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Happy Meal Planning Monday!  I totally fell off of the meal planning wagon for a month or so.  It happens every so often.  But it never takes very long before I miss my menu plan and get back to making one.

Not because I love planning.  (I don’t!)  But because I hate choosing what meal I’m going to throw together every single day.

So I might reluctantly sit down to write this plan.  But I’ll be thanking myself a few times per day for the next 2 weeks.  That’s probably worth it.

Our 2 Week Meal Plan

I’m going to stick with planning my meals 2 weeks at a time, for now.  I’m making my grocery store runs every other week, and it’s been working out well.

I plan a list of options that are available to eat in our home, but I don’t assign a food to a day.  I like to keep it flexible so I can choose a simpler meal on an exhausting day.

Breakfast

• cereal
• frozen waffles
• bagels
• toast
• oatmeal
• pancakes (for Saturdays)

Lunch

We do a brown bag lunch for everyone nearly every day.  Kids pack their own.  They choose a main course below plus a fruit or veggie, yogurt or cheese, and one junk food (chips, cookies, pudding, etc.).

• sandwiches (PB&J, lunchmeat, nutella, etc.)
• salads
• hard boiled eggs
• leftovers

[Tweet “Get ideas for a simple but complete meal plan for 2 weeks!”]

Supper

I supplement these main dishes with a side of potatoes, rice, or pasta.  We nearly always have fresh cut veggies and sweet tea with our suppers.

• tacos
• hamburgers
• brats, metts, hot dogs
• brinner (breakfast for dinner)
• pasta dinner at school
• grilled chicken
• whole roasted chicken
• Honey Soy Pork Tenderloin
• chicken tacos
• bean burritos
• homemade pizza
• Crispy Parmesan Chicken with Lemon Garlic Pasta
• chicken kabobs using this marinade
• My birthday dinner!

Snacks and Desserts

• Birthday cake of some sort
• fruit
• graham crackers (maybe even s’mores!)
• ice cream
• popcorn
• cookies
• Coca Cola Cake for my son’s extremely belated birthday party
• Triple Berry Cobbler

Keeping our meals simple makes everything easier.  Planning, grocery shopping, and cooking are more fun when you don’t have to sort through overwhelming choices.

Because I love simplicity, my favorite way to save money on groceries is Ibotta.  This free app is so easy to use!  I don’t have to keep track of coupons.  I just scan groceries as I put them away (which I’ll admit that I’ve always found fun!).  They even save you on milk and produce, which you don’t see very often.  Then I take a picture of my receipt and bam!  I get money back.

My readers will get $10 when they click through my referral link here.

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What’s on your menu this week?  Feel free to leave a link if you’ve blogged about it!