PS – Substitute the rice with grains of your choice. For all my new readers, I have been sharing some meal planners for the past two years. I have shared over 20 meal planners, and you can check them out all under the “meal planner” category. All meal planners and unique, and you can draw some inspiration. I know I am repeating this, but I have to repeat it one more time. Even though I was planning and making my meal planners, I couldn’t share them on the blog regularly. Last year, I was inconsistent. I hope to share them regularly this year. Kiddo’s school started (with limited kids and all the precautions), and I have to prepare breakfast and lunch before 7:10 AM. So I can’t skip meal prepping and meal planning for sure. Seriously, half the cooking is done, when we know what we are going to cook. Don’t you agree? Starting this week, I will answer some of the frequently asked questions regarding the meal planner. The first and foremost one:
What if I can’t stick to the meal plan?
Not all days go as planned. There are a few days when we can’t follow the meal plan to T, which’s perfectly fine. You can swap the menu or make something simple with the veggies that you have. For example, if you were planning to make stuffed okra, but if time doesn’t permit, make a simple okra stir fry. If you have to order out, then freeze the veggies or adjust the plan so that the veggies don’t go waste. Disclaimer: This meal planner is specially designed based on my family likings. I have a 11-year old son, and he can handle spicy food. He cannot reheat his food in school, so I try to avoid certain foods that need to be heated. I pack the lunch in stainless steel containers, mostly Lunch Bots, and keep in an insulated lunch bag. It keeps the food warm. Last but not least, I do pack leftovers. Without any further ado, here is this week’s meal planner.
Meal-Prep-
Chop all the required veggies. (okra, grated carrots)Make sure you have yogurt and prepare idli-dosa batter. You can also knead the dough for the roti.
Everyday Menu Details & Recipe Links
Monday Menu
Breakfast – Dosai with chutneyLunch – Coconut rice with brinjal curry. For kiddo, it is the pesto pastaDinner – Roti with dal
Tuesday Menu
Breakfast – Ragi porridge (I have linked the homemade porridge powder. But you can make similar one with ragi flour) and pancakesLunch – Rice, dal and okra curryDinner – Mixed Veg Upma (I have linked rava kichadi, you can add more veggies to it.)
Wednesday Menu
Breakfast – Avocado toastLunch – Veggie quesadilla (Linked mushroom quesadilla, but planning to add zucchini and carrots along with mushroom)Dinner – Rice, vathal kuzhambu and carrot stir fry
Thursday Menu
It’s one sambar that I am planning to pair it with pongal, dosai and rice.
Breakfast – Pongal with sambarLunch – Rice with sambar and potato fryDinner – Dosai with sambar
Friday Menu
Breakfast – Aloo paratha, breakfast smoothieLunch – Aloo parathaDinner – Hakka noodles
I hope this menu planner helps, and you all can draw some inspiration from it. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. I will share the daily updates on my Instagram and my FB group. So stay connected! Stay Safe & Happy Cooking! Vidhya
title: “Indian Meal Plan Weekly Meal Planner” ShowToc: true date: “2024-10-20” author: “Mary Peccia”
PS – Substitute the rice with grains of your choice. For all my new readers, I have been sharing some meal planners for the past two years. I have shared over 25 meal planners, and you can check them out all under the “meal planner” category. All meal planners are unique, and I am sure you can draw some inspiration.
Five-day Indian meal plan
I always share a five-day meal plan here on the blog, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t cook during weekends. We eat out, but usually, we have a heavy breakfast and skip lunch or brunch during weekends. There is no set pattern during the weekends. That’s why I usually don’t share them here. Also, Friday dinners I leave open. I mostly do my recipe testing on Fridays, or we end up eating out on Friday. This week it’s a mix and match of north and south Indian food. I have some besan puda, dal makhani, khichdi, along with sambar, rasam, and yogurt rice. This week, I am not skipping veggies any day and trying to sneak in veggies in all the meals. :-) PS – I don’t have few recipes from this meal planner on my blog. I will update them soon. I have been answering a few frequently asked questions around weekly meal planners for the past few weeks. Check out my previous faqs on these meal planners. I will soon consolidate them and share as a new post.
Do I need to follow a template for meal planning?
I should have answered this first before answering any other questions. :-) Better later than never. And coming back to the template, I highly recommend it. I started with just breakfast, lunch, and dinner initially. Then I included kids’ breakfast, lunch, and dinner along with a snack. Design your template according to your diet and lifestyle. If you follow intermittent fasting regularly, or if you prefer five small meals, then design your template accordingly. I initially started by writing the meal plan and menu details in my notebook, and I still do it. I know it’s old school, but I love to write. You can use excel also. If you are a beginner, then start with the standard breakfast, lunch, and dinner option. As you continue to do, you can adjust according to your needs. I hope this helps. If you have any particular questions, do let me know in the comments. Without any further ado, here is this week’s meal planner.
