Weekly Meal Ideas + A Free Menu Planner Download!

  I've been asked a lot by friends how I feed my kids, what we eat in a typical week, etc. So, I figured I would write a post about it!

My family doesn't follow any kind of special or fad "diet." We aren't Paleo, GAPS, and the like. I consider our diet to be "whole foods based" or "clean", and to me that means:

• I buy foods from the store that are as close as possible to their natural state.
• Little to no processed or packaged foods. 
• As much as possible, I avoid these ingredients in food:
• As much as possible, I try to buy organic and GMO-free. 
• I must be able to pronounce the ingredients on a food I am buying, and know what they are. 

 This means I mostly shop the perimeter of the store: produce and refrigerated sections, and hardly go into the aisles (mostly for cereals, pasta, things of that nature). I like to make things from scratch as much as I can, and cooking in general is fun for me and something I enjoy doing.

As with anything in life, I believe eating is all about balance. We follow a 80/20 rule: 80% of the time our choices are healthy, but then there's that 20% where we eat out and get mac n cheese for the kids or have a guilty pleasure dessert. We certainly never deprive ourselves! 

I've struggled a lot with meal planning; more specifically with sticking to a meal plan. I think I've tried nearly every meal plan tip or trick on Pinterest, and they never last in the long run. For me, flexibility is key. Plans change, we decide to eat out instead of make a meal at home, it all happens and throws off a rigid meal plan. So, I created this little chart that hangs on my fridge with a rough idea of what we will eat for the week:

  It doesn't have days of the week listed, because our plans change a lot. And, it only has six days since there's the inevitable "leftover" dinner or we decide to eat out. If you think this simple chart will work for you, feel free to download it HERE! :)


A sneak peek of typical meals at our house include:

• Breakfast: we are egg-free due to Liam's eczema, so breakfasts lately have been smoothies with toast or oatmeal, and we eat a lot of breastfast burritos (because my kids will eat anything if it's wrapped in a tortilla with cheese and I can switch out the ingredients multiple ways so it doesn't get boring)
• Lunch: is often leftovers from dinner the night before. Other favorites include sandwich wraps (again, the boys love tortillas and there's plenty of options for fillings), homemade pizzas, and pasta. 
• Dinner: lately I've been trying to incorporate more vegetarian/vegan entrees, but that doesn't always go over well with the man of the house ;) However, our dinners are often very simple: a protein source (usually chicken or fish) and a couple of veggies. Clean eating doesn't have to be difficult at all :)
• Snacks: are usually fresh fruits and veggies, often with some cheese cubes or yogurt. 

I hope these ideas help you and your family!