A little bit about EZ Meal Plans

Hey guys! Before I start sharing meal plans and recipes, I wanted to introduce you to my blog. My name is Ellen. I am a wife to Zach (hence the name "EZ Meal Plans"), mom to Owen and Wiley, and teacher to a bunch of middle schoolers. Also, I'm a planner! I love to plan in all areas of my life- it makes me feel prepared and relaxed.

I've been meal planning and prepping for years. It has saved my family time, money, and stress. I feel so accomplished when I start the week with all of our meals planned and prepped. People ask me all the time to share my meal plans with them. I've heard so many times, "If someone would just tell me what to cook for dinner every night, I would!". If that's you, you're in luck because this blog is going to give you plans for 4-5 meals a week.

Thursday nights are meal planning nights for me. I sit down with our family calendar for the next week and plan all of the meals and make a grocery list. That gives me time on Friday or Saturday to go to the grocery store. Then Sunday is meal prep day. That can take anywhere from 2-3 hours depending on what the meal plan is for the week, but I promise it's worth it! If you think Sunday meal prep isn't going to work for you, first of all I'd challenge you to try it just once to see if it's worth it, but regardless, you can still follow my meal plans each week and just cook the meals each evening. You might want to consider changing the meals around to different days of the week that fit your family's schedule.

Now, I would by no means call myself a cook. I can put a meal together that my family will eat, but only if it's simple. And by that I mean, my husband and I will eat what I cook but my kids are picky eaters so if it's not mac-n-cheese they turn their nose up to it. But that's neither here nor there. Anyway, I usually skip recipes that have a lot of ingredients. That's the beauty of my meal plans! They're easy recipes with easy ingredients. I try to stick to healthy(ish) meals with real ingredient, avoiding processed foods if possible, but no promises!

Does your family eat left overs? We do! I hate throwing food away, especially after I've prepped it! I cook each meal with the intent of it serving 4 people. We have each meal once at night and once at lunch. So not only can my meal plans cover dinner for your family, they can also cover lunch too! I'll share breakfast and snack recipes every now and then but I don't include them in my family's weekly plans. Usually we eat the same breakfast (omelets!) so I'll share the to-go version of that recipe but that's the extent of my meal planning for breakfast.

Each week I will post my family's meal plans with general instructions on how to make each meal, along with a grocery list. I'll share detailed recipes every now and then, but not with each meal for the week. When I'm following a recipe, I usually modify it to fit what my family likes or what ingredients I have at home already. I don't usually measure each ingredient, either. I want you to have the freedom to do the same, so take liberties with my meal plans. Fit them for your family!

I hope these meal plans make your life a little less stressful. Enjoy!