Time for another installment of “Project Organize Your ENTIRE Life” (POYEL for short). I know you’re jumping up and down in anticipation of getting your hands on some simple and nutritious meal plans and starting your month off right. But before we get to that, I wanted to take a second to ask how everyone’s doing with their new cleaning schedules. I’d love to hear how your new systems are working for you and I’m trying to figure out the best way to do that. What do you guys think? Would you be interested in doing a link-up post? Emailing me so I can put it all onto a pinterest board? How can we best share with each other so that three weeks from now, when the shiny newness of POYEL has worn-off a bit, we’ll have somewhere to go back to and renew our motivation?
In the spirit of being completely honest, I’m currently accomplishing about 2/3 of what’s on my chore chart (which means my house is about 60% cleaner than before!). For right now I’m good with that. I’ll try to get a little better as the weeks go on but, for me, this is definitely a marathon – not a sprint. More than anything else, I need to get myself into the habit of looking at the thing every day.
Ok, enough with dusting and vacuuming already. Honestly, as excited as I am about POYEL, I still can’t believe I’ve churned out four posts on cleaning in the last two weeks. And I know I still owe you some info. on setting up a weekly schedule outside of the cleaning. It’s coming, but for now I’ve had my fill of schedules and lists – lets get to eating!
I had every intention of doing this phase similarly to the last – collecting info. from all of you (in this case, recipes) and then spending hours compiling it all. Thankfully, my friend Mel came to my rescue. Three things you need to know about Mel:
- She’s a busy mom of a 3 year old daughter and (soon-to-be) 2 year old son.
- She’s got an amazing talent for finding meals that are easy to make, kid friendly, and seriously nutritious.
- She’s got a big heart. She’s one of those rare people that truly does things in the interest of helping others.
And here’s how Mel’s participation in all of this came about. I was sitting in her kitchen a few weeks ago and she was telling me about her participation in Team In Training (i.e. running a half-marathon to raise funds for blood cancer patients and their families) and how much she’d love to raise money for the cause by doing more than just running the race. I took one glance at the immaculate meal plan displayed on her computer (which just happened to be sitting on the counter) and suggested that she offer up something similar here on MPMK in exchange for donations.
Mel being Mel insisted that she’d only feel comfortable giving away the meal plan for free to everyone and asking those who were so inclined to donate. So below you’ll find two buttons, the first will take you to a calendar with six glorious weeks of meal plans – complete with themes like Mexican Monday and Slow-Cooker Thursday. The second will take you to Melanie’s fundraising page thru the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Under each of the six weeks, you’ll find two links: a weekly shopping list as well as a document with links and instructions for making all of the healthy and delicious nightly dinners. Mel was very concerned that the meals be family-friendly and she spent many hours combing her recipes and the internet to bring you some really good stuff. There’s no minimum donation required and every little bit helps. Thus far, POYEL has been very popular – which means that if everyone who uses these meal plans donates just a small amount, together we can make a meaningful impact towards a very worthy cause.
I’m sure meal planning is something we’ll keep coming back to with POYEL but for now I just want to say a HUGE thanks to Mel for all the hard work she put into this and to all of you for contributing to her cause! To recap, here are your instructions for today:
- Download the meal plan and instantly free up an hour or two of your week.
- Donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to support cancer patients and their families and instantly feel the positive karma washing over you.
- Leave a comment letting me know what you think is the best way to share your POYEL progress.
{ 45 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for including some dairy-free recipes. I can’t wait to try these out!
I am feeling more successful with my cleaning schedule than I ever thought possible! As far as sharing about that success I am struggling with the best format to do that. I do think everyone emailing you and then you doing one post is a good idea. Reading a lot of comments that may be duplicates can be frustrating. And thanks to Mel! My husband just ran the Disney Marathon in January for TNT and he and I both did one years ago for TNT. Such a wonderful and rewarding experience. Bravo!
Yay, Jana!
For those who may be interested: I’m collecting vegan menu plans into a pin board at http://pinterest.com/cmsabot/project-organize-week-2.
Feel like I need to do a spring cleaning before my schedule can truly be followed! lol Great to have all of your posts for inspiration!
This is fantastic. I love that Friday is always fish night. My husband won’t eat fish, so it’s easy to sub that for a Friday night which we almost always do now anyway. It looks so easy to follow and healthy too!
