Meal plan week 31 is about some comfort foods for us. We got our first snowfall this week so we want to have warming foods for our dinners. Nothing is better than coming home from school to a house filled with delicious soup smells.
Meal Plan Week 31
Monday - Burgers and Fries
Tuesday - Beef Goulash
Wednesday - Lemon Lentil Soup
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Pizza Bagels and a Salad
Saturday - Borscht
Sunday - Rack of Lamb, Roast Potatoes, Peas
Meal Plan Week 31 In-Depth and Top Tips
Monday
Meal - Burgers and Fries
A traditional restaurant meal our kids love a good burger and fries. We make our burgers on the barbecue. Rob is out there grilling no matter the weather.
The fries are made from russet potatoes that we peel and slice in fry sides potato sticks. They are soaked for 30 minutes in salted cold water to draw out some of the starch. After soaking, remove the potatoes to clean towels to dry them. Preheat the air fryer to 400F. Toss the fries in a large bowl with 1 tablespoon of canola oil. Put the fries in the air fryer basket so they are not crowded and cook at 380F for 24-28 minutes shaking halfway. More than one batch may be needed.
Brand We Have Found:
Buns
Burgers
Top Tip:
We like to shake up the toppings with pickled red onions, raw white onions, pickles, BBQ sauce, Applewood smoked plant cheese, banana peppers, avocados, tomato slices, and much more.
The kids love sauteed mushrooms, bacon bits, and Daiya cheese sauce like the Wendy’s bacon portabella mushroom melt burgers.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
We often send a cooked burger as a cold sandwich for the kids for lunch with the toppings on the side, wrapped separately. When they have access to a microwave they take the patty out and warm it for 25-40 seconds on a microwave safe plate. We send a small plate in their lunch kit so the kids don't put the patty on the microwave base where other food may be an allergen hazard.
Tuesday
Meal - Beef Goulash
The recipe for this German Goulash is newer to our site. It is basically a paprika based beef stew. We add bell peppers to ours, potatoes and chunks of beef. Sweet, spicy, or smoked paprika can be used to give the dish a bit of variety. Our kids cannot handle the spice so we use sweet or smoked depending on what we are feeling. This is a hearty dish best served with a gluten free bread roll.
If beef isn’t safe for you lamb, bison, venison, or pork will work in this recipe.
Brand We Have Found:
Bread rolls
Top Tip:
The meat can be seared and the rest of the ingredients added into the slow cooker for 4-6 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. if it is easier for you.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
Just like any other soup, stew, or chilli this is best served warm in a thermos. We preheat the thermos by filling it with hot water while the goulash is reheated on the stove. The stew reheats best in a small pot with a couple of tablespoons of water over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil.
Reduce the heat to medium low and simmer for 5 minutes. Dump out the water in the thermos and ladle in the goulash. Cover with the lid and send in the lunch box. Don’t forget to send a spoon and a nice gluten free roll or bagel for this lunch.
Make sure the soup will not be burning hot when opened. It can cause burns if it is too hot in the thermos when opened or if spilled.
Wednesday
Meal - Lemon Coconut Lentil Soup
This is one of my favourite soups. It is really fresh tasting and is really easy to make. The kids like it but prefer it with chicken in it.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 C carrots, medium diced
- ½ a white onion, medium diced
- 1 ½ shallots, finely diced
- 3 Cloves garlic, minced
- 1 yellow pepper, medium diced
- 1.5 c red lentils
- 1 L vegetable stock
- 1L water
- 400mL coconut milk, from a can
- 1 C kale, torn into bite sized pieces
- 1 lemon, use the zest and all the juice
- 1 ½ tablespoon fresh thyme, off the stalk
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Heat olive oil in a medium- large soup pot over medium heat. Sauté the carrots, pepper, onion, shallots, and garlic until soft and translucent. About 12-15 mins. Add the stock and blend the veggies and stock with an immersion blender. If using a blender do not use hot stock as it will spray out of the lid seal and can burn. If using a blender, remove the pot from the heat, put everything in a high powered blender and blitz. Then pour back into the pan and return to medium heat.
Add the water, coconut milk and lentils. Stir well. Watch that the lentils do not bake on to the bottom by stirring constantly until simmering and scraping the bottom of the pot. Increase the heat to medium high. Bring the soup to a light boil, reduce the heat to simmer. Cover with a well fitting lid. Let simmer covered for 25-30 mins, stirring often so the lentils do not bake on to the bottom of the pot.
Add in kale and stir. Simmer for another 3-5 mins uncovered, or until kale wilts. Remove from heat. Add in lemon juice, thyme, and lemon zest. Salt and pepper to taste. For kids you can use ¼ the lemon. Make sure to salt and taste. The salt will cut acidity but bring out the lemon flavour.
Brand We Have Found:
Vegetable Stock
Top Tip:
For an extra bit of flavour, bake 1-2 boneless skinless chicken breasts in the oven. Season the breasts with salt and pepper and a bit of olive oil. When cooked through to 165F internally, shred or dice the chicken and add it to the soup.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
Preheat the thermos with hot water that is dumped out right before the soup goes in the container. Make sure the thermos is easy for kids to open safely and that the contents will not be too hot or burn them if spilled.
Reheat the soup on the stove in a small pot with a few tsps of water over medium/high heat. Heat until it boils and reduce the heat to let the soup simmer for 3-5 minutes.
Don’t forget to pack a spoon.
Thursday
Meal - Leftovers
This is our weekly clean up meal from anything we have leftover this week of anything we froze a couple of servings of last week. This is how we stretch our food budget and lighten the workload.
