The meal plan week 35 is a big one this week for all of those who celebrate Thanksgiving in America. We have opted for roasting a turkey this week as our friends to the south may be. In Canada Thanksgiving is technically celebrated in October, for those who celebrate it. We love curling up with la Turkey dinner and watching the Macy’s Day Parade we recorded earlier in the day so the season for us wouldn’t be complete without a turkey.
Meal Plan Week 35
Monday - German Beef Goulash
Tuesday - Pizza Bagels and a Salad
Wednesday - BLTs and Caesar Salads
Thursday - Turkey Dinner with All the Trimmings
Friday - Hot Turkey Sandwiches and Leftover Sides
Saturday - Shepherd’s Pie Type of Casserole with Turkey Leftovers
Sunday - Turkey Noodle Soup
Meal Plan Week 35 In-Depth and Top Tips
Monday
Meal German Beef Goulash
This is a popular meal in our home. We wanted something warm but easy on the pocketbook as the turkey dinner is our big spend this week. We can do meal prep on this a day or two ahead and store it in the fridge. If we do it further out we freeze the cut up veggie bits and use them from the freezer. The meat needs to be thawed first, so don’t forget to pull it out at least the night before.
We usually serve this with a gluten free roll or slices of gluten free bread to sop up the liquid.
Brand We Have Found:
Bread rolls
Top Tip:
This freezes REALLY well. It is perfect for a make ahead meal that has been doubled and half frozen for a quick dinner another night. We pull the frozen containers out the night before and pop them in the fridge to thaw overnight.
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.
Tuesday
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 be a really simple tomato and cucumber mix with a bit of dairy free Ranch Dressing mixed into the salad. We want quick and easy dinners as the big one will be later in the week.
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.
Wednesday
Meal BLTs and Caesar Salads
Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato Sandwiches made with a swipe of vegan mayo. The bacon is layered with slices of ripe tomatoes and a few leaves of lettuce. Romaine will be the obvious choice for lettuce for this meal as the rest of it can be used in the caesar salad.
The salad will be vegan dressing that is also soy free and homemade croutons. A really easy and quick dinner for us tonight.
Brands We Have Found:
Top Tip:
To make gluten free croutons take 5 slices of gluten free top 8 free bread and cut it in crouton sized cubes. Put the bread in a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil mixing so all the pieces get coated lightly. Sprinkle on garlic and onion powder, salt and pepper and mix again.
Lay the bread out in a single layer on 1-2 parchment lined cookie sheets. Broil for 2-3 mins watching carefully so they do not burn, flip the croutons to ensure all sides are toasted and broil 1-2 mins on each side until done. Really watch them as they can catch quickly, if they burn. Remove from the oven and let cool before using.
If croutons are not for you try topping the salad with roasted chickpeas.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
The tomatoes should be sent separately from the rest of the BLT. If it is sent on the sandwich it will make the bread soggy in the lunch kit. Otherwise make the sandwich up and pack it in a container or sealing bag.
The salad can be sent with dressing on it for younger children. We don’t recommend sending a salad for little kids, especially those with EoE as they can be slow eaters already. For older kids we send the dressing on the side and the salad in a large enough container so they can put the dressing on the lettuce and shake it to mix it. Don’t forget to send a fork.
Thursday
Meal Turkey Dinner with All the Trimmings
This is the traditional holiday dinner for us, we couldn't have our meal plan week 35 without it. A turkey, steamed Brussels sprouts, stuffing, mashed potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, carrots and a Pumpkin pie for dessert. We get our turkey from a local butcher.
Brand We Have Found:
We did a collection of top 8 allergen free Thanksgiving recipes to help anyone looking for new and delicious dishes for their dinner. Check out our article for Easy Allergy Friendly Thanksgiving Recipes.
Top Tip:
When making all the dishes, put clean and washed vegetable scraps, peelings, and trimmed ends in a large ziploc bag and toss them in the freezer. Use these in the stock pot with the turkey carcass or ham bone to make amazing soup stock that helps reduce your food waste and reduce costs as you are using all of the vegetables instead of buying more to throw in.
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.
