The Plan:
Day 1: Zoodles with homemade pasta sauce, Melon chunks
Day 2: Roasted sweet corn salad with corn chips, Melon chunks
Day 3: Homemade pizza with pesto
Day 4: Slow cooker stuffed peppers
Day 5: Tuna salad sandwiches with homemade pickles
Day 6: Crockpot cheesy cauliflower soup
Day 7: Grilled brats with homemade sauerkraut, Tomato and cucumber slices
This meal plan was curated using local foods that are in season now or preserved during the peak growing season in the U.S. Midwest. The plan is an exact replica of what our family is eating this week unless we are out of town. Meal plans are developed using whole foods and my meal planning system (click here!) and are meant to be healthy and easy to prepare. Most recipes will take no more than 30 minutes of active cooking time. Occasionally meals may require all day slow cooking, advanced prep, or some oven time. Recipes are provided when available. I sincerely hope this will help with your own meal planning!
Pantry Shuffle:
Out of Storage: (preserved when in season and coming out of my root cellar, freezer, canned, or dehydrated stash)
- Italian sausage and brats from Mastodon Valley Farm meat share
Into Storage:
- Vegetable broth (frozen in quart sized silicone bags)
- Pasta sauce (So.Many.Tomatoes. Must make sauce! 4 quart Mason jars will go into the water bath canner)
- Pesto (freeze in ice cube trays, then pop out and put in zip top bag in freezer)
- Corn (cut from the cob and frozen in zip top bags)
- Muskmelon chunks (frozen in zip top bags – makes a great addition to special drinks in place of ice cubes, or a sweetener in smoothies)
- Homemade sauerkraut (fermented for days on my counter, then I’ll move to the fridge for long term storage)
Notes: Finding the time…
You may notice that I am putting a lot of food into storage this week. We are in peak harvest time in the U.S. Midwest and I have to work double time to store away everything possible so that we can eat healthy, local food throughout the winter. I spend all my free time just like those squirrels fattening themselves up and hiding away the acorns.
I often get asked how I have the time to do so much food preparation and preservation. I’m going to share with you two secrets that allow our family to live this way. Some secrets are best to keep quiet, but in this case I invite you to share with as many people as you can!
Secret #1: I make the time. I choose to eat whole, local, seasonal foods because it is in alignment with my values. And when something is important to you, you will find the time. I feel good when I support my local farmers. I feel good when I feed my family healthy food. I feel good making choices that are also good for the environment. These are things that motivate me. I work and have 3 children, a dog, and some chickens. My life is no more or less busy than anyone else’s. The difference is that I made an active choice to think about what we eat and make plans accordingly. I cut up extra food to store at the same time I am preparing a meal. I spend time on my days off making pasta sauce between running errands and dropping kids at soccer practice. I make the time.
Secret #2: Decluttering. You probably didn’t expect that word to be one of my secrets, but this is a very special secret that I’m sharing with you! One of the ways that I make time (see secret #1) is that I cut out other things in my life that do not align with my values and goals. Clutter most definitely does not. I have harnessed the power of decluttering to make my home so much more peaceful and easy to maintain. This is the process I use: pick a drawer, surface, or shelf and spend 15 minutes going through all the stuff. Keep what you love, use, and need and declutter (trash, recycle, donate) the rest. The final (possibly most important) step is to block the tide of things entering your home by purchasing less. I am extremely intentional about what I buy. You may be wondering how this decluttering process leads to more time. The truth is, when you don’t spend all your spare time shopping, cleaning, organizing, and shuffling stuff you have a lot more time for the things that matter to you. This was a game changer for me and that is why I am sharing it with you. You can take it or leave it, but if you are looking for a way to break free and find yourself some more time, decluttering 15 minute per day will get you there little by little.
Find what you truly value. Find what you love to do. Then find the time to do it.
CSA Breakdown:
For those of you also using Crossroads Community Farm, here is a breakdown of how I will use each piece of produce this week. See the first CSA post from this season for details of how I structure the plans.
Tomatoes (1.0 increment): I have a few cases to use for pasta sauce. I will then use 2 cups of the pasta sauce to make the stuffed peppers. Some will be diced to freeze. Others will be sliced and served with a dash of salt (one of my favorite snacks!)
Onion, Yellow (1.0 count): You will need to buy extra to make all the recipes this week. Pasta sauce, stuffed peppers, cauliflower soup
Pepper, Red Sweet Carmen (1.0 count): Stuffed peppers
Cauliflower (1.0 head): Cheesy cauliflower soup
Basil (1.0 bunch): I will be using extra from my garden to make pasta sauce; farm basil for pesto
A2 Watermelon (1.0 count): cut into chunks to serve with zoodles one night and corn salad the next
A3 Muskmelon, Infinite Gold – Large (1.0 count): cut into chunks to serve with zoodles one night and corn salad the next
Pepper, Red Bell (1.0 count): stuffed peppers
Cucumber (1.0 count): homemade pickles, cucumber slices
Garlic, small (1.0 count): pasta sauce, pesto, stuffed peppers
A1 Corn, Sweet (some tips cut) (1.0 count): roasted sweet corn salad
