to go out somewhere and enjoy some family time. Whenever we go out to eat I tend to stick to salads, or if they have a chix and veggie option. I love Texas Roadhouse because instead of a basket of bread I have an option to eat peanuts and it saves me from ordering an appetizer. I chug a bunch of water and will usually get a diet soda.

Sunday: Roast
We love putting a roast in and coming home from church with the house smelling so good! With a good dry rub and some herbs and beef stock we like to add carrots, onions, celery and whatever veggies we want on the side. Usually we have mashed potatoes, but I have secretly made it a rule of thumb to grab sweet potatoes unless we are planning on being out all day. For example when we come home from hunting and haven't had a meal since the nigh before I am going to want some heavy mashed potatoes in my belly. However church days we sat all day and rested so sweet potatoes with some brown sugar...mmmmm sooo good!

As for Lunches:
I usually use the costco salads, or throw together a quick spinach salad with some already precooked chix. I made earlier in the week.
Leftovers are always a great option for me, but I am always looking ahead to what we are having for dinner to see if I would rather spend my carbs at lunch, or dinner.


Breakfast:
We are so repetitive during the week. Eggs and toast. I use Ezekiel bread and scramble two eggs with everything seasoning. IT IS AMAZING.
Our other options is oatmeal with fruit and Maverick and I love adding peanut butter to our oatmeal!


A side note I feel I should add... We always reach for healthier options when choosing our processed foods. For example spaghetti sauce, we usually look for one that has the least amount of ingredients. We never eat white rice, well that is unless its jasmine rice, but we buy lundberg brown rice from costco. Everything we pick up, we pick up with a purpose and read the ingredients as well as the nutritional facts on the back...salad dressings are the worst! Sometimes you think a salad is so healthy, but the dressing you put on could put you over your fat and sugar content for the day.


As for the snacks I have been eating lately they are easy!
I love the coconut and almond kind bars
Apples and almond butter
Protein bites (oatmeal, honey, dark chocolate chips rolled into balls and placed in the fridge to set)
Gluten free crackers and a triangle of laughing cow cheese