Meal Plan #34
Our May Meal Plan
Here is another full month dinner meal plan for the family. I spend time thinking about the month ahead and figuring out what we are having for dinner, and I hope that sharing my meal plan with you is helpful!
How do I approach meal planning for a month:
When I sit down at the beginning of a month to plan out what we’re having for dinner, I first like to start with the family calendar and see if there are any activities or events that I need to plan around. It’s good to know if there are days when some family members won’t be home for dinner, or days when we have evening activities that I need to work around.
Then I think it’s helpful to have some goals or intention for your meal planning - what are you trying to achieve with the meals, what kinds of foods do you want to heat more/less of, what kind of cooking do you want to be doing.
After that I think about what my goals are for the meals for the month, what sounds good, what kinds of foods I want to be cooking, what things I have in the freezer that I want to use, and when I plan on shopping.
After I’ve got all that figured out, I have lists of dinner ideas organized by various categories, so I usually start there and pick things for each day that fit my criteria. Or if I have a general idea of a kind of thing I want but not exact, I’ll start googling and finding recipes.
Meal plan goals this month:
As I was planning our meals for this month, I had a few goals I wanted to achieve.
Minimal repeats:
Every now and then I get in a rut and get tired of my own cooking, so that means it’s time to mix up the meals a bit and try some new ideas. My menus for the last several months have looked very similar, I’ve been feeling a little uninspired and sticking with old reliable favorites. So for this month I have specifically tried to include as little as possible repeat from last month, some new things, and some that I haven’t made in a while. I keep my meal plans from previous months and years, so I looked back at some calendars from a few years ago to find some ideas for dinners that I haven’t cooked in a while. I also keep binders of recipes printed that sound good, so I’ll look through that.
A little less meat:
I am trying to add in a few more meatless meals, and I’m trying to just plan main dishes that aren’t mostly meat. This partially because I think it’s healthier at times to eat less meat, but mostly because it’s all just so expensive these days. I am trying to plan the bulk of the meal around less expensive ingredients - rice, beans, pasta, potatoes. The meat I am using is mostly chicken thighs, sometimes ground beef or ground chicken. This month I just have one meal using whole cuts of beef. Several of the meals where I am using chicken will be the Costco rotisserie chicken. I think those are about the best deal you can get in terms of convenient protein to add to meals, you can get several meals out of one chicken if you’re just adding some of the meat as an accent to recipe, plus I always make broth from the bones.
Warmer weather:
As we move into warmer weather I try to think about slightly lighter meals, having the oven heating up the kitchen for just fewer hours a day, and getting more fresh vegetables in the rotation as they come in season. I’m also spending more time out in the yard in the afternoons this time of year, so I want meals that can be put together fairly quickly.
Daily themes:
My meal planning almost always follows a daily theme, this makes the planning easier and helps me keep a good balance of predictability + variety. You can see my daily theme across the top of the menu for the month.
The menu for the month:
Given all that, I have come up with our dinner meal plan for the coming month. Here’s a month calendar view of the menu, read on for more details and links to recipes. As always, I mostly just plan the main part of the meal ahead, and I will add on veggies, salads, and sides as I go. You can click the image to get a pdf.
Details about the meals and links to recipes:
Broccoli, tofu, chicken stir fry: I don’t use recipes for stir fry because I’ve made it for so many years, but here is a good simple recipe for a broccoli and tofu stir fry and here’s one for broccoli and chicken stir fry. Mine looks like a mix of these two. I’ll do a lot more broccoli than chicken, and add in tofu, so it’s more veg than meat.
Veggie patties & chicken sausages: I make what we call veggie patties that are a lot like a potato latke or croquette - a mixture of shredded veggies, flour, and egg, fried into patties. Usually these have some potato, zucchini, onion, and whatever other veggies I have. Here’s a recipe that is pretty similar to how I make them. We will have these with the Aidells chicken sausages, the kids like the chicken and apple flavor and I like all the others so I usually get a variety.
