I have been consistently meal planning for many years. With 5 kids, it is a necessary process! I sit down on Sundays and plan out what meals I will prepare for the week (Monday – Sunday) and then I make a grocery order for Superstore. Grocery pick up has literally changed my life. I’m sure I don’t have to illustrate for you how complicated it is to take 5 children to the grocery store. Even with that aside, the amount of time it takes to shop and bag is burdensome. Pulling up to the store, calling them with my parking stall number and waiting in my warm vehicle, without having to unload any children, is absolutely priceless. Anyway I digress, this isn’t a Superstore review lol. Bottom line: meal planning coupled with grocery pick up saves me LOADS of time – and money.
When I do up my meal plan, I usually try to space out different proteins and if I am doing a bulk meal (soup, chilli, casserole) I will save a day for leftovers. I don’t always do the meals on the same days as I write them, but I do try to stick to what I have planned. That way I don’t have to do any last minute grocery runs for ingredients. I budget $200-250/week for groceries and that leaves me a little extra each week in case I run out of milk, bread, etc. (I really really need a second fridge. This is a daily conversation in our house!) Our total grocery budget is $1200-1300 for the month. It’s definitely an interesting challenge to keep it under that, but meal planning helps so much. I also find with online grocery orders I spend less on impulse items and I love seeing what the total will be before I check out. If I add everything to my cart and see that the total is too high for the week, I can tweak things to stay in budget. Unlike Costco, where I break into a cold sweat at the cash register lol.
So without further ado, here is what I am cooking this week!
Monday: Zuppa Toscana Soup + Buns
I found this recipe on Pinterest a few months ago and my first attempt was a fail because I tweaked it for use with my instant pot and forgot to wait to add the milk/cream AFTER pressure cooking, so the dairy all separated and the texture was gross lol. So my notes are, if you want to use your instant pot for this: Add milk/cream/parmesan AFTER pressure cooking for 10-15 minutes, depending on how big your potatoes chunks are. I fried the sausage, onions, garlic, spices and then added spinach and sautéed for a couple minutes until soft. Then I added enough chicken broth until the ingredients were just submerged and cooked for 15 mins on high pressure (I used mini potatoes and cut them in half, ain’t nobody got time for thin slicing potatoes on a mandolin). I didn’t really bother with the flour either, I just added whole milk (no cream) until it looked nice and creamy. I’m not great at following recipes haha. But the overall flavour was SO GOOD.
Tuesday: Burgers + fries
I don’t have a recipe for the burgers, I just buy premade patties. But I do make my own fries from russet potatoes (they have the best texture for this in my opinion). I also have some sweet potatoes in the pantry so I might throw some of those in as well. Most oven baked french fry recipes seem to have too many steps for my patience level (soaking them in cold water, drying them with paper towel, etc etc). I will give you a basic breakdown of how I prepare them if you are looking for a way to make simple, crispy fries in the oven.
Preheat oven to 425F. Cut russet/sweet potatoes into strips about 1/2″ thick. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper, garlic powder and parsley (feel free to play around with whatever spices/blends you prefer) and toss to coat. Spread out in a single layer on the tray. You may need to do two trays if you are preparing a large quantity, because you don’t want them overlapping each other. Bake for 10-15 mins and then toss to flip and bake 10-15 mins more, until golden brown but not burnt. The sweet potatoes have a tendency to burn faster because of their sugar content, just FYI! I have a convection oven, which helps them to get extra crispy with this method. The parchment paper is the secret to not having soggy potatoes stuck to the pan/foil. Anyway I’m not a professional, but these are popular in our house 🙂
Wednesday: Korean beef bowls + veggies
A friend sent this recipe to me when I did an Instagram poll asking for dinner ideas last year. It is easy and so yum! I again tweaked it and use Gochujang red chili paste instead of crushed red pepper flakes. Then I just steam broccoli or stir fry bok choy/carrots/onions or whatever I have on hand. And of course I make the rice in my instant pot. The best part about this recipe is that it takes 20 minutes total to make and serve. Also, using ground beef makes it very budget friendly!
