Welcome to this week’s meal plan, where I’ve gone the extra mile with several delicious meals – all prepared Sunday while drinking some dark brew from Black Rifle Coffee, listening to cool Danish music, and firing up my trusted Traeger.
Soups, stews, and creamy pies! Delicious meals for the family, making up for a few weeks where they had to survive on left-over meals or large portions of Viking Sausage Stew.
Made some excellent sambos for the school lunches, with some healthy-ish sidekicks.
I usually don’t bake much, except my family-famous banquettes and farm bread on the Traeger, but this time I baked a few snacks for the kids – healthy, of course. Or, at least healthier than the store-bought stuff.
Healthy-ish snack bars for the kids
While buying premade snack bars is convenient, they are filled with questionable ingredients that are not good for your body and have limited nutrition for a growing child.
If we dive into what they contain, I think we’ll realize that they might not be as healthy as we are being led to believe. For example, many “healthy” granola bars contain added sugar, calories, and artificial ingredients. For example, Kellogg’s bars have 15gr of sugar!
Some claim they don’t use sugar but artificial sugar and other substitutes instead. Unfortunately, some of these alternatives are not fully broken down in your gut and may cause digestive issues. But they are labeled as “healthy.”
It is just as bad as eating processed food, so I prefer to make my healthy snack- and granola bars. I know exactly what is in my bars, and I can adjust what I use, such as berries, chocolate, nuts, chia seeds, etc.
I might share my Viking Granola bars and other snacks soon, although I might take the recipes to the grave. It all depends on how generous I feel.
Honestly, the homemade bars I make are phenomenal. I use figs, chia seeds, oats, different kinds of nut butter, chocolate, dried cranberries, and other healthy ingredients. We (when I say we, I mean me) make 1-2 trays of nutritional bars, and they last us for 2-3 weeks. Excellent for a school snack or in-between meals.
Time to cook
As I stated, I went a little overboard this week with super-delicious dinners and lunches. But, making these options did not take any longer than usual. In fact, I think it was much smoother and faster than in previous weeks. So, perhaps I’m getting more efficient and can suddenly multitask.
Traditionally, multitasking is only something women can do – or so goes the saying.
The most significant change to my effectiveness was that I had made the entire meal plan and grocery list Saturday afternoon and went grocery shopping at 8 am Sunday.
By 9 am, I was ready to rock in the kitchen. Knives, cutting boards, pots, and groceries are on the counter. No excuses for the Viking, and I even streamed Danish music on the Sonos.
I fired up the Traeger, prepped the 2lbs of chuck roast, and started the slow roasting process. Opening a bottle of red wine at 9.30 am was a little odd. I swear I did not drink anything!
While the roast was roasting, I prepped the chicken, vegetables, bread, puff pastry, and all the ingredients for the baking.
The kitchen and house are filled with a fantastic aroma that easily wakes my son as I cook. He came down the stairs like a gazelle running across the Serengeti, demanding breakfast. He was slightly disappointed when I handed him a bowl of cornflakes instead of an omelet.
By 1 pm, I had made all the meals and baked two school snacks: oatmeal brownies and chocolate chip pumpkin bread. The latter was not as healthy, but damn yummy.
It is satisfying to see all the cool dishes you can make in your kitchen with ingredients from the local supermarket. You do not need a fancy chef degree to make proper meals for your family.
I urge you to try one day. Meal planning may be daunting, but the smiles and praise you get from your family are priceless.
| Lunch | Dinner | |
| Monday | Crusty chicken tenders with hot n spicy honey – with a mustard chipotle dipping sauce | Creamy chicken soup |
| Tuesday | Homemade pastrami served on a bagel with sauerkraut and melted American yellow cheese. | Vietnamese Tom Kha with rice |
| Wednesday | Kids’ favorite – Caesar salad with grilled chicken (chicken made with coconut butter hot sauce) | Slow-smoked (fall apart) beef chuck roast with vegetable and tomato sauce, with pasta |
| Thursday | Stuffed croissant with sweet Italian sausages, tomato, and American yellow cheese | Mushroom and leek pie |
| Friday | Grinder sandwich; mixed meat slices, lettuce, tomato, pickled peppers, and mozzarella | Iron Maiden concert – Left-over food for the minions |
One day, I might get so organized that I will link the meals below to my recipes. We can only live in hope!
Have a fantastic week, my friends. I hope you enjoy these meal plans. It is much easier to make food in advance, although you must invest several hours preparing meals during the weekend.
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