I’ve decided that I want to get a better handle on our food costs with everything rising due to the Pandemic, get us eating healthier and making sure new foods are being introduced to my kids so they can try a large variety of things, even though my youngest is really selective about what he wants to eat – I think it’s definitely a texture thing. I’m going to keep it simpler by just focusing on dinner only at this point and once I’m ready I’ll add lunches and breakfast.
To begin I decided there should be a set dinner menu each week with repeating meals but change them up a little each to keep it from being boring. I know continuing to offer the same foods over and over again is key to having my son begin to try them. I found this out by offering cherry tomatoes from the garden all summer long last year on the tidbit tray because my daughter loves them, and he finally began to eat them at the end of the summer. Who knew! I would like to make sure there are things they like to eat and quick to prepare because not everyone has a lot of time to devote each night to dinner. I’m exhausted by the end of the day which causes us to just bring home dinner and thus our food costs are exploding. So, to get a better handle on things I’m going to plan to prepare and prepare the plan. I need to be realistic about what I can and can’t accomplish right now and really that only gives me about 15 minutes to get dinner on the table from start to finish – yikes!
With time being an issue, I definitely like to use shortcuts to get dinner done quickly. Things like frozen steamable veggies and grain sides are a staple for us as they are usually only 4-5 minutes in the microwave, grilled precooked chicken breasts, precooked shrimp, frozen sheet pan vegetable mixes and the biggest timesaver is pre-chopped pre-washed vegetables like carrot sticks, celery ribs, onions, salad mixes and even a chopped slaw mix so all I have to do is add a vinaigrette dressing before serving. Tilapia is a super easy way to have dinner from the dreaded “What’s for dinner mom?” to table in 30 minutes as it thaws in the sink in under 15 minutes then in the oven with a lemon olive oil drizzle for 15 minutes.
With the warmer weather coming to Texas, I decided I would like to incorporate some spring meals into our menu. Things that make me think of spring would be salads of all kinds, carrots, berries and asparagus. This month also has a birthday, so we will do dinner meal out that night. One of the rotating meals is a delicious pizza (half cheese and basil and half sausage) and beet salad that we get from a local place for our family movie night. Everyone has preferences that I need to take into consideration such as my daughter loves tacos and my son loves spaghetti, so we have to incorporate those into our dinner rotation. I also want to make sure we get plenty of vegetables in our meals, so I do a lot of vegetable heavy meals and very minimal meat as much as I can. Reducing food waste is one thing I am trying to be better at, so we do a leftovers smorgasboard night once a week – usually on Sunday. I pull out all the leftovers from the past week and let everyone pick what they want. This also helps to keep the fridge tidy and use up anything before it goes bad.
It’s a little old fashioned but I also serve a small tidbit tray at *every* dinner with a variety of foods because it’s extremely popular with my family. Things I use are pickles, olives, cheese, fresh cut veggies, fresh herbs, nuts and fruit but it really depends on what needs to be used up before going bad and what would complement the meal. I use a variety of things to serve it on like wooden boards, large plates, chip and dip trays or really anything I can find that would work but my favorite is the vintage anchor hocking snack plates that have little indents for a tea cup that are clear glass with a lovely grapes pattern. They are the perfect size for a small tidbit tray and the indent allows for a small glass ramekin to hold things like beets, olives or pickles where the juice may affect other items on the tray. This serves triple duty – adding extra veggies to the kids meals, introducing new foods in a non-stressful way as everyone can pick and choose what they want from the tray and it allows my children to learn they can control what they put on their plates and eat. I want them to develop healthy eating habits that will serve them for their entire life and not cause dinnertime battles now and possible eating disorders in the future. This is not an elaborate charcuterie tray so I save myself time with this by using pantry staples like bagged nuts and seeds, crackers and dried fruit, buying pre-chopped veggies like carrot and celery sticks, whole veggies, herbs and fruits like cherry tomatoes, basil leaves and berries, using vegetables that I pickled or other canned things from the garden, cutting up a cheese stick/sliced cheese or buying cubed cheese, quick things in jars like olives and gherkins are also a timesaver. I also take a moment to think about presentation, so I add some bento box accessories like fun food picks, lettuce leaves on the bottom, edible flowers from the garden, etc. It’s just an extra way to keep it fun as fun and presentation go a long way in helping kids be adventurous and try new things.
March 1 – Tacos – Vegetarian soy crumbles, assorted toppings, hard shells and soft tortillas, black beans and cauliflower rice
March 2 – Spring vegetable stir fry, vegetable egg rolls, cream cheese rangoon and cauliflower fried rice
March 3 – Spaghetti with marinara, impossible meatballs, garden salad and garlic bread
March 4 – Crockpot Chicken Bacon Ranch Chicken breast, steamed broccoli with cheese, and a steamed quinoa side dish
March 5 – Pizza and beet salad
March 6 – Leftover smorgasboard
March 7 – Veggie burgers, curly fries and slaw
March 8 – Tacos – Shrimp, assorted toppings, soft tortillas and cauliflower lime cilantro rice
March 9 – Dinner Out
March 10 – Spaghetti with marinara and strawberry walnut salad
March 11 – Grilled Chicken, carrots, greek salad and grain side.
March 12 – Pizza and beet salad
March 13 – Leftover smorgasboard
March 14 – Veggie burgers, curly fries and cucumber salad
March15 – Taco Salad – Corn, assorted toppings, tortilla chips, black beans and cauliflower lime cilantro rice
March 16 – Meal salad and crescent rolls
March 17 – Slow cooker corned beef, cabbage, carrots and potatoes with French bread
March 18 – Falafel, hummus, pita chips, tzatziki and fresh veggies
March 19 – Pizza and beet salad
March 20 – Leftover smorgasboard
March 21 – Veggie burgers, regular fries and pasta salad
March 22 – Tacos – Vegetarian soy crumbles, assorted toppings, hard shells and soft tortillas, black beans and cauliflower rice
March 23 – Sheet pan roasted spring vegetables, crescent rolls, and steamed grain side
March 24 – Tortellini with marinara, Italian salad and garlic bread
March 25 – Tilapia with lemon, asparagus and grain side
March 26 – Pizza and beet salad
March 27 – Leftover smorgasboard
March 28 – Veggie burgers, regular fries and Brussel sprout quinoa salad
March 29 – Taco Salad – Corn, assorted toppings, tortilla chips, black beans and cauliflower lime cilantro rice
March 30 – Grilled chicken, carrots, cucumber salad and rosemary beans
March 31 – Spaghetti with marinara, impossible meatballs, garden salad and garlic bread
There you have it folks! A complete dinner menu to include a nod to St. Patrick’s Day that’s kid friendly and super quick to prepare each night.
If you have any questions on anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.
JennyCup