This meal plan week 29 we have Canadian Thanksgiving on the Monday. We will be making the traditional turkey this year and saving the extra meat for other meals and soups. The meals are easy this week. The falafels can be made ahead and frozen and the beef is done in a slow cooker. The pasta is our under 30 minute meal. With weeknights getting busier and busier we are working on what we can make quickly, with little effort, and use all of it up.
Meal Plan Week 29
Monday - Thanksgiving Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, and Asparagus
Tuesday - Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Tacos
Wednesday - Falafel wraps
Thursday - Nachos
Friday - Dairy Free Carbonara Pasta
Saturday - Falafel, Dairy Free Tzatziki with a Greek Salad
Sunday - Leftovers
Meal Plan Week 29 In-Depth and Top Tips
Monday
Meal Thanksgiving Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, and Asparagus
We will be making the traditional turkey roasted like we roast chickens, on a bed of carrots, onions, garlic, a few potato peelings, and water in the bottom of the roasting pan. This is to make the gravy with the drippings and have it be really flavourful.
The stuffing will be made form our gluten and egg free recipe. Mashed potatoes from our usual boiled potatoes mashed with dairy free milk and dairy free buttery spread, salt and pepper. The asparagus may end up as Brussels sprouts in the air fryer depending on what is cheaper at the market this week.
If we make Brussels sprouts we will clean and cut them in half. Toss them in a bit of neutral oil with onion and garlic powder, salt and pepper and a tiny bit of paprika. Put them in the air fryer on the veggie setting and check every 4 mins or less. Shaking often.
Brand We Have Found:
Bread
Promise Bread ( check as some contain egg)
Top Tip:
Strip all the meat off the turkey after cooking and use the carcass to make turkey stock. It can be used in place of chicken stock in recipes. The meat will become sandwiches, soup filling, and “TV dinner leftovers”.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
The next day in a thermos preheated with hot water, stack the potatoes, stuffing, chicken, and gravy. If a microwave is provided at school the meal can be sent in a microwavable container for the kids to heat up.
A turkey sandwich with gluten free bread, stuffing, a smear of cranberry sauce and some turkey is always a hit in our lunches.
Tuesday
Meal Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Tacos
We love this meal as we can use tougher, cheaper cuts of meat as the beef will be going in the slow cooker. This is an insanely easy dinner. Pop a 4 pound cut of beef, we like brisket or rump roast in the slow cooker. Add in a 20 ounce jar of salsa (choose the heat depending on your family’s preference) and add in 5 Tbsps of taco seasoning.
Cover the pot with the lid. Turn the slow cooker on for 6-8 hours on low or 4-6 hours on high. When the slow cooker is done cooking, shred the beef using two forks and strain off most of the fat by skimming with a large spoon or fat separator.
Brand We Have Found:
Wraps
Siete (these are not my fav they don’t wrap well)
Hard Shells
Salsa
Top Tip:
We use the taco seasoning recipe from the Spend with Pennies blog for our taco seasoning. It is cheaper and we can ensure it is safe for us.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
Send heated beef in a thermos and the kids can make their own tacos or roll the tacos in a wrap ahead of time. If wrapping the tacos before hand, drain the meat and blot it with a paper towel so the wraps are not soggy. The wrap can be microwaved in a safe container at school or eaten cold.
Wednesday
Meal Falafel wraps
We will be having Falafel wraps with cut veggies and dairy free tzatziki to dip the veggies in and for in the wrap. The wraps can be toasted after filing and rolling in a flat bottomed frying pan and pushed down with a flipper or spatula.
We fill the wraps with lettuce (whatever is on sale), tomatoes, onions, pickles, and tzatziki. They can however be customised.
Brand We Have Found:
Wraps
Siete (these are not my fav they don’t wrap well)
Top Tip:
Meal prep for this meal on the weekends. The falafels can be made ahead and the wraps toasted the night of. The falafels will also freeze really well so spending an afternoon making a ton of the falafels and freezing them is a great way to get ahead on meals. Have the kids roll and flatten the falafels to spend time together.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
The wraps work really well made up and sent like a sandwich. They can be eaten cold. If the kids are older and want to heat the falafels in the microwave at school they can do so in a safe container and then wrap their own lunch.
Thursday
Meal Nachos
Such an easy meal. We use up all the extra taco meat and fixings. The kids feel like they are having a special meal as it isn’t a typical dinner. They also love choosing their own toppings. Adding toppings like black beans, tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, olives and jalapenos for the parents will keep the meal fresh feeling.
Sometimes, we use Daiya cheese sauce instead of shredded dairy free cheese. We don’t bake these kinds of nachos in the oven. They instead are like stadium nachos where we put the cheese on and pile the fixings high for the kids in a bowl. It is messy be warned.
