Meal planning "skeletons"

[Mama_Rana]

I'm trying to get more detailed in my meal planning to include breakfast and lunch, and maybe snacks eventually. But I'm struggling with meal plan "skeletons" for breakfast and lunch. My dinner "skeleton" looks like this:

 

Monday: seafood

Tuesday: pasta

Wednesday: red meat

Thursday: bean dish

Friday: crockpot

Saturday: out

Sunday: leftovers?

 

It's very flexible but just gives me a starting point. I'm curious what other people do for breakfast and lunch planning?

[Plucky]

I don't plan breakfast or lunch here. For breakfast there are healthy cereals and oatmeal available. Lunch can be any number of sandwich combinations, leftovers, quesadillas, tostadas or burritos, soup, etc. It is up to them to decide and make it.

 

I don't make a skeleton list for dinner. I look at the calendar and plan easier meals on my busy days. I try to alternate chicken and beef dishes. Also, I move my meals around during the week at my convenience. Being too rigid would defeat the purpose of simplifying my life, which is why I make a menu. :)

[Mom2J112903]

I don't make a menu either for breakfast and lunch. Breakfast is whatever J wants, DH and I eat a bowl of cold cereal. Lunch, whatever J wants or left-overs.

 

Dinners, I do make a very detailed menu for 2 wks. This makes *my* life easier :)

[Hoggirl]

I do meal planning weekly based on the busyness of our days that particular week. I tend to think of my recipes more in terms of how they are prepared (crockpot, stovetop, oven, grilling, etc.) rather than by ingredients. I have only recently started planning lunches, so I don't have much advice to offer there. We typically have pizza on Fridays as that is usually movie night.

 

However, our breakfast routine is quite set:

 

Monday: Quick bread or muffins

Tuesday Waffles, sausage

Wednesday: Oatmeal, toast

Thursday: Pancakes, sausage

Friday: Bacon, eggs, and toast

 

This never varies, so I always know what I am having each day. I do change up the quick bread or muffin recipes. After baking I store in individual servings in ziploc bags.

[Daisy]

My kids get their own breakfasts and lunches. I usually just make a list of ideas based on what I have in the house and put it on the refrigerator. As they eat something on the list they cross it off.

 

So it might look like this for lunch.

 

Tunafish

Canned Salmon

PB&J

Tabouli with pita bread

Hummus with veggies

Sliced ham

 

That just gives them ideas and keeps them from eating the same thing every day.

 

We rarely eat hot lunches. It is just too hot! In the depths of winter, soup and left-overs will get added to the list.

[i.love.lucy]

I detest getting up and cooking breakfast, so mine are usually always the same. I make a double batch of steel cut oats in the crock pot on Sunday night and we eat on that all week. I make it plain so the flavor can be varied easily: berries and cream, brown sugar and syrup, apples and cinnamon, choc chips and vanilla almond milk (my fav). If you don't want that there is usually a box of shredded wheat in the pantry. I honestly believe that having this hot breakfast ready is so great for DH and I think it has contributed to his lower triglyceride numbers.

 

I just have general lunch stuff around. Tortillas and cheese, bread and sandwich fixin's, sometimes some soups or ramen. When it's just the kids and I we piece together whatever we have. But we always have fruit and I try to have a veg too, like carrot sticks, or cherry tomatoes. For DH I send leftovers or a frozen dinner (Healthy Choice or something like that to control his portions and calories). He eats out once per week.

 

Not sure this helps though because if it's important to you to have variety so no one is eating the same thing each day, then I can't help there.

[m0mmaBuck]

Breakfast is typically cereal (hot or cold). Sometimes I will make pancakes (they are quick) or eggs with toast or tortillas. No real plan though.

 

Lunch is either a wrap, soup, leftovers, mac and cheese, or ramen... And always has a protein and a veggie involved.

 

Dinner is more "planned." DH is a picky eater so we eat on a rotating menu that sees us through about 2 wks. When I go to the store, I generally buy the ingredients for the following:

Homemade pizza

Chicken wings with fries

Nachos/tacos

Spaghetti with meat sauce

Stuffed Shells

Chicken parmesan

Fried rice (with shrimp, chicken or pork)

Peanut pad thai (with chicken or shrimp)

Roast with root veggies

Enchiladas (love my crock pot for this)

Chow mein (with shrimp, chicken or pork)

Roast chicken with veggies and mashed potatoes

Beef and barley soup

Chicken and rice soup

Chicken noodle soup

 

Obviously the roast chicken carcass becomes part of the chicken soup, the roast becomes part of the beef soup, left over meat sauce adds to the chicken parm and stuffed shells, and so on.

 

It works for us.

