Family-Friendly Meal Plan: Week #18
Summer is nearing in, the kids are almost out of school, and third trimester is creeping up on me! This has me planning and preparing for the next few months before baby #3's arrival in hyper-efficiency mode!
I am delighted by the overwhelming response to my weekly meal plans and how many of you have shared either publicly (on social media) or privately (via sweet emails and PMs) how much they have helped you and your family achieve variety in what is offered while also striving for less meal time stress and more feeding success. That was my aim and I am encouraged it has been achieved so far!
That's also why I am officially giving the one month countdown.
For the month of May, I will continue to share these weekly meal plans that so many of you are familiar with my doing. Come June 1st, my blog content will be shifting a bit to make room for an exciting new opportunity where my NEW meal plans will be housed each month!
This is an exciting collaboration with other experts in my field and a resource that I know many of you will find even more helpful than the complete meal plans I am sharing in my weekly emails (join here, if you aren't already subscribed!). If you would like to be among the first to know what is coming, when to get in on it, and how to access such meal plans after this month at a discount (as well as tons of other helpful printables and guides!), be sure to join the thousands of other mamas who already receive my newsletter.
I will be sharing more updates and exclusive discounts to my most loyal followers there, and I would love for you to be a part!
Veggies & Virtue Meal Plan: Week of May 6
STEP 1: PLAN
Curious - do you plan your family's meals around the main course/protein? Or do the veggies take center stage in your meal planning efforts? Send me a quick note to share!
As I consider what we are making each month, it has me rethinking how I can highlight seasonal produce more in the coming months. I am excited to hear if and how this would be helpful to you!
Interested in walking through the steps to meal plan like a pro?
Download your copy of my Meal Planning Playbook. It outlines the following five steps of successful meal planning in more detail so you can achieve "Less Meal Time Stress and More Feeding Success" for your own family!
On sale!
STEP 2: PICK
A special thanks to each of the following contributors for the delicious recipe ideas this week!
Dinner Menu:
1 ǁ Seafood Sunday: Salmon with Yogurt Sauce (from @foodnetwork)
2 ǁ Meatless Monday: Avocado Egg Salad (by @gimmedelicious)
3 ǁ Taco Night: "Build Your Own Taco Bar" (by @veggiesandvirtue)
4 ǁ Asian Night: Sesame Orange Chicken (by @cleanlittleplates)
5 ǁ Grill Night: Honey Chicken Kabobs (by @allrecipes)
6 ǁ Pasta Night: Lentil-based pasta salad with cherry tomatoes, marinated mozzarella balls, broccoli, cucumbers, and berries (from my Costco printable shared here)
7 ǁ Family Night Out (slash Mom's Night Off!)
STEP 3: PAIR
In honor of Cinco de Mayo this weekend, I am bringing back a fun reminder for how to make "one meal, two ways" via tacos!
I previously shared a post for how to create a "Build Your Own Taco Bar" set up here. You can use the recipe for taco meat or meat alternative shared on the post, or any other favorite your family has for tacos!
Whichever recipe you choose, I encourage you to try this type of set-up with your kiddos. It makes for a hands on meal that kids can customize however they'd like! Plus, as they become more adventurous in eating, they continue to try new flavor combinations and hopefully eat more veggies too!
STEP 4: PURCHASE
What I Buy and Why: Product Feature of the Week
I love stir-fry but I loathe having to cut all those vegetables on busy nights before dinner. That's why I love having a bag of frozen veggies on hand, like this one I get at Costco or Costco's big bag of frozen organic broccoli!
I have tried broccoli in this week's orange chicken and a veggie medley in the Cashew Chicken recipe (shared here) using both fresh-cut produce and frozen produce poured straight from these bags and don't know that I can notice a difference with either! Plus, frozen vegetables are often flash-frozen at their prime, so nutrients lost in freezing is not something to worry about.
Do you keep frozen veggies on hand? Which are your families favorites?
Want my free grocery list download? Download it here.
Want your own tear-off pad of my go-to grocery list to keep on the fridge? Order your 6-month magnetic grocery list notepad here.
STEP 5: PREP
Admittedly, I haven't been doing a lot of meal prep in advance. Between being gone on the weekend and just straight tired on the Sundays I am home, I have been utilizing more shortcuts than my usual for meal prep.
Be it pre-diced onion, jarred minced garlic, or the frozen veggies shared above, these are all easy and efficient ways to make this week's menu items easier to execute!
