The Weekly Spread: A Dietitian's Mealplan

This weekend I went through my pantry and discovered that I have a lot of canned tomatoes. So, my menu this week focuses on using up some canned tomatoes. It's still going to be chilly outside, so I'm focusing on more soup recipes.

The best way to save money on food is to avoid wasting it. Before you plan a menu, look in your fridge and pantry and find ways to use up the things you already have!

Monday: Homemade tomato soup + cheese sandwiches + green smoothie

This is the recipe image from feastingathome.com, I'm positive mine will not be this pretty!

Tuesday: White chicken chili + cornbread + orange slices (my 11 year old was supposed to make this last week, but we ended up making lentil tacos instead)

Wednesday: Moroccan Lentil Soup (new recipe I'm trying!) + naan bread + canned peaches

Thursday: Instapot chicken meal (my friend started a business selling pre-made meals that you freeze and then pop into your instapot, so I am trying that out. I don't love using the instapot - I like a more hands on approach to cooking - so we will see how I like this!)

Friday: Homemade pizza topped with arugula from the garden and prosciutto (a kind of ham that I bought on clearance and stuck in the freezer months ago). I like to use the frozen whole wheat crust from WINCO. This is a pizza I made last summer:

Saturday: Chili + cornbread + green salad + apple slices

Sunday: Green salad topped with elk steak (my hubby is in charge of this meal)

The Weekly Spread: A Dietitian's Meal Plan

It's supposed to be cold this week and maybe snow! So I planned a menu full of warm comforting soups. I'm savoring these cold weather comfort foods while I can!

I also want to put in a good word here about leftovers: If you can't eat them right away, stick them in the freezer. This week we are eating leftovers on Monday, leftover frozen soup on Wednesday, and leftover frozen lasagna on Saturday. Before I went to the store this week, I took an inventory of what was in my freezer and planned some leftovers into the week. I encourage you to do the same!

Monday: Leftover Pozole + rice salad from Sunday's dinner (my husband was an ambitious cook yesterday) + green salad + strawberries

image source: https://honest-food.net/authentic-pozole-rojo-recipe/#recipe

Tuesday: White Chicken Chili + cornbread + apple slices (my 11 year old is cooking)

image source: https://www.cookingclassy.com/white-chicken-chili/

Wednesday: Potato leek soup + breadsticks + orange slices (my 9 year old is cooking, I froze extra soup a few weeks ago, so she just has to make the breadsticks)

image source: https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/potato-leek-soup/

Thursday: Pumpkin Curry + naan bread + berry smoothie

image source: https://minimalistbaker.com/1-pot-pumpkin-yellow-curry/

Friday: Red lentil curry + naan bread + orange slices

image source: https://www.afghanyummyfood.com/dhal-recipe/

Saturday: Visiting family out of town, I'm bringing lasagna from March's cooking class (which I froze) and some salad greens

Sunday: Easter dinner with family out of town. I'm guessing we will have ham, potatoes, rolls, green salad and fruit salad. We will all get in the kitchen and help grandpa cook while grandma tells us all what to do and how to do it, which we love.

Have a great week!

The Weekly Spread: A Dietitian's Meal Plan

Spring break starts this week and we are headed on a family trip. Usually I pack all our food to save money, but we are going on a plane and that's just not going to work. So I'll be eating out and spending way more money than I want to on food these next 2 weeks.

Before I go, I'm going to make meals that will clean out my refrigerator. Here's what I'm going to scrounge up before I leave:

Monday: Lentil Tacos + avocado + mango smoothies This is the cooking class recipe for April. I hope your family loves it as much as we do! Here is the signup form for cooking class.

Tuesday: Tortellini Soup + bread that's been in the freezer + 2 grapefruits and the apple that are left in the fridge.

image from recipe website

Have a great couple of weeks. I'll be back to menu writing the week of April 11th.