Friday
Meal Turkey Sandwiches and Leftover Sides
A super quick meal we will put down a piece of gluten free bread, a nice slathering of cranberry sauce on the bread. A layer of sliced leftover turkey breast meat, then a scoop of stuffing all under a slathering of heated gravy.
The sides will be leftovers from the previous night re-heated. We only heat what we need as we will use the rest of the leftovers in the coming dinners. Leftovers should only be reheated once for best food safety practices.
Brand We Have Found:
Bread
Top Tip:
We sometimes leave all but the gravy cold, however this sandwich is really great with reheated stuffing and turkey meat heated in the gravy. When you do this it is just like a hot turkey sandwich from diners that I miss a lot.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
A turkey sandwich with gluten free bread, stuffing, a smear of cranberry sauce and some turkey is always a hit in our lunches. We usually leave it cold and if the kids want gravy it is sent in the thermos heated up so they can dip their sandwich in it like a French dip.
Saturday
Meal Shepherd’s Pie Type Casserole with Turkey Leftovers
We will be using our shepherd’s pie recipe as a rough starting point for this recipe. The meat will be cooked and we will hopefully have gravy leftover to use. The meat, gravy, leftover veggies chopped up with the mashed potatoes layers on top. Popped into the oven to bake and warm up. It should save a lot of time not having to make the meat base or mashed potatoes. We can even put a layer of cranberry sauce on half for those of us that love cranberries.
Brand We Have Found:
Casserole Dish
Top Tip:
Make this the night before when doing the hot sandwiches so you know how much in the way of meat, gravy, and potatoes you have to work with. Store it covered in the fridge well covered until dinner the next day. This will speed up your effort. If you pull it out of the fridge for 1 hour before heating it will lower the cooking time.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
Reheat the casserole bits together in a frying pan with a couple of tablespoons of water. Cover the pan with a well fitting lid and heat over medium heat for 4-5 mins. Remove the lid and let any remaining water cook off, about 2 -3 mins. Layer the food in a thermos that has been warmed by hot water and drained.
To heat this meal up if a microwave is available, send the meal in a microwave safe container. When heating, open the container or place it loosely over the dish to vent. Microwave for 1 minute 20 seconds, check it is all heated through and heat by 25 seconds longer, as needed.
Don’t forget the fork!
Sunday
Meal Turkey Noodle Soup
We will be using any last bits of our thanksgiving turkey in our Chicken Noodle Soup recipe. We will also go the extra step and make our own broth/stock. Instead of the chicken we will put in the turkey meat. All the rest will stay the same for us. You can also use rice or waxy boiled potatoes in place of noodles for a bit of a twist. You can use chicken broth if time is tight.
Brand We Have Found:
Top Tip:
To make the stock in a large stockpot boil any leftover bits of raw veggies like carrots, mushrooms, celery, onions, garlic, ginger, herbs, potato peels, etc. We use the peelings from thanksgiving that we had chucked in the bag in the freezer just for this.
Brussels sprouts, broccoli, kale, cauliflower can make the broth bitter, if you do choose to use these in the pot put them in for no longer than the last hour of boiling. It is recommended to steer clear of them though.
The bones go in the pot, some bake the bones first for the best flavour. We tend to just pop them in. Fill the pot with water, allowing enough room for the stock to bubble without boiling over. We boil the water lightly for 4-6 hours and add water as needed. The bones and veggies should be strained from the broth. Store the broth in 3-4 cup containers in the freezer for up to 6 months.
How to pack it for lunch the next day:
Start by warming up a thermos by filling it with hot water.
Over medium-high heat, in a pot on the stove bring the thermos amount of turkey noodle soup to a boil. Reduce the heat and let it simmer for 3-4 minutes. Pour the warm water out of the thermos and put the hot soup into the container instead. Close the thermos and send it with a gluten free roll and a spoon for lunch.
It is important to make sure the kids can easily open the thermos themselves. The turkey noodle soup should be warm but not too hot so it burns them when they open the thermos, for safety.
We Love Feedback!
Did you make any of the meals from the meal plan week 35? 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.
Annett Canty says
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