January is already coming to a close, which means two things:
- My first baby will be turning four in a few days. Four!
- It already looks like 2021 will be flying by. Time just doesn’t stop.
This week, I went back to work for the first time in over a month thanks to Ms. Rona hitting our home after the holidays, we also had our sweet baby in a splint after a fall, and we have not one, not two, but three birthday celebrations (to keep numbers down) coming up for Zemirah. So you could say it was…a week. With A Pinch of Crazy, as always! Enjoy some pictures of the birthday girl – four years has flown by!
Per usual, meals were kept simple and quick, and because I was buying stuff for the birthday parties, I really tried to keep costs down. Here is what I started with for the week:
Produce- spinach, mashed sweet potato, frozen broccoli, a few carrots and potatoes, apples, bananas, berries, cherry tomatoes, cucumber
Protein- frozen salmon filets, leftover black beans, nut butter, chia and flax seeds
Carbs- brown rice, oats
I was actually able to make two full dinners and prep two breakfasts with just what we already had! Doing kitchen inventory before planning meals can really save a lot of money! Here is what our meals were for the week:
Breakfasts:
- Sweet potato muffins topped with peanut butter *This was a concoction I made up to use up those mashed sweet potatoes. I wrote it down and will test it out again to hopefully get the recipe posted here!*
- Overnight oats with chia seeds, cinnamon, and almond butter, topped with bananas
- Breakfast tacos with egg, cheese, salsa, and avocado
Lunches:
- Leftovers
- Sandwiches
- For Z’s school lunch I packed: turkey/mayo roll ups (nitrate free), a green apple, seaweed snacks, broccoli, and a cookie. For her snack I packed: a fruit pouch and cheddar bunnies
- While Z was at school, Selah and I enjoyed a quiet brunch of scrambled eggs with spinach and tomatoes and a side of avocado toast topped with everything bagel seasoning. It was nice to change it up from our usual microwaved leftovers!
Snacks:
- Cliff bars for grownups/fruit bars for Z
- Fruit leathers
- Pouches
- Apples/bananas with peanut butter
- Strawberries with honey (Z’s favorite)
- Chocolate chip lactation cookies (mostly for me, but these only lasted two days hehe)
- Boiled eggs
Dinners:
- Monday: Black bean burgers with spinach, avocado, and habanero ranch; fries and cucumber tomato salad on the side
- Tuesday: Slow Cooker Pork Roast with Veggies (this was my day at work, I got home at 6 and dinner was ready for us) with a side of bread and butter
- Wednesday: Salmon *I just cooked in the skillet* with broccoli and brown rice on the side
- Thursday: This was date night! Woo! The girls ate dinner at my parents’ house, and David and I got sushi 🙂
- Friday: Pork tacos with leftover roast and sautéed peppers, onions, and mushrooms; guacamole and plantain chips on the side
- Saturday: Birthday party foods – we are having a rainbow charcuterie board
- Sunday: This is Z’s real birthday so I haven’t planned anything. We are definitely going out for breakfast, and maybe dinner, too. Or we might eat leftovers, or I might just buy some frozen pizzas. It’s up to the birthday girl!
There you have it! Because I was able to plan two meals just with what we had, plus going out one night, this week’s grocery bill was only $60! Now after I added all the birthday party foods, the total doubled, but still not too bad for multiple birthday parties. That’s a plus side of social distancing – not many kiddos get three birthday parties! We are doing a food for every color of the rainbow (red pepperoni, orange crackers, yellow cheese, etc.) and I made pink unicorn sugar cookies, confetti cupcakes (from a box mix), and will do different colored frosting using natural food dye. She is going to have a blast!
If you want to look back on the last few weeks of meal plans click here, here, and here. Maybe these posts can give you some ideas while you’re planning food for next week. Have fun cooking and feeding your family…and enjoy your Pinch of Crazy!
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