Weekly Meal Plan 5.31.15

Opening night of my latest play was last night, so it's back to semi-normal life for us this week! Here's what I'm planning for dinner this week:

Sunday: pulled chicken sandwiches (I planned these for last week, but the chicken didn't get defrosted in time, so we will have them now!)

Monday: dinner at a baseball game

Tuesday: steak fajitas

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: sloppy joes (to use up the buns from the chicken sandwiches!)

Friday: stuffed summer squash

Saturday: leftovers

Weekly Meal Plan 5.24.15

This is tech week for the play I'm working on, which means I won't be eating dinner with Sean most nights. Instead, I'm planning some slow cooker meals that I can get started in the morning so he has a healthy dinner when he comes home and I will have leftovers for lunch. We will be baking some bread this weekend too, so that I can have sandwiches for dinner at rehearsal -- real dinners are not a thing for me during tech week!

Sunday: slow cook whole chicken, cauliflower

Monday: enchiladas using leftover chicken

Tuesday: slow cooker beef stroganoff
(it won't be my dad's amazing recipe, but it has the advantage of being slow cooked instead of needing a lot of actual work)

Wednesday: slow cooker pulled chicken sandwiches

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: pasta with pesto, salad

Saturday: dinner out for Opening Night!

Weekly Meal Plan 5.17.15

This week starts off still visiting family for a Bat Mitzvah, then a tiring day of travel. A couple normal days, and then I start tech rehearsal for The Mikado! So it's a slightly unusual week for my meal planning, but here we go:

Sunday: dinner with family

Monday: something easy like macaroni

Tuesday: fish and veggies

Wednesday: roasted chicken breasts with ratatouille

Thursday: slow cooker lamb tagine

Friday: leftover chicken and ratatouille

Saturday: leftover tagine

#WasteNot 30 Day Challenge: Day 20

Today is my 20th day of the #WasteNot challenge, sponsored by Travel Well Magazine.

This is a simple one, but an important one nonetheless: reusable water bottles.

This is the water bottle I took with me to pilates today. It always amazes me how many people at the gym have disposable plastic water bottles, whether they brought them or they buy them from the vending machine there. To me, there is no simpler way to reduce plastic consumption than by bringing a reusable bottle with me to the gym, on hikes, on trips (just make sure that there isn't any water in it when you bring it through airport security!).

Do you use reusable water bottles? How else do you reduce your waste?

#WasteNot 30 Day Challenge: Day 19

Today is my 19th day of the #WasteNot challenge, sponsored by Travel Well Magazine.

Here is my low waste coffee and tea set up:

We have an electric kettle to heat water, and a French press for coffee during the week. The French press is great because it makes just one mug's worth of coffee and there is no garbage since the grounds get composted in our garden.

On weekends when Sean and I are both drinking coffee at the same time, we use the old drip machine with a reusable filter. Again, the coffee grounds get dumped into our compost.

Weekly Meal Plan 5.10.15

It felt good to be back in the habit of meal planning last week!

I had planned to go to the local farmer's market on Sunday, since it is finally open again. Unfortunately, it was snowed out. I'm hoping I'll be able to make it more consistently once this play opens at the end of May; farmer's markets are one of my favorite weekend activities!

Sunday: leftovers

Monday: spinach souffle

Tuesday: steak and veggies

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: salmon and salad

Friday: dinner with family

Saturday: cousin's Bat Mitzvah

#WasteNot 30 Day Challenge: Day 16

Today is my sixteenth day of the #WasteNot challenge, sponsored by Travel Well Magazine. Today I'll share a way I reuse when working on a set.

Painting backdrops requires a lot of custom paint mixing. And because of the size, it's not so simple as mixing on a palette like you would when painting on a canvas. So, for the months leading up to painting a show, I collect any yogurt containers that otherwise would go in the recycling and wash them out very well. Then, I reuse them to hold paint. Yogurt containers are a great size for this, but any container with a lid that seals well will do: coffee cans, glass jars, etc.

How do you reuse containers before they head to the recycling?

Weekly Meal Plan 5.3.15

This last month I really fell behind on the meal planning, and as life got busy I was reminded once again of why I do this. Meal planning keeps me organized for trips to the store, remembering when to defrost things, and knowing what to cook before 6pm creeps around and I'm getting hungry! So, back to the plan this month.

Sunday: leftovers

Monday: seared ahi with mango and avocado

Tuesday: leftover chicken and spring onion bread pudding

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: Slow Cooker Thai Chicken Soup

Friday: Slow Cooker Balsamic Pot Roast and broccoli (this was a favorite the last time I made it)

Saturday: leftovers or dinner out