Week 1 Meal Plan

It is here! The long-awaited Week 1 Meal Plan that kicks off my blog. I'm excited to share it with you! Let me know what you think about the meals when you make them. Of course, you might want to change the order of the meals so that it fits into your schedule this week. Today I'm sharing my family's meal plan from last week so that I could take pictures of each of the meals. Hopefully that gives you an idea of what each dinner looks like.

If you've read the introduction to my blog, then you know that I make enough of each meal to have lunch for both me and Zach the next day. Leftovers are a life saver! You might also know that in addition to a meal planner, I'm a meal prepper. I prepped each of these meals on the Sunday before the week began. It is such a big help and I would definitely recommend it, but if you aren't a prepper, you could still make each meal each day. I'll share my prepping tips for each meal.

MONDAY: COBB SALAD [This meal is so easy to throw together and customizable to your family favorites. My family used romaine lettuce, green onion, carrots, tomato, cucumber, boiled egg, shredded cheese, grilled chicken, avocado, homemade bacon bits, and tortilla strip salad toppers. Go big or go home, ya know? While I was meal prepping on Sunday, I washed and diced ALL the vegetables, boiled eggs, and baked and sliced a couple pieces of bacon. We grilled out steaks on Sunday night, so I had Zach throw on a couple of pieces of chicken while the grill was hot. I chopped them up after dinner, so everything for Cobb Salads was ready to go on Monday afternoon.]

TUESDAY: MUSHROOM & BEEF RISOTTO [Man, this meal is so good! And fairly easy to throw together. While I was meal prepping on Sunday, I browned 1 lb of ground beef with garlic and sliced peppers and onion. Did you know that you can buy them in the frozen section already cut up? It’s cheaper and saves you time. Anyway, I put the meat/veggie mixture in a bowl in the fridge so it was ready for Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon, I cooked this packaged mushroom risotto according to the instructions on the packet. It is SOOOOO good. The only extra ingredient it requires is butter, and it takes about 20 minutes to cook. I buy it from Publix, but you can buy it from Amazon as well. While that was cooking, I heated up the meat/veggie mixture in the microwave for a couple of minutes. When everything is warm, mix it all together. Yummmm!! Add a side salad to use up the veggies from Monday night.]

WEDNESDAY: SWEET POTATO BBQ CHICKEN BOWL [Do you have an air fryer? You need on if you don’t! I made this whole meal in the air fryer and microwave. You could use the oven instead, but the air fryer makes the chicken so much better. I prepped this whole meal on Sunday so the bowls were ready to go on Wednesday night, I just heated them in the microwave before we ate. So on Sunday I chopped 3 small sweet potatoes and tossed them in olive oil and Tony’s Seasoning. Cook them in the air fryer (or oven) for 30 minutes or until they’re soft. Meanwhile, cut 4 boneless skinless chicken thighs with your kitchen scissors (which you need if you don’t have!) into bite-sized pieces. Toss them in your favorite BBQ sauce and cook them in the air fryer (or oven) for 25 minutes. Meanwhile, put a bag of broccoli in the microwave for 5 minutes or until it is steamed to a consistency of your choice. Assemble the bowl by layering sweet potato at the bottom and topping one half of the bowl with BBQ chicken and the other with steamed broccoli. Add a little BBQ sauce on top and stick it in the fridge until you’re ready to eat. Delicious and nutritious.]

THURSDAY: SAUSAGE & VEGGIE MIX [I think this was my favorite meal of the week. It was so flavorful! Buy a package of smoked sausage, 2 zucchini, 1 red pepper, 1 yellow pepper, 2 red potatoes, 1 small onion. Chop it all into bite-size pieces. I did this on Sunday and put it in a big bowl in the fridge so that it was ready to go on Thursday afternoon. When you’re ready to cook it, put vegetable oil and a good bit of garlic in a big pan. Let it get hot. Add the sausage/veggie mixture, salt & pepper. Saute with a top on the pan, stirring every 7-8 minutes, for a total of 20-30 minutes depending on how soft you like your vegetables. If it were just me, I probably would have left off the potatoes, but Zach liked the potatoes. Compromise. It was so much more flavorful than I expected.]

FRIDAY & SATURDAY: [Find good friends and family to cook for you :} We lucked out and had friends cook yummy Hibachi for us on Friday night and we had burgers at my parents’ house on Saturday night so I didn’t cook either night. It was a nice break!]

Week 1 Grocery List:

Romaine lettuce

Eggs

Bacon

1 Cucumber

1 Bag of carrots

1 Bundle green onion

1 Tomato

Shredded cheese

2 Chicken breasts

Your fav salad dressing

1 Avocado

Tortilla strip salad topper or croutons

1 lb Ground beef

1 Bag frozen peppers & onions (or 1 of each raw if you prefer)

Minced garlic

Mushroom risotto

2 Tablespoon butter

3 Small sweet potatoes

Tony's seasoning

BBQ sauce

1 Bag fresh broccoli

4 Boneless skinless chicken thighs

Smoked sausage

2 Zucchini

1 Red pepper

1 Yellow pepper

1 Small sweet onion

2 Red potatoes

I hope this week’s meal plan and grocery list make your week a little less stressful! I’m excited to see your meal pictures and hear how your family likes them. Enjoy!