Meal Planning: The Normal Week

For the first time since I made meal planning a regular feature, we have a “normal” week.  With the semi-chaos that has been the summer holidays it is almost quite nice to have the structure and routine back.  We are going to be busy though.  My husband and I both work part time, my eldest has nursery, both kids have swimming lessons and then we do forest school together.  There’s lots to coordinate and plan for when it comes to meal and shopping.  But it has been good to do a normal meal plan.

 

A review of last week

Last week went well!  It feels as though I’ve not cooked in days because we spent the weekend at my parents’ house being well looked after.  In reality, I cooked yesterday but I enjoyed the couple of days break beforehand so I really didn’t mind cooking when I had to do it again.  The rest of the week was fairly straightforward too and we stuck to the schedule.  Sign of some excellent planning!

 

Related posts:

Meal Planning: Top Tips

Meal Planning: Hello September

 

The week ahead

This is the week of the normal meal plan!  Our week goes like this:  Monday and Tuesday I go to work, Wednesday to Saturday my husband works and Sunday we are all off together.  Wednesday is also forest school in the morning for me and both kids, followed by my eldest’s swimming lesson in the afternoon.  Thursday she goes off to nursery for the day and we have my youngest’s swimming lesson that morning.  Friday my eldest is off to nursery for just the morning and we spend the afternoon doing something fun.  Saturday I take the kids to Parkrun and push them in double buggy for 5km.  Then in the afternoon, my mother in law might come and play with the kids whilst I do the housework.  Like I said, it is busy!

 

On top of all this, it is my birthday tomorrow (Tuesday) so we are having a treat meal: steak and chips!  I love steak and chips so I’m quite excited for this.  There’s also the inclusion of roast pork on Saturday which despite being expensive is my favourite so I’ve permitted this as a birthday treat too.  Whoops!

 

This week’s meals

 

Breakfast

We are so boring when it comes to breakfast really.  We all have our favourites and we default to those most days.  My 1 year old enjoys the most variety because she usually gets to try a bit of everyone’s.  On my work days, I tend to take my breakfast to work with me and enjoy it a bit later or after exercise.  My breakfast of choice is yoghurt and oats with cinnamon.  I usually chuck some blueberries on top too.

 

Lunch

Bagels

Ham and Cheese Pinwheels

Leftover Pasta Bake

Tuna sandwiches

Jacket Potatoes with beans and cheese

Cheese sandwiches

Leftover roast pork sandwiches

 

Dinner

Steak and chips

Pasta bake

Chilli and nachos

Hunter’s chicken and chips

Satay chicken and brown rice

Roast pork and new potatoes

Spaghetti bolognese

 

This week’s spend

Oh it’s a big one!  I blame my birthday.  Although compared to a couple of months ago this is about £20+ less than a “big shop” would’ve been and is still less than my £80 a week budgeted amount.  Again I did half at Tesco and half at Aldi.  I’m realising that the amount I am now shopping at Tesco is falling below the minimum spend amount so I am considering switching to a fortnightly Tesco shop.  I only shop there still because they have a good range of gluten and lactose free products which Aldi is shockingly lacking.

 

Plans for next week

Very few plans next week.  However my parents will be up that weekend so I’ll have to think of a big meal to cook for everyone.  Is it too much to cross my fingers and toes and hope for one last BBQ this year?

 

Do you change your meals depending on whether you have work that day?  Do you go for easy or fancy foods if you’ve had a hard day?

This post is part of the Meal Planning Linky produced by Katykicker.

 

Disclaimer:  Remember the information you read here does not represent advice.  Any ideas or suggestions are just that and may not work for you.  Read the full disclaimer here.