Hello and welcome back to another edition of ‘I can’t believe we’re a month further into 2025 please God someone slow down time’!
Somehow over the last 6 months of meal planning I’ve managed to lower our grocery budget even further than I really thought was possible in this economy, mostly just through planning our meals monthly and just focusing on buying meat when it’s on special.
I’m not sure what meal planning magic this is, and a small part of me is scared to trust something that happened so dang easily, but it really is a testament to the power of meal planning monthly and having a good system in place.
(Is this an ok place to plug my Notion Meal Planning Template? Because I’m very proud of it and I attribute a lot of my success to how wonderful it is if I do say so myself…)
Anyway, without further ado, on to the meal plan!
As always, if you’re new here here’s the deal: I meal plan 1 lunch a week and we prep it on the weekends because I hate lunch and find it to be a total bore. I hate stopping to prep food during the week. You don’t have to do the same though. I also meal plan dinners with the intention to cook every second night, and then we have leftovers on alternate nights. This helps our neurodivergent butts have a break from cooking because frankly, it’s not something we enjoy a lot especially when we’re tired after a long day. It works well for us and I think it’s part of the reason our meal plans end up so cost efficient!
Lunches:
Chicken Veggie Soup & Dinner Rolls - no recipe for this one, I plan to just wing it. Seriously, throw some chicken breast and whatever veggies you have into a big pot of water, add some chicken stock and whatever seasonings sound good (garlic, various herbs, ginger and turmeric are faves especially in winter) and you too can have a wonderful soup! I usually shred the chicken once it’s cooked (usually half an hour at a simmer will do it) and you can also play around with adding small pasta or rice, or even quinoa if you’re feeling super healthy.
Leek & Potato Soup - I will be posting the recipe for this soon, it’s a fave of mine!
Eat through the freezer week - we’ve got some leftovers piling up
Dinners:
Chicken Kiev & Veg side dish
Okonomiyaki - this may be a little ambitious but it’s a vegetable pancake type thing I had at a cafe once and I need to use up the cabbage in my freezer so… wish me luck!
MN Tatertot Hotdish - this is a dish I was introduced to by a Minnesotan family and it’s a great throw together meal. I’ll be subbing one of the cans of cream of mushroom soup (something I need to use up) with a cream of chicken because… I hate mushrooms.
Tuna Tomato Spaghetti with Fresh Basil & Lemon - this is on the menu because I got a crap tonne of tomatoes in our Funky Food produce box (kindly gifted - use code STEPH20 if you’d like to get 20% off a box, I posted a review on my socials and really enjoyed it). The recipe calls for cherry tomatoes but in case you hadn’t realised, I’m a ‘make it work for you’ type person.
Chicken Peanut Noodles - My own recipe, I will try to film/post it for you!
Ravioli - a great ‘throw it together in 2 seconds’ meal
Roast Chicken & Veggies
Healthy Mac n Cheese Bake - a great way to use up zucchini
Crumbed chicken and cranberry salad
Sausages & Veg Side Dish
Instant Pot Paprika Chicken - I will also try to film/post this one, it’s one of the only ways I can stand eating chicken thighs 😂 Easy and delicious!
We also have some frozen pizza type stuff tucked away for the night we inevitably just cannot persuade ourselves to cook, and I think we may be out for a night or two as well.
Ok, everyone take a big sigh of relief that the meal plan is done for another month! Happy eating ❤️