Weekly Menu

We may live in three homes and have three very different lives, but we’re family by choice.

Each week we will be updating this post with our weekly menu plans.

You can learn a little more about our lives below the weekly plans, by clicking the Continue Reading button just below the three menus. Remember, these are plans and plans change. Sometimes life alters those plans. Would you like a printable to help with your menu planning?

Weekly Menu for Heather, Lisa, and Amanda: Heather’s Menu

This week’s goal:
We pulled an audible and completely changed our Easter Menu, last week and those leftovers will be featured heavily this week. Instead of cooking a ham, I smoked two pork butts (shoulders, it’s a regionalism) and served it with pasta salad, a tomato salad, and, at the request of my oldest, green bean casserole.

All three girls have very bad colds or the flu (negative tests) thank goodness. We will be taking it easy this week to recover.

I am really looking forward to this weekend, as we will have company—assuming the whole everyone is better, thing, of course

Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Pasta Salad

3. Baked Potatoes with Pulled Pork, Green Beans

3. Breakfast Skillets– these will rely heavily on some zucchini and mushrooms I picked up at that produce stand this weekend

4. Chicken Curry, Rice, Okra
5. Tuna melts, side salads
6. Red Beans and Rice, Cornbread, Collard Greens

Lisa’s Menu

This week I have a lot long work days and I’m looking forward to simple meals that are quick to prepare.

Croque monsieur with salad (French hot ham and cheese sandwiches)Spaghetti and Meatballs (Using frozen meatballs)Dolsot Bibimbap and assorted banchan (takeout) (Korean rice bowls and side dishes)Roast chicken with string beans and garlic mashed potatoesShrimp and GritsAmanda’s Menu

We will be meeting up with our college student for dinner once this week. This is something we started doing in the fall and it has helped ease the transition.

Roast Beef, Smoked Sausage, and Potatoes with Roasted Garlic Green Beans,Pesto Chicken Pasta Bake with SaladThai Peanut Chicken Lettuce Wraps and RiceBBQ Chicken Tacos, Sweet Potatoe Home Fries, Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic GlazeHomemade PizzaWhat do our households look like?

Heather is married with six children, two are preschoolers, and four are teenagers. Three of the teenagers are there full-time, one is there mainly on weekends during school, but much more whenever school is not in session. Family nights out are generally cost-prohibitive and saved for special occasions. We are working hard to eliminate takeout, a habit that developed when Heather’s depression flared for most of ’21.

Lisa is married with a child starting law school in the fall of 23. She is also a medical caregiver for a family member.

Amanda is a single parent. She has two children, one in college.

What are our current menu plan challenges?Multiple schedulesBusiness travelNeurodivergenciesEmpty nestLarge familyChanging tastes due to medicationBurnoutFood intolerancesDepression/anxiety

All of these things affect not only what we choose to cook, but whether or not we have the energy or wherewithal (executive function) to make what we chose. We are no longer young adults, but we do remember those years well. Home-Ec 101 was started, in part, by that overwhelming 4:00 pm dread of not knowing what to make that was a result of not having learned the lifeskills as kids.

We’re here to help.

We’ve got an entire series on menu planning. A free printable to plan your menu and shopping list and plenty of beginner to intermediate-friendly recipes to get you going. Also, Heather is fantastic at Iron Chef, Pantry Clean-Out Edition.

As promised, here’s your menu planning printable. We hope it makes your planning and grocery shopping a little bit easier.