I’m a person who is really really good at using what she has on hand to be able to make a balanced meal, and a non-boring plan for a week of meals. I think it’s the perfect amalgamation of all my interest areas and expertise: food, organization, strategy, being a good steward of resources, creativity, and seasonality. I’ve been able to meal plan well when I was a college student, when I was a young adult in NYC and in the Twin Cities, and my skills really flourished when my husband and I started to cook together.
When we first got together, we had a recurring daily meal plan that gave us some structure but allowed enough room for flexibility. We had: Mac & Cheese Monday, “World Foods” Tuesday, Noodles Wednesday, Vegetarian Thursday, and Comfort Food Friday. The weekends were a little more loose to give us some space to be spontaneous in our plans. Once we did that for a year or two, we had enough meals that we had made and loved that we didn’t stick so close to the themes of the days anymore.
It was an excellent way to cook together, work through most of the recipes from the small collection of cookbooks we had, and to stretch our palettes a little bit. We both had grown up in a pretty standard “meat and potatoes” family, and had a little exposure to more types of cuisine in college and early adulthood. So our early years together were focused on getting better at cooking and figuring out a system that worked!
First Look
Since then, I’ve grown to focus a lot more on cooking seasonally, using local produce whenever possible. As readers of this newsletter know, I am a big believer in preserving foods when they’re in season, and rotating and using the food you have before buying more of something. But this takes discipline! It means that if I don’t have a strong grasp on what we have at home, I might need to make a second run to the grocery store.
What I usually do first when I’m meal planning for the week is take a scan through our refrigerator, cabinets, freezer, chest freezer, and our small backstock of foods we have thanks to our Costco membership. I note what has been in there awhile (referencing dates if we’ve labeled foods, which we are medium-good at doing), what I want to cook and eat. This is both 1) considering which days of the week it might feel good and grounding to spend a couple hours making food, and which days need to be a quicker meal based on our schedules, and 2) what sounds good to eat. I get inspiration from our veggie box, what food content I’m getting served on social media (Pinterest, Instagram, & TikTok), and from cookbooks I pull from the shelf in our kitchen. I’ll also prioritize meals that use the ingredients/foods I need to use up I noted in the initial scan.
Here’s a random first look at my fridge and cabinet from this last week:
Meal Planning + Grocery List Making
Once I have identified the foods I have and want to use, I make a plan to use them! Alongside meal planning on our shared Google calendar (pro tip for roommates that cook together, couples, and families), I will make a grocery list of anything else I need to buy for the week. My husband and I use a shared List on Google Keep for groceries so we can access it from anywhere and both of us can add to the list right up until the shopping actually happens. This is particularly useful for when we run out of things like ground coriander, canola oil, or other pantry staples (we just quickly add it to the list). The app allows for subcategories within a list, so we can add the item we need for a certain dinner to the store we can get it from for the best price. We have a subcategory for Aldi, Target, Costco, and the Co-op. While we certainly don’t go to all these stores in one week, once we have enough things on a list for the co-op, we make a point to go, or if the items can be purchased and transported in a backpack, my husband will swing by a Target on his bike commute home. Planning in this way saves us time, money, and prevents miscommunication and frustration.
My Own Meal Plan
This is for my family of two adults.
I need to use up some leftover gravy, some blocks of parmesan cheese, curtido, tortillas, peppers, black radishes, fried onions, Nilla wafers, and pasta.
Here’s how I would use most of this up:
No Bake Cheesecake: whip the heavy whipping cream, cream cheese, and lemon juice for a cheesecake-like flavor profile. Put the Nilla wafers in the bottom of a dish as a “crust” and then spread the dairy on top. Chill in the fridge. Top with berries, chocolate syrup, or caramel sauce.
Roast the radishes and smother with leftover chicken gravy. Serve alongside some bread and butter!
Make cacio e pepe with the parmesan cheese and pasta. Top it with fried onions!
