A meal plan for a family of four

Including recipes, grocery lists, and tips for feeding toddlers.

We’re doing something different this week! I asked my friend Kendall to write a guest post about her weeknight cooking solution.

Here’s what it is: Kendall cooks the exact same meals every two weeks, repeated. Pasta on Monday, salad on Tuesdays, red lentil dal on Wednesdays….and then again. She keeps everything in a spreadsheet and has the same shopping list every time she goes to the grocery store.

Kendall, let me be clear, loves food. But as a working mom with two young kids, priorities have shifted. Without the luxury of time, she has to find creative ways to eat quickly and well while entertaining the fickle appetite of a two-year-old. She essentially has to avoid using any brain cells for the “What am I going to cook for dinner tonight?” question. 

Today, Kendall is sharing that meal plan. Whether you’re a parent, meal-prepper, or just like getting a peep into other people’s lives, you’ll love today’s edition. By the end of this post, you will have: a two-week meal plan, a grocery list, and tips for making this work for you and your family.

A few things you should know before we get to the meal plan:

• Kendall is vegetarian. So is the rest of her family.

• Kendall has two kids (2yo and 6mo).

• Both Kendall and her husband Mike work outside of their home.

• This is a dinner meal plan. Kendall’s fam eats leftovers or quick sandwiches for lunch, and breakfasts are very consistent day to day (no planning required). 

Okay, now here’s Kendall!

The Basics

Meal planning is like embarking on a home DIY project. You watch a video on social media, maybe read a blog post, or hear advice from a well-meaning friend (like right now, for example). You start to imagine an easier, better life for yourself. Life with this meal plan, like life with that bathroom update, will be glossy and relaxing.

I’m not quite as cynical as I’m starting off here. But, before I share this meal plan, I want to be clear that I’m not trying to sell something to anyone, especially not another busy parent. If what you’re doing is working, or even if it’s not and you simply don’t want to try this, I applaud you.

With that, let’s talk meal planning. 

I’ve toyed around with many, many iterations of this plan. Therein lies one ironic stumbling block: you can spend so much time drafting the plan that you’ve lost efficiency points before you’ve even begun. I’ve persisted because I find all of this nonsense helpful at the end of the day. I went into this process with clear goals in mind:

1. Give myself permission to cook simply. I find myself over-complicating what I cook. But all I need to do is come up with simple meal ideas that are balanced enough to eat day after day and can be ready in 30-45 minutes.

2. Make it easier to shop while reducing both food waste and cost. I’m hardly the first person to point out that when you plan your meals and take a list to the store, you buy less and use what you buy. I find it deeply satisfying when on Friday evening we use up the last of our produce that we shopped for on the previous Saturday. The goal of this plan was to have a grocery list I didn’t have to re-invent every week, and one that yielded the exact amount of food we would need with little waste.

3. Cook meals that I can serve everyone at the table. Oh, this one is a doozy. I have a relatively picky toddler and an infant who so far knows nothing better than oat cereal and the occasional mashed banana. In an ideal world, I cook one meal that I serve to all of us, which contains something my older daughter will eat (usually an inoffensive carb) and also something palatable for my husband and me. This point here is both the hardest to achieve and, I think, the most compelling reason to meal plan. It takes real thought to draft meal ideas that will fit all of our needs, but it’s worth it to me to not make two separate meals every night.

Meal Plan

This. Is. How. We. Do. It.

Week 1

Saturday: Quesadillas or tacos with black beans, corn, avocado, pico de gallo, and some sort of cheese. If I have time, I’ll grill peppers & onions on the same skillet that I later use to heat the quesadillas. The corn is usually frozen; my daughter loves it heated simply with lots of butter. A good alternative for cold days when we’re out all day is a simple tortilla soup (same black beans, tomatoes and corn theme again here) with plain cheese quesadillas & topped with avocado. I make the soup in big batches and freeze it.*

Sunday: Baked potatoes with leftover beans, plus more avocado, salsa, and cheese again. If I have some of the chipotle almond sauce from Trader Joe’s, we slather that on, too. My daughter eats her potatoes mashed (scoop out the inside of the baked potato et voila). 

Monday: Pasta with kale & cashew pesto* and zucchini sautéed with garlic. 

Tuesday: “Picnic” pita & hummus or bread & cheese, plus a salad kit with added chickpeas. We rotate the salad kit depending on the store, season, and what looks less likely to get sad in that bag before we eat it. Needless to say, my daughter does not eat the salad part. 

Wednesday: Coconut red lentil dal*, naan (just the one from Trader Joe’s), and mango lassis if I have time or just yogurt on top. If I feel really ambitious I roast some cauliflower and toss it with curry spices.

Thursday: Tortellini soup or minestrone*, buttered crusty toast. 

Friday: Eating out (often Crux Brewery because they have a kids play area) or leftovers or sandwiches. Because Friday nights are for a beer and not a lot of work.