Hellobee

In this edition of the Swarm, the Bees share their weekly meal plans!

N O E L L E  –  2 Y E A R S , 4 M O N T H S
J A R E N —  3  M O N T H S

I mainly plan our dinners because our breakfasts and lunches are more or less the same and very simple. I pack DH’s lunch at the same time I pack DD’s lunch each morning.

Breakfasts – I usually make a spinach/kale quiche twice a week, which makes for very quick, reheatable breakfasts.

Lunches – I’ll make tuna, chicken, or egg salads on Sunday nights so I can use them for packed work lunches (as sandwiches or scooped on top of salads) throughout the week. Toss in a couple pieces of fruit and we’re golden.

This is our dinner meal plan for this week (I start from Sunday to Saturday since Saturdays are our grocery shopping days) –

Sunday – Dakgalbi (marinated Korean chicken dish)
Monday – Date night (eat out)
Tuesday – Roasted chicken
Wednesday – Chicken soft tacos
Thursday – Asian-style sloppy joes
Friday – Chicken curry
Saturday – Leftovers

The way I structured our meal plan this week was mainly around the roasted chicken. We usually can’t finish one whole bird in one sitting, so I plan to use the carcass for homemade chicken broth, then the remaining chicken for the chicken soft tacos and the chicken curry. Sloppy Joes are on our menu because we had leftover ground pork from last week – to make it healthier we wrap the filling in cabbage leaves instead of buns. You can also scoop it on top of rice. We always have rice in the house!

I try to incorporate leftovers into at least 2 meals per week so I’m not having to cook every day. Most of these are really quick, 30 minute meals! Some of these can be made ahead, like I can prep the sloppy joe sauce or the dakgalbi marinade the night before… so all I really have to do on the day of is chop veggies and toss everything together in a pan.

J A M E S  –  4  ,  J  O E  &  N  I C K  –  3
L I L L Y   –  1 9  M O N  T H S

This month I tried to plan the whole month. We are almost to the end and it seemed to work out well. I planned at the beginning of the month and went to Costco to get all the things I would need for the month that could also be frozen. Then each week I go to the grocery store for the things I can’t or didn’t get at Costco like veggies and fruits. I plan the main meal but don’t really plan sides. I work on that throughout the week based on what I could find at the store.

This coming week is:

– Green enchiladas (trying to make my own sauce for the first time)
– Philly cheese steak stuffed green peppers (saw it on Pinterest so I hope I can pull it off)
– Greek chicken with tzatziki sauce
– Creole fish soup
– Pasta with kielbasa and pesto sauce (I make spaghetti quash noodles for me but I haven’t sold the rest of my family on that)
– Baked chicken with Dijon mustard sauce
– Chicken gumbo

I S A I A H  – 2  M O N T H S

I’m going to go to the store tomorrow and get the stuff to make these freezer meals.

– Colorado Beef Burritos
– Thai Chicken Wings with Peanut Sauce
– Loaded Baked Potato Soup
– Meatball Beef Stroganoff
– Pork Tenderloin with Apple Cranberry Sauce
– Taco Chili

We will be able to pull them out of the freezer in the mornings we feel like cooking.

I L A  –  6 M O N T H S

We’re trying to get better about meal planning. It’s hard for me to predict what we will want to eat each week. Plus, DH and I have different palates. I like all of the things he likes to eat, but he doesn’t like all of the things that I like. We order groceries once a week and we share cooking responsibilities. We probably only make 2 or 3 things a week and then live on leftovers, various sandwiches, and the most amazing roasted chicken that comes from his job.. Here’s what’s been prepared for dinner over the last week:

Wednesday: quinoa black bean burgers
Thursday: quinoa black bean burgers w/ cheese and avocado
Friday: take out
Saturday: grilled cheese
Sunday: homemade pizza
Monday: quiche spinach Lorraine (we combined them)
Tuesday: pastrami sandwich on a roll and egg bacon sandwich on a croissant

This is a really good exercise for me because looking at this list makes me realize that my dinnertime isn’t so healthy. Breakfast and lunch are better though.

I make steel cut oats in bulk on Sunday nights and eat it every morning with fruit or just a little brown sugar. Then I have an apple and a cup of yogurt.

Since our LO has arrived, I always pack my lunch. DH always buys his. My lunch is usually composed of what we had for dinner plus a salad, though today I had a tuna salad with crackers. Snacks include an almond and craisin mix, carrots and sometimes mini Reese’s cups.