Use the shredded cheese and flour tortillas to make a quick quesadilla, and eat with curtido (a cabbage relish common in El Salvador).
Snack on the peppers and tzatziki dip.
Springy Shepherd’s Pie: sauté onions, minced garlic, parsnip (not pictured), frozen peas, and asparagus with some ground turkey. Add flour and a little heavy cream to thicken things up. Top with mashed potatoes and shredded cheese, and bake in the oven for a half hour! Top with chives from the backyard garden.
Combine leftover shredded chicken with BBQ sauce for pulled chicken sandwiches.
Make a spring pasta: chop and sauté asparagus with frozen peas in olive oil from the freezer infused with basil from last summer. Toss with pasta, some pasta water, parmesan cheese, and minced chives.
What would you have made? Anything I missed?
Quick Planning for my friends
Fridge 1
The first fridge picture is for a family of two adults, one toddler, and one infant. The baby won’t need to eat any of the things in the picture so the meals will be for the kiddo and their parents.
From the sender: We have many eggs, berries on their last leg that need to be used up, breads, hummus, tortellini, garlic knots that are needing to be used up, tortillas, bacon that needs to be cooked and used, carrots, green beans, lemon, lime, a ton of potatoes, biscuits and pickles, jams and milks. We also have chicken breast, ground beef and cold cuts! Plus in our pantry we have all these staples: rice, oats, pastas, flours, all kinds of canned beans, veggies, fruits and pasta sauces.
Here’s how I would use most of this up:
Make berry muffins with the berries that are on their last leg for the week ahead OR throw them in a zip top bag once baked and put them in the freezer for a busy week.
Breakfast quesadillas with bacon, cheese, and scrambled eggs. Alternate option: breakfast biscuit sandwiches! Serve with roasted cubed potatoes for American style breakfast potatoes! You can easily do this meal for Breakfast for Dinner - a Midwest classic.
Use flour tortillas for wraps. This would be a great lunch option! Spread with hummus, then layer cheese, cold cuts, and/or bacon if you have any left. Slice them and serve as pinwheels or “lunch sushi” for your toddler! Have carrots and berries on the side.
If the tortillas are corn tortillas, you can roast the chicken and do crispy chicken tacos! I love doing them using the technique used in this recipe of assembling the tacos, then cooking them until very crispy in the oven. Garnish with lime!
Pasta dinner: Roast the chicken breasts and add it to the tortellini tossed with pasta sauce for dinner! Serve with garlic knots. OR make my favorite Tortellini Soup with ground beef instead of the sausage the recipe calls for.
Beef & Veggie Stir fry: Cook up some rice. Sauté the green beans and carrots until tender, then add the ground beef and cook it, only flipping it a couple times. Add the veggies back in and season with soy sauce or other stir fry sauces/spices.
Use the bagels as a crust for Pizza Bagels! Lay the bagels open, spread with pizza sauce or tomato sauce zhuzhed up with oregano or dried Italian seasoning. Top with shredded cheese and bake until the cheese is melted and the bagel is warmed through.
Fridge 2
These pictures are for a family of two adults, and two kiddos.
From the sender: The meat on the bottom shelf is a half pound of ground beef and chorizo. Containers are 2 piece chicken dinner and steak marinade leftovers from dinner last night. The drawers have a salad kit, cauliflower and broccoli. The fruit drawer has apples and pears. Top shelf has hella condiments, chicken stock, cilantro, almond milk, half n half, eggs. The bottom pull out drawer has hot dogs, pepperoni sticks, fruit cups, bacon, and cheese galore.
Here’s how I would use most of this up:
Use the cauliflower and grab some heavy cream from the store and make this Cauliflower Pasta with Breadcrumbs (use up your parmesan for the breadcrumbs instead of buying pecorino).
That cilantro needs to be used up quickly so chop it up and put it on some of those salad greens for an herby salad. Drizzle with lime juice and olive oil. Throw the leftover steak on top!
