Simple and Semi-Homemade Meal Planner

Getting back to routine after a 4-day long weekend is difficult. But here is my simple semi-homemade meal planner that will help you to get back on track in your kitchen routine fast. 

After posting 14 meal planners back to back, I took a break last week. It was the Thanksgiving long weekend here, and we were also traveling. I know how hard it is to get back to the routine after a vacation. But we don’t have an option other than bouncing back and getting into the usual routine. 

Here is my simple meal planner with semi-homemade meal options that will make the week a bit breezy. Also, as you can see from the planner, I am relying on a lot of leftovers. I love to cook everything from scratch; there is no doubt about it. But on weeks like these after vacation, I do opt for the semi-homemade recipes. It’s much better than ordering an entire meal out.

Simple & Semi-Homemade:

Ok, now you may ask how and why am I saying this meal planner as simple and semi-homemade?

• I am using veggies that you can chop on the go like cucumbers, tomatoes, brinjal and for paratha, I am using broccoli. You don’t need to cut the vegetables over the weekend. 
• For bhaji, you can use a frozen mixed vegetable pack. 
• Also, instead of homemade pav buns, you can use store-bought pav buns, and also you can buy store-bought idli dosa batter if you don’t have time during the weekday to prepare the batter. Or you can even do instant dosa with wheat flour. 
• Except for Tuesday and Wednesday dinner, all the other meals can be made effortlessly either in Instant Pot or the stove-top Pressure Cooker. 
• Again, pasta sauce can be store-bought, and you can use any sauce of your preference.

Now, as there isn’t much prep-work involved for this week, let’s dive into the meal planner and the recipes straight away. 

Meal Planning in Detail:

Monday:

• I am starting with the simple oatmeal for breakfast. You can also make it into porridge or smoothie.
• For lunch, it is the pav bhaji with store-bought pav buns.
• And for dinner, it is idli with sambar. And for sambar, I am planning to use only onions, brinjals and tomatoes and you can chop these vegetables quickly.

Tuesday:

• We love idli for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. So I am back with idli for breakfast but with leftover sambar. 
• And for lunch, it is the tomato rice with cucumber raita.
• For dinner, I am opting for some detox rasam with millets and cucumber kootu. I will soon post cucumber kootu and how to cook millet in Instant Pot folks. Stay tuned.

Wednesday:

• For breakfast, it is the dosai with idli podi / gun powder.
• For lunch, it is the white sauce pasta with peas. I am planning to pack a simple salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and olives with olive oil and lemon juice dressing.
• Dinner is a full meal with roti, rice, dal, and paneer bhurji.

Thursday:

• As always, I am keeping my Thursday onion and garlic free. So starting the day with ragi porridge for ourselves and cheese dosai for the kiddo.
• Most of my Thursdays are incomplete without ven pongal or the savory pongal. And for lunch, it is the savory pongal with gojju/sweet and spicy stew. As you can, I am planning to carry it forward to Friday, as well.
• For dinner, it is the uttapam. I don’t make a separate batter for uttapam. We usually make uttapam with a well-fermented idli/dosa batter. I am planning to use my last of the idli/dosa batter and make this uttapam and serve it along with chutney.

Friday:

• Back to paratha Fridays, but for breakfast, I am opting for a smoothie (my smoothie recipe with psyllium husk recently got published on the edible arrangements blog and that’s the link I have shared)and pancakes.
• I am planning to make broccoli paratha for lunch, and I make it more like cauliflower paratha. I will share the recipe soon.
• For dinner, it is the rice upma or, as we say in Tamil, arisi upma, and I am serving it with leftover gojju. 

I hope this menu planner helps, and you all can draw some inspiration. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below. I will share the daily updates on my Instagram and my FB group. So stay connected!