I’m hoping this week starts an easy descent into the end of 2022. This year has been rough, and I really need some rest.
We are finishing up with TBS therapy at about the end of the year, and it’s really been helpful for the whole family, especially the big kid. It’s been a big part of our lives over the past few months.
I went to the grocery store on Friday night. I didn’t do much meal prep this week. I was exhausted from all the driving and other work I’d done last week. So this week is going to be a lot of low-effort meals. This would be a great week for Dream Dinners, but I didn’t have time to place an order for October.
We’ll be eating a lot of vegetarian/low-meat meals this week. With the ever-increasing cost of groceries, we’re leaning on pantry staples and what’s in the freezer again for this week.
We’ve been trying a lot of new foods lately, thanks to the really great freebies from Social Nature lately too. It’s fun to try new foods.
For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.
I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste.
I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day.
Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2 for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids. They are also into fruit and bagels for breakfast. Lately, the big kid has been digging protein shakes in the morning. This is his favorite kind.
Lunch: I have a plastic tote in the cupboard full of self-serve snacks. I buy treats and snacks in bulk and fill up snack-sized zip-top bags. The big kid brings his lunch from home every day and the littlest buys her lunch at school about half the time. In California, all public schools provide breakfast and lunch for free.
Dinner: This week is packed as far as appointments, so I’m leaning on stuff that’s easy and tasty. I prepped fruits and veg over the weekend and made up the last Dream Dinner and portioned it into lunch-sized servings.
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Monday: Protein shakes, fruit, and toast (and trick or treating)
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Tuesday: Beans, Rice, and cheese bowls with roasted veggies
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Wednesday: Nuggets, fruit, crackers, and cheese
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Thursday: Pasta with red sauce, spinach salad
- Friday: Takeout night!
- Saturday: Grilled cheese sandwiches, soup, fruit
- Sunday: Leftovers
Recently our friends over at Ooly sent us a little box full of creativity. The kids and I love to do art, make stuff, and express our creative sides. I was stoked to receive the Rainbow Sparkle Glitter Markers, and Chunkies Paint Sticks.
And the Chunkies? Perfection. She loves to paint, but I don’t love the setup and mess. These Chunkies solved my problems and let her express her creativity with paint. She loved that the paint dries quickly, and it didn’t get all over her hands (issues that we’ve had with other brands of paint sticks).
They’ve put together a 
AO Opinions is another Market Research company that emails me about studies and surveys. Right now they are recruiting for a new study.
This week has been a doozy friends. I’ve been driving the big kid up to and home from camp all week, in addition to working and momming. It’s about a 45 minute drive each way in the morning, and in the afternoon there is traffic, so it’s up to an hour each way. Ah, the things we do for our kiddos.
Hewes Family Fun 