It is heartening – well, maybe not heartening so much as making me feel like I’m not the only one who finds meal planning to be excruciating lately – to read that other bloggers are having the same Meal Planning Dread that I am. The ENDLESSNESS of it all is really getting to me right now. Even throwing up my hands and saying, “let’s get take out!” more often than usual is having less of a bolstering effect than it should; because I am well aware that this is just one meal I don’t have to plan/make and tomorrow there will be another one, waiting for me, and then a limitless parade of meals after that until the sweet release of death.
At this point, even the idea of slotting in a bunch of Meals I Love isn’t helping. And when not even spaghetti with meat sauce can cure a problem, you know it’s serious.
Anyway, here are some joyless options for the coming week.
Dinners for the Week of March 13-March 19, 2019
- Roasted Balsamic Pork Chops and Veggies with Quinoa: http://www.skinnytaste.com/balsamic-chicken-with-roasted/
Note: Yes, I am aware this recipe is for chicken. Yes, I am using pork chops instead. Yes, I am still avoiding chicken. Yes, my husband recently said in a cheery voice normally reserved for our five-year-old, “I think it’s time you started eating chicken again!” Yes, I treated him to a little lecture about not policing other people’s food preferences. No, I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing with the quinoa; maybe I’ll mix the veggies into it. Although plain, unembellished quinoa seems like a fitting metaphor for how I’m feeling about meal planning lately.
- Baked Tilapia with Steamed Broccoli: http://www.cooksmarts.com/articles/fish-tilapia-baked-en-papillote-easy-recipes/
Note: Not one thing about this meal is remotely exciting. I mean, it tastes good. And it’s really easy. But I am Not Feeling It In The Least.
- Coconut Rice Salmon Bowl: https://themodernproper.com/posts/coconut-rice-salmon-bowl
Note: This is good, but not a meal really designed for calorie counters, just FYI. I plugged it into MyFitnessPal and — even HALVING the recipe — it comes out to something like 700 calories a serving. That’s using light, unsweetened coconut milk! And not including the avocado! Why must so many delicious — and arguably HEALTHY — foods be so antithetical to weight loss? WHY? Ahem. I am making it anyway. In the past, I have recommended to myself to cut the fish sauce in half for the marinade and only use 1/3 of the suggested amount for the dressing. But that’s because I don’t like fish sauce and even being in the same city block as an open bottle of fish sauce is enough to make my nose wrinkle.
- Thai Basil Chicken: https://www.gimmesomeoven.com/20-minute-thai-basil-chicken/
Note: I make a double serving of this, and round it out with TONS of veggies. Bell peppers, broccoli, onions, zucchini — the ratio of veg-to-meat is at least 4-to-1.
- Firecracker Salmon with Roasted Green Beans and Couscous: https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/firecracker-salmon/#wprm-recipe-container-13839
Note: This is, as per the “firecracker” designation, spicy. So any accompaniments must be nice and bland, to offset all the spice.
- Taco Pizza
Note: I spread a lightly-baked pizza crust with refried beans, then top with taco meat and cheese, then bake until the cheese is melty. Then I top with onions, lettuce, and tons of hot sauce; my husband adds tomatoes and sour cream to his half, and omits the onions.
- Out
What are you eating lately, Internet?
I love your meal planning posts. It IS a slog to plan meals! We have one child at home and manage to have something requiring us to be out of the home 4-5 nights a week during my preferred dinner time of 6:30pm. I’ve been making 2 meals on Sundays to reheat during the week when we are rushed. Yesterday, we were home, and I cooked a pork roast in the slow cooker and served it shredded over a loaded baked potato for me and my husband (and alongside baked beans and green beans for our kid who hates potatoes). It was delicious! As a bonus, there is more left for meals later in the week!
I am totally stealing that taco pizza idea. It’s seems like it’d be great!
“…here are some joyless options for the coming week:” You honestly made me laugh out loud. I’m sorry. You know I feel the same way. It’s neverending. My saving grace this week was that I was on a biz trip Sat/Sun, so the husband/kids did my planning for me (though I’m not thrilled with what they chose, I didn’t have to do it, praise Jesus).
