This weekend was majorly busy for us, and this week is equally nuts. Means no time to really think about a meal plan and no time to do serious grocery shopping and preparation. So what to do? We all have this happen on a regular basis. Typically the answer is not eating well rounded and balanced meals, or grabbing the telephone to call in an order. While that could still happen this week (and I am okay with that because 80-90% of the time, I do what it takes to eat as best as I can), I made a few simple efforts to make sure we had meals for this week.
Here is what I did:
1. Started defrosting a few soups I have in the freezer for quick meals when we come home so it is just there and ready. This has been easy since the past few weeks we have had a few soups. I just double the recipe or wrap up what we can't eat and in a few weeks you have another meal. Easy!
2. Made sure I had a few greens that cook quickly (spinach, chard, dandelion) and a few raw veggies to snack on. All I have to do is spend 20 minutes today chopping and sauteing and storing away for lunches throughout the week.
3. Bought a pre-made rotisserie chicken. $10 for a natural chicken at our local New Leaf is not too bad. I shred it, mix it with raisins and celery and walnuts and some homemade mayonnaise that we keep on hand (YES, this is worth the effort and learning curve) and top that on spinach and you have a delicious and healthy and quick meal with just a little help from the store.
4. Picked two proteins I could make quick and easy meals out of. This week we did a pork roast because it was on sale and will mix it with veggies and curry paste. The second is a good natural sausage with onion and bell pepper and a salad.
5. I have enough veggies that are quick cooking to do a nice vegetarian meal. I need to make rice for the curry anyway so all I have to do is soak lentils at the same time and cook those up. The lentils and the rice with the vegetables will provide a complete protein so we save money but nourish ourselves with a well balanced vegetarian meal.
All in all this should hold us over all week. Here is what we are doing:
Monday: Waldorf chicken salad over spinach with vegetable puree soup
Tuesday: Pork and vegetable curry over soaked brown rice
Wednesday: Celeriac root soup with sausages and bell pepper and onions
Thursday: Brown rice and lentils mixed with grilled zucchini and radicchio with citrus vinaigrette
Friday: Leftovers
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