Significantly Simple: Meal Planning Monday: Apr 18-24, 2011

I love planning meals. Honest. Sure, it's a bit time consuming, but let me tell you, it's worth it! It goes without saying that it eases the pressure of it being 4:30 on a weeknight when the kids are starving and hubby will be home in 45 minutes. It eases the grocery bill, and I think most importantly for our family, it saves on wasted food. On grocery day, our fridge is e.m.p.t.y. And I mean empty - I'm going grocery shopping today, and we have 3 eggs, condiments, half a head of lettuce, and 4 brown bananas. Because I've planned our meals and snacks for the week, I'm not at all worried about breakfast today. It drives me completely up the wall to throw away food when so many kids around the world don't eat every day - but meal planning ensures that we throw away very little - which saves me stress, time, and money.

Monday (Vegetarian)
Breakfast - Fruit Smoothie with protein powder, almond milk, fruit, and oatmeal thrown in.
Dinner - Cheesy Crock Cauliflower Soup (Saving Dinner the Low-Carb Way)

Tuesday (Beef)
Breakfast - Steel Cut Oats with the trimmings
Dinner - Beef Stew with Mushrooms

Wednesday (Vegetarian)
Breakfast - Cereal, Milk, Fruit
Dinner - Eggplant Parmesan with salad and garlic breadsticks (and please don't be disillussioned - I will not be serving it up to look like the photo below!!) :P

Photo Credit

Thursday (Chicken)
Breakfast - Cheesy Egg Breakfast Sandwich, fruit
Dinner - Turkey Picadillo, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, carrots (Saving Dinner the Low-Carb Way)

Friday (Vegetarian)
Breakfast - Steel Cut Oats with berries and maple syrup
Dinner - Vegan Cabbage Rolls - this is a big stray from our normal, so we'll see how it goes over!

Saturday (Pork)
Breakfast - Cinnamon Baked French Toast
Dinner - Pizza on homemade crust

Snacks this week will include: