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Now that we are back into the full swing of school, work, and therapies, I feel busy all day from the second my feet hit the floor until my head hits the pillow.
With after-school appointments 2-3 days a week, a lot of our meals these days are easy to make and I do most of the prep on the weekends.
Thanks to the great freebies from Social Nature and Aisle, we’ve been trying new foods lately. It’s fun to try new foods.
If you 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 good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I 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.
Breakfast: I’ve been really into protein coffee lately. It helps me hit my protein goals and keeps me full until lunch. I use premade protein shakes like these. The kids request bagels and fruit most mornings. The big kid is on a smoothie kick; his favorites are here.
Lunch: I have a plastic tote full of self-serve snacks. I buy treats and snacks in bulk and fill up snack-sized zip-top bags. I have a post here about our lunches. School lunches are free for kids in California, but my kids usually bring lunch from home. I pre-plan my lunches for the week and I take a week’s worth of lunches to work on Monday and stash them in the breakroom fridge.
Dinner: The weather will be cooling down this week, so soup is back on the
Tuesday: Homemade Pizza and Salad
Wednesday: Roasted Veggie Soup, quesadillas, chips
Thursday: Whatever we feel like, it’s Halloween!
Y’all know I love a good freebie and a good rebate. Peekage is another company in a long line of companies like Social Nature and Aisle that offer products for free after rebate. And the process with Peekage is just as simple.
Right now there are offers on some yummy foods, such as:
Love samples? Check out PinchMe! Join PINCHme and receive free samples that you can provide feedback on.
PinchMe is awesome! Once you are signed up, they will email you reminders when new samples are about to drop, and remind you when it’s time to leave feedback.
Answer a series of questions about your household and shopping habits in the Member Profile. PinchMe learns what you like and offers samples just for you.
Once you’ve had a chance to try the samples, complete a short feedback survey to tell PinchMe what you think of the samples.
I get PinchMe samples every month. Here is what arrived at the end of September for the September 2022 box. Fiona really dig the Delectables Squeeze up Cat Treats- It’s like a gravy Capri Sun for cats!
What are you waiting for? Sign up here and get on the free sample bandwagon! I’ve gotten all kinds of awesome sample/trial size items, as well as full-sized items to try out from PinchMe!
This week is going to be bonks. We’ve got appointments every day this week. I did a bunch of meal prep today, and we’ll be having a lot of grab-and-go pre-prepped meals as a result.
I’ve also fallen off my more regimented eating plan, and I haven’t been able to get to the gym as much as I’d like lately, so I’m buckling down on my personal food intake and sticking to what I’ve planned only (for myself, we’ve got all kinds of back up meals if the kids aren’t feeling what I had planned).
Thanks to the great freebies from Social Nature and Aisle, we’ve been trying new foods lately. It’s fun to try new foods.
If you 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 good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I 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.
Breakfast: I’ve been really into protein coffee lately. It helps me hit my protein goals and keeps me full until lunch. I use premade protein shakes like these. The kids request bagels and fruit most mornings. The big kid is on a smoothie kick; his favorites are here.
Lunch: I have a plastic tote full of self-serve snacks. I buy treats and snacks in bulk and fill up snack-sized zip-top bags. I have a post here about our lunches. School lunches are free for kids in California, but my kids usually bring lunch from home. I pre-plan my lunches for the week and take a weeks worth of lunches to work on Monday and stash them in the breakroom firdge.
Dinner: With everything going on this week, meal prepping has been a huge lifesaver.. Hopefully after this next hot spell, we’ll get some more typical fall weather and I can use my crockpot more often!
Tuesday: Fruit Smoothies, bagels with cream cheese
Wednesday: Soup, quesadillas, chips, fruit salad – We have a bunch of soups in the freezer!
Thursday: Hashbrown breakfast bake- I didn’t have time to do this one last week
This soup was easy to make, flavorful, and a big hit.
I used Bruschetta from Aldi’s, however, if you don’t have one nearby, Trader Joe’s Bruschetta is great too.
Unlike most of my other recipes, I will not be providing any sort of dietary alternatives. I’m not sure this recipe would come out the same if it was vegan/vegetarian.
