7-Day Menus

I have written on this blog many times that some menus would have really helped us on our quest to go plastic-free back in 2011. I have sprinkled seven menus here and there on this site and today have compiled them into a single post. I have edited these since I first wrote them. As I added more recipes to my blog, I changed the menus around a bit (including the order). So if you would like to see the originals, go here.

Criteria for these menus (and some notes):

• They will reduce your waste. This was the entire point of this exercise, after all! If you have no access to a farmers’ market or bulk bins, here are some ideas for reducing your waste when food shopping.
• They are vegetarian. Technically I’m an omnivore but I follow the Michael Pollan guideline for sensible eating: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” So you’ll find lots of vegetables in these menus. If you eat meat, you can toss leftover bits into the soups, chili, stir fry and frittata, for example.
• They include at least one fermented food every day. If you wonder why I eat so much fermented food, read this post and this post. In addition to tasting delicious and improving your gut health, fermented foods keep for weeks, months and even longer, depending on the type. If you make your own sauerkraut, for example, you can make several jars occasionally, which can easily keep for a year. This saves time.
• The menus vary daily. I absolutely do not cook this much food in a week but I added different dishes every day to mix things up. If I cooked a new dish every single night, not only would I be completely exhausted, I would spend a fortune and waste piles of food. I would suggest following one or two menus (or a few meals that strike your fancy from different days) and eating the dishes for several days. (I love leftovers.)
• I have posted no caloric information. A recent large study published in JAMA found that “people who cut back on added sugar, refined grains and highly processed foods while concentrating on eating plenty of vegetables and whole foods—without worrying about counting calories or limiting portion sizes—lost significant amounts of weight over the course of a year” as opposed to those who counted calories. Read about the study here.

The Menus

Sunday

Breakfast: Steel-cut oats (start them Saturday night in minutes) topped with fruit, yogurt, nuts, seeds 

Lunch: Kitchen sink soup

Dinner: Not-too-spicy black beans, sourdough tortillas (I like this recipe), fermented salsa, sour cream

Snack: Vegetables (carrots, celery, peppers, broccoli, mushrooms) and hummus (basic or with preserved lemon)

Monday

Breakfast: Sourdough pancakes topped with fruit, yogurt, nuts, seeds

Lunch: Clear-out-the-fridge seasonal salad with vegetables, cooked grains and cooked beans on hand, balsamic vinaigrette

Dinner: Lentil dal (or pumpkin dal), brown rice and fermented condiments (preserved lemons, fermented hot peppers, yogurt, chutney)

Snack: Fruit

Tuesday

Breakfast: Egg scramble with leftover chopped vegetables, beet kvass or gut shot (the probiotic brine of fermented pickles, kimchi or sauerkraut)

Lunch: Sandwich with hummus (basic or with preserved lemon), vegetables, sprouts and fermented dill pickles on sourdough bread

Dinner: Pizza with tomato sauce (or pesto sauce, tapenade or even simply olive oil) and topped with vegetables on hand and ricotta cheese, seasonal salad with balsamic vinaigrette

Snack: Kale chips, ginger beer

Wednesday

Breakfast: Granola topped with fruit and yogurt or almond milk

Lunch: Vegan chili

Dinner: Pasta with vegan pesto

Snack: Popcorn, kombucha

Thursday

Breakfast: Sourdough waffles topped with fruit, yogurt, nuts, seeds

Lunch: Use-em-up roasted vegetables puréed into a soup or tossed into a salad with cooked grains and beans, hardboiled eggs

Dinner: Stir fry with peanut sauce and brown rice, kimchi

Snack: Roasted chickpeas

Friday

Breakfast: Eggs any style, topped with avocado and kimchi

Lunch: Sourdough bread, hummus (basic or with preserved lemon), labneh, vegetables

Dinner: Chana masala, cauliflower rice and condiments (preserved lemons, fermented hot peppers, yogurt, chutney)

Snack: Soft pretzels (or soft sourdough pretzels), hibiscus soda

Saturday

Breakfast: Sourdough toast with nut butter, fruit

Lunch: Minestrone soup

Dinner: Clear-out-the-fridge fritatta, sauerkraut

Snack: Sourdough crackers and leftover dip (basic hummus or with preserved lemon, salsa, tapenade, pesto)

Meal Planning

To help you meal plan, I’ve created this simple, downloadable and fillable menu planner. You’ll find a post on menu planning here. As I said above, I don’t cook a different meal every night. I also eat lots of leftovers for lunch. So, my weekly meals will look more like the menu below.

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snack
Sunday	Steel-cut oats topped with fruit, yogurt, nuts, seeds	Kitchen sink soup	Not-too-spicy black beans, sourdough tortillas, fermented salsa, sour cream	Vegetables and hummus
Monday	Sourdough pancakes topped with fruit, yogurt, nuts, seeds	Leftover kitchen sink soup	Leftover black beans and sides	Fruit
Tuesday	Egg scramble with leftover chopped vegetables, beet kvass	Last of the black beans and sides	Pizza with tomato sauce, topped with vegetables on hand and ricotta cheese, seasonal salad with balsamic vinaigrette	Kale chips, ginger beer
Wednesday	Granola topped with fruit and yogurt or almond milk	The last of the kitchen sink soup	Leftover pizza, salad	Popcorn, kombucha
Thursday	Granola topped with fruit and yogurt or almond milk	Last of the pizza	Stir fry with peanut sauce and brown rice, kimchi	No snack tonight, fell asleep early after cooking and cleaning 😉
Friday	Eggs any style, topped with avocado and kimchi	Sourdough bread, hummus, vegetables	Leftover stir fry with peanut sauce, brown rice, kimchi	Popcorn, hibiscus soda
Saturday	Sourdough toast with nut butter, fruit	Leftover anything	Out for dinner	Popcorn, ginger beer (we eat lots of popcorn)

Bon appétit!