MEAL PLAN: February 2021

/

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I receive a commission if you choose to purchase through links I provide (at no extra cost to you). Shopping through these links is one small way of supporting this blog, and for that - I thank you! For more information, see my disclosures here.

Happy February, friends! It’s a new month, which means it’s time to plan out new meals for our family! And because it’s something that I’m already doing for our family and love so much - I wanted to share with my followers. Maybe this Meal Planning blog post will give you some inspiration for new meals or help to reduce stress when you are trying to figure out what meals to add to your schedule for the month or just one week at a time.

One of my best suggestions for Meal Planning is to start looking ahead and planning out for an entire month! Crazy, I know, but hear me out: when you look ahead at the entire month and think about what else you have on your calendar, it can allow you to navigate what types of meals will make the most sense for your family. I also love planning out my entire month at a time so that I can think about buying my groceries in bulk or stocking up with similar ingredients around the same time! When I do my “big picture” meal plan for the month, I don’t focus on the little details too much - think about your family’s pace of life and consider when you need more leftovers, quick meals, special occasions, and so on.

After I have the entire month of meals planned out, it makes my weekly meal planning & prep so much easier! I usually spend time on Saturday or Sunday to sit down and look over my upcoming week of meals, review some recipes if it’s a new meal or something that I need to reference and evaluate the ingredients that I already have in my pantry. Then I write out my grocery list for anything that I know that I need to shop for.

I currently love using a list in my iPhone Reminders (which is shared with my husband), and then I drag and drop those grocery items to become “sub-items” under grocery categories in the list. This is SUPER helpful to allow me to do my grocery shopping even faster when I’m in the store! (Example: I have all produce grouped together, then meat, the inner aisles like snacks or canned foods, then freezer aisles, and dairy.) I really like to organize those main categories based on the flow of the grocery store that we visit most often!

If you are someone that prefers physically writing out your meal plans - either on paper notepads or a whiteboard - I’m linking some of my favorite meal planning tools below for you to check out! I just recently purchased this magnetic weekly meal plan notepad that also has a detachable shopping list and I can’t wait for it to arrive and stick it on my fridge - it’s so beautiful!

Now for the thing you have all been waiting for… the meal ideas!

February 2021

WEEK ONE: February 1-7

MON: Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup
TUE: Steak Burrito Bowls
WED:
THU: One-Pot Chicken Alfredo
FRI: Parm-Crusted Steak Sheet Pan Dinner + Sweet Potatoes
SAT: Shortcut Chicken Enchiladas
SUN: BBQ Slow Cooker Country Style Ribs

It’s Game Day! We already have some ribs in our freezer that we picked up one time when it was on sale, so we plan to do up some ribs and wings for party food with a few family members! Throw in some cold veggies + ranch, chips and dip, and maybe even a baked spinach-artichoke dip with pita chips and we’ve got a great spread of party food for the Super Bowl game.

 
 

WEEK TWO: February 8-14

MON: Sheet Pan Sausage, Potatoes & Green Beans
TUE: Meatloaf Muffins + Mashed Potatoes
WED:
THU: Honey Lime Baked Chicken Fajitas
FRI: Rosemary Garlic Pork Chops w/ Chickpeas
SAT: Spaghetti Night
SUN: Heart-Shaped Pizza Night 💗

Happy Valentine’s Day! A few years ago, my husband and I started making heart-shaped pizza for Valentine’s Day and find it to be so simple and fun as we celebrate our love for each other. This would also make a great meal activity to do with kids! If you don’t want to make your own pizza dough, there are lots of pre-made options in local grocery stores (I would recommend dough in a can that you can mold into a heart shape before you bake it!)

 
 

WEEK THREE: February 15-21

MON: White Chicken Chili
TUE: Mozzarella Stuffed Chicken with Tomato & Basil
WED:
THU: Baked Potatoes
FRI: Egg Roll in a Bowl
SAT: Burgers + Fries
SUN: Maple Roasted Sweet Potato Carrot Soup

 
 
 

Meal Planning Tips

I shared lots of Meal Planning Tips last month in the January 2021 Meal Plan blog post, so hop on over to see everything that I shared there! If you are someone who loves planning all things digitally, considering using one of my favorite free planning programs - Trello! I have even connected my Trello Meal Plan cards as a calendar that I could import into my family calendar - so each of my meals show up on my phone (and on my husband’s!).

I have come to love using Trello as my main meal planning organizer - it allows me to link directly to recipes online, or add my own notes or photos. It’s a great digital recipe box! I can also easily drag and drop Trello cards to different lists - which is one of my favorite features because we all know that plans get changed! So I can drag and drop a meal that we skipped to another night. You can read more about using Trello for Meal Planning on one of my previous blog posts, or give it a try by using the Trello Template for Meal Planning here:

I also know that the meals that I have listed aren’t necessarily great options for everyone! For my husband and I, we often use recipes online as inspiration for meals (new veggies to try out, or a great guide to inspire us to use a certain protein that week). Because I know this specific meal plan might not be perfect for you - I also have a blank calendar available that you can use to fill in your own favorite meals! Just click on the button below to get the FREE printable to download - then print and use in your house to plan out your favorite meals for the month!

free-printable-monthly-meal-plan-calendar-weekly-menu.jpg

I can’t wait to hear from you all about what meals you are making this month and what you think about planning out your meals for an entire month instead of just a week at a time (or day by day!). Leave a comment below to let me know what you are planning in February, or stop by my new Facebook Group for our JenEric Community to share there!

SHARE ON PINTEREST!

1.png
11.png
IMG_0748.png