Eggplant parmesan: breaded eggplant layered with tomato sauce and cheese. Great with spaghetti or other pasta and some garlic bread on the side.
Plov: I first learned of this years ago from someone at my kids school whose husband was Ukranian, and it’s been one of my favorite one pot rice dinners ever since. Plov is a spiced Ukranian rice dish with garlic and carrots, traditionally made with beef but there are also recipes with chicken. It’s a bit similar to an Indian biryani, so sometimes what I make ends up being more of a blend of the two.
Chili lime chicken tacos with cilantro rice and black beans: Chile lime marinated chicken is a nice change from some of our usual chicken taco dinners. It goes great with cilantro lime rice - which is really just white rice that has lime juice & zest, salt, and chopped cilantro mixed in after cooking. Definitely make extra of the chicken, it’s great in quesadillas. I’ll make extra rice and beans too, and then put it all into burritos for my high schoolers for lunch.
Veggie Pad Thai and Trader Joe’s potstickers: I like to add a bunch of tofu to this for extra protein, and we’ll have potstickers on the side which are super easy when you buy them frozen at Trader Joe’s (Costco has good ones too). Here’s a good recipe for pad Thai that you can make with meat or not.
Baked potato bar: I get big russet potatoes when the potato is the main part of the meal. My method of perfect baked potatoes is to poke them with a fork, coat with olive oil, season generously all over with kosher salt, and bake at 375 for about an hour or until soft. The time will vary depending on size but this method makes them perfect every time, with a salty crunchy skin and soft creamy insides. Serve with all your favorite potato fixings: butter, sour cream, cheese, bacon bits, veggies. One of our favorite easy weeknight baked potato toppings is frozen broccoli in cheese sauce. Frozen creamed spinach is great too. Also a great way to use up any leftover meat in the fridge.
Lasagna: I think most lasagna is unnecessarily complicated. I make a very simple meatless lasagna that is layered with simple tomato sauce (the basic canned tomato sauce from Costco, or make your own) and béchamel and not much else. Sometimes I put a little spinach in, or fresh basil if I have it. I’ve never found a recipe quite like how I make it, but it’s so simple you really don’t need one. Just layer: tomato sauce, pasta sheets, béchamel, pasta, tomato sauce, pasta, béchamel, pasta… and keep repeating until your pan is full, top with a little cheese, bake until bubbly, and let rest for a half hour before cutting. You can sprinkle a little parmesan or mozzarella in the layers as you like, but the idea here is to not make it too cheesy. I use an extra deep pyrex casserole for this. Here is a basic béchamel recipe, I add a little nutmeg. And I like to make this kind of lasagna with the flat no boil lasagna rather than the wavy stuff you see in most American lasagna recipes.
White bean chili: I’m trying to get more beans in the menu but mix up how they are flavored. This is a nice change to a traditional chili with more southwest flavors. We’ll have it with sour cream and cheese and chips. Most recipes have chicken in there but here is one that does not. You can still add chicken if you like. When I do that I add chicken that’s already cooked - rotisserie chicken from Costco, or some kind of leftover chicken. I don’t usually include corn because I’m not a fan.
Cheese enchiladas: Keeping it simple with just tortillas rolled up with a shredded cheese blend and topped with enchilada sauce and more cheese. Possibly beans and rice on the side.
Egg roll in a bowl: Everything you love about egg roll filling minus the wrapping and frying. I like this recipe because it includes Napa cabbage and most others I’ve found do not, and I think Napa cabbage is one of the things that really makes it taste like an egg roll. This is also a meal that is super flexible, you can add more or less of anything. And it’s one that I find it really easy to cram more veggies than meat into. You can substitute some of the meat with chopped mushrooms and/or tofu and it still tastes great. Most recipes call for ground pork but I’ve made it also with beef, chicken, and turkey. I do add soy sauce to this instead of coconut aminos because we aren’t trying to avoid soy here, and we have it over rice because we aren’t paleo.