Thursday: Pesto Pasta
If you watched my Instagram Costco haul on stories, then you heard me rave about their Pesto. I buy it every time without fail and the kids absolutely love it. I do an easy lunch of penne noodles/pesto/parmesan quite often and it’s a hit with everyone. For dinner I will usually add cherry tomatoes, diced peppers and green onion. Or not, we’ll see how fancy I feel lol. I love an easy weeknight meal. There’s no recipe for this meal either, I just cook penne noodles, then cut cherry toms in half, dice peppers, chop green onions. When the noodles are done, I drain them and add the veggies UNCOOKED. Then I add about 2-3 tablespoons of pesto and mix. The heat from the noodles softens the veggies without making them soggy. I add parmesan to each plate once the pasta is served. Easy peasy 🙂 And this counts as my vegetarian meal for the week. I try to do one veg only meal to save $$$.
Friday: Crispy sheet pan chicken
This was another recipe that I gleaned from an Instagram poll last year. It cooks all together in the oven and is so quick to prepare. I usually use baby potatoes, red onion, carrot, sweet potato, and green beans if I have any on hand. The chicken is SO crispy. I use the Stubbs chicken rub (I buy mine at Superstore, but Amazon also carries it – LINK HERE) and don’t bother peeling the skin to put the rub underneath, but it is extra tasty that way. I’m just lazy lol.
CRISPY SHEET PAN CHICKEN RECIPE
Saturday: Date Nite
On Saturday we have date night, without fail, every week. This is the one consistent thing we do as a couple to connect, reset and (for me) not cook. Haha. But seriously, Clint enforces this and has been making it a part of our routine for 10+ years. It’s not always fancy, sometimes we just get McDs and chat in the parking lot. But every week it is so nice to have uninterrupted US time. Obviously it has been more complicated over the last year with the pandemic, but thankfully my parents are a part of our ‘core household’ (they do pick up/drop off for school and activities, which is also such a huge help for me) and don’t mind watching the kids for a couple hours on Saturdays. Pre-pandemic we also had a lovely friend who would watch the kids for us, whom we have known since living on the Island last time. And if it doesn’t work to go out for whatever reason, we put the kids to bed early for quiet reading time, get take out and make a point of talking and spending time together. Living in a town with restaurant selection has been so great lol. Duncan does have that going for it! We spent many years prior to this having only A&W or questionable Chinese food as dine out options. We have a separate budget for eating out, so this doesn’t get filed under groceries.
For the kids I usually do frozen pizza, mac n cheese or leftovers. I don’t want to make dinner and then go out for dinner. And it’s easier clean up. Again, I try to keep my work to a minimum on Saturday nights.
Sunday: Coconut Chicken Curry + Naan
I don’t follow much of a recipe for this, surprise surprise, but did dig one up from my Pinterest board that is pretty close to what I do. I use red curry paste instead of powder tho. Or I buy a jar of PC Green or Yellow curry and use that + a can of coconut milk, which helps to bring the spice level down. I also don’t add the chopped veggies until the very end, because I really detest soggy veg. But to each his/her own! This is a great meal to prepare ahead of time in the instant pot, using the sautée setting, and then the keep warm setting with the lid on. When the kids have an activity around dinner time I try to do something like this so I’m not scrambling to make dinner between drop off/pick up. And I always keep naan on hand in the freezer so I’m not running to the store for it. It keeps really well and tastes super fresh once I heat it in the oven for a few minutes at 400F.
And that’s a wrap for the week! I hope you found some inspiration! I really struggle sometimes with what I should make, but having a good list of tried and true recipes helps me to throw a list together fairly quickly.
This Happy Messy Life 
Thanks friend! You know I need these right now! Added the ingredients to my weekly order 👌🏼
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