Since I haven’t perfected meal planning, I generally keep the following things on my grocery list:

Eggs
Milk
Organic apples
Steel cut oats
Beans
Quinoa
Meat (usually beef or chicken)
Various snacks (almonds, chips, kashi bars, Reese’s cups – hehe, etc)
Deli meat and sliced cheese
Bread
Avocado
Bananas
Tomatoes
Mixed greens
Spinach or kale
Yogurt
Carrots

There’s also always pasta and tomato sauce in the pantry.

J A C O B I  –  1 5  M O N T H S

Sunday: bulgogi (Korean beef from Trader Joes), rice and steamed broccoli
Monday: coconut shrimp stir fry over rice
Tuesday: chili
Wednesday: pot roast
Thursday: steak, steamed asparagus and baked sweet potatoes
Friday: Kobe burgers and side salad
Saturday: vegetable radiatore with vodka sauce and steamed veggies

T R I K E S T E R  –  6  M O N T H S

I always meal plan – but don’t always stick to the plan. We just bought a 1/4 of an organic cow, so although we both ate a strict vegetarian diet for years, we’re eating a ton of beef lately!

Saturday: Glass noodle stir fry with tempeh
Sunday: Corned beef and cabbage and a simple green salad
Monday: Ramen noodle soup with tofu, red peppers and scallions and a simple green salad
Tuesday: Slow cooker Tex-Mex chicken over rice with a simple green salad
Wednesday: Hamburger Helper (I have never bought this before – I’m still feeling the guilt – but I’m a WOHM now and need EASY) with green peas and a salad
Thursday: Sautéed escarole with white beans over pasta, and a simple green salad
Friday: Leftovers or takeout

W A G O N  J R  –  3  Y E A R S
L I L  M I S S  W A G O N  –  10  M O N T H S

I am NOT great at meal planning and it’s a weekly struggle. We get home at 5:00pm and dinner is at 5:30 since the kids begin their bedtime routine around 6:15-6:30. I’m not good at cooking ahead and freezing, and had a stint with the slow cooker that ended pretty quickly, so right now we’re just relying on VERY quick, easy meals (when we’re not relying on takeout!).

Here’s the schedule that we usually try to stick to.

Monday: Some kind of chicken or sausage dish (this is my day off)
Tuesday: Takeout pizza (this is my day alone with both kids at dinnertime)
Wednesday: Spaghetti with turkey meatballs
Thursday: Leftover spaghetti and meatballs
Friday: Pork chops with mashed potatoes and applesauce
Saturday: Out or takeout
Sunday: Out or takeout

Now that the weather is getting warmer I’m looking forward to grilling on the weekends!!

E L L I E  – 6  Y E A R S
L O R E L E I  –  1 4  M O N T H S

Breakfasts for us are usually catch-as-catch-can. Ellie eats a second breakfast at school, so at home she will typically have a yogurt. Lorelei usually has some sort of fresh fruit, and then cottage cheese or yogurt or oatmeal. Mr. Twine always has a banana, two slices of English Muffin Toasting Bread (one with butter and one with peanut butter and butter) and a glass of orange juice. I usually have a yogurt.

Because Mr. Twine is able to be home for lunch most days, that used to be our big meal. Now since Ellie is in school, I try to make something in the slow cooker at least twice a week (because of baths I don’t have enough time to do prep and cooking right before supper time) so that she gets something fresh instead of just leftovers. So here is a sample week for our “big meal.”

Monday: Grilled chicken with homemade honey mustard sauce, rosemary garlic roasted potatoes, and steamed carrots (lunch)
Tuesday: Tamale Pie (slow cooker casserole that is just to die for with “built in” green chile cornbread topping) (supper)
Wednesday: Pork steak with blackberry zinfandel sauce, wild rice, and steamed broccoli
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: Vegetable stir fry with wild rice– during the summer when our CSA is in full-swing we will do a veggie stir fry at least twice a week. I love the cookbook “Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge” (lunch)
Saturday: Chicken hash with squash and kale
Sunday: leftovers

We eat out about once per month or less, usually less. Before Lorelei was born, I used to make all our bread, ice cream, and yogurt. I also used to make my own pasta (especially ravioli and tortellini). With a baby (I guess now I should say toddler) my priorities have shifted away from cooking somewhat, and while I would say we still eat a fairly good diet and I prefer to cook from scratch, I only make our own ice cream and rarely make bread and yogurt. (Okay, Mr. T, if you’re reading this… I haven’t made yogurt since Lorelei was born. So…. nyah!) I like to pretend I am a super high-class chef at a five star restaurant and freak out my Kindergartner by using *gasp* vegetables in lots of what I cook.

