Another Whole Month Family Meal Plan
Another edition of what I fed my family in a month.
I wrote a whole post for you last month about my latest meal planning approach, and how I write out all our meals on a printout of our shared family calendar. It works so well for me to just keep this printed calendar page in my planner, and jot notes on there about what I plan to cook, what I have in my freezer. Even if I cook a meal I didn’t plan ahead of time, I still write in on my calendar page so I have that idea to refer to at another time when I’m figure out my meal plan. Sometimes on the back I make lists of new ideas, or things I haven’t made in a while, or any requests from the family.
Here is another month of what I cooked for my family.
As usual, it’s not pretty, but it works very well for me.
A few details to point out:
Casseroles, soups, stews are one of my favorite ways to get a balanced meal in my kids, as well as a favorite way to use up little bits of stuff in the fridge. I swear you can throw a random combination of carb, protein, veggies, sauce, and cheese all in a pot or casserole dish and simmer or bake it and everyone is going to love it.
We eat a lot of chicken. Partially because I love chicken, but largely because it’s one of the least expensive proteins these days and feeding two adults plus four teenagers gets expensive fast.
Here’s the menu of what we ate in a month.
I actually included the first two days of this month in last month’s list. I won’t repeat those here so technically we’re starting on the 3rd but it makes for a tidier list.
Taco casserole: I was shocked at the rave reviews this one got from the family. I make this sort of thing all the time usually with leftover chicken, but for this one I browned some ground beef and then combined that with homemade black beans, rice, and salsa. I guess they really liked it with beef.
Enchilada chicken taco bar again. I told you last month this is one of our often repeated favorites. It’s so easy and everyone loves it. I always make a lot extra because it’s great for leftovers, I
leftover night.
Teriyaki chicken and tofu. This dinner is also going on my list of easy meals for a first timer on their own to cook. It’s one of the easiest meals I make and one of my family’s favorites. Literally take chicken pieces and pour a bottle of teriyaki sauce over them to marinade for a while, and then cook. This is my favorite teriyaki sauce if you want to just open a bottle, or I have a recipe I came up with that makes one with very similar flavor if you prefer homemade. Teriyaki sauce is shockingly easy to make actually. To cook, I like to spread the chicken out on a sheet pan to roast at high heat (like 400 convection for 20-30 minutes). I do the same for tofu - slices of extra firm tofu with teriyaki sauce poured over the top. The tofu obviously doesn’t need to “cook”, but it’s nice to get it a bit browned and let that teriyaki sauce caramelize a bit. We have this dinner with rice, and sometimes I might also roast some broccoli or make a salad.
frozen pizza
Roasted salmon: I explained last month how I cook salmon. With this one I made a lemon pasta that we love - using my no drain pasta method and when the pasta is almost finished I stir in a couple tablespoons of butter, let that melt, then a splash of cream, lemon zest, a couple tablespoons of lemon juice, and parmesan cheese.
Enchiladas: this time was two kinds, one was chicken similar to last month, and the other was black beans and cheese. And yeah we can have that argument again about whether these are enchiladas or wet burritos, because the black bean ones probably were more like a burrito, but whatever.
Fried gyoza, and some leftovers: You can get good frozen potstickers at most stores these days, but Trader Joe’s are our favorite. The ones from Costco are pretty good too. For this dinner the potstickers was the only part I cooked, and we had those with leftover salmon and rice from earlier in the week.
Ground chicken tacos. We have recently discovered ground chicken for tacos. I’ve used ground chicken for other things over the years but only the last couple months tried it as a taco meat. Seasoned simply with a little garlic salt, it’s actually a delicious and easy taco filling that’s a nice change from some of our usual.
Leftover night
Teriyaki meatball yakisoba: I made this up last year and it became an instant favorite. I’ll also add this to my list of easy weeknight dinners for my older teen. Maybe not the healthiest, but so good. Frozen meatballs, frozen broccoli, packaged fresh soba (or other noodles you like), all tossed in a pot with teriyaki sauce and simmered until hot. It’s really quick and easy and it’s one you can make with stuff from your freezer.
