October Meal Planning: Week 3 Review and Week 4 Options

Salad, Pork Chop, Savory Rice and Green Peas

These were my meal plan options for October Week 3:

Brunches:  Scrambled eggs, toast, orange juice✔; Cold cuts sandwiches✔, Pancakes or Waffles with leftover chicken curry gravy and/or bacon and syrup/blueberry compote; Drop biscuits with butter and chives✔; leftovers from dinners✔

Dinners:  Rice, chicken curry, sauteed moringa leaves, okra, and tomato chutney✔. Pork chops with rice or pasta and vegetables✔, Baguettes with chicken curry; String-hoppers (indiappa) with chicken curry, dhal, and seeni sambol, Mac & Cheese with tuna pulled pork and salad, Soup (?); Leftovers✔

Snacks/Desserts:  Fruit (pomegranate from the garden, tangerines, a couple of apples)✔, Sri Lankan sweets and snacks✔, Japanese snacks; cake, maybe an apple or peach pie?

On Tuesday, I picked up an order of groceries; on Wednesday, we stopped at the French bakery and picked up a baguette and some snacks from the Japanese store, as well; on Saturday, neighbor S brought us leftovers from her daughter's birthday dinner - a container of pulled pork, several slices of beef tri tip, and a piece of birthday cake!

So, here is how the week's meals worked out:

Monday:

Brunch:  Scrambled egg and toast; orange juice

Dinner:  Leftovers from previous dinners (daughter); cold cuts sandwich (me)

Snacks/Desserts: Tangerines, Sri Lankan sweets, Cuban pastries

Tuesday:

Brunch: I skipped brunch as I wasn't hungry; daughter had leftovers

Dinner:  Chive drop biscuits with butter and/or cold cuts (me); chive biscuits and rice and curries (daughter)

Snacks/Desserts: Chive biscuits, almonds, banana

Wednesday:

Brunch:  Chive biscuits with beef cold cuts (me) or with chicken curry (daughter)

Chive Drop Biscuits with Cold Cuts

Dinner:  Baguette sandwiched with chicken curry

Snacks/Desserts: Japanese snacks; strawberry matcha ice tea (daughter), bananas

Japanese Snacks

Thursday:

Brunch:  Cold cuts sandwiches

Dinner:  Pork chops with boxed wild rice mix cooked with green peas; side salad 

(half way through cooking the rice mix in the rice cooker, I added a handful of frozen green peas and two of the already cooked pork chops into the rice) 

Snacks/Desserts: Bananas, peanut butter and peach jam on crackers (me), Japanese snacks; Sri Lankan sesame candy

Friday:

Brunch:  Chive biscuits (me); the last guava pastry (daughter); orange juice

Dinner:  Indiappa or string-hoppers, chicken curry, dhal, seeni sambol (from a jar)

I didn't take a picture of the dinner, but, it was the first time I've tried dehydrated "instant" string-hoppers from a box and I was quite impressed.  You immerse the dehydrated string-hoppers in boiling water, leave for 3 minutes, leave to drain for 15 minutes (which was a little too long in my opinion as they were cold by then) and they are ready to eat!  Much easier than making from scratch!

Dehydrated Stringhoppers

Snacks/Desserts:  Cheese crackers, sesame candy, tangerines

Saturday:

Brunch: Cuban pastries (potato balls and meat pies - daughter, at her friend's place); the last chive biscuit with beef cold cuts (me) 

Dinner:  Leftovers from Thursday's dinner; samples of the tri-tip roast beef (delicious) and pulled pork (a bit too sweet for me), both compliments of neighbor S

Snacks/Desserts: Cake (compliments of neighbor S)

Sunday:

Brunch:  Leftovers from Thursday's dinner

Dinner:  Boxed mac and cheese with pulled pork (daughter) or without (me)

Snacks/Desserts: Leftover cake

Well, I went off the plan a few times, especially where the dinners were concerned, but, I am okay with that.  

Moving on to October Week 4 (10/20 - 10/26), here are my meal plan options:

Brunches:  Scrambled eggs, bacon, toast, orange juice (Monday - this seems to be a regular Monday brunch, lately); Cold cuts sandwiches; Boiled mung beans;  Pancakes/waffles/French toast; Cereal and milk; leftovers from dinners

Dinners:  Rice, chicken curry, sauteed green beans, okra, and tomato chutney,  Pulled pork with rice or  potatoes or pasta; Salad;  Stringhoppers with fish curry and seeni sambol; Ramen soup noodles; Leftovers/Planned-overs 

Snacks/Desserts:  Fruit (need to buy more fresh fruit); sauteed apples (apple slices cooked in a bit of butter with sugar and cinnamon); smoothies made with frozen fruit; crackers; granola bars; cereal and milk; maybe bread pudding?

Of course, there's a possibility that I might go off the plan, too.  

Once again, I am grateful I am able to have a variety of food available from which to meal plan and for generous neighbors who share food with me.  

Are you making a meal plan this week?