One misconception many people have about meal planning is that you are stuck with what you plan and can’t react to what’s in season – or what’s on sale – at the market or grocery store. The solution to this is keep your plan loose. When I write down “vegetable” or “greens” on our weekly meal plan, while I’m shopping, I buy what’s in season because that’s usually what’s the least expensive item in the produce section.
Yesterday, I bought 2 giant heads of cabbage because they were .33 cents/pound. Sliced thin and sautéed or oven roasted, cabbage wasn’t on our weekly meal plan but now we’ll be enjoying it instead of the general “greens” that I had listed. By taking advantage of what was on sale and in season, I’m saving my family money and buying local produce. Wins all around!
Weekly Meal Plan
This meal plan is from Monday, October 29, 2012 to Sunday, November 4, 2012.
Monday: pinto beans and brown rice with fresh salsa
Tuesday: vegetarian chili (from freezer) and cornbread
Wednesday: fish, quinoa, vegetables
Thursday: chicken, quinoa, green salad
Friday: whole wheat pasta with clams and mussels and green salad
Saturday: mock Thanksgiving dinner – turkey, baked potatoes, cranberries and brussel sprouts
Sunday: mock Thanksgiving dinner (leftovers)
My son made dinner on Thursday and we doubled it to take a meal to our friends. My friend, Robin, had foot surgery and we had signed up to bring their family a meal. My daughter somehow didn’t write her name on a dinner but helped cook on Friday night and made cranberries for our dinner on Saturday.
We had a Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday night and enjoyed a Heritage Breed Turkey from Whole Foods. Since I agreed to a do a giveaway with Whole Foods, they gave me a turkey to enjoy. Who says blogging doesn’t pay? Thanks, Whole Foods! We enjoyed the turkey with our friends and had leftovers the next night (although not as many leftovers as you might imagine since there were several teenagers and the food went down quickly!)
A PDF version of our weekly meal planner is here: Dinner Menu if you make copies of it on both sides, you can get 4 weeks of meal plans with 1 sheet of paper.
What’s for dinner at your house?
Go Gingham related links:
Grocery shopping from the bulk bins and food storage containers
Frugal grocery shopping – without coupons!
New to cooking at home? Fear not!
How we keep food waste to a minimum
Confessions of a leftover food lover – that would be me!
How our freezer gets used – ways to organize and optimize
Go Gingham 
It seems like the key to this is that you had an idea of how to cook cabbage! Sadly, I thought cabbage was just in coleslaw! Good job!
LikeLike
Annie, cabbage is really an under eaten vegetable! It’s good on fish tacos, sauteed or oven roasted. It’s also tasty with just fresh lemon juice squirted on it. I like it because it doesn’t get soggy like many green salads can. But, you are correct – it is usually just in coleslaw and quite tasty there, too!
Thanks, Annie.
LikeLike
I really like your weekly meal plan. It’s simple, effective, and probably something that anyone would be able to use as well. The hard part is being able to sick with it and not give up after a few weeks.
LikeLike