You can make a version of 7 layer dip with what you have on hand to eat with some tortilla chips (grab these from the store). Layer the refried beans, sour cream, shredded cheese, pinto beans, Ro-tel, and the chorizo or the shredded chicken from the 2 piece chicken dinner. Sprinkle some of that cilantro on top for a final seventh layer. This is a protein packed snack that is great to eat if you’re really busy at work. Take it from a teacher!
Make pasta and this vodka sauce alongside some of those greens tossed with the Italian dressing I saw in your fridge.
Use the Rice A Roni in your cupboard and saute the broccoli and the SPAM for a rice bowl dinner.
A classic hot dog & baked beans dinner, OR make the kid-fave hot dogs in mac n cheese!
Make egg cups in a muffin tin. Crack an egg into each muffin cup and sprinkle in some shredded cheese, salt, and pepper. These are a great breakfast option for the whole week, and are easily customizable. Throw in some diced onions, diced peppers, frozen spinach, cooked crumbled chorizo, or bacon. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit until the eggs are set.
Fridge 3
These photos are for a family of one adult, one teenager, and one kiddo. I’m hoping to work up some great ideas for them below.
From the sender: Specifically noting from the fridge: cucumber and green onion, American cheese, Parmesan cheese, port wine cheese spread, roasted broccoli, pea and basil ravioli, Caesar salad kid and romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, eggs, bacon, plain bagels, apple, two limes, and Roma tomatoes. From the cupboard: noodles, brown rice, Rice a Roni, canned green beans, tuna, canned chicken noodle soup, peanut butter, cream of chicken soup. The freezer has: chicken wings, chicken breast, sausage, frozen veggies, strawberries, fries, and veggie burgers.
Here’s how I would use most of this up:
Prep bacon, egg, and American cheese breakfast sandwiches on bagels. You can pre-cook and assemble them wrapped in foil or parchment paper. To eat, pop in the oven or toaster oven (foil), or microwave if you used parchment paper.
Make some of that brown rice and have the cucumber, green onion, roasted broccoli, and tuna on top for a rice bowl dinner. Dress the bowl with a little mayo and sriracha drizzled on top.
Pasta dinner: Cook the pea and basil ravioli. Save some pasta water and combine with some parmesan and as much black pepper as you and/or your kids can stand. Add the ravioli back to the pot for a cacio e pepe flair with the ravioli. Serve with a big Caesar salad with the kid and some extra romaine lettuce. If you need more protein, roast the chicken breast in the freezer and slice it up.
Veggie Tater Tot hot dish: a Midwestern classic! Combine the canned green beans with the frozen veggies and mix with the can of cream of chicken soup. Add some tater tots (might have to pick these up from the store), and voilá! You could add some cooked crumbled sausage from the freezer if you don’t want it vegetarian. Serve with a salad on the side.
Veggie burgers and fries: Cook the frozen veggie burgers and top with tomatoes and iceberg lettuce. Serve with a salad with the rest of the tomato or with the fries I think you have in your freezer. Alternatively, cook up the chicken wings for a wings and fries dinner!
Use the frozen sliced strawberries and peanut butter to make a pb & j style smoothie. Add whatever dairy milk (or alt milk) or yogurt you like.
A huge thank you to my friends for sending in pictures and letting us look behind your cupboard doors! I hope this helped some of you figure out some new ideas!
Things I Like
Very into gingham for spring and early summer!
This large bento box that could actually hold all the food I might eat in a day
Never over my Whirley Pop. All that stands between me and a large bowl of popcorn is 3-4 minutes.
Buying a slightly nicer pillow to combat a decade of neck pain - it was worth it in the end!
Keeping my nails free of polish for the last few months. I go through waves of painting my nails and keeping them bare and it’s been nice to lean into doing less upkeep at home on them!
May your week be gentle and may you eat well. 🌲🥣