So are these recipes meant to feed a family of 2 parents and 2 young ones then? I want to make sure there’s enough to go around.
Hi Megan,
Mel says she’s on week two of the plan and so far the meals have fed her and her husband plus her 3 year old and 2 year old each night and provided enough for her hubby to bring for lunch for 1 or 2 days after.
Hope that helps!
Just found your blog and your post on cleaning/organizing and that plus my new lemon scented cleaner has made me inspired to actually try and get things done again!
Gotta get me some of that lemon scented cleaner!
First, I am a relatively new reader of your blog but I’m already a big fan..in fact I nominated your blog over at Apartment Therapy for best family blogs since I’m such a huge fan already. I’m checking in all the time and following you on Pinterest too. I love the POYEL stuff since I’m in the process of doing just that in my own house so I’m loving all the tips, etc. Now, only one critique of the meal plan (which is organized amazingly BTW, your friend sounds awesome!!)…too much chicken, and sometimes it’s back to back nights of chicken. We are big meal planners in our house and I have recently taken to organizing our meals for about 2 weeks ahead. Organizing meals in advance this way makes you really look at how much you are eating of one kind of food and makes you vary it a bit more, which I know can be so challenging with little ones (I have 2). So there’s my teeny tiny critique…maybe for the next 6 week plan? Maybe subbing in veggie meals for some of those chicken dishes. This has inspired me to organize my meals even farther out. I do think it’s saving us tons of money and especially time. Thanks again for all the inspiration, please keep it coming!:)
We’re currently on week 2 of the meal plan and we’re not eating the meals in order or anything, so maybe eating the meal you’re in the mood for that day would help with the chicken 2 nights in a row dilemma. You can also sub in a different meat, maybe steak or turkey if you prefer it over chicken. Most of the meals are pretty flexible that way so play around with it all you want! Hope you enjoy!
This series is great so far! I’m about to dig into the meal plan, hoping it will make meal planning with picky kids a little easier! I’d like to share a link to my post today about a calendar I designed for our fridge that helps keep the kids aware of where they’re supposed to be. It’s really helped us organize pieces of our life. Maybe it will help your project too!
http://resolvingcrazy.wordpress.com/2012/03/01/calendar-fun/
Thanks so much for sharing!
With meal planning I’ve come to find that more then not I find it more fun to cook some unknown or new recipe. Then I look forward to actually cooking it. It seems like a challenge how it will turn out, will my family love it or hate it. So I always incorporate something unfamiliar in my weekly plan. Just to get my creative juices flowing.
I made a lot of progress this week with organizing my storage room and sorting baby clothes for baby number two arriving in July!
Steph-
OMG! I just stumbled across your 6 week meal plan!! LOVE it!! Thanks for sharing such a fabulous meal plan and helping to simplify my life! Missed you guys yesterday!
This is remarkable – thank you so much for this resource! I would love to see what the next 6 week plan looks like!
Thanks! This takes one thing off my weekly to do list. I was wondering if Mel does do another segment maybe she could include a “meatless” night? We do meatless mondays at our house (though Mexi-Monday is more fun!)
Except for week 6, all the weeks have one or two meatless meals:
Week 1 – Cheeseless Pasta Bake
Week 2 – Black bean, spinach and cheese quesadillas
Week 3 – Santa Fe casserole and Garlic Penne Pasta
Week 4 – Homemade Veggie Pizza
Week 5 – Butternut Squash Enchiladas and Easy Tomato Basil Cream Pasta
Hope this helps!
WOW- very impressive! I <3 recipe web sites but sometimes it's hard to find it again. Linking it to the calendar is a GREAT idea! However, 6 weeks is too long for me and being SO scheduled doesn't allow for trying new recipes. I can't make the same things over and over.
Currently, I plan meals for 10 days – no particular order. This gives me the flexibility to says “meh- I don’t feel like making that.” and have a couple “no cooking” days for leftovers, pizza, snack night or the rare dinner out.
Altho I have to go to the grocery store weekly for fresh veggies, fruit, bread and milk, I like to use frozen veggies as often as possible so I don’t waste fresh veggies bought for a dish that I don’t end up making until day 10.
I make at least 1 soup per 10 day schedule, especially in winter, and we do one meatless day a week too.
Great ideas to better organize my 10 day schedule- I am TOTALLY using the link idea!
