Weekly Menu Planning - March 2022

Continuing the March 2022 WMP conversations for those of us moving here from Chowhound.

Let’s use this thread to share concise weekly dinner menus for each week in March. It’s helpful if you can include your location and how many people you are feeding. Links to recipes are always appreciated, and sources help. We all know plans can change, so it’s fine (practically expected) when your week gets rearranged from your posted plan. You may choose to report actuals for the prior week to share ideas with others.

If you know how to add a tag, please add the HO Weekly Meal Planning tag to this post. I’ll figure it out, eventually.

21 Likes

Thank you, MTT!

Here was my original plan (note “was” and “original”…), abbreviated:
“Sun: homemade pork ramen
Mon: basketball playoff game at 6pm = panini and maybe soup
Tues: the sheet pan chicken fajitas I didn’t make last week (from The Dinner Plan) and refried black beans
Weds: meatballs and polenta, https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/roasted-italian-meatballs-3500767
Thurs: leftovers
Fri: who knows? Probably ordering pizza.”

Sunday’s ramen was excellent. I basically did the recipe I linked, https://thefoodcharlatan.com/wprm_print/32289 but without jalapeño/sriracha and in the IP for 30min. We loved this, even the guys who are nervous about new things.
DS’s team won last night and will play again on Weds night. So I’m doing the meatballs and polenta tonight, and fajitas tomorrow. If they win Weds, they play Thurs (that will be the championship, so no more!) at dinnertime. We’ll see what happens with meals.

20 Likes

Actuals for last week, cooking for 1, 2 or 3 in the SF Bay Area.

Mon: Ginger sesame salmon from How Sweet Eats, rice, salad with red and green leaf lettuce from the garden!

Tue: Teigen’s orange chicken sandwich and a sweet potato (orange theme lol). Loved the sandwich!

Wed for 3 with my daughter and SIL: Sweet and tangy pork chops grilled with some hickory chips from Down Home with the Neelys, chopped salad with bbq ranch from the same, grilled corn, rice. All so good!

Thur: Patty melt loosely based on a recipe from the Neelys, with red onions, Swiss cheese and homemade Thousand Island dressing. Good!

Fri with my BF: Homemade pizzas

Sat with my BF: Marinated flank steak, rice, broccoli salad from the new Teigen book with a cashew dressing, roast tomatoes

Sun: Pasta with leftover roast tomatoes, asparagus

18 Likes

Thanks for getting this started!

11 Likes

Here is the plan for the remainder of this week.

Wed - Breakfast for Dinner – Migas with a side of olives and jalapeños
Thu – Air Fried (AF )Pork Chop, Leek Spaghetti, Instant Pot (IP) Broccoli
Fri - Leftovers (LOs) AF Mahi Mahi, IP Polenta, AF Grilling Vegetables
Sat – Meatball Sub, Salad

17 Likes

Greetings, People.

Check it out – new digs! First time posting WMP on Hungry Onion. Hoping I’ve embedded the links correctly - they should be hiding behind the name of the dish. I’ve tried to indicate the source of the recipe when it might be behind a paywall, to save those without the subscription the trouble of clicking on them.

Cooking for two adults in the blossoming PNW:

FRI: Shrimp and cabbage Egg Foo Yung (WaPo) with Chile crisp (NYT). Steamed rice.

SAT: Ina’s chicken with lemon orzo. Garden greens of some sort.

SUN: Grilled beef with yum yum sauce. Spuds of some sort. Garden greens of some sort.

MON: Katsu pork. Steamed rice. Asian slaw.

TUE: Fried chicken & slaw sandwich on homemade ciabatta rolls. Oven fries.

WED: Braised beans and greens (NYT). Italian sausage.

THUR: Patty melt on homemade ciabatta rolls. (Who posted the Patty Melt?)

19 Likes

Thank you for setting this up MTT!

I was absent posting on Chowhound last week, and WHAT a week to miss. Happy to see some familiar names on this platform.

My husband started travelling for work again, so I was solo parenting Monday - Thursday. Also back to commuting in the office two days a week… This past week involved eating at my parents Monday night, pasta and store bought meatballs and sauce on Tuesday, leftover pasta on Wednesday and takeout pizza last night. Need to get back into the swing of things of cooking while commuting.

Mask mandates going away as of March 21st here, which will be a whole new adjustment period I imagine. Offices are reopening, I will actually be able to INTO my son’s daycare centre… lots of changes! Hoping they are mainly for the better and everyone stays healthy.

Cooking for two adults and a 3-year old in the Toronto suburbs, where we didn’t get the memo that March 11th is way too late for snow and woke up to an inch and a half this morning.

