A family meal plan for May
The monthly meal plan I made last month was a huge success. Having a whole month mapped out ahead, instead of just a week made a big difference. It’s one less job to have to think about each week, and it really did mean we ate a bigger variety of meals with far less repetition. You can read a little on last month’s post about my meal planning process if you want to.
I spent a couple of hours one afternoon last week when my kiddos were watching a nature documentary to sit and flick through a few cookbooks. I love browsing them for some inspiration – often, even if I don’t make exact recipes from the books, I find looking gives me ideas or basics to build our own meals around. The kids eat a vegetarian diet at home {though two out of my four will eat meat occasionally if we’re out}, and obviously, I adapt things to suit me as I’m vegan. Though a lot of what I make is suitable for all of us – for example, this month’s Macaroni Cheese will be made with a vegan sauce.
This month, I’ll be handing over the reins to the girls once a week. They all love cooking and helping out in the kitchen, and as part of our new chore/responsibility system {which I need to blog about!}, this month everyone has to take over some kitchen duties and make a meal once a week for everyone. I’ve included some simpler dishes on the menu this month, that the girls each picked so they can make things they can manage. More complicated dishes are saved for days when we have a little more time, usually the weekend and I can grab a girl or two to help me and learn some new skills.
As always, Sunday night is our ‘Picky Dinner’ night – we have a movie and family meeting, and make a rare exception of eating in the living room! Picky dinner is basically a buffet – sometimes it’s made up of various leftovers, sometimes a pizza or nachos, and sometimes a simple meal of fresh bread, crudites, and cheese.
There are a few old favourites on this months plan, as well as a few new ones! Also, there is a rare treat of a takeaway – it’s Miss Lola’s birthday and I thought I’d treat her to a birthday meal after school!
May’s meal plan looks like this:
* Linguine, pesto/cream cheese sauce, peas + corn
* Loaded Nachos, Mexican Salad
* Veg Curry, Coconut Rice
* Stuffed Pasta Shells
* Cauliflower Pizza’s
* Scramble, hash browns, smokey baked beans
* Picky Dinner
* Macaroni Cheese, Crispy Kale
* Dhal, Naans, raita
* Oven-baked wedges, five bean chili
* Omelette, Salad, Bread
* Rice Bowls
* Sweet Potato Risotto, Roast Broccoli
* Picky Dinner
* TAKEAWAY
* Stuffed Mushroom Burgers, Thai ‘Slaw
* Sausage, Beans, Toast
* Falafel, Spiced lentils
* Naan Pizzas, Samosas, Mango Chutney
* Homemade Rosti, Veg Sausages, Peas
* Picky Dinner
* Buckwheat Burritos
* Veg Frittata, Green Salad
* Baked Potatoes
* Sweet Potato and Butternut Squash Soup
* Feta + Tomato Tart
* Gnocchi, Roast Tomato Sauce, Salad
* Picky Dinner
* Pesto Pasta
* Chana Masala, Brown Rice
* Fajitas, Sweet Potato Wedges, Guacamole
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16 Comments
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Kim Carberry
May 3, 2017 at 10:13Oh wow! Well done! I meal plan but only weekly. I have never been brave enough to go for the full month x
Alice
May 3, 2017 at 14:36How lovely to let the girls cook once a week, a great idea to get them learning to cook for themselves. I’m definitely going to give monthly meal planning a go, it’s my worst job so I’d love to do it once a month rather than once a week! x
Jen Walshaw
May 3, 2017 at 15:00I weekly plan but think that I need to shake it up a bit. perhaps I will give a monthly a go. I am lucky in that the boys eat the same as us, but we are full of football and cricket at the moment!
Nikki Thomas
May 3, 2017 at 20:28Gosh that is very well organised. I must admit that having done a weekly plan, I now shop for a few days and only plan 2 -3 days at a time with a few extras in the cupboard/freezer just in case. I love your meal ideas, I wish I could get my kids to eat such healthy meals.
Emma Raphael
May 4, 2017 at 06:53I LOVE meal planning. I find it saves me so much time, and actually quite a bit of money as I am not just reaching for stuff in the supermarket, and a lot of it contains store cupboard ingredients we already have. Lots of lovely inspiration there, thank you! :)
Kara
May 4, 2017 at 08:33Wow, you are super organised. I don’t know what I am doing from one day until the next
Katie @mummydaddyme
May 4, 2017 at 19:22You are so organised Polly and all the meals that you are cooking look absolutely delicious- I really need to do this more. x
Kate Williams
May 6, 2017 at 08:44We’ve just started weekly meal planning, I let the kids choose a meal each and we have pizza on a friday – also our once a week in the front room treat!
polly
May 6, 2017 at 09:20gotta love a front room treat meal!
Amy Fox
May 7, 2017 at 09:33Oh I’m so impressed! I only just managed planning for a week. These sound like such delicious meals x
Cass Bailey
May 7, 2017 at 11:43I’m so impressed by the idea of a monthly meal plan – I buy quite a lot of reduced food when I can so a monthly plan isn’t for me as I’d be forever changing to incorporate what I buy but I can totally see the benefits of this x
Laura - Dear Bear and Beany
May 7, 2017 at 18:52Doing a month is such a good idea, as it makes you have more variety. I love it! I also love the idea of a picky dinner on a Sunday, what a fab idea. I might have to pinch this one. x
Sonia
May 8, 2017 at 09:38I always do a weekly meal plan at home but think a monthly one might actually make me a bit more organised. I love posts like this for food inspiration. It’s so hard at times isn’t it to not get stuck in a rut and do the same thing over and over again. x
Clare
May 8, 2017 at 13:03Oh this is a great idea, I never thought of doing a monthly plan before. I might give this a try too :)
the frenchie mummy
May 8, 2017 at 20:56This book looks so up my street now that my partner is vegan! I need to check it out. Not sure that I can do a meal plan yet, not so organised as you yet!
Lottie | Oyster & Pearl
May 9, 2017 at 12:36Such a great idea to plan the whole month. Well done! Also loving that the girls are taking on a meal or two. Think it’s so important for kids to learn to cook x