Meal planning

Do you need a meal plan?

~ SL

You might be wondering if you really NEED a meal plan. There are a few questions you can ask yourself (see the image below) to see if you might need a meal plan, but it really boils down to whether you WANT a meal plan or not.

We are often our own worst enemy when it comes to meal planning and feeding our families. That is why I created the Feeding Busy Families Masterclass, a four-week group accountability program to help busy families like mine, tune in to their current habits and make them work for their family. If you’re wondering if this masterclass is a good fit for you, I’m breaking it down for you in this post.

Are you busy?

The word “busy” can have different meanings for everyone, so in your opinion, do you feel busy? Do you feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish the things you want? If you answered yes, then you are busy.

In week 1 of the masterclass we talk about your meal planning goals and how your busyness hinders you from feeding your family on your terms. Are you working late? Is your spouse working out of town? Do your kids have a lot of after-school activities? Most of these events have a huge impact on feeding our families, but can’t be adjusted. You CAN adjust your meal plan to work with your schedule, and that’s what we cover in weeks 1 and 2 of the Feeding Busy Families Masterclass.

Are you scrambling to make dinner?

This question plays into your busyness but can also be affected by kitchen organization and general time management skills. In week 2, we discuss how to organize your kitchen for efficiency so that you can get meals on the table quickly on busy nights. In week 4, we create a routine that works for YOUR family and YOUR schedule and explore strategies to make changes to it as your family’s needs change.

Do you have a hard time deciding what to make?

In week 1 of the masterclass we talk about family favorites, likes and dislikes so that in week 2, you can create a Meal Planning Bank to eliminate decision-fatigue and have ideas ready at your fingertips, every time you sit down to make your meal plan. We also talk about how to strategically choose meals to work with your family’s schedule. The 100 page workbook also comes with over 50 meal ideas to help you if you feel uninspired.

Often, having a hard time deciding what to make boils down to trying to please everyone in the family. In week 2, we look at creating a meal plan that works for your family and that includes planning with picky eaters in mind. My Feeding Picky Eaters E-Book is included in the resource package you will receive for this masterclass.

Do you want more time to yourself?

My goal as a parent is always to squeeze in as much time for myself as I possibly can. If you have this goal too, we cover time-management strategies in weeks 3 and 4, to ensure that you are maximizing your time in the kitchen, to get that much needed rest and relaxation when your kids go to sleep. In week 3, we focus on meal prep strategies and techniques that will save you time while prepping and cooking. In week 4, we look at time-management as a whole, and focus on ways to carve out time to do the activities you love.

Do you want to save money?

For two years, we were living on one income with four kids because we couldn’t find daycare for four kids under four. This made us get creative with our spending and find ways to save money. It’s actually very easy to save money in the kitchen, and in week 3 we talk about grocery budgeting and foods that you can make at home that will reduce your grocery spending.

Do you waste food?

Wasting food can be frustrating. Preparing too much, buying the wrong ingredients for the week, not having a plan and feeding picky eaters can all play into this. In week 2, we discuss how to plan and prep for meals to avoid food waste, as well as what to do with ingredients that tend to spoil quickly or tend to be wasted often.

Do you want to eat healthy?

This is often one of the reasons why people want to create a meal plan and have prep strategies to help them achieve this goal. “Eating healthy” can look different for all families. It’s important to consider food availability, accessibility and budget when making a meal plan that works for your family. In the week 1 one-on-one call, we discuss your meal planning goals, which could include eating healthy. In week 2, we take it one step further and look at ways to create your meal plan with your goals and priorities in mind.

Focus on your goals

Whether you answered yes to all of these questions, or just one, the Feeding Busy Families Masterclass focuses on all of these topics. The small group (5 people) encourages interaction with other parents who are in the same boat and allows for individualized meal planning strategies. The initial one-on-one call in week 1 helps me learn more about your family’s needs and goals so that I can highlight strategies that will work specifically for YOU during our group sessions.

