I used to tout myself as being a grandiose meal planner. Grocery shopper. Childhood feeding extraordinaire. Today I’m sort of flying by the seat of my pants when it comes to feeding my family. Yes, I still consider what a well-balanced diet or meal should look like when I plate breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And yes, I do some produce prep once or twice a week to make sure we get some extra goodness in our diets. But I’ve fallen off the meal planning wagon this year. And for some reason the 4th week of school has me thinking it’s a good time to start again!
Honestly, the real reason I want to add some new items into our weekly rotation of pasta and pizza is because I’m sick of cleaning [or vacuuming] parmesan cheese off the couch, carpet, Michael’s sheets, you name it. I also am feeling inspired by the air fryer I’ve been using about once a week. I haven’t quite mastered or even thought about pasta in an air fryer. Sorry, Michael!
There’s really no science to meal planning other than taking the time to do it. Some of my favorite meal planning resources on M2MN include:
Mix n’ Match Meal Planning
15 Themed Dinner Ideas
10 Cook Once and Eat Twice Ground Beef Recipes
5 Weeks of Real Dinner Menus
Lately I’ve been using a dinner prompt or idea to help me set my menu for the week. That along with one really organized calendar. Because let’s face it. If it’s a night when everyone has an activity, we might just be eating pizza [delivery] again.
A prompt is just meant to help spark that dinner idea. So when I think bowls, I might think about a protein, whole grain, and veggie everyone will eat. I’ll definitely have it served in a bowl, but someone else might want it plated. And then there’s sheet pan. A sheet pan sausage meal never goes uneaten here. Only the veggies are picked at, while most enjoy kielbasa or Italian sausage.
Bowls
Steak and Veggie Bowls
Greek Chicken Bowls
BBQ Chicken Bowls
Sheet Pan
Sheet Pan Garlic Parmesan Chicken
Sheet Pan BBQ Chicken and Potatoes
Sheet Pan Chicken Dinner
BYO
Quesadilla Bar
Slider Bar
Pizza Bar
Taco Bar
Slow Cooker Beef or Chicken
Slow Cooker Shredded Beef [Two Ways]
Slow Cooker Italian Beef & Broccoli
Pizza
Pizza Burgers
Pizza Zoodles
Baked Pizza Chicken
A no brainer dinner idea is what I need right now. Because these brain cells are being used-up by a certain foursome!
