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Weekly Meal Planning: What I Planned Vs. What We Ate

written by Parita Leave a Comment

I recently decided to jump back on the meal planning train, and it’s been so helpful! I’m not as frantic trying to figure out what to make, I’m actually sticking to/under the budget I set for myself every week, and there’s less waste in our house. And this what I’m seeing in a little over a week of planning more.

I thought I would share a weekly post showing what I planned vs. what we ate. This serves a couple of purposes – 1. gives you ideas as you think about what to make every week, 2. keeps me accountable to this who meal planning thing and 2. serves as an archive for our meals so I can go back and easily references as needed. Wins all around!

A few things to note: I’m not too particular when it comes to plugging meals into specific days. I try to stay agile because…well, kids! Also, I always plan for 1-2 pantry type meals that don’t require too many fresh/refrigerated ingredients. This helps reduce waste. And finally, I try to stay super flexible on weekends. I rely on sandwiches, meals out, frozen things, or my mom’s food to get us through. Learning as I go as to what works for us!

Here’s what I planned to make last week, including what was actually ate (and enjoyed):

Grilled cheese and soup

This meal is almost always a guaranteed hit. Kaiden is super into soups right now, and loves the low sodium tomato + red pepper/tomato one from Trader Joes. Mila also loved this meal, and I paired it with some cooked veggies for her.

Chickpea noodle lasagna

My masi gave me a package of Banza lasagna noodles to take home with me when I visited California a couple of months ago. I planned to use them this week, but never got around to it. So this was a pantry meal I planned for but never made.

Hawaiian tofu and rice

This is another popular meal in our home. I’ve been making it for years and started out following it to a tee. I’ve made it my own now and don’t use an Instant Pot or follow it exactly, but regardless it’s a good one. The kids happily ate this deconstructed.

Mexican – tacos/quesadillas

This was a broad category for me obviously! But I went the quesadillas route for the kids and made bowls for me and V. I made black bean burgers as the main protein source and everyone loved them! Seriously, you’ve got to try this easy recipe. Definitely putting it in my regular rotation!

Coconut chole and rice

I’m trying to include at least one Indian meal every week. I figure that plus whatever my mom makes and drops off is a good balance for us and the kids. This chole recipe is DELISH! This was my second time making it, and again, it’s super easy! I love how Sonal recommends really cooking the onions down with the spices until they resembled a jam.

Creamy cajun pasta + roasted broccoli

I’ve made this pasta a couple of times in the past, and it’s always a hit. The flavors are unique, and I love that it gets my kids to eat kale! I paired it with some broccoli for added veggies.

And that’s our week of eats! I hope this helps you as you plan (or live on the edge and plan as you go!) your meals out for the coming week.

P.S. For Mila (and sometimes Kaiden), I’ll put aside her portions before adding salt/spice.

Written on September 18, 2022 Related:Meal planning

Trader Joe's products

This Week’s Meal Plan + Recent Favs from Trader Joe’s

written by Parita 6 Comments

Some of you may have noticed that I don’t share my own recipes all that frequently anymore.  It’s not that I don’t cook at home.  It’s just that I don’t have the energy or patience to measure out ingredients, write everything down, and type it all up.  Not my forte I suppose!

With that being said, if I make something that’s too good not to share, I will (well…maybe!).  And I definitely want to share more of the recipes I come across during my weekly meal planning process.  There are some great dishes out there just waiting to be made!

This Week’s Meal Plan

I’m not exactly sure what day these meals will be made on, but I like to plan for four meals and then adjust as we go.

  • Lentil Tortilla Soup via Vegan Richa
  • Veggie Shepherd’s Pie via Life as Lauren
  • Black Bean Burgers via All Recipes
  • An Indian veggie stir-fry via my mom and homemade Indian flatbread via me

Recent Favs from Trader Joe’s

Trader Joe's products

Cilantro salad dressing – This dressing is now a favorite in our household.  Even for me, the cilantro hater!  I love that you don’t need a ton to get a experience the strong flavor.  While Vishnu often uses it as intended (and as a sandwich spread), I use it as more of sauce – on top of nachos, eggs, veggie bowls, etc.  I don’t see us expiring this product any time soon!

Nutritional yeast – I think I mentioned that TJ’s now sells nutritional yeast in a previous post.  What a fun discovery!  I love using this stuff on top of everything, as it packs a big nutritional punch.  More info here.

Lemongrass and sage hand soap – I absolutely love this hand soap and keep a bottle by my kitchen sink.  I am a huge fan of herbal scents, and this hits the spot.

Well, I hope you had a great weekend.  Other than meal planning and shopping at Trader Joe’s, mine included a fun brunch with friends, hanging out with Aekta and Adarsh, and odds and ends at home [Vishnu worked a Saturday 12p- Sunday 8a shift at the hospital].

Happy Monday!

Written on March 27, 2017 Related:Food, Grocery shopping, Uncategorized

My 4 step meal planning process

My 4 Step Meal Planning Process

written by Parita 10 Comments

Meal planning is a necessary evil around these parts.  Necessary because it helps us save money and prevents food waste.  Evil because sometimes it’s just a pain to figure out exactly what to make week after week, especially when you’re trying to keep it healthy and interesting and varied.

Now I know how my mom felt all those years!  Week after week, she would ask, “What should I make?”  And week after week, our response was always the same, “I don’t know.”