What else is included?

The Feeding Busy Families Masterclass includes the following:

  • One 1:1 Zoom call
  • Three one-hour group Zoom calls
  • Access to the Facebook accountability group with past and present masterclass students
  • Detailed 100-page printable workbook

Register before September 30th and receive the following additional bonuses:

  • Extra one-on-one follow up call one month after the masterclass to check on your progress and fine-tune your routine
  • 52-page planner with a detachable grocery list to write out your meal plans and save them for the future.

Still have questions?

Send me an email if you have any questions about this masterclass or other ways that I can help you achieve your meal planning goals.

Easy Summer Salad Builder

~ SL ~ 1 Comment

We’re all looking for easy no-cook meals to have on a hot day or to take with us camping or to the beach. A summer salad travels well, doesn’t take up a lot of space in your cooler, and will fill you up for a day of fun in the sun.

Minimal prep required

What I like most about these salads is that they don’t require too much prep. All you have to do is cook some grains or noodles ahead of time. Most of the ingredients in this salad builder don’t require chopping. Use ready-to-serve ingredients, to make these salads quick to assemble and easy to prepare.

Maximize cooler space

Since these summer salads use mostly non-perishable ingredients, you will only need to store the grains or pasta and a few vegetables in your cooler. Assembling these salads once you arrive at your destination prevents you from having to store a full container in your cooler. I like to use silicone food storage bags like these ones from Zero Waste Mvmt, to reduce waste while camping. They also store flat, don’t take up a lot of space in your cooler, and can be washed out and used for another purpose while you’re traveling. Use the discount code TBL10 to get 10% off your order.

Picky eater & allergy-friendly

One of the biggest challenges when camping or weekend meal planning with other families is accommodating everyone’s likes and dietary restrictions. By assembling your salads on-site, you can serve all the components deconstructed or buffet-style and everyone can customize their salad.

Store-bought shortcuts

Using jarred or canned ingredients prevent you from having to use precious cooler space, especially when you will be living out of a cooler for a weekend. Homemade dressings like these ones are easy to whip up before you go and can be stored in mason jars in your cooler. Using store-bought dressings works just as well.

Summer salad ideas

Here are a few combinations you can try for inspiration:

  1. Pasta, olives, sundried tomatoes, bocconcini, fresh basil, balsamic vinaigrette
  2. Quinoa, shredded carrots, dried blueberries, edamame, honey mustard dressing
  3. Rice noodles, snow peas, shredded carrots, peanuts, sesame ginger dressing
  4. Quinoa, chickpeas, grape tomatoes, black olives, feta, greek dressing
  5. Quinoa, black beans, corn, red pepper, cilantro, chipotle lime dressing

Other summer salads for at home

Salads with lettuce have a shorter shelf-life, especially once you add the dressing. They’re not ideal for camping or the beach, but they are great for a quick no-cook meal if you’re enjoying the heat at home. Try this Strawberry Poppy Seed Salad or this Waldorf Salad with Tarragon Dressing.

Summer Salad Builder

Asian Grilled Chicken Salad – Three ways

~ SL ~ 2 Comments

This post was written in a paid partnership with Manitoba Chicken Producers. As always, all opinions are my own and I only promote products and services that I use and love.

Something we all tend to struggle with now and again is trying to get out of a food rut.  Trying to find new ways to enjoy the foods we already love but eat way too often.  Keeping the same flavors you already enjoy, but changing the way they’re presented is an excellent way to add variety to your menu.

This Asian Grilled Chicken Salad recipe from Manitoba Chicken Producers is a great base for spinning off other recipes.  It serves 4-6 people, so you have the option of serving it family-style for dinner or splitting it up into containers for lunches. You could also make a smaller portion of the salad and use the remaining ingredients to make one of the three completely new meals that I’m sharing today. These three meals use all the same ingredients, along with a few extras:

  • Cashew Chicken Lettuce wraps
  • Asian Chicken Flatbread
  • Chicken Summer Rolls
Photo courtesy of Manitoba Chicken Producers

Why is this a good idea?

