What We Ate- 1 Week of Dinner Ideas -

After talking with friends recently, I was asked about what we ate for dinners over the last week. After talking more, I’ve found people fall into two categories when it comes to cooking dinner. Those who make a list, grocery shop and meal plan…and those who wing it. When I say “wing it”, I mean do their grocery shopping by grabbing a few random ingredients and figure out something to do with them when it comes time to make dinner. I’m the first kind of person. I wasn’t always though. I’m not really sure when it changed, but I have found it’s much easier for our family to meal plan. And now I’ve been doing it for years!

Meal planning

I have found meal planning does a few things for us:

Saves Time– Meal planning keeps me from wasting time at the grocery store and when I get home from work since I already know what to start cooking. We also have the leftovers for lunch the next day so I don’t spend time packing a lunch in the morning. Its already done!
Less Stressful– My family and I always know what’s coming up for meals for the week so I don’t worry about the age old question “What’s for dinner?”. I found this magnetic menu planner for our fridge and keep our meals listed on there.
Saves Money– I stick to the grocery list and don’t end up buying things we don’t need. We also don’t have much food waste and food doesn’t go bad by sitting in our fridge too long. Less food waste= money saved! We also don’t eat out as much. On weekends, we might go out to eat one night, but otherwise, all out breakfasts, lunches and dinners are homemade which saves us a lot. We could easily spend $75-$100 going out to eat one night. My grocery bill is usually between $120-$150. And that feeds us for the whole week!
Less Food Waste– I always make enough food for at least 4 people even though it’s just me, my husband and our toddler. I pack our leftovers for lunch the next day so its rare we have anything sitting in the fridge for long. It’s rare we have food spoil.
Healthier– I think most everyone would agree that cooking at home is much healthier than eating out. I control how much oil, butter, salt, etc. When lunch is packed and ready to go, I’m less likely to go out for lunch, which again, is a healthier, cheaper way to go!

Some seem quite impressed that I make a different meal every night. I’m here to say, it’s not that hard! And I want to make it easier for you! I thought it would be helpful to post my meal plan, what we ate and a grocery list for the week so all you have to do is open up this post while you’re at the grocery store, shop the grocery list and you’re done!

FAQs

Where do I get my recipes?

I get recipes from several different places but I would say I find the majority of them from either Pinterest or an app called Mealime.

Mealime comes out with new recipes every month and tend to take 30-45 minutes to make. I do pay for the pro version which is $2.99/ month and I think is worth it. I have cancelled the pro version on occasion then come back to it after a few months because all the past Pro recipes can be seen once you subscribe again . (This is not sponsored by Mealime.)

How many days a week do I cook?

I usually plan on 5-6 meals a week depending on what plan we have for the week. If we have a party or other types of plans for the weekend, for example, I may only plan for the weekday.

Do we follow a specific diet?

Short answer…no. When searching for recipes, I look for Whole 30 or Paleo recipes. We generally try and make veggies be the bulk of the meal and have a protein with each meal. I don’t like beef so I tend to gravitate toward chicken or fish recipes. We try to mix it up a little between chicken breast, ground turkey or salmon. I will sometimes make both ground beef and ground turkey or steak and chicken so my husband can have beef on occasion. Our go to seafood is salmon but will sometime have shrimp or other fish. We like to go lighter on the carbs at dinner time but will have rice, quinoa, lentil pasta, sweet potatoes or other carbohydrate.

How do you grocery shop?

I order all my groceries online and pick them up. Usually Sunday night is when I order my groceries pick them up on my way home from work on Mondays. I have my King Soopers grocery shopping app on my phone and add to it quickly throughout the week when I see there is something we’re out of. Usually that would be things like spices that I use up while cooking or other snacks we want in the house. On Sunday, I find the recipes we want for the week and add the ingredients to my shopping cart, click order, and it’s ready when I leave work.

Pantry Staples

I assume I have all the spices, oils, seasonings and other pantry staples unless I have added it to my list earlier in the week. I am leaving things off the grocery list such as salt, pepper, olive oil, etc. and assume they are staples for you too.

Here is a list of pantry staples I have on hand: (if you don’t have them, some things will be used in recipes is I suggest having them on hand)

olive oil
salt
pepper
sugar
flour
brown sugar
(i’ll add to this list as things come up)

THE MENU- What we ate this past week

What we ate: Monday 4/18

What we ate: Spinach artichoke chicken skillet

Spinach Artichoke Chicken Skillet– The Healthy Consultant

Modifications I made: I had some asparagus that we didn’t use up from the week before since we ended up at a friends house one night instead of cooking at home. I just cut it into bite size pieces and added to to the veggies in the pan. I also only used half the onion and the other half later in the week.

What we ate: Tuesday 4/19

What we ate: Grilled salmon with mango salsa

Grilled Salmon with Mango Salsa– Cooking Classy

Modifications I made: If we’re having rice, I will usually make 1 cup dry basmati or jasmine rice and add in a bag of frozen cauliflower rice that I cook in the microwave while the rice is cooking. For tonight, I made double the amount of rice since we are planning on having it tomorrow night as well and I won’t have to cook more. I also skipped the coconut water.

What we ate: Wednesday 4/20

What we ate: Whole 30 Indian butter chicken

Whole 30 Indian Butter Chicken– 40 Aprons

Modifications I made: I made this in the slow cooker by putting all the ingredients in my Crock Pot the night before and put it in the fridge. My husband (who works from home) or Mom (who watches our daughter at out house) started the Crock Pot so it cooked on low for 6-8 hours. I also added a side of veggies. I used this baby broccoli which steams in the bag in the microwave for 3 minutes. So easy!

What we ate: Thursday 4/21

What we ate: Ground pork, brussels sprouts, mushrooms, and poached egg

Ground Pork, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms and a poached egg and spicy mayo- Mealime App

Modifications I made: We swapped the ground pork for ground turkey to make it a little lower in fat. You could also use ground beef if you want. I suppose I added the fat right back in (haha) and added a spicy mayo. I just mixed a little paleo mayo with some Sriracha.