Brand We Have Found:
Cheese
Shredded
Follow Your Heart/ Earth Island
Chips
Top Tip:
Watch the chips carefully as they can burn quickly. We bake our nachos at 375-400F then broil them, if needed. Keep in mind the cheese will not melt as much as real cheese.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
The shredded cheese nachos are sent cold the next day in lunch boxes in re-usable bags for the kids. If we have made the cheese sauce kind we send it as a dip and the kids make them like a lunchable version of nachos. Be sure to send a fork and lots of napkins if it is the saucy cheese kind.
Friday
Meal Dairy Free Carbonara Pasta
This carbonara pasta is one of our quick weeknight meals. It is ready in under 30 minutes and usually eaten by the kids in less than 10 minutes. We love easy meals. It can be served with a small side salad from leftover lettuce used in making the tacos.
Brand We Have Found:
Parmesan
Follow Your Heart/Earth Island
Pasta
Top Tip:
Instead of cutting up bacon use bacon bits if they are safe for you. Costco carries bacon bits we can have that are Kirkland brand. Check the ingredients before buying to see if they are suitable for you. Using these saves us even more time when making dinner.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
In a thermos that has been heated with hot water put the reheated pasta. To reheat it use the stovetop method.
In a deep sided frying pan over medium heat, heat 2 tsps of olive oil. Put 1-2 servings in the heated pan and stir to mix the oil to coat all the dairy free carbonara pasta. Add 2 tbsps of water to the pan and cover with a well fitting lid. Cook for 3-4 mins. Remove the lid and stir well, continue cooking until the water has cooked off, 1-2 mins. Stir well, check to see if all the gluten free carbonara pasta is evenly warmed. If not, cook for 2 more mins stir to get the cold part on the pan.
Saturday
Meal Falafel, Dairy Free Tzatziki with a Greek Salad
This will be a vegetarian salad and falafel meal that is full of flavour and protein. The falafels will be reheated in the oven and the salad will have dairy free feta instead of the dairy kind.
It is an easy meal as the falafel will be made earlier in the week and kept in the fridge or frozen. If frozen, thaw the falafels before reheating.
Brand We Have Found:
Dairy Free Feta Cheese
Top Tip:
When making Falafels the chickpeas used must be dried ones. If canned ones are used the patties will fall apart. It doesn’t seem to matter how much the moisture is balanced out; they crumble into bits when cooked.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
Falafels are fantastic cold. They can be sent as a part of a bento box lunch as the protein. In one section 1-2 falafels, another dairy free tzatziki for dipping, and a greek salad in the largest section. Don’t forget to pack a fork.
Sunday
Meal Leftovers
We will be using up any bit and bobs from earlier in the week. Sometimes we freeze “TV dinners” from leftovers of our holiday or roast meals to have later in the week. This will be what dinner will be individual or family sized portions of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and the vegetable. The gravy will be already on the meat and potatoes for ease of reheating.
Top Tip:
For a large family like ours we sometimes use glass containers of just the turkey and gravy, just mashed potatoes and gravy, or stuffing and heat the thawed containers up in the oven. The glass pyrex freezer containers work really well at 375F for 15-20 mins covered with aluminium foil. Then we dish them all out on plates.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
The “TV dinners” can be frozen in smaller lunch sized portions in microwave safe containers to reheat at school or work. We take them out of the freezer the day before and thaw them in the fridge.
We Love Feedback!
Did you make any of the meals from the meal plan week 29? Please let us know! What is on your meal plan this week? Drop a comment on this post or tag us on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok.
- Vegan Lemon Meringue Pie - GF/DF/EF, Top 8 & 9 Free
- Gluten Free Tabouli (Tabbouleh) - GF/DF, Vegan, Top 9 Free
- Tomato Free Pasta Sauce - GF/DF, Top 9 Free
- Mashed Oven Roasted Acorn Squash - GF/DF, Top 9 Free, Vegan
- Gluten Free Herb Crusted Rack of Lamb - GF/DF, Top 8
We have to remind everyone that we are not medical professionals or dietitians, so these meal plans are not balanced for nutrition, they are for information purposes only. Please discuss any dietary concerns, changes, or proper meal plans with your medical team.
Always check the labels for any products to make sure they are right for you. We also encourage you to contact the manufacturers in addition to checking that the process of manufacturing is also safe for you, and that there aren’t shared lines. One product or ingredients may be safe for one person but not another. Always check the products and ingredients before purchasing.
Have you made this recipe? Please leave a comment and us know how much you liked it.