Thursdays are historically grocery day in my world. On Wednesdays I make the next week’s menu (Sunday to Thursday + the week’s breakfast), Thursday I do the grocery shopping after work (Coscto & regular grocery store), Friday after work I take out all the meat that is required to defrost and on the weekend I do my pre-cooking.
When I’m planning the menu I’m also writing a list of the things that I will do to pre-cook. If the prep list goes beyond about 2-3 hours, I change the menu to reduce prep time since spending the entire weekend in the kitchen isn’t my idea of a good time.
So, here’s our menu for the next week.
Sunday: grilled baby octopus & perch with coleslaw & roasted Brussels sprouts (day of prep including cooking time: 30-40 minutes)
Monday: jerk meatloaf refried & topped with fried mushrooms & onions & chunk of sweet potato (day of prep including cooking time: < 20 minutes)
Tuesday: spatchcocked chicken roasted on a bed of fennel, sweet onion & lemons; steamed brocolini & roasted garlic baby potatoes (day of prep: 5 minutes, cooking time: 75 minutes)
Wednesday: Cauli rice with sliced cooked chicken thighs & almond green beans (day of prep including cooking time: < 20 minutes)
Thursday: beef provencal stew w/ mashed cauliflower (day of prep including cooking time: < 20 minutes)
Breakfast All Week: smoked salmon & spinach omelette, cauli rice & bnut squash (morning prep including cooking time: < 15 minutes)
WEEKEND PREP REQUIRED:
cube & roast butternut squash (15 minutes of hands on prep)
bake chicken thighs (10 minutes of hands on prep)
bake these in the oven at the same time
rice 2 cauliflowers (15 minutes)
slice fennel & sweet onions (8 minutes)
do the shredding & slicing in food processor and then wash (10 minutes)
make jerk meatloaf & bake (10 minutes hands on prep)
make beef provencal (25 minutes hands on prep)
make mayo (2 minutes)
GRAND TOTAL WEEKEND PREP TIME: 95 MINUTES
So that’s how I do it. We eat something different every night for dinner (99% of the time) and take the leftovers for lunch. Breakfast is the same all week. Notice that I do not list all the days of the week. Two days of every week (usually Thursday & Friday or Friday & Saturday) I don’t cook anything official for dinner. It’s each to their own to make or buy or order whatever they want and make sure that whatever they do, they have leftovers available for their lunch. If I feel like I have extra time, I will make something in weekend prep time that we can use (extra chicken or a stew or roast a pork loin). More often I don’t.
FOOD
I am TERRIBLE at remembering to take pictures before I eat!
Dinner last night was Well Fed African Chicken Stew served over sauteed mixture of arugula & baby kale with a side of japanese sweet potato.
Breakfast this morning was the potato, green bean, onion & chicken skillet topped with eggs & Frank’s Red Hot. Plus a coffee with a couple tbsp of coconut milk. AND, I took a PICTURE!!!
And just because I love her and I think you should too, here’s a picture of Gracie on her walk yesterday. 🙂
Fitty vs Fatty 