Turkey burgers: and easy weekend dinner, just frozen turkey burger patties with regular burger fixings. Either potato chips or frozen fries on the side.
Risotto primavera: A classic risotto combination with asparagus and zucchini. I usually skip the peas because I don’t love them, but otherwise how I make it is a lot like this. Super easy to make vegetarian with vegetable broth instead of chicken. I’d be happy with this by itself but it’s also quite nice with a piece of grilled fish or chicken or maybe some of those chicken sausages.
Moussaka: A greek recipe that’s a bit like lasagna, layered with meat sauce and béchamel, but with layers of thin eggplant instead of pasta, and slightly different seasoning. Nice with a green salad on the side.
Mexican rice casserole: I think this is the only meal on here that’s a repeat from last month, but it’s never the same twice so that’s ok. I usually make this out of leftovers in the fridge - rice, beans, leftover taco meat, salsa, cheese. But here’s a recipe if you want to make this kind of thing from scratch.
Okonomiyaki: This is a savory Japanese pancake with cabbage, sometimes other veggies, and your choice of protein. We like to make it with fish and I often make this if I’ve grilled fish for dinner and there’s a little leftover. It’s another favorite of mine again because it’s really versatile and you can really add in whatever you like. I might make some yakitori (Japanese chicken skewers) to go with it.
Falaffel: middle eastern spiced chickpea balls served with pita or flatbread, fresh herbs and greens, and hummus. Honestly last time I made this the kids weren’t big fans, but that was several years ago and their palettes have matured so we will give it another try. Not sure yet if I will attempt to make them from scratch or get the frozen ones from Trader Joe’s.
Cajun chicken penne: I’ve kinda been on a cajun / creole kick lately and this sounds like another fun way to incorporate those flavors into an easy weeknight meal. My plan is to use my no drain pasta method to cook the penne, add in some cream and creole seasoning, and toss in cooked chicken at the end.
Moroccan meatballs: a favorite recipe from a Moroccan cookbook I’ve had for at least 20 years - spiced meatballs simmered in an herb and lemon sauce. The original recipe calls for lamb or beef and I think these are the very best when made with ground lamb but I’ve made it with ground beef, turkey, and pork and they are still delicious. I always make extra to freeze. We’ll have it with couscous or orzo probably. This is one of my oldest daughter’s favorite and most requested meals so I’m making it for her the night before she leaves on a big trip.
Chicken taco bar: This day on the menu is when I am driving a car load of high schoolers to the airport in Sacramento for a trip to Senegal and I plan to stop at Costco on my way home, so I will pick up rotisserie chickens and shred the meat and we will just have basic chicken taco bar for dinner after that day full of driving, while I drown my sorrows about my baby being on the other side of the planet.
Ramen bar: I like to get a fresh ramen from the refrigerator section in my grocery store for this and serve it as a build-your-own bar style dinner from the kitchen island, with seasoned chicken broth and a selection of herbs, sprouts, tofu, maybe some chicken. I put out a variety of extras to season with: soy sauce, oyster sauce, hoisin sauce, hot sauce. These kind of build-your-own bar style meals are my family’s favorite - everyone gets to make their just how they like it.
Trip tip sandwiches: The last meal of the month! I’ve been finding tri-tip roasts for a decent price so it’s the one time this month I am cooking a bigger piece of meat. I like to cook the tri-tips in the sous vide cooker, I have found it’s the most reliable way to get them evenly cooked medium rare and very tender. Put the roast in a bag with a tablespoon or two of butter and a tablespoon or two of soy sauce and cook in the sous vide at 135 for 5-6 hours, then take out and sear on a hot grill or pan, let rest and slice thin. We will have these with sourdough rolls, barbecue sauce, probably salad, maybe pasta.