[EJCMom]

I detest getting up and cooking breakfast, so mine are usually always the same. I make a double batch of steel cut oats in the crock pot on Sunday night and we eat on that all week. I make it plain so the flavor can be varied easily: berries and cream, brown sugar and syrup, apples and cinnamon, choc chips and vanilla almond milk (my fav). If you don't want that there is usually a box of shredded wheat in the pantry. I honestly believe that having this hot breakfast ready is so great for DH and I think it has contributed to his lower triglyceride numbers.

 

I just have general lunch stuff around. Tortillas and cheese, bread and sandwich fixin's, sometimes some soups or ramen. When it's just the kids and I we piece together whatever we have. But we always have fruit and I try to have a veg too, like carrot sticks, or cherry tomatoes. For DH I send leftovers or a frozen dinner (Healthy Choice or something like that to control his portions and calories). He eats out once per week.

 

Not sure this helps though because if it's important to you to have variety so no one is eating the same thing each day, then I can't help there.

 

I've wanted to try doing this with the steel cut oats, but have been hesitant because I'm afraid it will be yucky by the end of the week. How do you keep it from getting yucky?

[Jennifer in MI]

I make up our dinner menus. Then, lunches are leftovers. I usually buy some extra pasta in case there aren't enough leftovers one day. Breakfasts are always eggs, oatmeal and toast.

 

Snacks are fresh fruit, toast with pb and j, yogurt, etc.

 

So, my shopping list for breakfast, lunch and snacks is fixed. Then, I just have to add our dinner stuff.

[Carol in Cal.]

Breakfast: Dry cereal or toast and butter. Holidays--Belgian waffles (because we have a machine). I add a handful of chocolate chips to the batter--chocolate waffles!

 

Lunch: Cheese and crackers, peanut butter on whole wheat bread, or simple pasta (noodles with red sauce or pesto). Or a big green salad with cheese chunks.

[Mama_Rana]

I, for one, cannot stand to have the same thing for breakfast and/or lunch day in and day out. I've always given my son choices for breakfast and lunch; as in, "hey, what do you want for lunch today?" But the other day it took him 1.5 hours to decide and eat enough to get his tummy full. Not a big deal on a weekend, but that was an hour of schooling that we missed. I want to simplify, and one way is to just prepare a breakfast, and say, "Here it is". Same for lunch.

 

And DS doesn't typically like leftovers. :(

 

So I was just curious if anyone had some ideas for that. So, for those of you that DO plan a family breakfast and lunch [even if it's not a hot meal], do you have a scaffold that you work within?

[Dobela]

Breakfast here is always something simple - the choice is left overs, scrambled eggs with toast, or cold cereal (none of mine like hot cereals). Sometimes in the winter my ds will request canned soup and I can usually accommodate that. Lunch runs about the same - leftovers or sandwiches with fruit. I always keep tuna and peanut butter on hand. Sometimes depending on our schedule I will make chicken nuggets, or canned soups with grilled cheese, or fish sticks since the kids like them but not dh. How much time we have is the determining factor in what is served and whether the kids have a choice. If I don't have much time it will be sandwiches every day. If I know in advance we will be particularly busy that week, I will add lunchmeat like ham and turkey to my grocery list so we have more sandwich options.

[Impish]

I don't 'do' breakfast. Wolf usually has the Littles fed before I get up (they take after him, getting up before 6 am. Freaks. :lol:) Diva is more than old enough to get herself toast or cereal.

 

Lunch Diva usually makes. She complains when I do it. She's very proud of herself, being able to plan and make a balanced lunch for herself and the Littles. She can out cook her uncle and several other adults we know, which makes her laugh and eager to add more to her skill set.

 

Supper...that is completely dependent on how I'm feeling. Too often its not planned out as it ought to be (or used to be). Or it is planned, and I'm completely not up to it.

 

I miss the days when I shopped w/a meal plan in mind for a week or two, and followed with few substitutions (never fails there would be a day that I didn't feel like what was planned and swapped out). Made life a lot easier.

[DarlaS]

I plan breakfast and lunch. Sort of...

 

On Mondays and Wednesdays we have some kind of eggs, sausage & toast

Tuesdays & Thursdays oatmeal, cereal or pancakes

Fridays during the school year ON co-op days we have scrambled eggs, sausage & toast. On non co-op days and weekends I usually make omelets, pancakes, oatmeal--whatever.

 

The purpose of my planning is to make a grocery list so on those actual days, we may deviate from the plan depending on mood, what's left in the fridge etc.

 

Lunch is almost always a sandwich or I sometimes make a quick soup (or open a can :tongue_smilie:). Some of my kids eat leftovers in their natural state, and some need those leftovers to be cooked into something else (Chicken noodle soup or fajitas from leftover chicken for instance).

[i.love.lucy]

I've wanted to try doing this with the steel cut oats, but have been hesitant because I'm afraid it will be yucky by the end of the week. How do you keep it from getting yucky?

