(photo credit The Walt Disney Company)
Hey friends! Welcome to my second weekly meal plan post. Many of you have asked to see how I put the groceries purchased in my weekly Kroger trips to use. And your wish is my command! The Saving to Disney plan has had a tremendous impact on my budgeting and grocery shopping, so I’m thrilled to share how I use that resource to make meals for my special diet family.
This week meal planning was a struggle. No, that’s not true. It was a struuuuuuuuuggle. Last week we were on vacation, and hands down my favorite part was no cooking/planning/stressing. Sure, Seven Dwarves Mine Train is great, but it doesn’t touch the joy one feels sitting down at Columbia Harbour House and thinking “I did not have to prepare any of this.” It was a rude awakening after being home for two days when my husband looked me in the eyes and innocently asked, “So, what’s for dinner?”
As I mentioned in my grocery trip recap, it’s important to give yourself grace the first shop after a trip. Same goes for meal planning. Go easy on yourself, and stick with dishes in your wheelhouse. You can get back to expanding your dinner repertoire when you’re no longer holding on to that last wisp of memory of the shrimp and scallops at Be Our Guest.
For those who don’t know, my husband is a Type 1 Diabetic. This means he is completely insulin dependent and takes multiple shots a day in order for his body to process food. As a result, we consume a protein and vegetable heavy diet. With restrictions like this it can be hard to have a menu that meets requirements and tastes good. But I am committed to finding creative ways to keeping our diet from becoming boring. Even when all I want to be doing is gnawing on a Turkey Leg.
Meal Plan for 9/7-9/14
Thursday
- Dinner-Pork Chili (using 1.5 lb of the pork bought this trip, canned tomatoes, homemade broth)
*For my folks with special diets, chili is a meal that provides a lot of versatility. There are countless Whole30 or low carb chili recipes floating around the web. We tried a few before I felt courageous to make my own. I rotate meats based on what is available, but pork, turkey, and even chicken are great lower cost substitutes for ground beef.
Friday
- Breakfast– Scrambled eggs (previous trip) and yogurt (previous trip) with sliced mango
- Lunch– LO (leftover) Pork Chili
- Dinner– Grilled Cheese Croissants, Sliced Peaches and Plums
*We usually do a Costco trip once a month for household and paper goods. That comes out of our home budget. If we spot a good deal on food, we’ll grab that too and deduct from our grocery budget at the end of the month. This yogurt is a great example. A big tub lasts us a few weeks, and costs $3.50, which would only get us three individual portions at Kroger.
Saturday
- Breakfast-Homemade Oatmeal with blueberries
- Lunch– Pepperoni with Cheese (Gouda and Blue for adults, String cheese for littles) mangoes, and grapes
- Dinner- Turkey Spaghetti Bolognese
*I used the turkey patties I got on sale for the Bolognese sauce. It ended up costing me $1 less than a normal pound of ground turkey. Don’t write off proteins that come in particular cuts or portions. You can find a way to make it work for your menu and save some $.
Sunday
- Breakfast– Cereal, Sliced Plums
- Lunch-LO Turkey Bolognese
- Dinner-Steak Tacos (served with shredded cheese and tomatoes from this trip)
*Tacos are another adaptable meal for families with diet variations. My girls and I will eat ours with flour tortillas, this time bought at Costco for $3. My husband might do his tacos open faced, so he has less carbs. Or if we have lettuce, like this week, he will use lettuce leaves as his taco “shell.”
Monday
- Breakfast– Fried Eggs with blueberries and grapes (gifted from a friend)
- Lunch- LO Steak Tacos
- Dinner-Salad with Chipotle Chicken (2.4 lb of the chicken purchased this trip)
Tuesday
- Breakfast- Cereal with baked apples (apples gifted from a friend)
- Lunch- LO Salad with Chipotle Chicken
- Dinner- Pork Enchiladas (1.5 lb of the pork bought on this trip)
*Baked apples are an easy and delicious breakfast option. You can make them the night before and they heat up beautifully, but they also don’t take a long time if you make them in the morning.
Wednesday
- Breakfast- Shakes (mango, peach, yogurt) and Scrambled eggs with cheese and tomato
- Lunch- LO Pork Enchiladas
- Dinner-Bacon Apple Chicken with potatoes (Remaining chicken from this trip, apples from a friend, bacon from freezer, potatoes previous trip)
Thursday
- Breakfast-Shakes (any remaining fruit and yogurt), cereal (whatever is left) and eggs (whatever is left)
- Lunch- LO Bacon Apple Chicken with potatoes
- Dinner- Dealer’s Choice
*Thursday breakfasts are always a bit of a hodge podge. Since my shopping day is Thursday, we start to see supplies running low. I usually access the situation Wednesday night, and if it’s looking really dire I’ll make a loaf of bread to tide us over. I’ll also leave Thursday night dinner open, as I might find some deals that have a soonish expiration date and can cook them that night.
I mentioned it briefly in this meal plan, but we recently started to seriously utilize our freezer. A few months back we got a great deal on bacon. We bought a bunch and portioned it into freezer bags that we pull as needed. Having backup options in your freezer will help when you’re low on good ideas (like I was), or when protein prices are on a higher cycle.
How long does it take you to get back in the meal planning grove after vacation? Any great go-to recipes I should know about? Share ‘em in the comments!
Kristen B. is wife to the best Prince around, mama to the spunkiest little princesses, and lover of all things Disney. She started her savings journey three years ago and is now dedicated to making her family’s wishes come true one coupon at a time. She is so excited to take her love of saving to the next level and share her journey with you! Click here to catch up on Kristen’s Savings and join in on your own savings adventure!