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Have you ever been in survival mode? It’s the term I use to describe the months after childbirth especially, but there are other seasons when we’re in survival mode: doing the bare minimum because of externally stressful circumstances. It could be a health condition, or a long-term home renovation, or when everyone in your house is taking turns vomiting. Whatever it is, it can really throw your meal planning for a loop. You don’t want to waste food, and for financial and health reasons, you probably don’t want to order pizza every night. I’m here to help! I’ve come up with a survival week meal plan to give you ideas to get through one of these challenging times. If your survival mode lasts longer than a week, then just rinse and repeat!
Survival Week Meal Plan
Breakfast
My formula for breakfast is protein, carb, and fruit. For the protein, I love to do a breakfast casserole or a quiche at the beginning of the week. Then you can make a big batch of muffins (lots of ideas in this post) and just have fruit on hand. I also like to have frozen pre-cooked protein like turkey sausage for something even younger kids can heat up themselves.
Lunch
There are of course the each lunch options like peanut butter and jelly, but some of my other survival week ideas are leftovers, grilled cheese plus deli meat for some added protein, and rotisserie chicken on top of bagged salad kits. You can also use the chicken to make chicken salad. Although the temptation in these tough times is to gravitate toward comfort food, trying to include some nutritionally dense foods usually helps me mentally! Other easy options include boxed macaroni and cheese or frozen pasta like tortellini.
Dinner
This is where we all ultimately struggle, right? My template for a survival week meal plan is simple:
- Leftovers
- Dinner from the freezer (frozen pizza, chicken nuggets and french fries, corn dogs, etc.)
- Pasta bar with frozen meatballs
- Grilled / air fryer chicken breasts with minute rice and frozen green beans
- Creamy sausage pasta bake with frozen broccoli (makes a TON!)
- Burrito/taco bowls
- FFY (fend for yourself) night—this could be leftovers, breakfast for dinner, cereal, literally anything anyone wants within reason (this is my kids’ favorite
You can find a few more ideas in my post 11 Survival Mode Meal Ideas.
