This is the first of many meal plans to help you plan your weeks with simple, nutritious and family friendly meals including dinner, lunches, breakfasts and snacks.
Any time someone finds out that I’m a dietitian, one of the first questions they ask is can you provide a meal plan. And my response has always been no because you won’t be able to consistently follow the plan I make for you and it won’t last. I also get asked a lot about what kinds of food I serve at home and whether I am picky when it comes to my kids eating snacks at friends’ houses (like play dates and parties). I do not stress out about what they eat at parties and play dates because I want them to have exposure to all kinds of food and not feel like they are restricted from one food or another since I believe EVERY FOOD CAN FIT.
Now that’s not to say that I was thrilled when my first grader was served pop as a special treat at school for achieving a goal, but that’s another story.
So with that said, this lead me to decide to write out my own personal family meal plans focusing on dinners to help my readers get a sense of what I serve my family on a weekly basis. And as you’ll see the meals are NOT 100% healthy since that’s not realistic either (everyone needs pizza night, right?!?). But overall I believe I feed my family an overall healthy diet. So my hope is that these meal plans help inspire you to make more healthy meals for your family while not stressing out too much in the process!
Monday (30 minutes)
Tuesday (45 minutes)
- Baked Chicken Thighs with garlic powder, black pepper and salt, topped with barbecue sauce; bake for 45 minutes
- Large Spinach Salad (enough for the week): bell peppers, cucumbers, dried cranberries, feta cheese, sunflower seeds
- Dan and I ate the salad, kids had bell peppers, carrots, cherry tomatoes with hummus
Wednesday (15 minutes w/frozen meatballs)
- Meatball Sandwiches (can use these homemade Turkey meatballs or frozen) on whole wheat hot dog buns, top meatballs in buns with pasta sauce and mozzarella cheese, roast briefly in oven until cheese is melted
- Raw vegetables/hummus, leftover roasted broccoli
Thursday (15 minutes)
- Grilled Turkey Sausage and Kielbasa with whole wheat hot dog buns
- Grilled Asparagus
Friday (5 minutes reheat)
- Leftovers
Saturday (15 minutes fruit/vegetable prep)
- Barbecue at friend’s house: menu included beef burgers, hot dogs, large salad, potato chips
- I brought sliced watermelon and a large tray of raw veggies & pretzels with hummus as the dip
Sunday (15 minutes)
- Grilled chicken legs with barbecue sauce
- Grilled asparagus
- Spinach salad (made earlier in the week)/raw vegetables
Breakfast this week
- Homemade granola with Greek yogurt or skim milk: I double this batch and it lasts about a week
- Peanut Butter and Honey Oatmeal (yes my kids still love oatmeal in the summer)
- Cereal: Quaker Squares, Cheerios
- Homemade pancakes: I typically made 6 cups of batter, similar to Weelicious’s pancake mix, freeze half and keep half in the refrigerator for the week
Lunch this week
- Deli meat sandwiches: this week I bought turkey, ham and hard salami
- Grilled cheese: Colby Jack cheese with whole wheat tortillas
- Whole wheat crackers with cheese slices and turkey/ham
- Peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat bread
- All served with raw vegetables/hummus and fresh fruit
Snacks this week
- Fresh veggies (pre-cut bell peppers ahead of time), cherry tomatoes
- Fresh fruit: blueberries, strawberries, watermelon
- Homemade apple oat energy bites (still perfecting recipe for blog)
- Granola bars (typically BelVita)
I’d love to hear what you think about my meal plan! Any suggestions or comments are welcome!
This Healthy Weekly Meal Plan {Summer: Week One} post first appeared on Chocolate Slopes.
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