Homemade pizza
Chicken biryani: Biryani is a sort of curry spiced Indian rice dish that’s usually made with lamb or beef, but it’s great with chicken too. I very loosely followed this recipe, in as much as I ever “follow” a recipe.
Sheet pan chicken sausages and asparagus: We love the chicken & apple sausages you can get at Costco. I pair these with some simple roast veggies and pasta.
Black bean soup: A three ingredient soup that never fails: black beans (homemade or canned), chicken broth, jarred salsa. You could argue that a jar of salsa isn’t technically a single ingredient, but whatever. This makes for an amazingly flavorful and fast and EASY dinner. You can add some meat to this if you want, or dress it up with a bit of cumin, garlic, and onion, if you want, but it’s great without. I serve it with sour cream and shredded cheese and tortilla chips. A diced avocado on top is really nice if you have it, or some fresh cilantro. This is a great one to use up bits of leftovers from the fridge, cut up leftover meat, or chop up some of those bits of veggies.
Arroz con pollo: (Mexican chicken and rice) I basically made a simple restaurant style Mexican rice, and tossed some seasoned chicken pieces on top to cook, but you can probably find more authentic recipes on the google if you like.
Leftover night
Faux Pho: It’s kinda like pho, but far from authentic. Rice noodles, cooked according to the package. Chicken broth that I’ve doctored up with a bit of fish sauce, lime juice, oyster sauce. Cooked chicken or other protein. We have this set up as a build your own noodle bowl bar with the noodles, broth, protein, veggies and herbs (sprouts, mint, basil, cilantro), lime wedges, and a variety of sauces (oyster, soy, fish, hot sauce), and maybe some greens.
Frozen pizza
Schawarma: I usually marinade my own but this time I had been to Trader Joes so I bought their marinaded schawarma chicken and cooked that. I did make a homemade hummus to go with, which was delicious. And a cucumber yogurt mint sauce. We had this with flatbreads, lettuce, tomato, cucumbers.
Pulled pork sandwiches: I cooked a big pork butt low and slow. I like to buy the two pack of pork butt/shoulder at Costco. I seasoned this one with salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, and dry mustard and then cooked it at 300 for about 6 hours. I kept the seasoning fairly simple because I wanted to use the pork for multiple meals. I made some homemade whole wheat rolls and a simple coleslaw to have with this, and we had some barbecue sauce and I made a simple pasta.
Another taco casserole, this time with chicken again.
Shredded pork tacos: with the leftover pulled pork and all the usual taco fixings.
Leftover night
Pasta with polish sausage and spinach. I used leftover pasta for this that already had some butter and cream on it, browned some diced polish sausage and onions and mixed it with mushroom soup, and added a bag of frozen spinach.
Homemade pizza
Meatball parmesan ziti: cooked pasta mixed with Raos marina sauce, frozen meatballs, frozen spinach, and parmesan cheese. Baked until hot and bubbly. An easy thrown together meal, but I did actually bake a fresh loaf of bread to go with it.
Teriyaki chicken and tofu again. I try not to repeat a meal within a month very often, but occasionally it happens and this one is such a favorite that nobody complains.
Tuscan tomato & turkey meatball soup: I tried something new and it turned out delicious! I wanted to use up some ground turkey, and soup sounded good, so I googled “soup recipes with ground turkey” and came up with this recipe which I loosely followed. A bunch of my herbs in my garden beds had survived the winter and were thriving, so I made a bunch of turkey meatballs with loads of fresh chopped herbs, and used the last of the buns from the pulled pork night for breadcrumbs. I made a massive pot of this soup (because of course I ignore recipe quantities) which left us with a lot leftover, so it’s a good thing that everyone loved it.
There you go! Another whole month of family meal ideas. I hope this helps you figure out what to feed your busy family.