S C R I B B L E S  –  9  M O N T H S

I don’t meal plan. Instead, I have a grocery shopping plan and I shop sales and try to make what I can based on what is cheap. We are trying (slowly but surely!) to cut out the processed foods, but it is expensive! I feel like menu planning forces me to know what I am looking for at the store, whereas it is cheaper to get things when they are on sale and then figure out what to make with them afterward. I usually go to a warehouse-style store once a month and do a big grocery trip for pantry staples once every two weeks. My husband goes to our local grocery chain with in-house meat processing and buys meat once a month or once every two weeks, and I freeze what he buys. Every week I go to the grocery store to get dairy staples and to get a selection of seasonal/on sale veggies. Sometimes if something is super cheap (say, berries or peppers) I will buy them, chop if necessary, and freeze for later. Also when we are visiting my family, usually once a month or every two months, we go to a large Asian supermarket to stock up on speciality items that we don’t have in our small town. For things like flatbreads, bagels, etc., I wait until they are on sale and then buy a ton, freeze, and reheat as needed. Now that we are introducing solids I think about what baby will eat, make it for him, then plan our meals around the leftovers. Right now he is super into sweet potatoes so we are also eating a lot!

M A D D O X  –  1 7  M O N T H S

Adult dinner time has become so stressful in our house! Because Little M is gluten sensitive, I prepare his meals separately from ours. He eats much earlier than us, so I usually give him a meal from the freezer (I cook and freeze for him and for us – Mr. S takes frozen meals for lunch most days) or something that I adapted for him, if needed, from our meal the night before. After he’s gone to bed, Mr. S and I start the “what do you want for dinner tonight” game where I ask and he says “whatever” and then it turns into an argument because we’re both hungry. We choose to rarely eat or order out, which is probably best since I’m sure we’d have put ourselves in the poor house via take-out by now just to avoid the nightly battle!

Just last weekend I finally hit my breaking point and decided to start meal planning. I went through my cookbooks and Pinterest and came up with 47 healthy, quick-ish meals. I wrote each down and listed their non-staples ingredients. It took me hours to do, but I’m glad I finally put in the time. Now we’re able to choose enough meals for two weeks, stick them on the calendar and put the ingredients on the shopping list. There are so many to choose from that we won’t get bored and best of all, no more fighting!

M I N I  M I C H A E L A N G E L O  – 4  Y E A R S

I’ve become somewhat of a meal planning “geek” now that I actually have a recipe app that keeps track of everything! I love to cook, but our schedules are chaotic so here’s what works for us, based on our current schedule. Once school is out and summer is here in full force, I’m sure that we’ll be mixing in more salads and grilling.

Breakfasts: Same old same old here. Either eggs or yogurt with granola and berries. Sometimes cereal, milk and berries. Occasionally oatmeal.

Lunch: We all have different lunch preferences, so this one is hard to outline. I usually eat leftovers, or something from the freezer. The hubs is all over the map… and Spencer always takes some sort of bento box meal.

Dinners:

Mondays – This is my most relaxed day… so it tends to be the “try a new recipe” night.

Tuesdays – This is a TaeKwonDo day which means we get home and immediately need to eat. (Or at least the youngest one of us does!) So it’s a slow cooker meal, or a 20-minute-or-less recipe. (I like the “Weeknight Cooking” section of Food Network magazine.) Some favorites are slow cooker BBQ chicken, Korean Tacos, and meatball subs.

Wednesday – This tends to be our Korean night… Jap Chae, Bibimbap, Rice Cake soup, Kimchi Bokeum… If not Korean for some reason, Chinese or Vietnamese.

Thursday – Another TaeKwonDo day which means another easy/quick meal. It’s usually a pasta dish of some sort.

Friday – The end of the week AND a TaeKwonDo day… which means this Mama needs a break! It’s going out to eat, or taking out.

Saturday/ Sunday – This literally depends on what we have going on … If we’re home, I try to cook. Depending on my mood it will be anywhere from casual to an all-out feast. Easy, or more intense. Who knows! I do try to double the recipe though and freeze half for a more chaotic day!

D R A K E  – 2 Y E A R S  ,  1 1  M O N T H S
B A B Y  C H O C O L A T E  –  D U E  J U N E

I don’t really meal plan. I work Monday-Thursday and some nights don’t get home til around 7-8. Drake goes to bed around that time so if Mr. Chocolate and Drake wait for me, Drake would be up way too late. So most of the week Mr. Chocolate takes care of dinner for him and Drake, and I just fend for myself either eating with the family I work with or finding something at home to eat after I get home. Every other Friday and every other Sunday we either go for dinner at Mr. Chocolate’s family’s house or my mother’s, so some weeks all I have to worry about for a family dinner is Saturday. For the few days I do cook I simply look up something I want to eat on Pinterest and decide to make it. Mr. Chocolate isn’t fussy at all about food and will eat almost anything, and Drake can be hit or miss but as a last resort he always has fruits, yogurts, eggs, chicken nuggets, or peanut butter sandwiches if he refuses to eat what I make. I do try to make more dishes I know Drake will eat on those days I cook, mainly some kind of noodles or this chicken and sauce dish he seems to enjoy.

