This meal plan week 5 has some of our favourite recipes from other sites. We miss eating out and instead of getting takeaway/takeout we now make fake-away or fake-out. This week we added a recipe or two in the detailed part of our meal plan.
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Meal Plan Week 5
Monday - Breaded Chicken Tenders and Fries
Tuesday - Creamy Mushroom Soup
Wednesday - Classic Tomato Pasta
Thursday - Leftovers buffet
Friday - Pizza Night
Saturday - Beef Egg Roll in a Bowl and Fried Rice
Sunday - Chicken Breasts Sage Potatoes
Detailed Meal Plan Week 5 and Top Tips
Monday
Breaded Chicken Tenders and Fries -
We will be making our own breaded chicken tenders. Trim skinless boneless chicken breasts or thighs. dip in a bowl with ½ c filled with safe for you plant milk. Then drop a few tenders at a time in a baggie full of gluten, dairy, and egg free bread crumbs. We like PlumM Good as they are fine ground. The GF panko ones don't brown well.
Once covered in breadcrumbs, place in an oiled casserole dish and bake at 375F for 25-30 mins or until they are 165F internally. In the air fryer they cook at 380F for 28 mins and need to be sprayed with safe oil from a pump spray bottle. Flip the chicken half way through if using either method.
The fries are done in the air fryer. Russets work best. We soak them in cold water for 30 mins, if we have time we boil them for a couple of minutes then air fry on the chip function. If we are pressed for time, no parboiling.
Top Tip:
You can make your own bread crumbs by drying out bread slices that are safe for you like Carbonaut Gluten free or Little Northern Bakehouse. Once dry you can put them in a large baggie, seal it, and use a meat tenderiser to crush or pulverise in a food processor. The food processor is the easiest method. Bread crumbs can be frozen to keep for about 3 months.
Tuesday
This soup is pretty easy to make and it is one of the few recipes of cooked mushrooms our kids will eat. When we make it for them we replace the white wine with vegetable stock, if it is for dinner with adult guests we leave it in. We don't usually serve much with our soups but the kids love the Made Good or Laiki crackers with their soups. A salad can be served with it or bake Gluten free Bisquick mix biscuits. We substitute plant milk and Bob's red mill egg replacer on the recipe on the box with a safe oil for us.
Top Tip:
To save money homemade stock can be made and frozen. We keep a bag of vegetable scraps in the freezer and fill with clean peelings, and bits of veggies we cut off. When we have 2 large ziplocs full we put them in a stock pot to boil for 3-4 hours. Let it cool and strain out the scraps for storage. We store the stock in 4 cup containers in the freezer and pull it out to thaw in the fridge the night before. The scraps can be composted. Broccoli, kale, cauliflower, onion skins, and cabbage should only be put in the last hour or they can make the stock bitter.
Wednesday
This is one of the easiest recipes we have ever made! It is from Jamie Oliver and can be easily adapted as can a lot of his recipes. We use Pedon More than noodles, linguine or gluten free rice based spaghetti noodles and replace the parm with Violife or Follow Your Heart ( earth balance in Canada) dairy free parm style cheese. This recipe takes 20-25 mins to make with little prep and is perfect for busy nights.
Top Tip:
The Pedon noodles are lentil based so they are packed with protein and one of the ways we get extra protein in our kids without always having meat at every dinner. They are available at our Canadian Costco in large packages. One of the boxes lasts us 2 dinners for the 6 of us.
Thursday
Leftovers buffet -
No fancy meal here tonight. We will do a bit of a leftover buffet so the kids can choose their favs from the week so far and reheat what they like. We usually reheat items on the stove but it can be done in the microwave.
Top Tip:
If you do not want to do a leftover buffet but have lots of the pasta leftover put it in an oven safe casserole dish. Add ¼-1/2 cup of water or extra diced tomatoes to the dish and reheat it at 375F for 15 mins. Watch closely as it may need stirring at 10 mins. After the 15 mins, put a couple of handfuls of dairy free cheddar like shreds like Dayia, Nourissh, or Violife brand, on the top and pop it back in the oven for 5 mins or until the cheese melts a bit. Dairy free cheese doesn't really melt much but it will go crunchy if left in the oven too long.
Friday
Pizza Night -
We will be making our own dough from our recipe but if we run out of time we use Judy G Gluten Free Pizza Shells. It will be a make your own pizza where we set up the toppings and the kids get to put what they want on their pizza. Our kids like red peppers, tomatoes, olives, ham, and pineapple (we have a huge debate if this should be on a pizza). The adults add roasted garlic, prosciutto, arugula, onions, and marinated artichokes on ours. For safe meats - freeze ham or chicken in small containers from family roast dinners and thaw to use on pizzas. Put the dairy free cheese on in the last 5 mins of cooking to get a better consistency.
Top Tip:
For pizza sauce we use the store brand ones as the name brand ones contain soybean oil in our area. You can make your own with tomato sauce, Italian spice (thyme, oregano, rosemary), garlic powder, and onion powder. Can't eat tomatoes? Try a pumpkin or squash based sauce like Nomato or our nut and dairy free pesto recipe.
Saturday
Beef Egg Roll in a Bowl and Fried Rice -
These are easy methods of getting lots of veggies in the kids. We usually use beef strips rather than ground beef, pork, turkey, or chicken could be used instead. We use coconut aminos in place of soy sauce, our favourite brand is from the Naked Natural Foods Company. They also carry soy and gluten free oyster and teriyaki sauce which are great for a quick stir fry. We leave the egg out of The Egg Roll in a bowl recipe by the Girl Who Ate Everything. The fried rice recipe from the Perchance to Cook Recipe doesn't call for egg and is dairy, soy, and gluten free.
Top Tip:
Save any leftovers for quick lunches on Monday. Store them in a well sealed container in the fridge for up to three days. If microwaves aren't available for re-heating the lunches, pre-heat a thermos with boiling water, empty the water, and put in food that has been reheated on the stove. We find that food reheated in a microwave doesn't stay as hot in a thermos. Don't forget to pack utensils!
Sunday
Chicken Breasts Sage Potatoes -
This is an easy family dinner. Both the potatoes and chicken will get cooked in a dutch oven or casserole dish that is covered in the oven. All we have to add is a steamed vegetable. It will probably be asparagus, beans, or peas depending on the prices in store.
Top Tip:
This recipe can also be made on the barbecue or campfire for nice weather where you do not want to turn the oven on.
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Did you make any of the meals we did 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.
Check Out These Other Recipes
- Dairy Free Mashed Potatoes
- Budget Friendly Chicken Stock
- Cold Asparagus Salad with Dill
- Lemon Garlic Roasted Potatoes
- Allergen Friendly Lebanese Chicken Shawarma Recipe
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.
Have you made this recipe? Please leave a comment and us know how much you liked it.