Monday started off kind of rough; another snowstorm, daycare was cancelled, and we were snowed in — again. However, by Tuesday afternoon, when we were able to go about daily life, everyones spirits were on the up and up. Here’s how my meal planning went this week.
Grocery Shopping = $198.82
Weekly Trader Joe’s run ($115.22), supplement Dierbergs run ($47.67), and Target with both kids tagging along ($35.93).
Take-Out = $39.82
Tuesday morning Panera breakfast ($5.51), cake pop and iced coffee during Thursday’s Target run ($5.72), Friday afternoon lunch at Chick-fil-A ($28.59). Note: I’ve forgotten to include my coffee runs and take out breakfasts the last few weeks — I’ll be more vigilant moving forward!
Monday Lunch
Winter storm warning. We’re expected to get over 6-inches of snow today. The toddlers daycare is closed and the four of us were snowed in the house all day — again. We had tomato soup that was prepped last night and deli sandwiches for lunch.
Monday Dinner
I like to eat fish once a week, and 99% of the time I buy salmon. Because of the storm, I actually did my grocery shopping last night, and the selections at Trader Joe’s at 8pm on a Sunday were…. slim. I selected cod for our fish night. I made a piccata sauce for the fish, green beans from last week, and fresh quinoa. Both kids hated it.
Tuesday Lunch
My husband shoveled our driveway at 6:30am so we could get the toddler to preschool. After drop-off, I strapped the baby to my chest in a carrier and went for a long walk, it was sunny and beautiful, and we both needed the fresh air. I had left over beef with broccoli from the weekend, my husband and baby shared a box of mac & cheese.
Tuesday Dinner
An old favorite from one of my clients: Walters Lamb Stew. Potatoes, carrots, onions, lamb, and fresh herbs that simmer in broth in a Dutch oven sounded perfect for a freezing cold weeknight. It was single digits again. Both kids loved it, even the toddler had seconds.
Wednesday Lunch
I finished last nights lamb stew leftovers, I would have shared with the baby but he napped through lunch. I did save him a handful of carrots though, he LOVES cooked carrots. My husband made himself a sandwich and finished yesterdays leftover mac and cheese.
Wednesday Dinner
Wednesdays have turned into my chicken prep night. I pan sear ~2.75-pounds of boneless, skinless chicken breasts and portion them out for three dinners for the remainder of the week. I usually earmark chicken night on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. It’s worked out very nicely for several weeks in a row. I made a rosemary-lemon-butter pan sauce for the chicken, finished the roasted broccoli from last week, and a fresh batch of rosemary mashed potatoes.
Thursday Lunch
The baby and I took the toddler to her Thursday morning gym class. Afterwards, the three of us had an adventure at the butterfly house and the playground nearby, still covered in nearly a foot of snow. The toddler and baby passed out for their afternoon naps in the car on the way home. I left them both asleep in the car while I had soup, salad, and quinoa for lunch. My husband had a TJ Indian meal.
Thursday Dinner
My husband had back to back meetings in the afternoon, so I took the kids to Target to pick up a few items. The toddler loves Target because she knows she’ll get a cake-pop at the in-store Starbucks. I treated myself to a small iced coffee as well. Dinner tonight was pasta bolognese and I was so pumped for it. Pasta bolognese and splitting a bottle of red wine over dinner is seriously one of my favorite ways to wind down.
Friday Lunch
We had an eventful morning, 3 out of 5 pieces of our new living room sectional were delivered (the other two accidentally got re-routed to Detroit (????), whoops!) and we had an semi-emergency pest appointment (apparently there’s an ant problem in our attic???). We once the chaos died down, we ended up at Chick-fil-A for lunch. No one was sad about it.
Friday Dinner
Chicken with the rosemary-lemon-butter sauce cooked on Wednesday, the rest of the green beans from last week, supplemented with a fresh salad, and quinoa from earlier this week. I always forget how much I love quinoa until I start eating it. Tonights shabbat candles = purple!
Saturday Lunch
I heated up homemade tomato soup and threw together deli sandwiches for everyone while my husband hung up floating bookshelves in the playroom. I’m slowly turning our playroom into a montessori wonderland. Dreams really do come true!
Saturday Dinner
It was low 40’s and it felt like spring coming off a freezing cold week. After an hour long stroller walk, we all decided an early dinner of left over bolognese sounded lovely. Sadly, we were all out of red wine.
Sunday Lunch
We had a huge and late morning breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and berries, so no one was hungry for lunch. We made a last minute decision to walk around the zoo (the St. Louis zoo is FANTASTIC, highly recommend) as our morning activity. When we got home, everyone grazed on snacks until dinner.
Sunday Dinner
Chicken that was cooked on Wednesday. Tonight I made a tomato-balsamic-butter pan sauce to pair with the chicken. We had just enough mashed potatoes and quinoa for everyone to go splitsies and finish off both pyrex dishes. As for the greens, we had a mixed greens salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocado. Another Sunday night win!
It was a good week. I was able to finish an online barre workout and / or a yoga workout and / or go for a 45+ minute walk every single day this week. For someone with two small kids, that feels like a HUGE win!