Part 2: Meal Plan routine: see it in action

Revisiting the plan we built last week, here is a review of the meal plan in action, day by day. Let’s walk through the week as it unfolds. For reference, here is the example weekly grocery plan we made last week. As a quick review we listed items on hand in the far left column that provided inspiration for the meal ideas in the second column. Then from the meal ideas, we added any additional ingredients we needed to make these meals in the third column, crossing things off as we found suitable substitutions. Lastly we filled in any “single ingredient” or extra pantry staples in the final column and reviewed/eliminated again to make sure we didn’t have too many things that would spoil quickly (Reference: “Use by…” categorizes items roughly by how long they will keep).

Eliminate food waste throughout the week: meal plan in action

This is how your meal plan looks in action throughout the week. I’ll walk through my daily decisions so you can see the thought process. This really highlights what is part of the plan and what is just decided on the fly.

Monday

I choose to make the ham & cheese sliders with the Waldorf salad first. I get worried about lunchmeat going bad, and I really need to use that romaine. The salad uses up most of my romaine (I save the best looking pieces for the fajitas). I dice one of my apples, halve most of the grapes, sprinkle in some pecans (I skip candying them to save time) and toss with a balsamic vinaigrette. We eat the majority of the sandwiches and all of the salad. (I love salad.)

However, taking a look at the bell peppers, I decide to also make the pineapple salsa today. It will actually taste better after a couple of days, and the lime juice will help to preserve both the cilantro and the bell peppers. I cut the recipe by 1/3 since I know we won’t eat all 3.5 cups the recipe makes. I also toss in some of the green onion I have on hand. I cut up the remaining pineapple for the kids to eat for lunches/snacks throughout the week.

Tuesday

As tempted as I am to order pizza on Papa Murphy’s $10 Tuesday (not an affiliate, I just love Papa Murphy’s!), especially since this is a long work day for me, I instead force myself to prepare the roast in the morning. I throw it in the instant pot with some chopped yellow onions, the sweet potatoes (scrubbed quickly), a couple apples, and the rest of my old carrots. I keep the skin on all of the above and only core the apple in prep.

I know the recipe says all kinds of things about searing and peeling and dicing… eh, it’ll be fine. The recipe also is a traditional in-oven roast but the instant pot is just too easy. Instead of the beef consommé (which I do not have) I throw in a half-cup of red wine and dump in the spices. I do a quick internet search and find this recipe that tells me 60 min on high for a 3 lb roast. Set and done. The instant pot will cook it this morning (I stick around just long enough to make sure it seals properly) and will hold it at a food-safe temperature until we get home.

I’m so glad I forced myself to prep in the morning because we get home late with hangry kids. Quick dinner (that of course the kids complained about because they don’t like beef) and I already have a head start on fajitas.

Wednesday

The girls have later dance class tonight so dinner is often a challenge. They are both hungry after school so I decide to just throw in some chicken nuggets for them, steam some broccoli, and use up the rest of the raspberries. I grab a quick leftover ham & cheese slider for me on the go. Hubby is on his own and has some leftover roast. Done.

Thursday

Another long work day for me, but thankfully I’m 90% there on the fajitas. This is where the meal plan is really in action. No morning prep, I get home with the girls, pull some beef out, throw it in a bowl with a sprinkle of chili powder, cumin, and a splash of lime juice. While the skillet(s) are heating (one for beef, one for tortillas) I quickly shred the remaining romaine and pull out the sour cream and pineapple salsa.

I decide maybe we need a side and open a can of black beans to heat in the microwave. I toss a bit of tomatoes and cilantro on top after it’s done heating and call it good. I now have dinner inside of 15 min! After dinner there is some leftover fajitas, beans, and salsa.

Friday

I’m working from home today, so for lunch I take out the leftover fajitas and make a harvest bowl. I shred a bit of cabbage, add the romaine, fajitas, beans, and pineapple salsa. I toss a bit of lime juice, olive oil, garlic, and honey in a jar, shake, and drizzle over the top. YUM!

For dinner I’m out of energy and ideas. And I’m not really hungry because of my big lunch. I pull a frozen tomato soup out of the freezer and whip up some grilled cheeses for the family. Done.

Dinners like these are where you have a lot of flexibility in your meal plan and also learn to rotate freezer stock (more on this later). When this meal plan is in action and you’re out of energy you can opt for takeout, a leftover meal in its entirety, a ready-made meal from the freezer, and you don’t have a fridge full of spoiling ingredients for the meal you just don’t have energy for today.

Saturday

I pull out my sourdough starter to feed it and use the discard to make sourdough blueberry pancakes, using up the rest of the blueberries. I have everything on hand for these since the majority are pantry items. I pull out the leftover pineapple and some oranges for the kids to have with the pancakes. I also have some frozen breakfast sausage that I throw in the skillet.

For lunch we do Annie’s mac n cheese with hotdogs and the rest of the fruit from the morning. There’s also a little broccoli left which I put on the girls’ plates with carrots and ranch.

For dinner we order out from Wingstop (one of our favorites, but again not an affiliate) and I pull out the carrots/broccoli/ranch again. Close enough to celery sticks, right? (Maybe I shouldn’t have talked myself out of getting celery.)

I also start a loaf of sourdough that will be baked tomorrow. Let me tell you… I talk about my sourdough like I’m a pro, but mastering sourdough is still very much a work in progress. Definitely not there yet! Another story for another time.

Lastly, I start my planning for next week’s meals (sometimes I do this as early as Thursday to put a grocery order in on Friday or Saturday. I think this is ideal because by Sunday most things are picked over and Krogers often has 4x fuel points on Fridays. But this week has been busy so we will deal with it. I won’t walk through all of next week’s planning but I will touch on the retro.

Retrospective to eliminate food waste

So here I am in the last step in the process. I look through the fridge for anything leftover and/or spoiled. There is a good amount of the roast leftover which is nearing the end of its shelf/fridge life. We will absolutely have that for Sunday dinner. This is such a classic Sunday dinner that it’s like I planned it! (Let’s pretend I did.)

There are some oranges left which will keep for at least another week in the fridge. The double pack of lunch meat I got (used for kids lunches) has one unopened pouch that I throw in the freezer– I should have thrown that directly in the freezer when we got groceries last week. Some tortillas left that will keep easily. Nothing else besides staples, condiments, and a few things that will keep a while (carrots, sweet potatoes, onions).

I’m glad I didn’t get those spring greens as I definitely wouldn’t have gotten through them.

I’d love to hear how you’re doing on your journey! Have you tried the weekly meal planning routine yet? Leave your challenges, insight, or inspiration in the comments. Happy scrounging!