It isn't Monday, but I'm still sharing my meal plan with you! Hopefully you get some new ideas to incorporate into your meals the coming weeks. I did something a little different this week and took the time to meal prep our dinners and breakfast. It took me about 4 hours to complete 7 meals and a mound of dishes. Yikes. BUT it is worth it because I won't be spending future hours in the kitchen cooking or cleaning. I don't know about you  but both of my kids tend to get cranky and need all the attention as soon as I decide to start dinner. Also, i am pretty worn out by the end of the day and usually get too lazy to cook.
We are also trying to avoid my husband eating out for lunch so this means he has  ready (home)made meals to take with him every morning without having to ask me "do we have any food i can take for lunch?" Win. Win. Win. All Around. I'm not going to lie, it isn't easy to take a big chunk of time like this but it is worth it. My biggest tip is to choose meals that can be cooked at the same time using different methods. For instance, I baked in the oven, cooked on the stovetop, and had a meal going in the crockpot. Really, it would even be smart to invest in a second crockpot or even a Pressure Cooker (that may be making its way to the top of my christmas wish list)  if I can keep this up. :)

This was my favorite simple lunch from the menu! BLT Chicken Salad stuffed Avocados. There's a recipe for it in the meal plan but I made it even more simple.  I took a package of pre-shredded & cooked chicken, 1 1/2 cups cottage cheese, half a package of real bacon bits, 2 roma tomatoes, and chopped up some romaine. I combined all the ingredients and served in an avocado with a side of fruit. SOOO good and keeps the kitchen cool on these hot summer afternoons.



 I also keep a couple other things on hand for quick meals like sandwiches on sprouted grain bread, or salad,  tuna, etc. Something to make these home cooked meals stretch a little further. I made 5 out of 7 breakfasts &  dinners in one day and will be making the rest tomorrow. I was missing two key ingredients...oops. That's what I get for not charging my phone before I go to the grocery store that has my list. Speaking of a grocery list.... I recently found a website called Big Oven that is a  FREE recipe and meal planning tool. I used it to store my recipes, designed my meal plan, and then made my grocery list. It text my grocery list to me along with links to the meals I planned on making just in case I needed to check ingredients. I really enjoyed using it! I do  use pinterest often  to help with meal planning but sometimes I get a little out of control with recipes pinning things that  in reality, I probably won't make. I'm trying to only put recipes in that database of meals that we actually eat so I can easily add them to my Meal Plan.  Like last time, I built a menu that you can follow. So, how many meals will i have for kendall and i? At least FORTY...possibly more Once I am finished. After I cook the meals, I store them in individual containers that can be recycled or reused that way, there's no pressure if Kendall forgets the containers at work. You can find a link to those containers HERE. I put them in the fridge but after about a week, I will store them in the freezer so then, we will have to thaw them out before eating. This is the third time I have done this and typically it has prevented me from having to cook for up to 3 weeks depending on events we have going on, traveling, etc. 

You can find my meal plan HERE

Here are some notes for you: