Meal Plan Week 41

Welcome to our meal plan week 41. One thing we hear a lot from families is that they do not have time to cook for the family. We hear you and feel the same way most nights. All of our kids have extracurriculars at school and each one has a sport or music lesson they are in on top of that. Some nights we have 30 mins to get food into kids who are slow and picky eaters. 

What we do is use our meal plans to suit us for those nights. Often Rob will batch cook or meal prep on our least busy night. This sets us up for success the rest of the week. We also use equipment to help us out. 

One thing I have learned with my own struggles with an autonomic disorder is that there are loads of ways or equipment to reduce the work. Our Instant Pot will do all the work on Monday night, for example. The meat balls will be prepped by Rob on his day off work, cooked and frozen along with gravy. So all we have to do is thaw and reheat our home cooked food.

If you find products like premade pizza shells that are time and energy savers for your family that are safe for you, never feel bad about using them. If they fit in your budget and take the load off, enjoy! 

Meal Plan Week 41

Meal Plan Week 41 In-Depth and Top Tips

Monday

Meal Chicken Tortilla Soup

Chicken Tortilla Soup is a really easy dinner where all the work is done by the instant pot rather than by us. This soup also freezes well so if you have a large pressure cooker a double batch could be made if it follows the max liquids in the pot. 

Top Tip:

Give extra time to allow the pot to pressurise and release. It always seems to take longer than planned due to the pressure build.

How to pack it for lunch the next day:

Start by warming up an insulated container, like a thermos, by filling it with hot water. 

Over medium-high heat, in a pot on the stove bring the desired amount of 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 soup should be warm but not too hot so it burns them when they open the thermos, for safety. 

Tuesday

Meal Meatballs and mash

This is our Ikea-like meal. The kids love meatballs and gravy so we do make this a lot. This is a very different flavour than the subs we will be having the night after this dinner. This is one way we use one meal across two nights without getting tired of it. We use turkey for our meatballs and gravy.

The mashed potatoes are a starchy potato, like russets, that are boiled until tender, drained, mashed and made creamy with dairy free butter and plant basedmilk. Salt and pepper to season. 

The vegetable tonight will probably be frozen corn or beans, depending on what is in the freezer and easy. When buying frozen veg double check for cross contact with the manufacturer.

Top Tip:

Make, cook, and freeze the meatballs on another day and thaw them the night before this meal to save time. The gravy can also be made ahead but stored separately from the meat balls.

BRAND WE HAVE FOUND:

Lingonberry Jam 

Gluten Free Bread Crumbs

Plumm Good (our favourite)

Panko (will need to be blitzed in a food processor to make smaller)

How to pack it for lunch the next day:

Reheat the meal components together in a frying pan with a couple of tablespoons of water. Meatballs, mashed potatoes, and gravy all together but in parts of the pan to themselves.

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 an insulated container that has been warmed by hot water and drained. 

To heat this meatball 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.

Wednesday

Meal Meatball Subs and Greek Salad

This is one of my Dad’s favourite meals. My mum used to make it for him every now and then and he would salivate over it until the next time she would make it.

It is just reheating the meatballs from the night before in a marinara sauce and popping them on a toasted gluten free bun. We serve ours open faced with a bit of dairy free cheese we melt on top. These are less sandwiches and more fork and knife dinners.

The greek salad is large diced veggies - cucumber, tomato, red onion, green pepper, and black olives. You can use dairy free feta cheese but our kids have never taken to feta, even before we had discovered some had allergies. We leave it out. If we are feeling cheeky we will also add green olives but the kids usually pick them out.

The dressing is olive oil and red wine vinegar (in a 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar ratio) and greek seasoning. The seasoning is usually greek oregano, basil, rosemary and parsley and a clove or two of minced garlic. Salt and pepper are added to taste.

Brand We Have Found:

Top Tips:

Toast the bun so it doesn’t get soggy. Cut the meatballs in half so they don’t roll off the buns.

How to pack it for lunch the next day:

We put the meatballs and the tomato marinara sauce in pre-heated thermos after heating up. The bun is sent separately so it doesn’t get soggy. The kids usually eat them separately as it is too messy and they don’t have the skills to assemble them easily.

Thursday

Meal Leftovers

Once a week at least we build having leftovers into our meal plan. This is what we do to use up what we have cooked if we are not freezing it for later. If you struggle to only have one or two portions leftover a really good strategy is to package those up as one person meals and freeze them until you have enough one person meals to feed the whole family. Thaw them and cook them up like homemade TV dinners.

If we ever don’t have enough leftovers we always have a few portions of soup in the freezer we can quickly thaw and add to the choices.

