Yeah, you read that right. A MONTH. I have always been in awe of people who can plan out their entire meals for the span of a month (or beyond). If you’ve followed me for any amount of time, you probably know that I avoid routines and hate putting myself into any box when it comes to any strict plan, especially when it comes to what I eat. I love variety and freedom in my food far too much to restrict myself so much. BUT I was wildly intrigued when a friend on IG shared a formula she uses for planning meals for the month. It seemed way less restrictive to me and was actually pretty appealing. SO, I decided to give it a go.
She set a daily “themed meal” each week which helped narrow down what to cook. It kept the same day of the week, the same theme every single week. The idea of this actually appealed to me. One less thing I had to think about, but at the same time the more broad categories allowed for freedom in choosing various recipes from my repertoire for each week. Basically each week, she designated say Mondays for casseroles, Wednesdays for sandwiches or salads, etc. So each day of the week has its own category of meals and you keep that consistent for the whole month and any subsequent months.
Side note: this apparently also works really well for smaller children who love routine, they know if it’s Monday it is a casserole, etc. And they can also be helpful in choosing meals that they would like that fit within the parameters!
MONTHLY MEAL PLAN SCHEDULE
Anyway, here’s the general schedule I ended up using for the month:
Sundays – big, hearty meals
Mondays – casseroles
Tuesdays – Tacos
Wednesdays – sandwiches or salads
Thursdays – free day
Fridays – brinner (breakfast for dinner OR pizza)
Saturdays – free day
THE PLAN IN PRACTICE
I left two free days, just in case I was feeling particularly stifled by the month of meals already planned out. In theory though, I didn’t feel very stifled by the month – it was one less thing I had to think about and often on my free days I found myself reaching for the same type of recipe/ingredient anyway. Thursdays have been designated (at least in my book) pork chop or pork rib day!
I will say, we had a couple big events, like Levi’s birthday where I deviated from the plan. We also went out of town a couple weekends, so the plan deviated a little bit there too. All in all, I plan on trying it again for the month of October. It was so nice to have a plan and be one step ahead of the game with groceries and pulling out meats from the freezer. I also found that if I wasn’t feeling like what I had planned, I would simply swap with something else for the week and it wasn’t a big deal. It was nice to have so many options already laid out, so I always had something to fall back on.
When I shared about this on Instagram, a lot of you suggested and requested that I do a blog post with what I had planned for the month and share links to the recipes. I have planned out four weeks of recipes that follow the general schedule, I’ll share below. Some of the recipes are ones I actually made within the guidelines of the schedule and some are mainstay recipes that I love (to fill in the days I didn’t plan – when we were out of town, etc.).
A MONTH OF MEALS WITH LINKS
Week One
Week Two
Week Three
Week Four
A couple notes regarding the recipes. Feel free to change some recipes around – add or omit ingredients. I’ll share a couple examples. The chicken burrito bowls are pretty forgiving – I like to add extra veggies and quinoa instead of rice. I also eat my french dip sandwiches over veggies instead of in a bun just to cut back on some carbs. Feel free to add veggies wherever you can! A great idea is a simple frozen microwavable steamed veggie mix or a simple green salad on the side to any recipe and you’ve got a complete meal any day of the week!
PRINTABLE WITH RECIPES & BLANK
I have included a printable below, both with the above menu and a blank meal plan, just in case you want to build your own month of meals using the guidelines.
Definitely an idea worth trying…..I also look at my schedule weekly and try to cook a bigger meal when I can so there are leftovers for the nights that I am not home.