Weekly Meal Planning

Anyone who knows me knows that I just LOVE to plan things!! To me planning will make things run as smoothly as possible and you pretty much always know what is coming down the pipe line. Although sometimes the plans don't always work out due to unexpected hic-ups I still try and plan as much as possible. Around Thursday and Friday of every week I start menu planning for the upcoming week for both Jonathan and I as well as T and E.

I am a BIG fan of pinterest! Sometimes I take the recipes and follow them to a "T" and sometimes I don't, usually when I don't I omit the sugar and use less salt... or just leave out an ingredient that I'm not to fond of (although I have been trying new things recently) Most meals I make do come from pinterest these days but some I see at a restaurant and make my own version with out a recipe. I also try and make recipes with similar ingredients each week so if one calls for half an onion I will try and find another that calls for half an onion so I can use the whole onion and not waste half of it. You can follow me on pinterest if you want to... FOLLOW ME.

Something else we have been doing for a while now is trying to eat as clean as possible, all organic and natural foods (especially for T and E). This can be difficult as the grocery store doesn't carry a big variety of organic produce all the time :( so I will always buy organic for T and E (I make all of their food but that's for another post...) and as much organic for Jonathan and I as I can find.

I have a few staples that I make often but this is usually because I am in a time crunch between getting home, playing with my babies, making dinner and trying to eat and make it to a fitness class. Therefor I have to make meals that I know will not take 2 hours to make. I always try to ensure that i make at least 2 or more new meals a week to keep things new but sometimes that just doesn't fit into the weekly plan.

Every dinner meal I make will provide enough food for dinner that night and then lunch for Jonathan and I the next day so there is no need to spend additional money at the grocery store for lunch items.

The menu (if you are interested) for this week is:

• Chipolte Chicken Legs with garlic risotto
• Grilled Chicken Thighs with green beans
• Grilled Cheese with Tomato Soup (This is a Tuesday staple because I work until 5p on Tuesdays and don't get home until about 6 so to fit in family time this is what we have pretty much every Tuesday)
• Chicken meatloaf with garlic potatoes
• Asian Edamame Fried Rice (this is new this week)
• Homemade pizza night, sausage pizza!

My menus typically start on Sundays and Go through Saturday leaving one day empty as we usually get chicken wings one night. We try our hardest not to eat out to much during the week because well having twins is expensive! And why spend the money at the grocery store and not eat the food you buy??

Those are just some of my tips on meal planning for the week, hope they help!