Weekly Meal Plan: Some Classic Hits and Some New Tastes

I am a meal planner (if you know me or have read any of my previous posts, you know this about me). I have always loved meal planning, even when my mouth was the only one to feed. Meal planning combines my love of food, creativity and organization into one uber-satisfying way (for me) to pass my time.

You might even call it my version of a “sport” (although my husband has been trying to convince me that tennis needs to be my sport for the better part of our marriage). And I am here to win – without the competition, of course.

Meal planning has become such a part of my weekly routine, and I enjoy it so much, that I sometimes forget that not everyone does it – let alone gets pleasure from this kind of preparation. In fact, over the years, I have realized that many of my friends have a particular disdain for meal time and cooking. They would frankly rather have a root canal than to plan for a week of meals.

So…I am going to try a new thing and share my weekly meal plans here. (Note: there are plenty of other much more successful and well-known bloggers and influencers that do this weekly as well, so it’s not a “new” thing in general. Just new for me.)

I have actually had this thought for a while, but have been stalled because I don’t have a pretty visual graphic where I can neatly organize all our meals with links to everything and that you can print. But, I’m all about embracing progress, not perfection these days, so we are going old school here, folks. Yup. I’m talking a bulleted list with recipe links and iPhone photo of my handwritten notes.

Here goes!

• Sunday: Slow Cooker Green Chile Pork Tenderloin tacos (adapted from Lillie Eats and Tells’ instant pot recipe in her Planned cookbook) with a packet of Mexican rice. Essentially, I put two frozen pork tenderloins in the crockpot with an onion, a 12 oz. jar of salsa verde and some cumin, chili powder and garlic powder and cooked it on low for 7-8 hours. When it was done, I shredded it and got out tortillas and whatever taco fixings we had and served it with the rice. (It was great for taco salad leftovers for lunch too!)
• Monday: The Best Baked Salmon, Skinnytaste’s Easy Lemon-Parsley Potato Foil Packets and air fried green beans. My family has been trying to do “meatless Mondays” for a while, so we often have fish. I always keep Costco frozen salmon on hand and this recipe has become a stand-by – super easy and flavorful. Always a hit! The potato recipe was new and everyone loved it too.
• Tuesday: Grilled chicken breasts (making extra for leftovers) served with with tzatziki sauce, microwave corn on the cob and grilled summer squash. I usually season the chicken with whatever seasoning I feel like from the spice cabinet (I keep a lot of multi-purpose seasonings on hand…Kinder’s has a lot of good options if you need some inspiration. I get them at my Costco frequently.)
• Wednesday: MYO (make your own) dinner night because I’ll be out meeting a friend for happy hour!
• Thursday: Skinnytaste Ground Turkey Taco Skillet With Cauliflower Rice served over a baked sweet potato. This has been a go-to meal of our family’s for years, filled with pantry staples and easy to adapt to your family’s liking (I swap the tomato sauce for salsa and usually add black or pinto beans to bulk it up a bit). It makes great taco salad leftovers too! Add whatever taco toppings you like: cheese, sour cream, green onions, crushed tortilla chips, avocado, etc.
• Friday: Usually, I don’t cook on Fridays and we eat out somewhere or get takeout after a long week has ended. But, this week we are having a family cookout! Steak and veggie kabobs, corn on the cob and a lettuce salad are on the menu. I will marinate the meat and veggies with Allegro Hickory Smoke marinade the night before (overnight marinating makes sure for super tender and flavorful meat). I am also going to make the lemon glazed cake recipe in Amy Hannon’s Love, Welcome Serve cookbook – I’ve never made it before, but everything I’ve made from her is delicious, so I’m looking forward to trying it.
• Saturday: We’re winging it! Let’s see where the wind takes us…

So there you have it. My first edition of “Weekly Meals by the Southern Midwesterner.” Try one, try none, try them all – and let me know what you think!

Meal planning doesn’t have to be hard…and I hope this post made it just a little bit easier for you.