The answer to the question in the title is___everytime I make one. Especially when it concerns meal plans!
This is what I thought might happen for meals this week:
1. Greek skillet chicken, sautéed squash, tomato slices
2. Grilled steak, zucchini fries, tossed salad, dinner rolls or keto rolls
3. Meat loaf, mixed squash medley,cole slaw
4. Veggie dinner TBD based on the garden and produce stand
5. Grilled snapper/caulimash or real mashed potatoes, green beans, tossed salad
6. Chicken fajita salad
7. Takeout or eat out
This is what did happen:
Monday: There are days we decide we just want something relatively light for dinner. Monday was one of those days.
Chicken fajita salad
Tuesday: I had planned on pulling a meatloaf I had made a few weeks ago from the freezer. However, Monday I found ground pork at The Pig for 99 cents a pound (clearance). I bought it, brought it home, stuck it in the fridge and forgot about it. Oops, I had to do something with it as soon as I remembered it Tuesday. I browned it to freeze, but left enough out for our dinner.
Cajun seasoned ground pork medley with squash, zucchini, onions and tomatoes, coleslaw, toast
Wednesday: I messed around doing other things and did not even think about what I was going to make for dinner. I needed something really fast, fortunately I had been to the grocery store and had bought some chicken thighs. I love dinners that are ready start to finish in about 20 minutes!
Greek skillet chicken dish, green beans
Thursday: TheHub called and asked what we were having for dinner. My reply was "Whatever you want to buy"
Captain D's grilled whitefish, coleslaw, green beans or the 3 piece fish dinner
Friday: I was just not feeling it and decided I did not want to cook, but we had done takeout Thursday so I felt morally obligated to make something for dinner. Fortunately I keep my freezer overstocked with things we had smoked earlier in the year.
Pulled pork, brussels sprouts, cucumber slices, tomato slices hash browns (or not)
Saturday: Every year there are a few food festivals that we have always enjoyed supporting except for the hellish 2020 when life was cancelled. This year one of our local churches, St Elias Maronite Church, tweaked theirs to accommodate those like us, who look forward to it every year. They had a limited menu and it was takeout only, but the food was still delicious.
Lebanese chicken, green beans, spinach pies (TheHub) rice (or not)
Sunday: TheHub goes out for lunch every work day. Yes, every single day he gets to eat whatever sounds good to him without regard to whatever is leftover in the refrigerator. But I digress.
Occasionally he goes to a couple of restaurants where more than ample portions are served, and he brings the doggie bags home. So Sunday night was a gathering of the fragments type of night.
Odd assortment of leftovers
What might possibly happen this week:
1. Stuffed zucchini, tomato slices, green beans, rice or none
2. Philly cheeseeteak casserole, asparagus, coleslaw
3. Steak, grilled veggies, tossed salad, baked potato or none
4. Veggie dinner, pink eyed peas, squash casserole, keto fried green tomatoes
5. White bbq chicken, caulitato salad, sliced tomatoes, green beans
6. Some sort of sandwich, toasted cheese or BLT?
7. Takeout
As long as I don't waste food, I am pretty flexible about changing up the meal plan__ obviously!
Have a great week staying on plan, going off plan, or with no plan at all
My plans are flexible to the max. When and if they are spawned in the first place.
ReplyDeleteAnd a big yes to no food wastage.
That is really and truly my main criteria for a successful week. I hate tossing food because I overlooked it and it ruined!
DeleteSounds delicious!
ReplyDeleteAnd you cracked me up with the hub going out for lunch everyday. :)
My meals have changed this week. I had a huge roast thawing in fridge, but we had a major storm last night and power is out everywhere. It is 90 degrees outside but that roast is cooking in the dutch oven. Hopefully power will be back tomorrow for us
Yes, I am not bitter at all that while he is out eating whatever he wants I am eating a spoonful of green beans, an eighth cup of squash casserole and a chicken wing. Nothing is more satisfying than cold crap straight from the fridge is there?
DeleteAll sounds great to me! I haven't even done menu plans the last couple of weeks, just grabbing something from the freezer each day to thaw for the next and make it a meal using whatever I have on hand. Lots of grilling and main dish salads or sandwiches from leftovers. It's worked out well and the freezer should be just about empty by the end of the week. :)
ReplyDeleteI need to hit the freezer a bit harder just to reduce it for the coming onslaught of vegetables.
DeleteYour meals always sound delicious to me, planned or not.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Janie
Some are good and some are sustenance!
DeleteThat was a great price for the pork.
ReplyDeleteIt was. I did not need nor want it, but I couldn't pass it up.
DeleteI get inspiration from your list of meals. I've never had Philly cheesesteak, in any form, and so had to look the recipe. I'm sure my son would enjoy it so will tuck that away for a cooler time. I so dislike cooking when it's hot and we've had a few days of heat. The ground beef I have thawing will be made into taco meat for wraps and salads.
ReplyDeleteThe one I make is a keto version, so it is essentially ground chuck with peppers and onions, a smattering of cream cheese to make it a little creamy and a sprinkle of provolone . I make it on the stove top because it is too hot to use the oven much now.
DeleteI can't believe how ambitious you are with your meal planning! It must be like a restaurant at your house! :-)
ReplyDeleteTheHub likes something different each night. Ambition and follow through are two very different things!
DeleteA loose plan never hurts. Availability and avoiding food waste drives my menu. Like you, lunch is usually a hodgepodge of leftovers like the BBQ steak and roasted veggies in the fridge. I plan to make a quinoa salad today. Unfortunately, I burned some leftover kale/bean soup that was going to be this week's lunches. I don't know what bothered me more - the fact that I forgot to turn the stove off or the fact that I wasted food. A lasagna is on the menu for this week; I'll share it with a neighbor who is expecting her firstborn. I'll roast a chicken and that will create many possibilities, including a chicken noodle soup for lunches.
ReplyDeleteI probably would be angrier that I left the soup going (which I have done on occasion) and burned it, because that becomes inedible food waste, plus an unnecessary pot scrubbing.
DeleteI know (or used to know, when I was working, I guess) a lot of people who eat out for lunch every day. Doesn't your husband get sick of it? I know I would but then maybe men are different!
ReplyDeleteHe and at least one other co-worker eat lunch nearly everyday and basically have working lunch meetings. It is out of the office so they can discuss things privately without having an audience outside their offices wondering what they are talking about.
DeleteHe actually loves restaurants and would also eat out at least three times a week at night if I would go along with it.