What’s this, you ask? Well, after much procrastination, I dove (dived?) in last night and planned meals for the remainder of the week and started on next week as well. I picked up the cute little binder this morning and I love it!

A mama on MDC posted her template for weekly meal planning and I sat down with it last night. The main column is the days of the week with lines for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner; the smaller column is topped by a shopping list and has a spot for notes on the bottom. Simple and practical with no frills. I went through and made form fields for all the input spots (because I’m anal like that and because I’ll probably be doing most of my planning on the computer) and also put one beside each day header so that I can indicate if I’m working a day shift, night shift (and thus no need for a sit-down supper), or if I’m off. I printed off this week’s plan as well as any recipes that I might need and everything is neatly secure inside. When next week’s plan becomes current, I’ll move this week’s behind one of the dividers and put the new week in its place at the front. I’m thinking I’ll also print off a second copy of the plan each week so I can put it on the fridge door and see it every time I walk past because I’m afraid otherwise that I’ll forget that I need to prepare this or that (eg: soak beans) and won’t have certain things ready when I need them. (What do you think, Rachael?)

This week’s plan looks like this:

Monday - off
:: didn’t fill in since I started after supper last night

Tuesday - off
Breakfast :: peanut butter oatmeal pancakes, berry syrup, fresh orange juice
Lunch :: apple and cheese quesidillas, canned fruit
Supper :: leftover Moroccan chicken, lemon/garlic asparagus, brown rice

Wednesday - off
Breakfast :: apple-cinnamon waffles, applesauce-berry syrup
Lunch :: chicken roll-ups with pesto, smoothie
Supper :: sweet potato burritos, corn, yogurt, canned fruit

Thursday - days
Breakfast :: oatmeal
Lunch :: nuts & dried apricots, smoothie with protein powder
Supper :: chicken pasta salad with peas, peppers, tomato, asparagus, dill

Friday - days
Breakfast :: leftover waffles
Lunch :: leftovers - rice with sauce from Moroccan chicken
Supper :: apple puffed pancake

Saturday - nights
Breakfast :: egg burrito with pepper, tomato, cheese
Lunch :: toasted english muffin with tuna, pineapple, tomato, mozzarella
Supper :: leftover pasta salad, fruit

Sunday - nights
Breakfast :: [sleeping in from nights; no breakfast]
Lunch :: pasta with sauce
Supper :: turkey chili