Sample Menu for the Working Mom

Hey y’all!  As part of my THM Success Series (which started out as a mini series but has become rather lengthy), I’ve been doing a lot of sample menus for your perusal.  I’ve been asked many times for a menu geared towards working moms, so this is what I came up with.  This menu focuses on make-ahead breakfasts, easy lunches that can be stored in the refrigerator and heated in the microwave (assuming you have a fridge and microwave at work), simple snacks, easy dinners (hello, crockpot!), and make-ahead desserts.  As always, I tried to make sure that plenty of fuel types, veggies, coconut oil, light evening snacks, and yumminess were included.  Easy, make-ahead recipes and use of leftovers makes this menu perfect for you ladies with an extremely time-crunched schedule.

Helpful links:

• all my recipes in one handy picture index
• all my crockpot recipes
• all my recipes sorted by fuel type/allergy info/other cool categories
• my Starting THM page
• more sample menus
• 5-Ingredient Snacks and Drinks recipe roundup
• 5-Ingredient Meals, Side Dishes, and Desserts recipe roundup
• My Favorite 5-Minute Drinks, Snacks, Shakes, and Meals (an oldie but goodie)

For working moms, finding time to cook and bake can be difficult.  Doing a bunch of prep work on one day all at the same time is really the most efficient use of your time, and if you have a day off work that you want to use for making recipes for the week, I’ve made a list below of recipes included in this menu that can be made ahead.  The recipes I’ve included here are all easy recipes that take minimal dishes (and since you’ll be doing all these recipes in one fell swoop, you can rinse your mixing bowl, blender, and food processor in between recipes and you’ll be good to go!).  While this may look like a lot of things to make, they’re really not hard at all.  I wanted to give you plenty of options in this menu, but making all these recipes will leave you with more food than you’re going to be able to eat in a week.  That means that you could cut a couple of these recipes out if you like (you just won’t have as much variety through the week), or you can just save some of the food for the next week!

Recipes to make ahead on your prep day:

• 5-Ingredient Waffles/Pancakes (store in freezer)
• Blueberry Baked Oatmeal (store in refrigerator or freezer)
• Baked chicken breast, diced (or slightly shredded in a food processor would work for most of these recipes too; store in refrigerator or freezer)
• Hard boiled eggs (store in refrigerator)
• Meringue Skinny Chocolate (store in freezer)
• Banana Bars (store in refrigerator or freezer)
• Brianafinger Bars (store in refrigerator or freezer)
• Chocolate Truffle Fudge (store in refrigerator)
• Buffalo Chicken Salad (store in refrigerator)
• Please note that some of these things will need to be defrosted if stored in the freezer, but they’ll keep longer that way if you’re not going to be able to eat them all in a week’s time.

As always, I’m no nutritionist.  This menu is just meant to give you ideas.  If you feel like you need more food than what I have listed here, please, by all means, eat up!  I personally tend to be an “easy keeper” (that’s the term we use for horses who can gain weight off of tree bark alone), so I’ve tailored this menu to what I would try to eat, but I am by no means normal and I know some ladies can lose weight on much more food than this (and some even need more food in order to lose weight!).  We’re all different, so make it work for you.

Monday

• B (S) – 5-Ingredient Waffle (frozen, heated in toaster) with natural peanut butter and sugar free syrup
• L (S) – Buffalo Chicken Salad on two Wasa crackers, dill pickles, Brianafinger Bar
• S (E) – Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
• D (S) – Chili Con Carne and Sour Cream Cornbread, cabbage sautéed in butter with garlic salt, Chocolate Truffle Fudge
• S (FP) – Raspberry Italian Cream Soda with a scoop of collagen

Tuesday

• B (E) – Apple Pie Overnight Oatmeal
• L (S) – leftover Chili Con Carne, salad in a jar with S toppings, Brianafinger Bar
• S (FP) – Sour Cream Cornbread with a smidgen of butter, scoop of collagen in hot tea
• D (E) – Ham and Bean Soup, leftover Sour Cream Cornbread, Banana Bar
• S (FP) – Buffalo Chicken Salad with dill pickles

Wednesday

• B (S) – scrambled eggs fried in coconut oil
• L (S) – Easy Peasy Pea Salad with diced chicken breast or 2 hard-boiled eggs, Butterfinger Bar
• S (S) – Meringue Skinny Chocolate, scoop of collagen in hot tea
• D (E) – Slow Cooker Chicken and Quinoa Chili, Simple Green Beans, Banana Bar
• S (S) – Hot Chocolate with a scoop of collagen

Thursday

• B (S) – 5-Ingredient Waffle (frozen, heated in toaster) with butter and sugar free syrup
• L (E) – leftover Chicken and Quinoa Chili, Banana Bar
• S (S) – two hard boiled eggs
• D (S) – Chicken Patties, roasted green beans, cabbage sautéed in butter with garlic salt, Chocolate Truffle Fudge
• S (E) – apple with 3 Ingredient Apple Dip

Friday

• B (E) – Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
• L (S) – leftover Chicken Patties, salad in a jar with S toppings, Brianafinger Bar
• S (S) – Meringue Skinny Chocolate, scoop of collagen in hot tea
• D (E) – Chipotle Chicken with Sweet Potatoes, steamed carrots, Banana Bar
• S (FP) – cottage cheese with cocoa powder and sweetener

Saturday

• B (E) – My Fave Overnight Oatmeal
• L (E) – leftover Chipotle Chicken with Sweet Potatoes, Banana Bar
• S (E) – Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
• D (S) – Slow Cooker Italian Beef and Cabbage, roasted green beans, Chocolate Truffle Fudge
• S (FP) – Buffalo Chicken Salad with dill pickles

Sunday

• B (E) – Blueberry Baked Oatmeal
• L (main meal) (S) – Buffalo Chicken Pasta, salad with S toppings, Chocolate Truffle Fudge
• S (S) – Meringue Skinny Chocolate, scoop of collagen in hot tea
• D (S) – Sriracha Egg Salad in half a Joseph’s pita, Brianafinger Bar
• S (S) – White Hot Chocolate with a scoop of collagen

 

Other easy/make-ahead recipes you might want to check out:

• No Bake Snack Bars
• Pecan Shortbread
• Easy Snack Balls
• Briana’s Ultimate Brownies
• Ranch Chili Beans
• Creamy Vanilla “Tapioca”
• Lazy Day Enchiladas
• Roasted Ranch Radishes
• Fried Cream Cheese and Berry Taco
• Bread in a Mug
• Pumpkin Bars
• Coconut Flour Flatbread
• Garlic Mashed Caulitoes
• Peaches & Cream Bake
• The Best Gluten Free Bread
• Cranberry Orange Muffins
• Dairy Free Oven Baked Omelet
• Cran Orange Smoothie
• Budget Friendly Cornbread
• Sweet & Spicy Stir Fry
• Colorful Lentil Salad
• Allergy Friendly Fudgy Brownies

 

You can pin this menu here: