Every military family can attest to how crazy PCS season can get. The last thing you want to worry about is feeding yourself or your family, but you can’t necessarily afford to eat every single meal out. Our brilliant foodie WAF friend Caleigh is here to save the day. She’s prepared a week of Crockpot dinners to get you through the craziness. Best part? She’s included a meal plan for breakfast, lunch, and snacks that reuse similar ingredients to help keep it simple and reduce a fridge full of leftovers. She’s taking all of the thinking out of the problem for you and is just letting you focus on nourishing yourself, and your family and getting from point A to point B.
Hey WAFs! Me, again. If you read my piece on chiropractic care in the Air Force then I don’t need to reintroduce myself, and you already know that I’m taking time away from my career to stay home with my babe and travel the world while our family is stationed here at RAF Mildenhall in England. While I absolutely love it here, I was rather naïve as to how hard closing my business, having a baby, moving across the world, and giving up my career all within a matter of months would actually be. I say this because I know I’m not alone here, or even one of only a few. “Resiliency,” am I right?
While getting settled and navigating my way through this new life across the pond as a new mother, I found myself obsessing over things I could control. Call me crazy but one of those things was planning each and every meal of every week – and I LOVED it. Once I realized how accomplished I felt once I had my whole schedule filled out for the week and while understanding that many other people despise it, I decided to create an Instagram account to document some of my menus and meals along the way in hopes it helps at least one other family. I don’t write my own recipes but I love scouring the internet for delicious, easy, and family-friendly recipes to add to our rotation.
You guys can find me here from now on, posting tips and tricks about meal planning as well as our favorite recipes! Feel free to follow along @menusbymama to see some of my day-to-day interactions in the kitchen. Wherever it is that you find me, I can’t wait to share my meal planning with you!
MONDAY
Breakfast: scrambled eggs, toast, fruit
Lunch: grilled cheese + broccoli
Snacks: yogurt bowl (yogurt + your fav toppings)
Dinner: crock pot white chicken chili
TUESDAY
Breakfast: sweet potato toast with jam, fruit
Lunch: pita, hummus, carrots, cucumbers
Snacks: peanut butter toast + bananas
Dinner: crock pot chicken tacos + black beans – recipe HERE
WEDNESDAY
Breakfast: Kodiak waffles (or waffles of choice) + yogurt
Lunch: leftovers
Snacks: cottage cheese, English muffin
Dinner: slow cooker American goulash – recipe HERE
THURSDAY
Breakfast: cheesy omelet, English muffin
Lunch: alfredo pita pizza + veggies
Snacks: peanut butter apples, cheerios
Dinner: crock pot bbq chicken bowl + sweet potatoes – recipe HERE
FRIDAY
Breakfast: apple cinnamon overnight oats
Lunch: leftovers
Snacks: English muffin fruit pizza (I like to use cream cheese as the base)
Dinner: pizza/takeout
SATURDAY
Breakfast: bacon + egg breakfast sandwiches (on bagel, English muffin, or croissant)
Lunch: rice bowl
Snacks: smoothie
Dinner: slow cooker coq au vin – recipe HERE
SUNDAY
Breakfast: breakfast sweet potato hash
Lunch: charcuterie (crackers, cheese, meat, fruit)
Snacks: leftovers
Dinner: slow cooker creamy tomato basil chicken – recipe HERE
You’ll notice I reuse a lot of the same ingredients throughout the week (English muffins, sweet potatoes, etc) to get the most out of the groceries I buy. A lot of these dinners also freeze really well if you don’t get to all the leftovers throughout the week. I also like to schedule things like “rice bowls” and “smoothies” toward the end of the week to use up the vegetables and fruit I have left before it goes bad without feeling stuck to strict recipes. Enjoy!
Meet Caleigh
I’m from Chicago, a Purdue grad, and a die-hard Cubs fan. My husband and I have been together for 7 years and have split that time between Saint Louis, MO, and Del Rio, TX. I have a Doctorate in Chiropractic, but will be spending my next few years here at RAF Mildenhall in England staying home with my sweet babe, two pups, and exploring the world!
I love to travel, hike, and cook (you can follow along on my cooking adventures HERE) while enjoying (probably most of) a bottle of Cab. I absolutely love the WAF community and am always more than willing to share any tips, tricks, and experiences I’ve picked up along the way.