Top Tip:
The best way we find is to put the storage containers on our kitchen island and have the kids choose their favs. We then heat them up in pans on the stove or in the oven depending on what they choose.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
We don’t send already warmed up leftovers as lunch as we follow the food safety recommendation that food be reheated only once. One of our kids has EoE and has always struggled with food. The last thing we need is for him to get sick from our reheating and chilling and reheating and chilling the food. We tend to be a bit on the conservative side due to their other medical issues and how long it took to have them eat a variety of foods.
Friday
Meal - Pizza Bagels and a Salad
Friday nights are often pizza nights in our home. It was a tradition we had before the kids had allergies and we still love to keep some things the same.
This week we need a bit of a quicker pizza night and will be making pizza bagels instead of our usual dough from our recipe. The bagels will be different and keep it fun for the kids and easier on us. Make sure the bagels are plain and not flavoured or sweet fruit filled.
The toppings will be the usual favourites of the kids. Meats like ham or prosciutto, we also use leftover taco meat. We have frozen the meat after other meals and use it or other ground meats that are cooked, frozen and thawed in small batches.
The salad will probably be a spinach based one. The dressing will be 3 parts olive oil and 1 part fresh lemon juice. Tomatoes, Prosciutto, olives, and capers will probably be our toppers on the salad.
Brand We Have Found:
Top Tip:
Toast the bagels in the oven, put on the sauce and toppings and the dairy free cheese. Bake for 5 mins or until the dairy free cheese starts to melt a bit. It will not melt like regular cheese but will warm and change in consistency. Baking it for more than 5-8 minutes will make the cheese go crunchy and hard. It needs to be watched closely.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
These are awesome for school lunches! Our kids love them and we send them in one of two ways. The first way is to send them as cold pizzas. We put them in the sandwich part of their bento boxes and they eat them like they would any regular cold pizza.
The second way is to send them as a deconstructed bagel pizza, like the popular lunchables. In well sealing containers send a bit of sauce, cheese, toppings and the bagel that has been toasted slightly. The kids put together their own cold pizzas with shredded dairy free cheese just like their friends who get the lunchables brand of lunches.
Don’t forget a small spoon to spread the sauce
Saturday
Meal - Borscht
This traditional Eastern European soup is one we make a lot in the fall and winter. We buy big bags of beets and make a huge batch and freeze the extra for later in the winter.
We will need beets, chicken or vegetable stock, potatoes, dill, vinegar,
Don’t forget beets can colour stool and urine a red colour. They also may stain hands when peeling and cutting so if that is an issue try wearing latex free food safe vinyl gloves during the handling of the beets. We highly recommend wearing dark colours or old clothes when preparing and eating the soup. The kids taught us that lesson the hard way.
Brand We Have Found:
Broth/Stock
Vegetable
Chicken
Top Tip:
Our kids love this soup but only if we puree it. So our borscht is always made into a potage style of soup rather than a beet stew. It is a part of their EoE food texture issues that pops up with certain foods. To thin the soup add a bit of extra stock or water after blitzing to puree the soup.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
Due to the way beets can stain everything we don’t recommend sending it to school for lunch. If it is still something you will send, make sure it is in a well sealing thermos. Preheat the thermos with hot water that is dumped out right before the soup goes in the container.
Reheat the soup on the stove in a small pot with a few tsps of water over medium/high heat. Heat until it boils and reduce the heat to let the soup simmer for 3-5 minutes.
Don’t forget to pack a spoon and napkins. Open with care so it doesn’t burn anyone, or stain anything. It is always best to not send food that is so hot it will burn those who open or eat it at lunch.
Sunday
Meal - Rack of lamb in a mint marinade, Roast Potatoes, Peas
Rack of Lamb
The night before marinade the rack of lamb in the mint marinade recipe in our top tip. Cover the container in the fridge overnight. The day of cooking let the lamb rest at room temperature for 1 hour. In a pan over medium-high heat sear the outside of the lamb. Move to a small roasting pan and continue cooking in the oven. Roast the rack of lamb for 20-35 mins at 375F or until cooked to your liking. Lamb is usually served more rare than well done. Carve the rack between the bones to serve.
Roast Potatoes
To make roast potatoes we will peel and cut a starchy potato (Idahoan or russet) in 8 lengthwise. We will boil the potatoes in salted water for 15 or so minutes. Drain the water from the pot by pouring the potatoes in a colander. Put the colander in the pot and cover with a kitchen towel off the heat. This will help to steam the potatoes a bit.
When steamed for 5 mins, shake the pot with the colander and potatoes in it. (it may be good to use a lid). This roughs up the outside of the potatoes. Put 1 tablespoon of bacon fat or neutral oil in a 9x13 inch greased casserole dish. Place potatoes in the casserole dish. Bake at 400F for 1 hour or until crispy on the outside.
Peas
Frozen peas will be used as that is what is easiest and cheapest for us at this time of year. They are on hand for the goulash so we may as well use the rest for this meal. We will use the stove top method of cooking the peas in a bit of plant spread with salt and pepper and adding fresh chopped mint right before removing from the heat.
Top Tip:
To make the marinade mix 2 Tbsps of olive oil, 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, 3 cloves of garlic minced, 1 shallot minced, salt/pepper to taste, and ¼ cup chopped fresh mint.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
This is best served warm so if there is access to a microwave putting the lamb, peas, and potatoes in a container that is microwave safe is the best bet. Microwave it for 1 minute 20 seconds and check if it is heated through. If not heat for another 25 seconds.
If there isn't microwave access the dish is best saved for leftover dinners as it doesn't hold up really well in a thermos in our experience.
We Love Feedback!
Did you make any of the meals from the meal plan week 31? 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.
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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.
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