Our family meal plan

When we ate dairy free for Lamb 1's sake, I made up a menu plan for our family. We had visited some friends that had many allergies in their family and she gave me the idea to try to vary the proteins in our meals. Eating dairy free didn't seem so difficult when we had a whole list of possible meals!
Because we often eat leftovers for lunch the next day and sometimes for supper the next day too, I don't plan a new meal for each day. We just eat leftovers until they are gone and then we make something new. Living in a rural area, we have most of the ingredients on hand most of the time. So the way this works is we make something from the BEEF category and when that is gone then we make something from the CHICKEN category and when that is gone we make something from the PORK/MEATLESS until we cycle through all the categories and then we begin again.
Our list started dairy free but recently many recipes from my blogging friends have been added to the list and they are not always dairy free. You will notice that there aren't many really heavy dairy recipes here. I rarely make casseroles/hotdishes because they are usually so heavy on dairy. It's easy for our family to choose something from one category instead of saying, "What should we have tonight?" thinking of all the recipes that we regularly cook. Obviously when we have much produce from the garden or something is on sale then we cook that even if it is out of rotation for our meal plan.



BEEF/GROUND TURKEY
meatloaf
tacos
steak (a treat once or twice a year!)
roast with veggies
hamburgers
sloppy joes
spaghetti
cottage pie (shepherd's pie)



CHICKEN/TURKEY
fajitas
baked chicken with quinoa
barbecue chicken
stir fry
turkey with stuffing
groundnut stew
chicken a la king

PORK/MEATLESS
applesauce pork
baked beans
pork chops
ribs
brats with sauerkraut
ham
pizza
dal
bean burritos
falafal
bubble and squeak
egg roll guts



FISH
tuna noodle casserole
baked fish with french fries
fish with coleslaw
spaghetti with clam sauce
pasta with salmon


SOUP in winter/SALAD in summer
chicken noodle soup
chili with cornbread
vegetable soup
lentil or bean soup



egg salad
chicken salad
tuna salad (both tuna melts and MckMama's tuna salad with pasta)
garden salad
taco salad
Texas caviar


BREAKFAST (usually made on weekends for brunch)
pancakes
french toast
omelets
fried eggs
Huevos Rancheros
egg sandwiches
sausage gravy and biscuits
baked oatmeal (crockpot night before)
oatmeal
possible sides: fruit salad, hashbrowns, muffins