Meal Planning: Linked Recipes For the Next Few Months!

I'm on a bit of a mission.

Returning to work is hanging over my head, and there are some things that I want to have wrapped up neatly before then- one of them was a "plan" for eating. I recall all too well, getting home from work just too tired to come up with some elaborate dinner plan.

I also tried asking my husband "What do you want to eat this week?" to make a meal plan. Have you ever asked your husband that? Here's what I get: "Food".

Anyway, I assembled what might be realistic for us. It looks good on paper, so it is a bit of an experiment to see how it plays out. I imagine I'll be tweaking it each week. Maybe if I think about it, I'll write about how we did at the end of the month.

I do stockpile a bit in my pantry, but my plan is to write out the things needed for each week and have them all in one note (on my phone) so that if something is on sale and coming up in the next couple of weeks, I can grab it when it's on sale.

I've linked almost every meal to my recipes. Turns out pretty much everything I follow in a cookbook also exists online (who knew?).

My plan is to look at the week, if it looks good, grocery shop from the recipes. If not, do some re-arranging to make it work.

A word about my cooking:

I have tried and regularly use 98% of these recipes. I didn't just randomly copy them from the internet. They are all linked, but mostly to the same recipes I use online or in my cook books.
I don't use mixes. I make from scratch.
I don't usually do bought salad dressing or sauces. They are VERY easy to make; I have linked where I thought about it.

 Google Doc of Meal Planning Calendars (November and December). Download and modify as you like!

Here are the two completed calendars:

My plan is to print them for quick reference as well as have them accessible on my phone so I can look quickly if need be.

NOVEMBER:

SUNDAY	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY
						1
2 Lettuce WLraps And Fried Rice Make Bread Make German Chocolate Cake	3 Birthday dinner!	4 Chef salad	5 Sweet potato black bean enchiladas	6 Chicken pesto pasta Make and freeze extra pesto	7 Salmon Parmesan risotto	8 Pulled pork shoulder Coleslaw
9 Corn chowder and biscuits Make Bread	10 Hamburgers and salad	11 Summit salad (Whitewater) with Dijon chicken	12 Fajitas (beef) Fajita seasoning	13 Pad Thai (Whitewater)	14 Chicken Pot Pies (Make 6 extra for freezer) pastry	15 Home made Sushi night
16 Thai Coconut curry soup (Whitewater) and gyoza (leftover frozen) Make Bread	17 Marinated salmon Wild rice pilaf	18 Pork Chops in Mushroom sauce Make Cookies for freezer- Cosmic cookies	19 Quinoa Peanut Chicken salad	20 Creamy Bean Burritos	21 Chicken Alfredo Alfredo sauce **sub milk for cream	22 Home Made Pizzas Quick pizza dough
23 Tortilla Soup Make Bread	24 Out for dinner	25 Slow cooker Honey Chicken with rice	26 Steak and potatoes and green salad Chickpea Curry (Whitewater)	27 Smoked salmon Pasta with basil, tomatoes, onions, artichokes and feta	28 Chicken Parmesan	29 Crock Pot Spaghetti Sauce (Spaghetti Dinner)

DECEMBER:

SUNDAY	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY	THURSDAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY
Nov 30 Make Bread Slow cooker Jambalaya	1 Chicken Pot pies ( from freezer)	2 Use Frozen Spaghetti sauce- Pasta dinner	3 Steak, potatoes, greek salad	4 Tex mex Spaghetti squash (home made salsa, feta, cheddar, black beans, bread cru)	5 Chicken wings Asian noodle salad	6 Curry Craft night??
7 Make Bread Roast Beef Dinner	8 Leftover Roast beef stirfry	9 Baked macaroni	10 Chili	11 Quinoa and beans stuffed peppers	12 Salmon Red Curry	13 Roasted veggie Struedel with balsamic reduction (Whitewater)
14 Make Bread Thai Satay pork tenderloin	15 Pad Thai	16 ** Chicken Pot pies (from freezer- see nov. calendar for recipe)	17 ** Hamburgers	18 Thai Chicken noodle salad	19 Breakfast dinner- sausage, hash, pancakes	20 Deep fryer night! Wings, gyoza, fries
21 Make Bread Leftover Chili	22 Chicken Quesadillas	23 Cheesy spaghetti squash	24 Home made pizzas	25 Christmas- Turkey Dinner	26 Leftovers!	27 Holiday Cooking Make Turkey Soup And biscuits
28 Spaghetti	29 Turkey Pot pie	30 Lettuce Wraps and Gyoza	31 Dinner Out