Sorry, momma!

To avoid the above situation (for the rest of my life) and keep my frustration at bay, I devised a simple four step meal planning process, and I plan to stick to it as much as possible in 2016.  Especially when things get a little crazy!

Ok, so here goes…

My 4 step meal planning process

1 – Open up to a clean page in your meal planning notebook (yes, you should have a notebook just for this!). On the left hand side, list out the days of the week in one column and across the top list out all the meals you are planning for (breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner).

Carefully think through the days of the week and what meals you will need.  For example, breakfast is always the same for us, so I only have to       think about my lunches (99% of the time Vishnu eats at the hospital) and our dinners.  Consider potential leftovers, meals out, etc.

2 – Now that you know exactly what needs to be made and in what proportion, you can start browsing through cookbooks (The Oh She Glows Cookbook is my absolute favorite!), Pinterest, and blogs. Personally, I like to make one or two new dishes every week and stick to my own tried and true favorites for the rest.

Note: Make sure there’s some overlap of ingredients between meals.  This will help save money and eliminate food waste!

3 – Before heading to the grocery store, survey the contents of your fridge and pantry. You guys have no idea how many cans of chickpeas we now have all because I thought we were out!

4- In order to make this whole process worthwhile, STICK TO THE LIST when shopping! I was just telling Vishnu what a huge difference this makes.  Take this past week as an example.  I ended up almost $15 under budget!  All because of a plan and a list!

So there you have it, my four step meal planning process.  It doesn’t get any easier than this!

How do you plan your meals for the week?

Written on January 8, 2016 Related:Food, Grocery shopping

Cook Smarts + A Giveaway

written by Parita 11 Comments

I love to meal plan. In fact, Sunday mornings are dedicated to just that. Here’s how it works: wake up, make breakfast, sit down with my laptop, a few cookbooks and a notepad, ask Vishnu if there’s anything particular he wants to eat, plan out meals for the week, make a grocery list, shop, and repeat every Sunday. I LOVE IT!

With that being said, you can imagine how excited I was to get an email from Jess Dang, the founder of Cook Smarts, a weekly online meal planning service. Jess was kind enough to gift me with a 3 month subscription so that I could try it out for myself. One more healthy meal planning resource at my disposal? Yes please!

image
Last week was my first week using Cook Smarts, and I absolutely love it. I even told Vishnu last night that I plan to continue subscribing after my current plan expires. Essentially, after you sign up, you have access to a “database” of recipes that are all healthy and simple to make (most require 30 minutes or less). Jess releases a new weekly meal plan every Thursday, so you can opt to follow it to the tee OR do what I do and pick and choose meals from different plans and create your own unique mix.

What I love about Cook Smarts:

  • The #1 most amazing feature is that you are able to select different dietary preferences (paleo, vegetarian, and/or gluten free) to match your needs. And when you do, the ingredient list and recipe change as well. LOVE!
  • As I stated above, the meals are healthy and chock full of fresh ingredients.
  • You have the option to “favorite” or “heart” different recipes, so that they are easily accessible when you sit down to meal plan.
  • Each recipe comes with a prep tab so you know exactly what needs to be done ahead of time.
  • If you decide to follow a given weekly plan (which includes four meals) and make only those meals, you have the option to create a customized grocery list, which you can then print out and take with you to the store.
  • For those who are just beginning their culinary journey, Jess provides lots of tips and video tutorials to help along the way.
  • Cook Smarts is affordable, with plans starting at just $6 a month.

As I mentioned earlier, I made two Cook Smarts meals last week, and they both turned out great. And as an added bonus, both dishes were pretty much one pot wonders, so not only was the cooking process easy, but cleaning up was also a breeze!

First up was the Tofu and Green Curry Noodles dish. The only thing I did differently was add a little bit of fresh ginger, chili and garlic. Seriously, this was fantastic. I loved the flavor combo and the simple ingredient list. I will definitely be making this again soon!

photo

I guess I was in a very Asian inspired mood last week because I also used Cook Smarts to make Green Curry Lentils. I am a huge lentil fan, so this was right up my alley. This dish was hearty, healthy, and really unique (avocado cubes were used to finish off this dish). And again, all I did differently was add some fresh ginger, chili and garlic. It was perfection! And I’m really sad because I just had my last bowl for lunch yesterday. So basically, this one is also a keeper!

Cook Smarts 003

Trust me when I say that this is something you definitely want to try. It has made the whole “what should I make” dilemma non-existent for us because now we have tons of meal ideas all in one place.

So aside from purchasing your own meal plan subscription or signing up to receive access to 3 free plans, there is one more potential way to experience Cook Smarts…

It’s giveaway time!! Jess graciously agreed to gift one of my readers with his or her very own 3 month subscription to Cook Smarts (thanks, Jess!!).

To enter (feel free to pick one or all, but please leave a separate comment for each entry):

(Open to everyone regardless of location!)

1. Follow Cook Smarts on Instagram (@cooksmarts)
2. Follow my inner shakti on Instagram (@myinnershakti)
3. LikeCook Smarts on Facebook
4. Like my inner shakti on Facebook.

The giveaway will close on Sunday at 9:00 pm, and the winner will be announced in Monday’s post! GOOD LUCK!

Written on October 16, 2013 Related:Food, Recipe, review

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