Friday (tonight): quinoa burrito bowls with black beans

Saturday: afternoon visit with some friends and their daughter, who is in daycare with the little man (indoors…wow) an easy tortellini upon our return

Sunday: smoked pulled pork, my consistently repeated kale and quinoa salad

Monday: in the office… butter chicken (jarred sauce), steamed broccoli, basmati rice

Tuesday: in the office. Rainbow trout, roasted beet salad with citrus

Wednesday: coconut and kale fried rice

Thursday: My husband’s choice.

Have a great week everyone!

15 Likes

Hi, all! Glad to see so many of you here :slight_smile: Cooking for 2 in Myrtle Beach, SC, where we’ll be on spring break starting tomorrow if we don’t get snowed in tonight…what a crazy spring! The weather is predicted to be fairly chilly and rainy, so plenty of opportunity to cook.
I got to have Uzbek food last night with a good friend in Nashville; tonight we’ll be going to Sean Brock’s old place Husk. So much indoor dining, but it feels good!
Saturday, March 12: Hoping for steamed shrimp, our traditional arriving at the beach food. Probably a salad.
Sunday: Skillet enchiladas, fennel-orange salad, maybe a cake
Monday: TBD
Tuesday: Broiled fish, bulgur with mushrooms, salad
Wednesday: TBD
Thursday: Broccoli rabe with white beans (Cook’s Country), bread, salad
Friday: TBD
Hope you all have the best week possible. Hang in there and happy cooking!

18 Likes

Re. having to readjust to cooking on commuting days… I’m with you. My new company has a lab and next week I have two afternoon meetings there. It feels like SUCH a stressor to drive… a whopping 10 minutes. :laughing: I think we might need to start a Dinners for Office Days thread to remind ourselves/each other of what we did in the “before-times…”

10 Likes

No kidding! I have no idea how I used to commute 5 days a week! Mine is a little longer - closer to an hour door to door.

I’m thinking pasta may be more frequent…

4 Likes

Remind me again what sport your son plays? Soccer?

2 Likes

I’m definitely on board for a Dinners for Office Days thread! that actually sounds like a great social media account name.

6 Likes

Office Day Dinners! I love it. I hear you - I try and prep stuff either in the morning before I leave or the night before. And I have a 10 minute commute! But I also have very long days at work, starting at 730 am…

6 Likes

Hello. I read the WMP and the WFD threads on Chowhound. I enjoyed reading about it all. I especially loved the stories about the toddler and the dog. Anyway since it has moved here, I decided I will try to participate. I own two farms and work a full time job (no work from home and never missed a day during the pandemic) so I have to plan, plan, plan. Since we are very rural, there isn’t a lot of takeout except for pizza, fast food and Mexican. I keep a full stocked pantry and freezer so except for the quarterly BIG shopping trips to larger areas, I just update weekly with fresh produce, fresh meat (pork, chicken or fish as we have our own Angus beef) and fruit. Anyway it’s calving season on the farms and it snowed today so hubby went to his “other” full time job at VDOT and me and Angus, the Labrador, are checking on the calving progress today. We are small producer of Angus- 250 head cow/calf plus contracted poundage steers and only 500 acres. We shipped 90,000 lbs of steers last month and try to do that twice a year. Don’t know about this year as the prices for corn seed, fertilizer, and nitrogen go up every day. Right now to plant an acre of silage corn is $1300 acre and that doesn’t include fuel or spray. We no till plant, Also having trouble getting parts for the tractors. One of the JD’s has been out of commission since Christmas. No parts available not even rebuilt.
Tonight is chili which is in the crockpot with shredded cheese and crackers and avocado on mine
Tomorrow- Cabbage rolls from “Everyday Dorie” which are already put together and will be in the crockpot. I also cook for my 83 year old FIL on Sundays. I try to give him enough to have for Sunday dinner and one more meal He also has a sweet tooth so I am fixing a strawberry blueberry cobbler for him.
Monday- usually try to do meatless Mondays- brown beans and cornbread
Tuesday-Hamburgers and seasoned potato wedges for husband. I will probably have salad as I don’t do potatoes much due to carbs and I will have reached my red meat limit. Shhhh don’t tell the Angus Association that or they might revoke our membership. LOL But I find as the older I get, my taste buds have changed. I used to love steak. Now I can handle one or two bites and that is it. Husband thinks my diabetes meds causes this. He is probably right.
Wednesday-Lemon pepper fish with steamed broccoli and vegetable rice medley- fancy way to say rice, carrots and peas LOL
Thursday-leftover brown beans
Friday- usually leave early from work on Fridays since I do four nines M-Thurs so I will pick up something.
This morning I also made homemade hot dog chili to freeze in small packets to have when we want hotdogs on the grill. We don’t like the canned stuff. Yes I have done three cooking things this morning BEFORE 9:00 am. I get up every morning seven days a week at 4:30 am so house is cleaned and food is cooked before I go out on the farms on Saturday.
I also take my lunch to work everyday usually salads or soup. l keep soups such as vegetable, or minestrone in freezer containers and I just pull one out when I need a lunch. I also take yogurt, fruit, and granola to have for breakfast at work. I am not one that can eat when I first get up. I am a diabetic so I keep things in my bottom desk drawer to have to snack on so I don’t make bad food choices. I find that if I do small snacks, I don’t overeat. I wear a continuous glucose monitor so I know when I have made a bad food choice. Anyway that is me in a nutshell. Again thanks everyone for the inspiration, the laughs, and yes the tears cause I cried when the lady lost her baby. I didn’t know her other than reading about her life, but my heart broke for her. I hope she is doing well as can be.

