Earlier this year, I started using Plan to Eat to help me streamline meal planning and prep. (I talk a little about getting started in the very first post on this blog.) It's really helped me avoid food waste and reduce the time I spent on meal planning. But what exactly are we eating? Here's an example of a real fall vegan meal plan that I made and we ate in mid-September.
Note: if viewing on mobile, you'll see the list of breakfasts, then lunches, then dinners.
S 9/12 | M 9/13 | T 9/14 | W 9/15 | T 9/16 | F 9/17 | S 9/18 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Microwave Oats | Microwave Oats | Microwave Oats | Microwave Oats | Microwave Oats | ||
Burgers, potatoes, broccoli | K - burrito L - cowboy stew | K - burrito L - cowboy stew | K - burrito L - cowboy stew | K - burrito L - cowboy stew | K - burrito L - salad w/hummus & pita | Belgian waffles w/Beyond sausage & fruit |
Skillet stuffed shells | Jyoti Delhi Saag w/tofu & rice | out at Famburger |
While I've never seen someone else's meal plan that I want to follow exactly, seeing how other people do it often helps me plan better.
The meals I plan are based on staples I keep on hand. Your pantry will look different. The key is to figure out what your basic set of staples you normally have on hand and what set of meals can you make with those.
Breakfasts
We are perfectly happy eating the same thing for breakfast every day - oatmeal. It's fast, customizable to each person, healthy, and keeps us fueled up until lunchtime.
The base recipe I use is this one for Microwave Oats. For toppings, we add ground flax seed, blueberries and walnuts. We also sprinkle in cinnamon, turmeric, and black pepper.
But we've added a new breakfast to our rotation that we refer to as "special breakfast." This Sweet Potato, Apple & Oats recipe is a weekend favorite. It tastes decadent without being decadent.
Lunches
Since we're settling a little bit here in Durango, Kevin has been going to a co-working space every day. That way we're not on top of each other trying to work.
That means, Kevin isn't having lunch at home with me and needs something to carry with him. Finally, I get to meal prep!
About once a week or so I make up a big batch of burritos for Kevin. I refrigerate what he will need in the next few days and then freeze the rest (now that I have room.) Now I've got a little stockpile of burritos available for quick meals if needed.
I don't have any burrito recipes for you just yet. So far I've made Chipotle Sofritas copycat burritos, BBQ black bean and tofu burritos, and Spicy Black Bean, Rice and Veggie burritos. Oh, and some breakfast burritos made with leftovers. They've all gone over really well. I promise I'll work up some recipes soon.
Me, I'm easy. I mostly eat leftovers for lunch. And one day I had hummus, pita, and salad.
On the weekend, we had one lunch of burgers with baked potatoes and broccoli. This is a typical quick meal that we usually have for lunch or dinner at least once a week.
For the other weekend lunch, we tried out the new waffle maker. Did you know that you can make delicious, whole-grain, oil-free, vegan Belgian Waffles? You can and they're amazing!
Dinners
For dinner, I planned a big Cowboy Stew on the weekend and then ate the leftovers all week for lunch.
Monday, we had the Skillet Stuffed Shells I shared last newsletter. Now, to be honest, I didn't plan for us to eat the leftovers from this Tuesday night. But we were busy and all I had to do was heat it up. That's one of the things I like about Plan To Eat - it's easy to move things around when your plans change. With a drag and drop I sorted it all out.
Wednesday was another busy day. I like to keep a couple of cans of Jyoti Delhi Saag around for quick meals. Just add tofu and/or beans, heat it up, and serve it over rice. In this meal I used tofu and some leftover lentils. For an extra quick meal, keep a few of those microwave rice packets on hand.
Thursday we had a big, fat Asian-Style Cabbage Kale Salad with added tofu. We eat this all the time. It's filling, tasty, and full of brightly colored veggies.
Friday some friends were unexpectedly in town. We met them for dinner at a local restaurant. Again, I just moved what I had planned that evening to another time.
Saturday night, we had Red Curry Kimchi Bowls. This recipe is another one that we have all the time. The sauce remains the same but I vary the other ingredients based on what's in season or that I have on hand. I could write that sentence about every bowl I make.
And that's it! That's all of our meals for the week.
Did you find this helpful? Let me know in a comment! If people do like these posts I'll do them on a regular basis.