This week is BUUUUUSY. I feel like I say that every week, but honestly life is just moving fast lately. When I know I have a super busy week, I try to plan a meal plan that requires almost as little work as possible. I love when all cooking/meal prepping can be done on Monday and everything is just ready to be eaten the rest of the week. I’ve said this before, but my go to meal to have in the fridge on weeks like this is chili. Sorry if you are not a chili fan, because it is a staple in my house and likely to make it on a lot of my meal plan posts! Chili is comforting, healthy and is a meal I can eat all week long and not get sick of it. Possibly my favorite breakfast of ALLLLL time, chili + eggs. Yum!
So here is the game plan for monday night meal prep…
I am going to cut and wash all our produce for the week. We are stocking up on veggies because we are traveling at the end of the week, which means germs + bad food are on the horizon. I am going to make my favorite ever veggies + dip to load up on vitamins all week long. And LOTSSSSS of salads. When I make a heavier meal, like chili, I like to balance it with lighter meals like salads + some protein. I am going to wash all of our lettuce for the week tomorrow (monday) night. Having chopped + washed lettuce ready in the fridge is a game changer. I am also psycho about my lettuce being dry and super cold for my salads.
If you missed my meal plan last week, we entirely cut out added sugar (ok, I cheated on Thursday because Blake had been traveling for 2 days and BB and I needed a froyo date) and we are trying to keep it out of our diets as much as possible moving forward, while not being too obsessive about checking labels. So that means lots of savory meals, like chili. So I am going to make a massive batch of chili (going with beef this time because BB needs to get some more red meat into her diet). Also, BB isn’t a huge fan of chili, but pasta she LOVES. So here is a mom hack. Make a mini batch of “chili” but leave out the chili spices and voila, you’ve got yourself some meat sauce! Chili gets a bad reputation, when it is actually really good for you! If you cut back on the sodium and use a really lean protein (like chicken, turkey, grass fed beef, or bison) it is the perfect healthy meal! Obviously if you soak it in cheese and sour cream and serve it with butter soaked garlic bread, you’ve taken it to a dark place. So eat it within reason!
Once my chili is made and lettuce is washed, the rest of the week’s meals become so easy. A dinner I can get on the table in less than 10 minutes is always a winner.
If you aren’t sold on chili yet, here are all the ways you can eat your chili leftovers this week:
Chili + white onion + chives + cheddar cheese
Chili + avocado + cilantro + tortilla chips
Chili + eggs
Chili over sweet potato or baked potato + cheddar cheese + scallions
Chili nachos (um yummmm)
So, here is our meal roundup this week!
BREAKFASTS
chili + eggs
smoothies
LUNCHES
leftovers
egg salad + gg crackers
DINNERS
chili
*recipe at the bottom of the post!
escarole + apple + walnut + avocado + scallion salad
caesar salad + hard boiled egg (the homemade caesar dressing I make is evoo + lemon + garlic + anchovy paste + s&p)
SNACKS
veggies + dip (1 cup mayo + 1 cup sour cream + 1 tbsp dill + 1 tbsp parsley + 1 tbsp minced onion)
popcorn
strawberries + dark chocolate
WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE
chili powder
garlic powder
paprika
cumin
onion flakes
dill
parsley
mayo
apples
anchovy paste
popcorn
walnuts
gg crackers
GROCERY LIST
I usually shop monday morning but Blake was working today so BB and I did a grocery run today and it feels SO good to have it out of the way! I also peeled, washed and prepped all our veggies for the week! Is it weird that I really love peeling carrots? Today’s grocery total was a lot cheaper than usual, maybe because chili is so cost effective! total was $87
onion
garlic
scallions
lemon
oranges
carrots
strawberries
avocado
escarole
carrots
broccoli
watermelon radish
celery
tomatoes
ground beef (2 lbs for a big batch of chili)
spicy v8 (I buy the R.W. Knudsen brand from Whole Foods, spicy + low sodium)
kidney beans
black beans
chili beans
sour cream
eggs
cheddar cheese
Deady Family Chili Recipe!
I do everything by eye, so I did my best to approximate the measurements!
Ingredients
1 medium onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 lbs ground beef (I use 90% lean grass fed beef to keep my chili really lean!)
2 tbsp chili powder
1/2 tbsp paprika
1/2 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp red pepper flakes (I like my chili spicy! but you can omit this ingredient if you do not care for spice)
salt and pepper
2 containers of R.W Knudsen spicy tomato juice
2 cans kidney beans
1 can black beans
1 can chili beans
Directions
sauté one medium chopped onion in 1 tbsp olive oil, remove onion from pan
brown 2 lbs ground beef then strain the fat
add onion back into ground beef and season with garlic + chili powder + paprika + garlic powder + red pepper flakes + salt and pepper to taste
stir over medium heat until spices are well combined and become fragrant
stir in 2 containers of spicy tomato juice (I use R.W. Knudsen brand, but spicy V8 works too) and bring to a boil
stir in beans and bring to a boil again
reduce heat to low and cook down to desired consistency. I like my chili really rich and thick, so I cook mine down for a couple hours! enjoy!