25 Likes

Welcome - and thank you for the welcome to this new site! I am the poster with the dog and the toddler (he turned 3 in November). I’m also the woman that lost the baby, and it is a bit comforting to know that Elliot’s life is thought about by so many people. We are coming up on 7 months since he left us. Some days are easier than others, and some days something reminds me and I am just knocked off my feet by the enormity of what happened. I’m lucky to have an amazing support system and a great therapist. That being said, if one more person tells me that things happen for a reason…

My little guy would just love your farm. Tractors, cows, lots of room to run around! It’s also so sweet that you cook for your FIL once week - I look forward to seeing what is on his weekly menu too.

18 Likes

Oh Megan I just prayed for you so hard. I don’t have children but I can not imagine the heartache. Both my husband and I farm each of our family’s farm. We are the 5th generation to do so. Living in southwest Virginia is challenging, but it is beautiful. I have farm ponds, creeks, and lots of woods. I tell people I never leave my property and can roam on 400 acres. The other farm is 154 acres and is 12 miles from the one we live on. We have spring water on both farms and I told someone that I never buy bottled water.
I found out when I lost my mother that people want to say something when you experience a loss, but they don’t know what to say and sorry doesn’t seem like enough. I read about Elliot’s bench and saw the picture. That was so touching.

12 Likes

Basketball just ended (his team was eliminated in the final four), and soccer starts in about a month. He’s also giving boxing a trial run - just sparring, no hitting people!

5 Likes

Office Day Dinners it is! (love the partial alliteration!)

9 Likes

Hello, friends. Cooking for two adults and an 11yo in the Boston burbs. It’s gray and cold and rainy today, but I’m absurdly excited because I figured out that I can run all my errands (library, grocery store, and optician) without actually parking outside. Our library has an underground garage, as does the mall where Wegmans and Warby Parker are located. The tradeoff is that I have to go inside the mall, and look like a dork carrying my grocery bags. Oh well!

Some of you may remember from CH that our new (as of August) house has a cooktop and sink in the pantry, and we figured out that it’s referred to as a “spice kitchen.” Well, the contractor is coming this week to take out the cooktop and sink, cap the gas and water lines, and install a new countertop and wall cabinets. We’re really looking forward to having more usable storage space. I’m not looking forward to taking everything out of the pantry, though…

Sun: an early St Pat’s dinner of corned beef, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots, and non-Irish roasted cabbage (https://smittenkitchen.com/2019/11/roasted-cabbage-with-walnuts-and-parmesan/)

Mon: Pi(e) day! Pizza for dinner (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Brick-Oven-Pizza-Brooklyn-Style/Detail.aspx?src=VD_Summary) and DS might make a pie for dessert. Last soccer clinic tonight - hopefully we remember, unlike a couple weeks ago where we completely whiffed on it.

Tues: chicken enchiladas suizas (Rachael Ray’s Week in a Day cookbook) and… some sort of vegetable? I have a mostly-full container of crème fraiche to use up.

Weds: fish tacos, yellow rice and black beans.

Thurs: leftovers. DS has a dentist appointment at 6:45pm - not sure what I was thinking when I booked it then. At least he won’t have to brush again before bedtime, right?

Fri: not my problem! I’m heading to the Cape with some friends for a girls weekend… DH will be in charge through Sunday.

18 Likes

Have an amazing girls weekend! I am now rethinking my Monday plans - pie day seems like a great excuse for takeout pizza

10 Likes