As promised, here’s my meal plan for the following week. This post is part of Orgjunkie.com’s Menu Plan Monday blog carnival. If you’re fishing for inspiration, go check out everyone else’s meal plans.
I wrote this meal plan using my new, handy-dandy blank menu planner.
Monday
B- Smoothies (bananas, raw peanut butter, raw milk, raw eggs, vanilla)
L- Egg salad (pastured eggs, homemade mayo, spices), celery sticks w/raw almond butter, grapes, glass of kombucha
D- Taco salad (w/ cultured sour cream, raw cheese, and homemade dressing), glass of raw milk
TO DO: Defrost ground beef, transfer garbanzo beans to sprout
Tuesday
B- Leftover taco meat omelets, glass of raw milk
L- Tuna salad (homemade mayo, homemade lacto-fermented dill pickle relish) on top of mixed salad greens w/raisins, carrots, and olives, glass of kombucha
D- Steak bites, stuffed onions, raw sliced zucchini, glass of kombucha
TO DO: Make more enzyme-rich mayonnaise, check on sprouted garbanzo beans
Wednesday
B- Smoothies (bananas, pineapples, coconut milk, vanilla)
L- Giant salad w/avocados & homemade dressing, glass of kombucha
D- Mujadarron (Indian cooked lentils, rice, and caramelized onions) w/yogurt, glass of kombucha
TO DO: Defrost 2lbs ground beef
Thursday
B- Migas, sliced apples, glass of raw milk
L- Raw hummus, celery, grapes, glass of kombucha
D- Chili, green salad w/raisins & raw sunflower seeds & homemade raw dressing, glass of raw milk
TO DO: Begin fermenting pickles
Friday
B- Smoothies (bananas, pineapples, coconut milk, vanilla)
L- Giant salad w/avocados & homemade raw dressing, glass of kombucha
D- Thai peanut steamed veggies, rice noodle soup, glass of kombucha
TO DO: Defrost roast
Saturday
B- Scrambled eggs, Smoothies (bananas, raw peanut butter, raw eggs, raw milk, vanilla)
L- Leftover Chili, green salad & homemade raw dressing, glass of kombucha
D- Mexican shoulder roast, raw sliced zucchini & yellow squash & carrots medley, glass of raw milk
Sunday
D – Salmon patties, green salad & homemade raw dressing, hodge-podge leftover soup made w/homemade chicken bone broth, glass of raw milk
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I found your website through orgjunkie. Your link did not work so I just went to your plain address.
I also prefer whole foods. We have our own goats, milk cow, chickens and ducks. I love Nourishing Traditions and I see lots of fermented foods here so I bet you do too. I *heart* kombucha:) Thanks for posting. I looked up recipes for a couple things you mentioned. Have a great week.
Tiffany
Hi Tiffany — Thanks for visiting and also for letting me know about the broken link. There didn’t seem to be a way to fix it in Mr. Linky, so I just added another one. I am indeed a Nourishing Traditions kind of gal. 🙂
Cheers,
KristenM
Hey Kristen!
Great menu! Looks so yummy. It’s so nice to see a paleo/gluten-free/Orthodox food planner like myself! I could practically cut and paste your menu for our family! I love it!!!
BTW, what is your understanding of the use of “pulses” in the paleo diet? I’m trying to figure out how to use them for Lent…just sprouted raw?
Thanks!
Carrie
http://oreganicthrifty.blogspot.com
Oreganic Thrifty
Hi Kristen,
I notice that your menus are not heavy on the meat or fish. please explain. I have no problem with it, just observing that your menu seems different than others who follow the NT principles. I may be not observing correctly though.
Your menu looks great, seeing all of the zucchini and squash on the menu makes me anxious for spring and summer! Have a great week…
Julie — Well, there are two things playing out here.
The first is that we’re Orthodox Christians, so we keep a vegan fast every Wednesday, Friday, and before the major festal seasons (i.e. Lent before Easter, Advent before Christmas, etc.). These dietary rules get bent a lot of the time in our family because young children and pregnant or nursing mothers aren’t expected to keep them, but we do try to keep to the spirit of the fast in other ways.
The second is that we don’t have the finances to be heavy on the pastured/wild meats and fish. Our monthly food budget for a family of four is $400, and we don’t hunt. We get smokin’ good deals from local farmers on the meats we do eat — $2.69/lb for grass fed and finished beef, $2.50/lb for pastured hens. But, you get the idea. Even with low prices, we’ve got to be frugal in our use of the most expensive food items in our home. Even raw milk and cream get strictly rationed since the purchase of those drinks alone takes up 16% of our food budget.
Oh, and here’s a third principle which is coming into play. (Think of it as a bonus.) One of the more important things we learned from NT is that traditional people groups consume 60-80% of their calories in raw or fermented form. I’d be willing to wager that many folks on the NT-bandwagon don’t strive to do this (yet). They’re still transitioning to eating more animal fats, sprouting/soaking their grains, drinking raw milk and kefir, making bone broths, and experimenting with fermented foods.
The Fat Dietitian — Thanks for commenting. Yes, this is one good thing about living in a warmer climate where stuff grows pretty much year round. While we’re tomato-less (apart from the canned stuff), we’ve still got some zucchinis and yellow squash. I love winter squash, but most of them require cooking. That means we only eat them every other week or so.
Hi! I found your site through MPM on OrgJunkie. I was wondering if you minded sharing your recipes for your Wednesday Dinner. It sounds great and I’m always looking for something new to do with lentils!
Thanks!
Great ideas! Can you please tell us how you season your meat for your taco salad? Certainly not with the McCormick envelope?! (gasp!) 😉 Thank you!
Chrissy — Hi! Glad you’re visiting. It’s basically this recipe, but I use homemade chicken broth instead of water. Plus I add about 1/2 tsp cinnamon, some garlic, and 1 tsp. cumin. It’s really tasty!
Debbie — Oh, I rarely use recipes! I just add spices to things until they smell right.
To a pound of ground beef, I add a small minced onion, about 1/2 cup of tomato sauce, and splash of vinegar. Then I use the following as a taco seasoning substitute: To a pound of ground beef, I add APPROXIMATELY: 1/2 tsp. chipotle chili powder, 1 tsp. cumin, 1/2 tsp garlic, 1/2 tsp coriander, 1 tsp oregano, and plenty of salt to taste.
thanks for stopping by my blog =)
I haven’t been here before – I like it! I think I may just have to add it to my feed reader!
Henny
Thanks for your in depth answer, Kristen. Makes sense to me. I am trying to get the fermented foods in my thinking more and more. I have a crock of sauerkraut in the basement, I’m going to make komchucha scoby soon, and I do try to consume yogurt more and more, but would like to add new and different fermented foods.
I would LOVE to see your weekly menu plan for a fasting week. We are also Orthodox, and eating well over the long fasts while following, as well as we are able, the fasting guidelines is still a huge challenge for me. I feel like I wind up failing at both!
Hi Kristen. I’m new to Paleo and thought I’d try your meal planner to see if it helped me (making subs where necessary) can’t have peanuts, need to avoid bananas for a bit etc. What is a good sub for dates? Can’t stand em and lots of recipes call for them. Also, can’t get Kombucha here, next best thing? Thanks!