Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Menu Plan

Here is another week's menu plan.  If you'd like to see my last menu plan you can see it here.

I'm leaning more toward more vegetable based dishes this week.  All vegetable dishes this week are new to me except for the Red Pepper soup which I've made before (see photo below).  I plan to look to look for a few more tasty vegetable based dishes to make which I hope to add to my repertoire. It might take awhile to find just the right vegetable based dishes.

There are so many places to find good recipes on line that it can be time consuming. Here are some links to find healthy food recipes if you too are looking to plan healthier meals. I'll be making my way through them bit by bit.


I got these links from MyFitnessPal and in the past came across several of these links looking for recipes to try.

So how did week 1 go with the meal plan?

I think it went quite well. I did find it a bit labour intensive as I had a lot of different things on the menu. For the most part I had many of the main ingredients on hand and only needed to shop once.  Frankly, I just don't eat that much for lunch and dinner so I skipped one or two lunches from my first menu plan. Though I am working on trying to eat more in the morning for health reasons it will be a challenge for me.

In my effort to make sure I eat something for breakfast other than cereal, I baked muffins twice this week.  The second time I made more of them to freeze ahead for breakfasts on days when I'm in a hurry.  Most days I will eat hot oatmeal with goji berries (for sweetener).  Sometimes I add nuts. Lunches will consist of leftovers and sometimes a new thing thrown in here and there with a salad or fruit to round things out.

The cooking routine and time for preparation and cooking should also get easier as I get used to the new routines and new recipes.  I do know how to make many dishes without a recipe however I am trying to achieve: a consistent diet, a more balanced diet and one that isn't laden with carbs. This will involve looking for new low carb recipes for breakfast that don't require me to eat a lot of meat. So far the recipes I've found require too much effort so I will keep researching.

My meal plans start on a Saturday rather than Sunday like most people. Sunday seems to be the day when most people commence their menu plans.  My choice of Saturday had more to do with when I had time to draft a plan  than anything else.  In the past my big shopping was done on Wednesdays and Thursdays before the weekly sales ended and the new ones would begin. This may change too. I'll know more as I move forward.

I will be trying to sit down with the flyers next time to plan the menu.I don't intend to post every menu on my blog only my first several attempts as I work it out and see how it is going. I'm realizing that I like the freedom that comes with not having to worry or plan what to eat every day since it is already planned out. If I don't feel like eating something, I can simply switch the menu from one day to another. Making the turkey was a good idea too. Though it was quite a skinny bird, there was more than enough left over for freezing and for making soup.


Saturday

Breakfast - Whole Wheat Pancakes or Waffles with banana
Lunch -  Red Pepper Soup
Dinner - Pot Roast & Roast Vegetables, salad 

Red Pepper Soup

Sunday

Breakfast -  Muffins or leftover waffles
Lunch - sliced beef and green salad
Dinner - Stuffed bell peppers (using brown rice & leftover roast beef)

Monday
Breakfast - Cranberry - Lemon Muffin
Lunch -Egg salad, mixed cut vegetables
Dinner - Chickpeas, Spinach, Squash Gnocci 

Tuesday

Breakfast - Hot cereal with goji berry
Lunch - Salmon Chowder, cut veggies
Dinner - Eggplant & Chickpea Stew

Wednesday

Breakfast - Cranberry Muffin
Lunch - Leftovers
Dinner -Spaghetti & Meatballs, romaine salad

Thursday

Breakfast - Hot cereal with goji berry
Lunch - Greek salad?
Dinner - Chili, cornbread or cornmeal muffins


Friday

Breakfast - Cranberry Muffin
Lunch - Green smoothie, salmon or tuna salad
Dinner - Curried Lentil Soup, home made dinner rolls

Snacks * yogurt, fruit, green smoothies, crackers/cheese

10 comments:

Joanne Noragon said...

Sounds like my house. My sister has a mental rotation going. I wonder if she knows I know. We eat a lot of broth based soups and there are a week's worth of leftovers in the fridge for lunches. I can endorse meal planning, and am so grateful I don't need to do it.

affectioknit said...

I love making menu plans...I guess I just love thinking about good food...

~Have a lovely day!

Stephanie said...

The red pepper soup looks amazing as does your menu - yum! Can I come for supper? :) Hugs and blessings

Diane said...

Sounds like a good and healthy week to me. Hope you are well. Take care Diane

Margie said...

The soup looks so good and I know I would like the curry lentil soup on Friday's menu ..

John's Island said...

Hi Joyful, I found a great idea right off the bat ... Stuffed bell peppers! I love them and haven't made them for a long, long time. Also, gotta try your red pepper soup. Thanks for the link to the recipe! I agree totally with previous comments ... everything looks good and healthy! As always, admirable! John

Joyful said...

Great. It's always wonderful to find and be inspired by old and new recipes alike. Bon appetit!

jabbott said...

Your meal plan sounds so deliciou and well balanced meals x

jabbott said...

Meant delicious x

Joyful said...

Thank you Joy!

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