I am right there with you. I told my husband on Sunday that I was so sick of thinking about food, I couldn’t be bothered to plan. We don’t have children so it’s a little less stressful and we are having a week of “fend for yourself.” Last night I had 2 glasses of wine and a half a box of triscuits. I couldn’t bear the act of reheating leftovers.
This Saturday my kids are at a birthday party, and when I was in Costco this week I found one of those salad kits, but one I’d never seen before. It’s like a fiesta salad with salsa and black beans and corn and chipotle seitan, so I bought a couple of bags for my husband and I. It’s like a special dinner, with very little effort on my part. I might make some sweet potato fries with chipotle mayo to go with, and my husband will probably have some spicy chicken. I’m unreasonably excited about it. I’m sure my kids would actually really like it, but I’m kind of thrilled with our “date” meal. I guess we could have gone out, too, but the die is cast and salad bought.
“…here are some joyless options for the coming week.” This statement and whole post reminds me how very lucky I am in that I’m not in charge of meals around here. Of course, the fact that I couldn’t (or can’t be bothered to learn how to) make a decent meal needs to be factored in. At any rate, I recognize how soul-sucking it must be to the one who needs to “figure out” dinner every night, so you have my sympathy.
Awww, this makes me sad! I love cooking and food so much, but you’re right, coming up with meals Every. Single. Day. can really get to ya. I’ve mentioned my method in the past but I’ll say it again, because it might make meal planning less of a chore. It does take one day with an hour or so of organizing to get it initially set up, but it’s SO worth it!
I have a spreadsheet set up, and I use it to plan out one week’s worth of meals at a time. I take into account the weather (hot days = lighter meals or the grill, cold days = comfort food), and how much time I have to prepare dinner. It’s flexible, of course — I swap things out if I need to, for whatever reason. But seeing it planned out lets me plan my grocery list, and I can make sure we aren’t eating ground beef or CHICKEN (hehe) three days in a row, that kind of thing.
The columns, left to right, are: Days of the week with the menu item, and then I have columns with dinner ideas (only things I look forward to) listed under them: Pasta, Chicken, Beef, Pork, Grill, Soup, and Other (vegetarian, etc.) My husband is allergic to fish so we never eat that.
So once I went through my cookbooks and populated the columns with the names of our favorite recipes, it makes it so much faster to just look at them, copy and paste the recipe/meal name into the associated day of the week. If I test a new recipe and we like it, it gets added to the list.
Sorry for the BOOK here, and I know it’s a very fussy method, but it takes me maybe 10 minutes to plan out a whole week of meals now and I always look forward to them! (This week we had/are having pepper steak, pasta e olio with leftover porchetta tossed in, tacos in pasta shells (Allrecipes), pizza tonight for the 21st anniversary of our first date :D, chili, spicy chicken over rice (Pioneer Woman) and pasta with vodka sauce)
I must say, Wendy – I was out at ‘spreadsheet’- but it does sound like a very organized way to do meals. You go girl!
I am still struggling to catch up on using the food I bought when I forgot about 2 meatless meals the week of Ash Wednesday. I made tacos tonight – well, I cooked the meat and told the kids they were all on their own. It was after 8 when I got around to it because Mini had a distant badminton game and I had errands to run. There was some leftover Costco rotisserie chicken in the fridge that they devoured when I wasn’t home, so I said anyone still hungry could have a taco. Lots of taco takers. Of course. I swear my 13 year old is going to grow a foot in the next month – all he does is eat right now. Coach took me out on Monday night, when he is normally working so that was a treat. Tuesday we had honey mustard chicken because I could prepare it in advance and Coach’s former office manager/almost-family-member was coming for dinner. Wednesday we had chili from last week. Still awesome. Tomorrow will be more pasta with no meat. I cannot wait for warmer grilling weather, because Coach grills. I do not grill. Get it?!
I dread meal planning, too, so I said sure when my youngest asked if they could plan meals for Monday to Thursday during their birthday week (the birthday is Saturday and we’re going out Friday AND Saturday). We are basically eating potatoes, cheese, and broccoli in different combinations all week. Every meal has at least one of those elements and one has all three (we’re having cheese fries with broccoli for dinner on Wednesday).