Meal-Prep-
Chop all the required veggies. Prepare the idli-dosa batter. Make sure you have yogurt and other condiments required for this week. You can soak the lentils and sprout them during the weekend or soak them the day before.I always knead the dough the previous day. But you can knead in bulk and refrigerate.Cook the lentils and freeze them
Disclaimer: This meal planner is specially designed based on my family’s likings. I have a 12-year old son, and he can handle spicy food. He cannot reheat his food in school, so I try to avoid certain food that need to be heated. I pack the lunch in stainless steel containers, mostly Lunch Bots, and keep it in an insulated lunch bag. It keeps the food warm. Last but not least, I do pack leftovers. Without any further ado, here is this week’s meal planner. Now here are the details and the recipe links.
Recipe Links Indian Vegetarian Weekly Meal Planner
Monday Menu
Breakfast – Besan puda Lunch – Rice with dal makhani and aloo methi.Dinner – Poha pulao.
Tuesday Menu
Breakfast – Idli with sambarLunch – I am planning to pack idli with sambar for kiddo and make some chow chow kootu and pair it with rice and sambar. Dinner – Ragi roti
Wednesday Menu
Breakfast – Bread toastLunch – Roti with veg kurmaDinner – Rasam rice with okra curry
Thursday Menu
Breakfast – DosaLunch – Moong dal khichdi with tomato raitaDinner – Rice with thengai thogayal / coconut chutney for rice and broad beans stir-fry
Friday Menu
Breakfast – Oatmeal for kiddo and oatmeal smoothie for usLunch – Yogurt rice with sweet potato curry.
** I don’t have aloo methi, ragi roti, sweet potato curry, and poha pulao on my blog. I will share it soon. I hope this menu planner helps, and you all can draw some inspiration. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. I will share the daily updates on my Instagram and my FB group. So stay connected! Stay Safe & Happy Cooking! Vidhya
title: “Indian Meal Plan Weekly Meal Planner” ShowToc: true date: “2024-10-29” author: “Robert Hewitt”
PS – Substitute the rice/millet with grains of your choice.
Are you new to meal planning and prepping or looking for new ideas?
Check out all my previous meal planners. I have been sharing some meal planners for the past two years. I have shared over 30+ Indian vegetarian meal planners, and you can check them out all under the “meal planner” category. All meal planners are unique, and I am sure you can draw some inspiration.
Meal-Prep | How much I do over the weekend?
This week, did a Q and A on my Instagram regarding meal planning and one of the question was how much meal prep I do over the weekend vs. weekdays for the weekday meals? It depends upon the menu. I spend 3 to 4 hours during the weekend and do basic meal prep. I make sure I have all my vegetables cleaned and chopped. Also, I prepare the idli-dosa batter. These are mandatory activities during the weekend. Other prep-work that I do depends on that week’s menu. Few examples are,
If I am opting for homemade snacks like makhana, puffed rice, or cookies, I make them over the weekend. I try to make some chutney like ginger chutney or relishes like tomato-onion relish or gojju that I can pair with idli or dosa or other dishes. Soaking and sprouting the beans if needed, and if I have a lot of lentil-based recipes, I cook and freeze my toor dal, moong dal. I make tamarind rice paste/tamarind paste and pasta sauces during the weekend. If I plan to make mint rice or tomato rice, I make the paste the day before. Also, I knead the dough for roti the day before as well.
Disclaimer: This meal planner is specially designed based on my family’s likings. I have a 12-year old son, and he can handle spicy food. He cannot reheat his food in school, so I try to avoid certain foods that need to be heated. I pack the lunch in stainless steel containers, mostly Lunch Bots or Thermos sometimes, and keep it in an insulated lunch bag. It keeps the food warm. Last but not least, I do pack leftovers. Without any further ado, here is this week’s meal planner.
This week’s meal planner
I am going with a simple menu this week as well. My breakfast recipes are usually simple ones, and I rotate between idli, dosa, upma, poha, smoothie, porridge, and puttu. So let me talk about the lunch and dinner menu that I have each day. Please click the links for the individual recipes! I am yet to add few recipes to the blog and will update the links as soon as I post them.
Monday Menu
Breakfast – Dosai with mint chutney Lunch– Pickle rice with raita. I plan to make this pickle rice more like gongura pulav, but instead of gongura pickle, I will be using store-bought thokku. Dinner – Roti with paneer butter masala.
Tuesday Menu
Breakfast – Ragi puttuLunch – Roti with paneer butter masala.Dinner – Rice with veg kadhi
Wednesday Menu
Breakfast – Fruit smoothie for us and pesto sandwich for the kiddo. Lunch – Udon noodles Dinner – Mixed veg sandwich
Thursday Menu
Breakfast – Idli and sambar. (That’s for kiddo’s lunch also) Lunch – Yogurt rice with roasted beets. (I will share the roasted beets recipe soon) Dinner – Rice with leftover sambar and beets poriyal.
Friday Menu
Breakfast – Broccoli carrot paratha Lunch – Broccoli carrot paratha
For more ideas, check out our other Indian Meal Planner to enhance your weekly meal planning. I hope this menu planner helps, and you all can draw some inspiration. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. I will share the daily updates on my Instagram and my FB group. So stay connected! Stay Safe & Happy Cooking! Vidhya
