I have set a goal for 2018.

A goal involving this little blog.

Every Monday I hope to post a meal plan for the week, as well as at least one time saving trick, or hack, but I hate the word hack.  I bet people search for hack a lot though, so I might have to use it.  Or use “time hack” or “mom hack” or “kitchen hack.”  Although I’m not sure which I hate more….but I digress.

So here’s week 1 of 2018, a meal plan and a time saving mom kitchen time hack tip for saving time in the kitchen.  The tip?  When you cook, eat twice from it.  Or more than twice.  Read on for more…..

I apologize for all the January re-runs here.  With the kids off school another week, my brain is looking for easy and “hey I made that before and my brain remembers it.”  Stay tuned for newer ideas in later weeks.

Breakfasts for the week:

The kids are still off school this week, so in theory I have time to cook every morning, but in practice, I want to pull breakfast out and have it ready to eat or ready to reheat.  So I have these ready for this week.  Egg White Breakfast Sandwich Variation.

I cooked once for these, and other than reheating, I’m not cooking again.  Cook once, eat multiple times.  Huge time saver. #timehack #hahahahah #hashtags #momhack #kitchenhack #Imightneedtosleep

Lunches for the week:

So the tip is, cook once, eat more than once!  I will have dinner leftovers for lunches all week long.  See below!  Next week, as I get ready to send the kids back to school (thank you Jesus for school, thank you Jesus), I will do make ahead lunches for myself for the week again…so stay tuned for those ideas.

Dinners:

This is a rare period of no practices and few after school activities for us, which makes this plan easier:

Monday – Pork Carnitas and Cowboy Caviar over spinach.

Tuesday – Korean Rice Bowls and cucumber salad.  I love these, because all 3 of the small Koreans (even the middle one – the one who thinks every one I make is disgusting – eat them happily.  Okay, the middle one picks out the veggies, but he doesn’t complain while he’s doing it).  Such an easy week night meal that I double it (see the theme?) so I’m cooking once and eating twice [I have at least a couple lunches out of this + dinner for 5  if I do 2 pounds of meat]

Wednesday – [side note: it’s so good that you don’t have to be in my brain while I write these.  7 minutes elapsed between Tuesday and now, because 1 Barbie needed a braid and 2 needed ponytails.  I’m not sure why they needed fancy hair, given they are naked, but I try not to ask too many questions.]  This is the casserole that made my life in 2017, when I discovered you can bake pasta casseroles WITHOUT FIRST COOKING THE PASTA.  My mind is still blown.  We just have a veggie tray with this as a side.  No Boil Chicken Sausage and Pasta Casserole

Thursday –  I’ll evaluate and see if the leftovers are building up – since we are all home this week [pray for me] they might not.  If they are, we’ll eat them.  If not, I’ll make Navy Bean Soup With Ham and cornbread.

Friday – By Friday I’m ready for some take out or a dinner out – TBD.

Saturday – Leftover clean out night!  Or “pick your choose” as my eldest calls it.

Sunday – Chicken Tortilla Soup with all the add ins I can think of to put in it.  I love a soup that has more things in it than you can easily list, and, spoiler, you might see this one in Week 2’s lunches.

Now to make my grocery list and order up the ingredients!  Happy 2018!