Our kids like it best when they can choose their favourites from the leftovers. This is what we choose to do sometimes. The kids mix and match as long as they have a protein, a veg and a starch. They have to have at least one of each bit. No skipping the veggies! Though they do try to every now and again.

How to pack it for lunch the next day:

We only reheat leftovers once due to food safety issues with multiple reheatings. Passing through the food danger temperature zone can increase the risks of food borne illness. Our kids have enough issues with food ang their GI systems we do not want to take the chances.

Friday

Meal Make Your Own Pizzas

This is one dinner you can go all out and make your own dough, like we do most of the time from this dough recipe. Alternatively if this isn’t your thing there are a number of ways to make an allergen friendly pizza with premade shells, premade pizzas, on a bagel, on a soft tortilla, on gluten free bread. It just depends on what is safe for your family. 

Sometimes we just dress up a Dayia pizza to what the kids want. This time Rob will be making the dough as he has had a yen for it. He will do a double batch so we can make Pizza rolls at the same time as the kids have a special school lunch next week. It is what we are sending that compares to what the other kids will be eating. 

The adults will be having a nut free pesto sauce, prosciutto, and grapes. We will be slicing the new-ish plant based Babybel up for ours as it melts really well. The Babybel is made on dedicated lines but in a shared facility according to their site.

For their kids they almost always have the same thing: ham, and olives for all but one who hates olives and instead asks for pineapple, tomato, sweet bell peppers, and ham. The kids all have a marinara base. Watch for soy in pizza sauces as quite a few contain it. Any marinara sauce can be used or tomato paste with Italian Herbs , garlic and onion powder mixed in.

Brand We Have Found:

Top Tip:

Extras can be used as quick dinners or lunches on other days and eaten cold. 

How to pack it for lunch the next day:

Send it cold in a lunch container. Put the topping sides together if more thanone slice is being sent to keep the crusts from getting all soggy.

Saturday

Meal Beef Roast with Peach Balsamic Asparagus and Boiled New Potatoes

This is our big family meal and it has to happen on Saturday because our kids are so darn busy. We would usually have this meal on a Sunday but 2 out of 4 kids have activities.

The Beef Roast

For the beef roast we will use my mum’s recipe of cutting slits in a roast and shoving garlic cloves into the slits. The roast is topped with a bit of dairy free herb butter and placed on a bed of root vegetables in a roasting pan. The pan is left uncovered and roasted following the Canadian Beef guide.

The Asparagus

Asparagus is in season right now for spring. We love to serve it with a bit of balsamic vinegar and this recipe screams spring. Our local produce wholesaler/discounter has it on for a song right now.

A wholesaler is where we get all of our produce from as it is so much cheaper than in supermarkets. They sell directly to the public so you do not need to have a restaurant to be able to take advantage of their produce on offer. We talk more about money saving tips in our articles 3 Ways to Saving Money on Allergy Friendly Food and 3 More Tips to Saving Money on Allergy Friendly Food.

Boiled Potatoes

The potatoes will be super simple. They will be cooked in a very traditional German way that Rob grew up with. Using a waxy new potato we will cut them in quarters and boil the potatoes in a pot of water. The boiling is for 10 minutes, drain them and lay a clean kitchen towel over the collander in the sink so the potatoes steam for another 5 minutes. The potatoes are served hot with a bit of dairy free butter on them, sometimes a cut up green onion, as well as salt and pepper.

Top Tip:

Save work by using the oven to help sear the roast rather than doing it in a pan and then roasting.

How to pack it for lunch the next day:

This can be sent as a dinner layered in a thermos after reheating or as a sandwich. Our kids prefer the dinner option. If there is access to a microwave a tv dinner style meal can be put in to a microwave safe container. When at school the kids can reheat it.

Sunday 

Meal French Dips with Leftover Veggies and Potatoes

We will be thinly slicing the leftover roast beef and making French dips (or beef dips depending on where you are from). These sandwiches get served with our homemade Easy Au Jus for dipping. The kids love any meal they can dip into a sauce. The leftover asparagus will be eaten cold on the side and the potatoes will be reheated to round out our meal.

Brand We Have Found:

Little Northern Bakehouse hot dog buns

Top Tip:    

If your kids aren’t a fan of Au Jus a quick gravy can be made with beef stock or from the leftover gravy the night before.

How to pack it for lunch the next day:

When sending this for school we skip the dipping au jus and send it as a beef sandwich. The dip is too messy- with our kids- to be snet to school. Someone will be coming home covered in thin beef gravy!

We Love Feedback!

Did you make any of the meals from the meal plan week 41? 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.

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.