Fall Weekly Meal Plan: Week of November 5

I don’t know about you, but once Halloween is over, I start feeling like the holiday season is just around the corner. What does that have to do with a fall weekly meal plan? Just bear with me for a second.

Now, whether you are a “It’s November 1st, let the Christmas celebrations begin” or a “No! It’s too early!!!” kind of a person, I can tell you this much. Now is the time to at least begin doing some planning and preparing for the holidays if you want to reduce the stress and have an organized, simplified, joyous celebration.

When it comes to meal planning, that means that I start making extra meals and squirreling them away in the freezer for when they’re needed most. One of my favorite ways to do this is simply to take any of my freezer friendly recipes and when I’m preparing one for dinner, I double it.

Easy peasy! All you need to do is make sure that you have plenty of freezer containers on hand and you’re ready to get started. Believe me, on one of those days when you have to grab dinner quickly in between running holiday errands and attending the school play, you’ll be grateful that you planned ahead.

WEEKLY MEAL PLAN

YOUR GUIDE TO THE MEALS IN MY MENU PLANS:

FF = FREEZER FRIENDLY

SC = SLOW COOKER

MF = MEAT FREE

PLO = PLANNED LEFTOVERS

MA – MAKE AHEAD

BBQ – GRILLED FOOD

I’m also planning extra simple meals on Saturdays and Sundays so that we truly can take a Sabbath and spend some time focusing on family and fun!

This Week’s Meals

Monday

BIG double batch of my Mom’s chili recipe (FF) (which can be made healthier and zero points on the Weight Watchers Freestyle plan with a simple substitution!), corn bread (FF)

Note: The busy holiday season is coming so half of the chili is going into the freezer in individual portions. This is really great for taking out for lunches or for nights when we’re on our own for dinner. Or we can take out several containers if we’re all eating together. This chili is such an economical recipe because we get 2 meals out of it (stretching the second meal a bit with some spaghetti noodles) plus have a little bit left for 1-2 lunch servings.

Tuesday

Ritzy chicken, oven sweet potato fries, roasted Brussels sprouts, steamed cauliflower

Wednesday

Leftover chili (PLO) served over spaghetti noodles, steamed green beans, roasted butternut squash

Thursday

Irish farmhouse chicken stew/casserole (SC) (with potatoes and carrots and peas in it), dinner rolls

Note: Cut up extra carrots to have on hand for snacks and for Saturday’s dinner.

Friday

Meat free Friday: Neapolitan layered pasta bake (FF) (MF) – making a double batch so half can go in freezer, garlic bread (using up leftover rolls we had in the freezer from last week’s Sloppy Goblins), Caesar salad