Well, it does get more firm when refrigerated. Is that what you mean by yucky? But when you m.wave it with a pat of butter and a dash of milk and stir it creams right up again. Then I dash in a little more milk and top with that day's toppings.

 

It's worth a try. I started with a single batch (1 c steel cut oats + 4 c water) but it only lasted a couple of days. When I saw that my slow cooker could hold it I tried to double it and it worked out just fine.

 

It's best that first morning when dh comes downstairs and just has to scoop out hot oatmeal, but he's fine with heating it up now.

[mysticamethyst]

I don't really cook breakfast and lunch is more of a supervise. I am always on the look out for new menus. My dinner menu for the week is in my blog which is in siggy, Happy Labor Day everyone.:001_smile:

[Heather in OK]

Monday: seafood

Tuesday: pasta

Wednesday: red meat

Thursday: bean dish

Friday: crockpot

Saturday: out

Sunday: leftovers?

I don't get that detailed with my meal planning. I simply take into consideration what we have going on that week and plan accordingly. If it's a night we don't have anywhere to go, I can plan a meal that takes more prep. If I have a meeting or if the kids have something going on, I do a quick dinner or use the crock-pot.

 

Usually each week we have dishes with pasta, chicken, and ground turkey. The only set night that has a theme (I guess you could call it..lol) is Friday. That's our Fun Food night. It's always Taco Salad, burritos, quesadillas, or homemade pizzas.

 

It's similar for breakfast. On Monday I do something simple that doesn't require much prep. Then I just go from there. We have things like:

Toast, eggs, bacon

Homemade breakfast sandwiches (english muffin, bacon, scrambled eggs)

Homemade granola bars

Homemade waffles & eggs

Homemade banana & mini-chocolate chip muffins

Breakfast burritos

Oatmeal

French toast & eggs

 

It's VERY important that we have a protein source with breakfast (it helps stableize blood sugar levels). If we have something that doesn't include it (i.e. muffins, granola bars) I make a protein smoothie. It has powder (Jay Robb brand), organic yogurt or keifer, banana, frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries, a handful of spinach, water, and ice.

 

I allow the kids to each pick a box of sugary cereal every so often. That is allowed on Saturday only. They may have one bowl of it and if they are still hungry they can prepare something else on their own. That way I can sleep in. ;)

 

I do not plan for lunches, I just have stuff available for them to decide what they want.

[Daisy]

I, for one, cannot stand to have the same thing for breakfast and/or lunch day in and day out. I've always given my son choices for breakfast and lunch; as in, "hey, what do you want for lunch today?" But the other day it took him 1.5 hours to decide and eat enough to get his tummy full. Not a big deal on a weekend, but that was an hour of schooling that we missed. I want to simplify, and one way is to just prepare a breakfast, and say, "Here it is". Same for lunch.

 

And DS doesn't typically like leftovers. :(

 

So I was just curious if anyone had some ideas for that. So, for those of you that DO plan a family breakfast and lunch [even if it's not a hot meal], do you have a scaffold that you work within?

 

Wow, I can totally understand. I'd want to simplify also. Sorry, I can't help you more, but here's a bump.

[missmoe]

Breakfast scaffold

 

Big hot breakfast (eggs, bacon or sausage, biscuits, ect)

Yogurt, granola, fruit

Breakfast tacos (or enchildas or burrittos)

Cold cereal

Cook's choice---usually pancakes, crepes, sometimes muffins, or whatever I want to try out

 

I cook a big breakfast because my husband and oldest son burn alot of calories each day and need to eat a bit more than most people. Also, my oldest son often isn't home again until much later in the day and he takes breakfast leftovers with him.

 

Lunch is a bit more free form. If we plan it, I ask my kids to pick out what they want over the weekend, and then when I shop I make sure to have the ingredients.

[angela in ohio]

We have set breakfasts. The kiddos and I have set lunches. I pack leftovers or something for dh. I have a weekly schedule for breakfast and lunch on the fridge. It helps me to plan ahead to have/ make enough food, and it makes lunchtime easy when dc just have to look at the list to know what to make (one of the girls makes it.)

 

Breakfast is a either oatmeal and yogurt, eggs and muffins, or cereal and milk (weekends,) plus fruit (which fruit depends on the season, but often a banana.) Lunch is soup or turkey breast sandwich/pita or abj, with one raw veggie and a fruit. I keep a list on a whiteboard on the fridge with what fruits and veggies we have, so dc know what to look for.

 

I have a bar and a banana or berries for breakfast and either a tuna sandwich or ham and cheese pita with a raw veggie and an apple for lunch. I like to have the same thing over and over. :001_smile:

 

Dinner is also on a rotating schedule: Week A and Week B. The dinners depend on the season, I have a summer (more grilling and salads) and a winter (more soup and crockpot) schedule.