Running a business takes a lot more than learning email marketing and social media.  You are a mom, with a family and that family eats.  And, if you are like my little, big family, they eat a lot and often.  I know how it feels to be staring at the stove at the 4:30 witching hour and wondering what I’m going to feed this clan and I also know how to solve this problem. The solution is weekly meal prep! So let’s get rid of a little mom guilt, shall we, and have dinners planned and ready for the week.

How to plan meals for the week:

1. Take a look at your calendar and note any events or special needs for the week (i.e. soccer practice that needs a crockpot meal or a date night or special occasion)
2. Look at your current ingredients that you already have on hand.  Are there any leftovers, cooked meat or other food that you could use to make a different meal?  What vegetables, fruit, dairy products do you already have that need to be used this week?
3.  Plan your meals.  What meals can you make with the ingredients you already have?  I usually plan for a chicken meal, a beef meal and a crockpot meal.
4. Make a list of ingredients you are missing to make your meals and staples that need to be bought like milk, bread, peanut butter, etc…
5. Go shopping.
6. Prepare as much of the meals as you can on one day so that your meals are easier to prepare on the day you will eat them.

On Friday mornings, I take a look at my calendar to see what I have coming up that I will need to make special plans for like meetings, birthdays, date nights, etc… Then, I choose 4-5 dinner meals for the week.  I buy the ingredients for those during my weekly grocery trip.  The rest of the dinners for the week, I fill in with leftovers, pre-made freezer meals, quesadillas, or grilled cheese.  These meals are the ones that you always have on hand and that take little to no prep. Then I go shopping on Friday for them.

If there are things that I can do on Sunday to prepare the dinner for the week, I will do that.  I mostly focus on cooking or preparing the meat, cooking vegetables and making a dessert that will last most of the week (I do double cookie recipes to make it last and put them in the freezer).  Making the dessert on Sunday has become a family tradition that everyone loves.

Photo Credit: A Bountiful Kitchen

Easy Southwest Tortilla Rollups from A Bountiful Kitchen

I’ve tried a lot of different recipes from Si of A Bountiful Kitchen and have never been disappointed.  I like this recipe because it allows for a lot of leeway in my ingredients.  It does call for peppers, corn, onion and black beans for these rollups, but I can adjust the filling with what my kids will eat and what is in my fridge.

Sunday Meal Prep:

You can assemble this meal ahead of time and put it in the fridge for up to two days or you can cook the chicken and chop your vegetables and have them ready to assemble on the day of.  This is also a great meal that you can have your kids help you cook.

Photo Credit: Gimmie Some Oven

Potato Soup from Gimme Some Oven

This recipe is a pretty basic potato soup recipe and it has bacon which is always the right choice.

Sunday meal prep:

Cook your potatoes and bacon.  Don’t forget to save some of the bacon greases for the soup.  If you have any mashed potato leftovers, you can use them in your soup instead of the cubed potatoes.  I do this all the time.

Photo Credit: Eat Well 101

Crock Pot Tuscan Garlic Chicken from Eat Well 101

I always like to have a crockpot meal in my weekly arsenal.  We are in full soccer mode right now so that means soccer at least 3 days a week and that also means that I need to have some crockpot meals on the ready.

Sunday meal prep:

None!  Just make sure you have all of your ingredients ready to go.

Photo Credit: Recipes by Carina

Breakfast Crepes for Dinner

We have dinner ready in minutes! You can make it into a savory crepe with vegetables, cheese, meats, etc. or go for sweet with lemon, berries, Nutella, etc. which also makes a great dessert, win-win. Speaking of dessert…

 

Dessert

I like to have cookies on hand in the freezer so that my kids can put them in their lunch for school.

My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes are from A Bountiful Kitchen and are her Tried and True Chocolate Chip Cookies.

It is also my birthday week, so there will be cake and lots of it!

I made this Funfettie Birthday Cake recipe from Cake by Courtey.

 

Okay, friends!  I want to know.  Was this helpful?  Are you going to be doing meal prep with me on Sundays?  If so, check out my Stories on Instagram to be a part of it.

 

Michelle