I love it! The only thing I would change… fish on Monday vs. Friday. If you go grocery shopping for the whole week, the fish will go bad first. The other meats can be frozen (for the most part). Obviously I can just switch it myself. Thank you!
I have yet to check out the meal plan, but I am having success with the cleaning schedule! Something I never thought possible. I used to hate “chore lists” so I don’t know why this is working differently for me, but it is, and hey, don’t question a good thing. I made one sheet of chores per day of the week. Today, as Monday, is Kitchen. So I have some tasks to clean the kitchen more thoroughly than usual (mop, throw out old leftovers, clean all surfaces, etc.) with boxes next to each task. Then at the bottom there are the daily chores. Dishes (which of course is incl. in kitchen day, but it’s on there for every other day too), 10 min. pick up in the morning, 5 minute pick up at noon, 10 minute pick up in the evening, sweep kitchen, and one “bonus” chore if I feel like it. Which actually, I usually do, because I’m feeling motivated by getting other stuff done! It’s great setting the timer and getting my son involved in the pick-ups. And it’s not an overwhelming or boring amount of time to be cleaning. And if I don’t complete something, not a big deal at this point, because it’s still better than nothing!
Tuesday: Bathroom, daily chores
Wed.: Living room and errands, daily chores
Thurs. Laundry, daily chores
Friday Bedrooms, daily chores
Saturday day off, only daily chores
Sunday Meal plan, daily chores
I am working on printing and laminating my cleaning schedule, but I lose track of time because of all the exploring I do on your site! so many things to do with my 21 month old! As far as the meal plan, I don’t know if it is just me but I love adding a third side to my dishes. For some reason I alway have a main dish and two side dishes, maybe because only a main dish and one side dish look sad when I serve it. LOL
I’ll try this and maybe it will cut cooking time for me with only two things to prep. Oh and how about dessert night on Sunday Fun day that the kids can help make as well? Weelicious.com inspired me to have my son help out in the kitchen as well 
Thank you Mel for this meal plan, I could never create this on my own!! We can do it everyone, our homes can be in control!! Good luck!
I do this same sorta meal plan schedule for myself.
Sunday= easy
Monday= roast
Tuesday= hamburger
Wednesday= soup/ sandwich/ salad
Thursday= fish/chicken/ pork
Friday= casserole/pizza/pasta
Then i make a 8 week rotation- splitting all of these things up. ie: one friday we will have pizza the next a casserole etc… Then i plan meals and recipes for 2 of those weeks. It works for me, and i enjoy looking online for new recipes i try every 2 weeks to have one new recipe for supper. Thanks for sharing all these recipes!!
Love the recipe list…I have already tried 3 and all have been great hits. The spicy peanut sauce…may become an addiction in our house and used on EVERYTHING.
I haven’t done them in order…I just pick the ones that sound interesting for the week and add them to my shopping list for Sunday. My hubby thinks he is being starved if there isn’t meat…and well with his metabolism he needs insane amounts of protein. So I haven’t tried any of those, but THANK YOU. I also have printed some of the cleaning lists…being put into action this weekend! 
keep it coming!
Ok, I’m a bit overwhelmed here! Totally new to ally of this. I have a one year old and work outside of the house full-time. Have been off work and laid up for the last 5 mos due to multiple back surgeries. In that time (and frankly before) the household has gone to pot! The hubby is doing his best to care for our son, cook, clean and work, but he’s learned what any housewife knows…its hard!! I go back to work next week and stumbled upon your blog from a pinterest post. Where should I start? The decluttering? As far as the meals go, I’ve never ever been a planner, but will try Mel’s plan…not only does it sound awesome, but she put countless hours into it and will happily share with us for free. I will gladly support her in her TNT fundraising efforts come payday. I did the San Diego half marathon with them last summer and urge everyone to get involved with this incredible organization!! Mel – GO TEAM! As for sharing ideas in the future, I think it could get hard on you to be responsible for administering the blog or compiling email updates. (Afterall, you have your own schedule to tend to). What if we started a Facebook group and ppl could post whenever they have an idea, question or just need support? Thanks for putting together this plethora of resources and graciously sharing with all of us!
Hi, I just wanted to say a huge Thank You for posting the meal planner, I found it on Pinterest and we are now on day three.. I love it already and it really feels like a luxury not having to worry about what I’m cooking or what we are eating.. My husband loves it and my toddler is slowly coming round to food that is not rice or bread (fussy eater)
I am British and living in Dubai, I managed to find all the ingredients here and was still reasonable priced and good food for a warm climate..
