hey there! happy tuesday! over the years, on various platforms, you all have asked quite a few questions re: food. from ingredient questions to recipe requests to philosophical queries, i have gotten them all! more recently, i have been asked about meal planning. to be clear: we don't do weekly meal prep. but we do meal plan. part of our saturday morning routine includes sitting down for a few minutes (usually over a cup of coffee or breakfast) and plan out our week. and not just food. we plan it all. we bust out the calendar/planner/phone and get things penciled in. once the various activities are listed out, we plan our meals.

i try to keep things simple and structured during the week. we have our list of daily staples and go-to foods. lots of fruits (the kids eat a pint of berries at breakfast so, there's that) and greens and nuts for snacking. a stash of protein food bars for grab-and-go. booch and teas and bulletproof coffee and essential oil water. once we list out the staples, we add in the extra items that vary based on our tastes and preferences (and life demands) for that particular week.

when it comes to dinners, we go for what i call "themed eating". each week, we plan around four themes: power bowl night, taco (mexican) night, pasta/noodle night, plant protein night, pick up night, ben's bread night, family night. this provides some structure for us so we aren't starting from scratch each week. i find that a framework helps to keep us on track and on budget through the busy week. AND it also gives us wiggle room to be creative and flexible with our dishes. and within each "theme" there's a ton of space to mix it up each week.

here's an example of a typical week:

M / power bowl with rice + beans + veggies

T / veggie tacos

W / ramen with edamame and peas and carrots

T / plant burger with dry baked potatoes OR tofu with sides

F / pick up or go out

S / ben's bread: sandwiches or cheese night or pizza

S / dinner with family and/or friends

this is what works for us because it gives us a plan so we know what to expect each week. it is also created based on out life and preferences. we love tacos and mexican dishes. we also have ben the baker with his homemade sourdough so...of course we will have a bread night each week.

if you have any questions or need a guide, drop me a line and we'll chat.

bon appétit!

xo. madame

nourriture