If you already have the ingredients on hand, you may as well use them to their full potential. This prevents food waste and allows for flexibility and variety on your menu.  Once you have already purchased some of these ingredients, for example, the hoisin sauce, sesame oil, and sweet chili sauce, you’re going to have more than enough to use in a few more meals, so you’re going to want some ideas to mix it up a bit. Also, if you make one of these recipes for dinner, you may want to use up the remaining ingredients to make a few lunches for the rest of the week.

Jump to Recipe

Prep strategies

If your life is busy like mine is, you’re going to want to save every minute you can in the kitchen, so you can have more time for relaxing and spending time with your family.  There are many ways you can save time executing this dish. Here are a few:

  • Batch cook your chicken
    • If you plan on using these ingredients in the same week in different ways, grill up all your chicken at the same time.  Slice it up and it’s ready to go for the salad, the summer roll, the flatbread and the lettuce wraps. If it isn’t a nice day, baking the chicken works just fine. Whichever cooking method you choose, be sure to use a meat thermometer to check for doneness. This chart will help you ensure your chicken is perfectly cooked.
  • Chop all your veggies at the same time
    • This will be especially helpful if you plan on using them in more than one meal in the same week.
  • Double the sauce, as needed.
    • Depending on which of the four recipes you will be making, double up the sauce if necessary. This will save you from having to make a second batch later.

Did you know that you should only store cooked chicken for three to four days in the fridge?

This guide is helpful for storing all cuts of chicken in your fridge and freezer.

Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps

I used romaine hearts for these because I love the crunch, but you could definitely use any larger leaf lettuce that could contain the filling. If you don’t have cashews, peanuts would be an excellent substitution.

Jump to Recipe

Asian Chicken Flatbread

chicken flatbread

This recipe is basically a salad on a pizza, minus the cheese. You will be topping it with the ingredients that can be served warm before popping it in the oven, then dressing it with a “salad” of julienned veggies, herbs and a squeeze of lime, once it comes out of the oven.

Jump to Recipe

Chicken Summer Rolls

These Chicken Summer Rolls make a great lunch or appetizer. They are a bit more time-consuming to prepare than the other recipes, so you’ve been warned! You can use any amount of the sliced veggies for these rolls and you don’t really have to measure, which I love. If you don’t have some of the listed vegetables on hand, you could also try avocado and cucumber as substitutes.

These rolls tend to stick together when stored in the fridge, so it’s a good idea to either individually wrap them in plastic wrap, or a greener option is to place a lettuce or cabbage leaf between each roll when storing them in a container.

Jump to Recipe

Chicken is versatile and nutritious

Chicken is an excellent ingredient for deconstructing and reconstructing because it is so versatile. If you’re looking for other ways to reconstruct and make the most out of the ingredients you buy, check out this post called Greek Chicken – Three Ways or head to manitobachicken.ca for more recipes using Manitoba chicken so you can try some reconstructing on your own!

Share your creations with us by tagging @toobusylivin204 and @manitobachicken on Instagram.

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Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps

These fresh lettuce wraps make a great lunch or dinner.