B A B Y  C O N F E T T I – 1 1  M O N T H S

My meal plan is a non-planned meal strategy, if that makes any sense. I keep a document on my computer of nearly everything I make on a semi-regular basis, so that when we fall into a rut, I can glance through and think of different things that have fallen out of my “rotation,” but generally, I shop the perimeter of the grocery store, and depending on what looks good/is on sale, I adapt based on what is available. I also make a point of keeping a wide variety of shelve-stable (quinoa, cous-cous, whole wheat pasta, rice, beans, canned tomatoes) and freezer-friendly (frozen fruits and veggies, homemade frozen meatballs, etc) staples in our house, so that we can always come up with something in a jam.

Typically I cook 2-3 big dinner meals each week, making enough to eat them for 2 days, because cooking after a long day of chasing Little C isn’t always the highlight of my day. And on Sundays, I do quite a bit of prep work to make lunches/breakfasts/snacks easier for the week. Breakfast is almost always a waffle or scrambled egg for C and cereal for the grown ups which is easy, and lunch is some variation of fruits, veggies, cheese and crackers.

L I L  C H E C K E R S  –  2 3  M O N T H S

For breakfast, LO usually eats some combination of yogurt, eggs, lightly buttered toast, sweet potato, and/or avocado.

For lunch, LO will usually eat 1) soup w/rice, 2) eggs/rice/roasted seaweed or ham, 3) a simple sandwich, 4) chicken nuggets with peas, or 5) steamed chicken dumplings.

Here is a sample dinner schedule:

Sunday: Something off the grill! Usually steak, veggies, and potatoes.
Monday: Chicken sausage penne pasta or spaghetti
Tuesday: Leftovers
Wednesday: Asian chicken dish (thai basil chicken, Korean-style soy-sauce chicken, chicken stir fry, etc.) paired with a veggie/salad and rice
Thursday: Leftovers
Friday: Asian style fish w/rice, curry, or something on the grill. OR EAT OUT!
Saturday: Is always a free-for-all. Who knows what will happen on Saturday?

C H AR L I E  –  3  Y E A R S
O L I V E  –  1 9  M O N T H S

For breakfast, Mr. Bee and I typically drink green smoothies. I’ve been preparing them in ziploc bags ahead of time and freezing them so I just have to add liquid and put them in the blender in the mornings. Charlie and Olive usually have gluten-free pancakes or french toast with bacon, eggs or breakfast sausage, or oatmeal with raisins.

I regularly make turkey chili, turkey spaghetti, lentil soup, and quinoa for Mr. Bee to eat for lunches during the week. They’re all fairly easy to make, the chili I can just put in the crock pot, and everything freezes well (though I’ve never tried freezing quinoa, I think it should freeze fine). The kids get bento boxes for lunch every day which always include a protein, vegetable, and fruit. I do end up cooking a couple of things especially for their bento boxes throughout the week.

I often make two different meals for dinner because the kids love soups + rice best, and Mr. Bee doesn’t eat rice and you can’t really eat Korean soups without rice. It’s definitely a work in progress and I’m always trying to figure out meals that everyone in the family enjoys. I make huge batches of soup and freeze them into individual portions, so it’s not so bad. Seaweed, chicken porridge, chicken soup, sullungtang (beef bone broth) and miso are the kids’ favorite soups.

Here is our actual meal plan from this week:

Monday: Kids – Seaweed soup with rice and kalchi (Korean fish); Mr. Bee – Salsa Chicken w/ quinoa (a recipe that I got from artbee!)
Tuesday: Kids –  Chicken porridge and peas; Mr. Bee – Ground beef w/ mushroom, onion, asparagus saute
Wednesday:  Kids + Mr. Bee – Salmon, sauteed mushrooms & broccoli, meatballs, beef + turnip soup (kids only)
Thursday: Kids + Mr. Bee – Galbi Jjim (Korean shortribs) w/ carrots, onions, and green onions over rice (though the kids will only eat the rice/broth/veggies and not the beef)
Friday: Kids + Mr. Bee – Tilapia, roasted carrots, roasted brussels sprouts, gluten-free pasta, miso soup
Saturday: something simple like soup we already have in the freezer, or sometimes we eat out at a local rotisserie chicken place
Sunday: eat out at a local Mexican or Japanese restaurant

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Now share your weekly meal plan in the comments!