This is totally for my own record keeping….it is the first meal plan I’ve worked out for summer. Feel Free to ignore.

The order is set to help with meal prep. So I cook an extra couple of ears of corn on Sunday and cut off the kernels. That gets used later with the succotash. I also try to put the quick salads on days I know I have a lot going on.

Sunday: Grilled Pork, Sweet Potato Fries and Corn on the cob

Monday: Black Eyed Pea Salad

Tuesday: Pasta with meat sauce

Wednesday: Pinto Beans and Rice

Thursday: Stuffed Green Peppers and Succotash

Friday: Broccoli and Pasta Salad

Broccoli and Pasta

Shopping List:

(Assumes you have Olive Oil, salt, etc.)

• Corn on the Cob (5 or 6 ears)
• 2 large Sweet Potatoes
• Carrot
• Medium Onion
• Bunch Green Onions
• 3 Green Bell Peppers
• Head of Broccoli
• Pint Grape Tomatoes
• Fresh Basil
• Fresh Garlic
• Fresh Ginger-small piece
• 2 Cans Pinto Beans (or dried)
• 2 Cans Black Eyed Peas (or dried)
• Small Can of Black Olives
• Baby Lima Beans
• 2 boxes pasta-penne, bow tie, elbow…
• Pork Chops
• 1 LB Ground Turkey
• Turkey Breakfast Sausage (optional - See Friday)
• Brown Rice
• Barley
• Blue Cheese (optional- see Monday)

When big-sis was a baby I got rather overwhelmed in the dinner department. The husband was working as an obituary reporter - every bit as glamorous as you imagine. Problem is that the reporting of the daily dead happens at night, so it meant I was left to fend for myself. At the end of a long day teaching I was too spent to manage much beyond a bowl of frosted mini wheats. Not exactly a well balanced meal.

Then I remembered meal rotation. This isn’t a new idea…I am sure that I am not the only one that grew up in a household where Monday night = baked chicken and carrots, Tuesday night = pasta and salad, etc. My mother hardly ever strayed from this…as a kid I hated it, but now that I have people waiting for me to produce food I totally get it.

So rotating I went, with one adjustment. I really can’t see eating the same thing every Monday. So I try to have around 2 to 3 weeks planned out. Generally my family never notices that every third Tuesday is Broccoli and Pasta. I try to set it up so we can cook ahead…like cooking extra rice one night so you can have stuffed bell peppers later in the week, or chopping two onions one night. Along with this I came up with a shopping list for each week so I could quickly check if we had the necessary ingredients. As we all know shopping with small people is almost as fun as writing obituaries.

When I stayed home with the girls I gave it up, and I am trying to reconstruct the system. I am trying to stick with seasonal vegetables, which means there will need to be summer/fall/winter variations. We’ll see if I get that far…