We really liked the Lemon Blueberry Poppyseed Oatmeal from a few weeks ago so for meal plan week 7 we doubled the recipe and added some chia seeds. I also tried a new recipe, actually two new recipes. I was feeling a little stuck with the same sides/veggies and wanted to try something different and found the lentil salad which I actually ended up liking. We love Modern Proper and Alex requested some chicken recipes, I looked on their website and found the Pecan Chicken Tenders – yes, please!
Check your buns! I picked up 2 packages of buns at the store. Tara went to divide them up only to discover that one bag was a bun short! I wasn’t too upset about missing one but it was gross thinking of someone’s hand in the bag – ew!
Meal Plan 7 Menu
- Lemon Blueberry Poppyseed Oatmeal & Sausage Links
- Lentil Salad & Chicken Tenders
- Tortellini Skillet
- Teton Hot Dogs with Macaroni Salad & Fries
Menu Planning & Meal Prep Tips:
- Prep with someone. I could do this all on my own and have tried but I just never end up doing it or doing it consistently. So find a friend, sibling, parent, grandparent, or neighbor and get to prepping!
- Read through the whole menu plan post so you can make changes or substitutions for your family, budget, or items on hand. Some things in the menu plan you may want to make from scratch and some things you may want to purchase already made like fries or box mac n cheese which can be done either way for example.
- Every week you will need containers/bags to easily store all your meals and components. Some blue tape to label meals. And I also recommend a designated bin or shelf to keep prepped meals.
NOTE: This is for 3 couples
Shopping List
Produce:
- 2 Lemons
- 1 garlic head
- 4 onions
- 1 lb sweet potatoes
- Parlsey
- Sage
- Spinach 9 Cups
- 2 Carrots small bunch
Meat:
- 5-6 lbs chicken breast
- 3 packs of breakfast sausage link
- 3 packs of chicken sausage – italian
Dairy:
- 4 eggs
- 4 T butter
- 3 cups unsweetened almond milk
- 1 1/2 cups half & half
- 1/2 cup Goat cheese
- 1 cup shredded parmesan
Frozen:
- 2 cups blueberries
- 3 bags of fries
Other:
- 25-30oz Cheese Tortellini (Costco)
- 3x 14oz italian diced tomatoes
- 12 hot dog buns
- Mayo (2.5 cups)
- Raw pecans (2-4 cups)
- Green or Black lentils (1 cup)
- Chicken broth (6 cups)
- Macaroni noodles (1 lb)
Pantry Items (these are items we keep on hand):
- Maple Syrup (2/3 cup)
- 2 T powdered sugar
- Tomato based pasta sauce (6 cups)
- Poppyseeds (2 T)
- Vanilla (2 tsp)
- Almond extract (1/2 tsp)
- Old fashioned rolled oats (4 cups)
- Baking powder (2 tsp)
- Panko (3 cups)
- Garlic powder (2tsp)
- Cayenne (1/2 tsp)
- Flour (3 C)
- Red wine vinegar (2 tbs)
Instructions:
Lemon Blueberry Poppyseed Oatmeal & Sausage Links
Oatmeal:
- We doubled this recipe: Ambitious Kitchen Lemon Blueberry Poppyseed Oatmeal
Prepping:
- We made this first to make sure it has time to cool before we divided up.
- We added chia seeds to the oatmeal mix (2 tbs)
- We saved some money using frozen blueberries from my mom’s freezer from picking berries last summer.
Sausage Links:
Prepping:
- Baked each pack of links
- Cool and divide
When eating: Heat & eat!
Lentil Salad & Chicken Tenders
We used this recipe: Modern Proper Baked Pecan Chicken Tenders
Prepping:
- Slice and divide the chicken
- In a container for each person combine the pecan crust; pecans, panko, cayenne, garlic powder and salt
- You could give everyone a cup of flour and 3 eggs but we let everyone do that on their own.
And we used this recipe: NY Times Brown Butter Lentil and Sweet Potato Salad
- I made 1 batch to divide up between everyone since it was a new recipe
- I put the goat cheese on the side and divided up the salad.
Night of the meal:
- Follow the recipe to make the chicken with the prepped pecan crust.
- Warm the lentil salad and top with goat cheese
Tortellini Skillet
We used this recipe: Chew Out Loud Tuscan Tortellini
Prepping:
- Divide up the cheese tortellini
- Divide up the spinach
- Give everyone a pack of chicken sausage
- Give everyone a can of diced tomatoes
- Chop the onion for everyone
- In a container for each person combine: tomato-based pasta sauce, chicken broth, and half and half
Night of the meal:
- Cook the onions in oil on medium heat, add the garlic and cook until tender.
- Remove the sausage from the casing and brown in the pan.
- Add the diced tomatoes and jar of combined sauce. Bring to a simmer.
- Add the tortellini, cover and simmer 7-9 minutes.
- Remove from the heat, add spinach and top with parmesan.
Teton Hot Dogs with Macaroni Salad & Fries
- We used this recipe: Favorite Family Recipes Authentic Hawaiian Macaroni Salad
Prepping:
- I made one batch of Mac Salad and divided it up between everyone
- Give everyone a pack of hot dogs, we got Teton Hot Dogs from Costco
- Give everyone 4 buns
- Give everyone a pack of fries – you could get one large pack and divide it too
Night of the meal: (Total Time: 20-30 mins)
- Grill your hot dogs, cook fries according to package directions and serve the mac salad.
Happy Menu Planning & Meal Prepping!
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