our four month meal plan

Inspired by a recent blog post on Passionate Homemaking, I set out today to plan our meals (well, dinners) for the rest of spring and all of summer. I made a plan for one month's worth of meals which we will repeat each month until fall.

Here is our menu:

Mondays - Breakfast

1. Pancakes or Griddle Cakes

2. Scrambled eggs

3. French toast

4. Egg bake (or other egg-based meal)

Tuesdays

1. Stir fry

2. Tacos or enchiladas

3. Homemade pizza (with this dough)

4. Gyros

Wednesdays

1. Soup

2. Pork chops in the crock pot

3. Egg salad (recipe to follow)

4. BBQ sandwiches

Thursdays - Italian

1. Skillet gnocchi with white beans and chard

2. Spaghetti

3. Chicken fettuccini alfredo

4. Stromboli

Fridays

1. Baked potato bar (such as Black Bean and Corn-Topped Potatoes)

2. Salmon with spinach/orzo feta salad*

3. Cod with leeks and tomatoes*

4. Fish tacos

Saturdays - Grill

1. Tri-tip

2. Marinated chicken breasts

3. Turkey burgers*

4. Pork chops on the grill

Sundays

1. Chicken salad (recipe to follow)

2. Hot dogs/brats

3. Chicken salad

4. Sandwiches

Meals with a * come from one of the very few cookbooks that I own, Great Food Fast.

Now the hard part will be sticking to the plan! I'd like to keep an eye on sale prices these next couple of weeks and stock up on the ingredients that are freezable (like meat and cheese) or shelf stable (like beans, diced tomatoes, and pasta). We already have a bulk supply of some staples that we get at Costco (like flour and rice).

I'd also like to take this one step further and prepare (or partially prepare) many of the meals and freeze them. That way I won't have to make (for example) stromboli four times, but rather get it all done once and then just bake them individually when the time comes.

The meals I'd like to prep ahead of time are:

• Enchiladas
• Taco meat
• Gyro meat
• Pork chops (freeze in the sauce)
• Chicken breasts (freeze in the marinade)
• Spaghetti sauce
• Turkey burgers

I've been blessed to have my dear friend Megan staying with us for several weeks and she has been a huge encouragement to me in the kitchen. We've enjoyed planning meals and grocery shopping together and love bouncing ideas off each other on a daily basis.

In the next week or two I will post recipes for chicken salad and egg salad. They are all very simple but very delicious!

Happy cooking!