So anyway, thanks again, is there a forum or a discussion place for POYEL?
Thank you so much for this awesomely amazing meal planning calendar/recipes/shopping lists….. I love this!! Such interesting and healthy meals. Thank you for your generous spirit.
This is the best thing on the net that I have ever found~!!!!
I am a very busy mom of 7 kids ranging in age from 6 months -15 year old twins. With school (3 different schools), dance (over 20 classes/week, soccer (dh coaches and one son plays) and life in general you have provided me with free useful information and did some of my thinking for me.
THANK YOU~
I love this! I am a meal planner, but would having been looking for something like this that has healthy choices and just tells me exactly what to do. I went back to work a few years ago after being a stay-at-home mom until the kids hit high school (I work at the high school now), on top of having less time, middle age is creaping in and we need to eat better. Thank you so much! I hope you will do another 6 weeks – I can’t wait to see it! I love the calendar (I usually have 2-4 weeks done at a time, that way I just have to go to my list for that time frame and it is done) and I really love the links!
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! For the inspiration. I haven’t had much success with using other peoples meals. I have a really picky eater. However this inspired me to sit down and see how many meals/recipes I have that my family will eat. Turns out I have at least 30! so I sat down with a magnetic wipe of calander for my fridge and planned the month out. Turns out that Fridays will be our breakfast for dinners and Sundays will be our crockpot days. I can’t wait to see how this will effect our grocery budget. Love this site!!!
THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH! My 5 year old and I went grocery shopping today because my husband,a Captain in the Marine Corp. and the one who usually does the grocery chore is out of state for three weeks. After twenty minutes of roaming aimlessly we, yes my 5 year old included, decided to order take-out for next couple of nights! I get overwhelmed because I really do not know how to cook, not even the basics! This has inspired me and has made me want to visit the grocery and my kitchen once more!
This is great. Thank you so much. Just another link for those that may have dietary restrictions etc. I subscribe to Fresh 20 at http://www.thefresh20.com/ which provides weekly meal plans and shopping lists (for dinners only), but they offer vegetarian and gluten free options.
Love your meal plan! Thanks for putting this all together. I am having difficulty with the links to the instructions for the meals. Is there somewhere else that I can find the links? Thanks again!
Is it possible to get a diabetic meal plan? My son has juvenile diabetes and these recipes are bit to high in the starch/carbohydrate category.
Is it possible to get a diabetic meal plan? My son has juvenile diabetes and these recipes are bit to high in the starch/carbohydrate category.
I posted a request for another 6 weeks meal plan on the main page but after re-reading this I wanted to say a couple more things. I wouldn’t mind repeating some of the recipes in the next 6 have week plan as so far I must say that they are all delicious. I LOVE how easy it has made my shopping trips, no more wasting food since it’s all used during the week, and feeds the house efficently and we are all full. I also love that it’s healthy- it can be hard to get my boyfriend to eat healthy meals and sometiems I just don’t have the creative thinking to come up with something healthy and this takes away all the thinking for me. Please let mel know that her time and work put into this is EXTREMLY appreciated and i would love another 6 weeks
I love your site.. I am in the middle of trying to get my life organized.. and this site is inspiring me! Thank you!
Thanks
I just finished my menu for lunches & dinners for the rest of 2012. I am so thrilled to have a plan in place for this busy time of year. None of my meals are complicated yay!!!
Thank you so much for the 6 week meal plan! It was soooooo helpful for me to get started making my own meal plan! So far I have loved every dish I have made on it! And they all were so quick and easy!!! Thanks!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the 6 week meal plan idea. Definitely going to try some of your suggestions. I was trying to add my own substitutions and link them to the recipe (great idea thx!) . Would you share how you got your links to be “clickable”> I have been unable to get mine to click like yours.
Thanks! Happy New Year.
Hi Jayme,
Wish I could be of more help but I’m not sure how Mel’s hubby accomplished it – he’s a tech guy so he knows these things
Wow this is phenomenal!! I am a new stay at home mom and am trying to figure out this whole homemaker thing. My husband is going to think I’m a rockstar with these meals. Thank you so much!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
This is a great idea but there are more than 5 spyware/bogus and just plain broke links!!??!?!?!?!?!?
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