After posting 14 meal planners back to back, I took a break last week. It was the Thanksgiving long weekend here, and we were also traveling. I know how hard it is to get back to the routine after a vacation. But we don’t have an option other than bouncing back and getting into the usual routine. Here is my simple meal planner with semi-homemade meal options that will make the week a bit breezy. Also, as you can see from the planner, I am relying on a lot of leftovers. I love to cook everything from scratch; there is no doubt about it. But on weeks like these after vacation, I do opt for the semi-homemade recipes. It’s much better than ordering an entire meal out.
Simple & Semi-Homemade:
Ok, now you may ask how and why am I saying this meal planner as simple and semi-homemade?
I am using veggies that you can chop on the go like cucumbers, tomatoes, brinjal and for paratha, I am using broccoli. You don’t need to cut the vegetables over the weekend. For bhaji, you can use a frozen mixed vegetable pack. Also, instead of homemade pav buns, you can use store-bought pav buns, and also you can buy store-bought idli dosa batter if you don’t have time during the weekday to prepare the batter. Or you can even do instant dosa with wheat flour. Except for Tuesday and Wednesday dinner, all the other meals can be made effortlessly either in Instant Pot or the stove-top Pressure Cooker. Again, pasta sauce can be store-bought, and you can use any sauce of your preference.
Now, as there isn’t much prep-work involved for this week, let’s dive into the meal planner and the recipes straight away.
Meal Planning in Detail:
Monday:
I am starting with the simple oatmeal for breakfast. You can also make it into porridge or smoothie. For lunch, it is the pav bhaji with store-bought pav buns. And for dinner, it is idli with sambar. And for sambar, I am planning to use only onions, brinjals and tomatoes and you can chop these vegetables quickly.
Tuesday:
We love idli for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So I am back with idli for breakfast but with leftover sambar. And for lunch, it is the tomato rice with cucumber raita. For dinner, I am opting for some detox rasam with millets and cucumber kootu. I will soon post cucumber kootu and how to cook millet in Instant Pot folks. Stay tuned.
Wednesday:
For breakfast, it is the dosai with idli podi / gun powder. For lunch, it is the white sauce pasta with peas. I am planning to pack a simple salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and olives with olive oil and lemon juice dressing. Dinner is a full meal with roti, rice, dal, and paneer bhurji.
Thursday:
As always, I am keeping my Thursday onion and garlic free. So starting the day with ragi porridge for ourselves and cheese dosai for the kiddo. Most of my Thursdays are incomplete without ven pongal or the savory pongal. And for lunch, it is the savory pongal with gojju/sweet and spicy stew. As you can, I am planning to carry it forward to Friday, as well. For dinner, it is the uttapam. I don’t make a separate batter for uttapam. We usually make uttapam with a well-fermented idli/dosa batter. I am planning to use my last of the idli/dosa batter and make this uttapam and serve it along with chutney.
Friday:
Back to paratha Fridays, but for breakfast, I am opting for a smoothie (my smoothie recipe with psyllium husk recently got published on the edible arrangements blog and that’s the link I have shared)and pancakes. I am planning to make broccoli paratha for lunch, and I make it more like cauliflower paratha. I will share the recipe soon. For dinner, it is the rice upma or, as we say in Tamil, arisi upma, and I am serving it with leftover gojju.
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!