Chicken Bruschetta Stew with Orzo
Directions:
To serve: ladle soup into a bowl and top with approximately one to 2 ounces of cheese as desired. Serve with garlic bread or hot, crusty buttered bread. Well with a mixed green salad
And as always, the soup is better the next day. This recipe makes 6 to 8 servings and can be frozen.
This week’s meal plan is very loose. I try to meal prep and plan on Sunday’s, but we have a Yasukochi Family Farms CSA box coming tomorrow, so I think I’ll be doing the bulk of the meal prep tomorrow. At least veggie-wise.
I’ll be roasting cauliflower, squash, and other veggies with some of these Urban Accents kits. The Citrus pepper is my favorite.
Thanks to the great freebies from Social Nature and Aisle, we’ve been trying new foods lately. It’s fun to try new foods.
If you 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 good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I 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.
Breakfast: I’ve been really into protein coffee lately. It helps me hit my protein goals and keeps me full until lunch. I use premade protein shakes like these. The kids request bagels and fruit most mornings. The big kid is on a smoothie kick; his favorites are here.
Lunch: I have a plastic tote full of self-serve snacks. I buy treats and snacks in bulk and fill up snack-sized zip-top bags. I have a post here about our lunches. School lunches are free for kids in California, but my kids usually bring lunch from home.
Dinner: I’m working on a couple new recipes this week, so meals may get swapped around based on my free time. We’ve got therapy every week, so that cuts into our time at home (and my time to cook). Meal prepping has been a huge lifesaver on those busy days. Hopefully after this next hot spell, we’ll get some more typical fall weather and I can use my crockpot more often!
Tuesday: Italian Chicken (recipe coming up this week), fruit salad
Wednesday: Fruit Smoothies, bagels with cream cheese
Thursday: Hashbrown breakfast bake (new recipe coming up this week)
Social Nature has started offering 100% cash-back, similar to Ibotta and Fetch Rewards. I love this because I can select exactly what I want, Social Nature tells me which local stores have it, and I can add it to my next shopping list.
And it’s just as easy as Ibotta and Fetch Rewards. Snap a pic and upload it. You can select Venmo, Paypal, or an Amazon Gift Card for your rebate.
Here are just a few of the offers available now:
And one of the things I love about Social Nature is that they don’t leave our friends with food allergies out.
There are sampling offers for Gluten-free, nut-free, and meat-free foods.
Canadian Friends- You are in luck! There are sampling opportunities for you too! So if you love trying new products, check out Social Nature!
FTC Disclosure: As with some offers I post, I receive payments for clicks, purchases, and/or registrations made through affiliate links in this post.
I love baking- cookies, bread, even biscuits. To celebrate National Baking Day, here are a few of my favorite recipes:
Want cookies but don’t want to turn on the oven? Try these:
I’m back to posting Meal Plans. I took some time away to try and get back into the back-to-school/work swing of things.
I’m working on batch cooking to have soups/stews in the freezer. I made chicken noodle soup and chili from scratch this weekend. I split each batch into three: 1 for the fridge, one for the freezer, and one for my mom.
I add a lot of veggies to my soups and stews to increase the fiber content and help us get in our five a day.
Thanks to the great freebies from Social Nature and Aisle, we’ve been trying new foods lately. It’s fun to try new foods.
If you 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 good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I 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.
Breakfast: I’ve been really into protein coffee lately. It helps me hit my protein goals and keeps me full until lunch. I use premade protein shakes like these. The kids request bagels and fruit most mornings. The big kid is on a smoothie kick; his favorites are here.
Lunch: I have a plastic tote full of self-serve snacks. I buy treats and snacks in bulk and fill up snack-sized zip-top bags. I have a post here about our lunches. School lunches are free for kids in California, but my kids usually bring lunch from home.
Dinner: I reorganized the freezer over the weekend and discovered some spaghetti sauce, and a few other things that were buried under frozen fruit. Because we’ve got a busy week ahead (doctor’s appointments after school/work), we’ll be utilizing a lot of batch-prepped foods.
Tuesday: Chili, tortilla chips, fruit
Wednesday: Chef Salad, garlic bread
Thursday: Breakfast for dinner- Probably Quiche
Hewes Family Fun 