Course Appetizer, Main Course
Keyword chicken, lettuce wrap
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Servings 4
Author SL

Ingredients

  • 1 cooked chicken breast, chopped
  • 1/2 red pepper, diced
  • 1 cup baby corn, sliced in circles
  • 1 Tbsp fresh mint, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 1/2 cup cashews
  • 2 romaine hearts
  • 1 lime

Sauce

  • 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
  • 1/3 cup sweet chili sauce
  • 1 Tbsp sesame oil

Instructions

  1. Grill or pan fry chicken breasts until thermometer reads 170F (about 5-7 minutes per side).

  2. While chicken is cooling, chop the corn, red pepper, mint and cilantro.

  3. Wash and dry romaine leaves, keeping them whole.

  4. Combine sauce ingredients and stir.

  5. Chop chicken.

  6. Heat chicken, red pepper and corn in the frying pan until warm, about 3 minutes.

  7. Add sauce and stir until combined and heated through.

  8. Transfer to a bowl and top with a squeeze of lime, mint, cilantro and cashews.

  9. Serve in romaine leaves.

chicken flatbread
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Asian Chicken Flatbread

A fresh take on a pizza, this flatbread makes a great lunch for one or cut it in triangles for an easy appetizer.

Course Appetizer, Main Course
Keyword asian, chicken, flatbread
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Servings 1 flatbread

Ingredients

  • 1 naan
  • 1/2 cup cooked chicken , sliced
  • 1/4 red pepper, sliced
  • 1/4 cup snow peas, julienned
  • 1/4 cup carrots, julienned
  • 1/4 cup cashews, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp. fresh mint, chopped
  • 1 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 1/2 lime

Sauce

  • 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
  • 1/4 cup sweet chili sauce
  • 1 Tbsp. sesame oil

Instructions

  1. Grill or pan fry chicken breasts until thermometer reads 170F (about 5-7 minutes per side).

  2. Set aside to cool, about 10 minutes, then slice thinly.

  3. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

  4. Combine sauce ingredients and spread on pizza.

  5. Top with sliced chicken and red pepper.

  6. Place in the oven until heated through and crust is lightly browned. (About 5-7 minutes. )

  7. Remove from oven and top with snow peas, carrots, cashews, mint and cilantro.

  8. Finish with a squeeze of lime.

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Chicken Summer Rolls

These Chicken Summer Rolls make a great appetizer or lunch and pack a lot of flavor.

Course Appetizer, Main Course, Side Dish
Keyword chicken, rice paper, summer roll
Servings 6 rolls
Author SL

Ingredients

  • 1 chicken breast, cooked
  • 1 carrot, julienned
  • 1/2 red pepper, julienned
  • 6 baby corn cobs, julienned
  • 1 handful snow peas, julienned
  • fresh mint leaves
  • fresh cilantro leaves
  • 2 cups thin rice noodles, cooked
  • 6 rice paper wraps

Sauce

  • 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
  • 1/4 cup sweet chili sauce
  • 1 Tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 lime, juiced

Instructions

  1. Grill or pan fry chicken breasts until thermometer reads 170F (about 5-7 minutes per side). Set aside to cool.

  2. Cook noodles according to package directions and run under cold water to cool. Set aside.

  3. Combine sauce ingredients and set aside.

  4. Julienne all veggies.

  5. Wash and dry mint and cilantro leaves.

  6. In a bowl of warm water, soak one rice paper wrap at a time, gently moving around until pliable. It should not feel stiff.

  7. Spread out the wrap on a cutting board. As you're working on your first roll, place another wrap in the water to soak, so it is ready to go when you have finished making your roll.

  8. Layer fillings in the following order: mint leaves, 1/4 cup noodles, julienned veggies (small handful), 3 slices of chicken, cilantro.

  9. You don't want to overfill the wraps. It's good to make a test roll, to assess how much filling will fit in your wrap.

  10. Fold over the left and right sides of the wrap, holding in the filling.

  11. Start at the top or bottom end, and continue rolling, tucking the filling into the wrap, like you would a burrito.

  12. Dip in sauce to serve.

Recipe Notes

If you’re making this for several people, you may choose to make extra sauce, so that everyone has their own bowl for dipping.  

When storing prepared summer rolls in the fridge, individually wrap them in plastic wrap, or separate them with a lettuce or cabbage leaf in a container to prevent them from sticking together. 

Other julienned vegetables can be used here such as cucumber, avocado, snap peas, and green onion.