If you are new to my space, starting this academic year, I started sharing weekly meal planners. You can check my previous planners below:
Meal Planner 1 Meal Planner 2
Meal Planner 2 | How it Went?
As I scheduled my OTF (Orange Theory Fitness) class that Monday morning that too at the last moment, I had to change my breakfast plans. I ended up making oatmeal on Monday and semiya upma on Tuesday. Also, for Friday dinner, I ended up making sambar instead of rasam as we had guests at home. Rest all I followed to T.
My Cookbook | The Essential South Indian Cookbook
I am so excited to share that my new book, The Essential South Indian Cookbook, is coming out this October 2019! This book contains 75 South Indian recipes, including meat and seafood recipes. Thanks to Kat Green for taking care of the meat and seafood-based recipes. The recipes in this book will definitely let you explore the culture and the regional cuisines of South India. Right from idli, sambar, puttu, pesarattu, ragi mudde, vegetable curries, and gravies, I have it all. Let’s not forget the meat and seafood dishes as well and oh yeah the desserts too. :-) Preorder your copy today! Click here to preorder.
PS: As tomorrow is off (Vinayaka Chaturthi for us as well), I didn’t add Monday’s menu. Now to this week’s meal planner for the week of September 3rd to 6th.
Disclaimer: This menu planner is specially designed based on my family likings. I have a 10-year old son, and he can handle spicy food. He cannot reheat his food, 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. Before getting into day-by-day details, I will share about the prep-work that I do over the weekend, specifically for this menu.
Everyday Menu Details:
Tuesday: I am keeping it simple for Tuesday with pulav for lunch and dosai and chutney for dinner. Wednesday: It’s quite easy to make lemon rice when you have your rice ready. Hence I have “Make rice for lemon rice” in the previous day prep-work. Also, I am planning to roast some potatoes in the air-fryer. I will share the recipe soon. For dinner, it’s white pumpkin kuzhambu with rajma for some protein and ridgegourd stir-fry/poriyal. Thursday: Yet another venpongal/savory rice and lentils day with sambar as the side. I am planning to carry-forward that sambar for dinner as well. I usually make chayote squash kootu/gravy but planning to make it like stir-fry/poriyal this time. Friday: You can cook the pasta the day before as well and mix it with pesto in the morning. But as our breakfast is just smoothie, I am planning to cook the pasta in the morning. As kiddo likes smoothie, I am planning to serve him the same. As you can see, I am keeping this week’s menu simple. It’s always difficult after the long weekend. :-) 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!
title: “Weekly Meal Planner” ShowToc: true date: “2024-10-02” author: “Donald Lopez”
I usually plan my weekly menu over the weekend for the upcoming weeks. Last year I was sharing my weekly menu planners on Instagram. I received a lot of positive feedback about the template and the planner. As the school year is beginning, this year, I decided to share my meal planners regularly on my blog as well. So I am starting with my first one for the upcoming week of August 19 to 23. Disclaimer:
This meal planner is specially designed based on my family likings. I have a 10-year old son, and he can handle spicy food. He cannot reheat his food, 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.
Do I stick to my menu planner?
That’s the first question that I usually get. When I started making menu planners, I was not sticking to the planner 100%, but slowly I started following it strictly, and now, I can say that I stick to it 95%. Menu planners have a lot of advantages and I will explain it one by one in the coming weeks. Now here comes this week’s menu planner. Before getting into day-by-day details, I will share about the prep-work that I do over the weekend, specifically for this menu.
Everyday Menu Details:
Monday: We love to have idli for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. :-) But for this Monday, I am just going with idli for lunch and breakfast. I love dishes that I can serve with multiple items. One such recipe is sambar, and as you can see, I am pairing sambar with idli and also with rice for dinner. When I prepare dinner, I usually do the prep-work for the next day as well. In this week’s case, I need to make mint rice paste and soak garbanzo beans.
Tuesday: I generally make smoothies with whatever fruits I have in hand. These days we like our smoothies with nut butter, and I add a tbsp of psyllium husk in my smoothies. You can find the mint rice recipe and chole on my blog archives.
Wednesday: Depending upon the situation, I make oatmeal either on the stovetop or in my Instant Pot. I have Instant Pot oatmeal recipe on my cookbook. If it’s Old Fashioned Oats, I cook for five minutes at high pressure and release the pressure naturally after 10 minutes. And if it’s steel-cut oats, I cook it for 8 to 10 minutes at high pressure and release the pressure typically after 10 minutes. I am planning to pack chole and rice for us, but for the kiddo, I am planning to make it like a roti roll. This is the first time I am going to try this, and I will let you know if it was a success or not. For the paneer stir-fry, I saute the paneer in ghee or oil with some salt and cumin powder. Update: I did not pack the roti roll for the kiddo. I pack him rice and chole as well. Thursday: Thursdays are our “no onion, no garlic” days, and I usually opt for idli or pongal. As I already planned idli for Monday, I going with venpongal / savory pongal and gojju for Thursday. The dinner is simple. It is vathal kuzhambu but with black chickpeas and green beans poriyal/stir-fry.
Friday: This Friday, I am keeping it special by making some pancakes for breakfast and pasta for lunch. I usually steam broccoli in Instant Pot for just one minute and release the pressure naturally. You can find my white sauce pasta recipe on my blog archives. Our weekly menu is incomplete without rasam. So dinner is comforting rasam with cucumber kootu (similar to keerai kootu but with cucumber) and leftover vathal kuzhambu.
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! Update Notes: Updated the post with everyday meal plates.
