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I am totally not a menu person (freestylin’, baby!), but since many of you, my faithful readers, seem to be very menu-oriented, I thought you might find some sample menus helpful. Here’s the first, and I hope to follow it up with a few more somewhere along the line. All menus will be found in my menu index page here.
Today’s menu is special in that it only uses items that can be found at Walmart! I also tried to keep this menu full of easy, simple recipes that are doable for anyone. Do you have any specific types of menus that you would like me to create? Let me know! I’m always open to ideas, and I’d like to do a few more sample menus as part of my THM Success Series (you can see the rest of the posts from that series here). To find other helpful links, visit my Starting THM page.
For more menu plans, visit Darcie’s Dishes and Working at Homeschool. Both of these blogs have great THM menus with printables! Darcie posts a new menu every week, and Jennifer posts a monthly menu.
Notes for this menu:
- To make this easy, I’m going to write this menu as single-serve for breakfast and lunch and family-serve for dinner. In our family, breakfast is usually every man for himself. We eat lunch together, and it often consists of leftovers. If there aren’t enough leftovers for everyone, one or more of us will do our own thing, like make a shake-or Briana will test a recipe and her sister Katelyn might help her eat it if it turns out well… Supper is everyone together.
- Each day has breakfast, lunch, an afternoon snack, dinner, and evening snack. Depending on your schedule and personal needs, adjust. Try to eat every 3-4 hours. Try not to eat too late at night (9pm might be a good cut off).
- Walmart carries on-plan sweetener, such as Truvia (not the Truvia Baking Blend – it contains sugar). In this menu, I’m assuming that you can get whatever sweetener is available at Walmart and use Trim Healthy Mama’s sweetener conversion chart to figure out how much you need in place of the sweeteners I have used in these recipes.
- You can make your own oat flour by grinding oats in a blender or coffee grinder.
- I believe Walmart carries coconut flour with its Bob’s Red Mill products.
- I really enjoy cottage cheese, so I use it as my go-to protein source if I need a little bit of extra protein with a snack. If you prefer Greek yogurt, go for it! You can use any fat percentage of cottage cheese or Greek yogurt with an S meal, but for an E or FP meal you’ll need to stick with the low-fat variety. Here’s a tutorial for how to make your own Greek yogurt if you’re interested.
- As I said above, I’m not a menu person and just writing this menu for you guys started becoming a chore after awhile. I have not tested this menu, and I’m sure it probably contains more different foods than you’d actually need (for instance, the carrot cake would last for more than two meals unless you have a lot of people helping you eat it). You might have more leftovers than I accounted for and could use them for more lunches (or even dinners) out of the week. I wanted to give plenty of diversity in this menu so you have lots of options to choose from, but feel free to take a simpler route if you like. I personally eat chocolate oatmeal for about half of my breakfasts throughout the week.
- You might notice that Sunday is kind of my “special foods” day and I don’t always follow the “light evening snack” rule.
- To see all the recipes on my site that are made with no special ingredients (only with ingredients that can be found at Walmart, as long as you’re willing to substitute sweeteners), click here!
Guidelines I tried to observe when making this menu:
- Switch up fuel types and don’t eat the same fuel type for a certain meal every day (i.e. don’t always eat E breakfasts).
- Include protein with every meal/snack.
- Eat lots of veggies!
- Eat lots of coconut oil (sometimes you’ll see this in the form of Meringue Skinny Chocolate or Choconut Birds’ Nests, two of my candy recipes that use coconut oil)! Including some more on its own by the spoonful with an S meal wouldn’t be a bad idea either.
- Keep evening snacks light.
How I would prep for this meal plan the week before:
- Make Greek yogurt (I prefer homemade to store-bought because it has a milder flavor, but by all means use store-bought if you like.).
- Make Meringue Skinny Chocolate.
- Make Choconut Birds’ Nests.
- Make a large batch of Buffalo Chicken Salad.
Monday
B (E)-Pineapple Upside Down Cake in a Mug, side of low fat cottage cheese or Greek yogurt (with sweetener and extract of choice if desired)
L (S)-Sandwich with low-carb wrap, mayo, deli meat, cheese, and lettuce; celery and peanut butter, Meringue Skinny Chocolate
S (E)-Fruit Smoothie
D (S)-Parmesan Chicken Tenders, roasted green beans, 5 Ingredient White Cake (coconut flour version) with sliced strawberries and a squirt of fat-free Reddi-Whip
S (Light S)-5 Ingredient Hot Chocolate, a bite or two of cottage cheese
Tuesday
B (S)-Philly Cheesesteak Eggs (fried in coconut oil)
L (E)-Sweet potato with a teaspoon of butter or coconut oil, sweetener, and cinnamon; some cooked and seasoned chicken breast or fish; salad with plenty of veggies on it and a low fat dressing
S (S)-Choconut Birds’ Nests, bite or two of cottage cheese
D (S)-Loaded Baked “Potato” Soup, salad with S toppings, Meringue Skinny Chocolate
S (FP)-2 Lite Rye Wasa Crackers, several slices of lean deli meat, dill pickles
Wednesday
B (E)-Chocolate Overnight Oatmeal
L (S)-Leftover Loaded Baked “Potato” Soup, nonstarchy crudités with Ranch dressing if desired, Choconut Birds’ Nests
S (S)-celery and peanut butter
D (E)-Rice and Beans, green peas
S (E)-Creamy Peach Pudding
Thursday
B (S)-Single-Serve Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie
L (E)-Leftover Rice and Beans, green peas, Carrot Cake
S (E)-apple slices with 3-Ingredient Apple Dip
D (S)-Zucchini Quiche, salad with S toppings, 5 Ingredient Cheesecake (save the other one for the next day)
S (FP)-Low-fat Greek yogurt with sweetener and extract if desired
Friday
B (E)-Low-fat cottage cheese or Greek yogurt (with sweetener and extract of choice if desired), fruit of choice
L (S)-Single-Serve Lasagna in a Bowl, nonstarchy crudités with Ranch dressing if desired, 5 Ingredient Cheesecake
S (FP)-Buffalo Chicken Salad with 2 Lite Rye Wasa Crackers and some dill pickles
D (E)-Ham and Bean Soup, Carrot Cake
S (Deep S)-Meringue Skinny Chocolate, a few slices of deli meat
Saturday
B (S)-Scrambled eggs (fried in coconut oil) with cheese if desired and a side of bacon
L (E)-Leftover Ham and Bean Soup, Carrot Cake
S (S)-PB&J Protein Mess
D (S)-Pizza made on Joseph’s lavash bread (or low carb tortillas), salad with S toppings, 5 Ingredient Chocolate Cake
S (FP)-Low-fat cottage cheese with cocoa powder and sweetener
Sunday
B (E)-Creamy Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal
L (S)-Mommy’s Meatloaf, cabbage sautéed in butter and garlic salt, salad with S toppings, Bejeweled No Bake Cream Cheese Bars (use the rest of these bars for dessert during the beginning of the next week)
S (Light S)-White Hot Chocolate, a bite or two of cottage cheese
D (S)-Buffalo Chicken Salad over lettuce, Fried Cream Cheese and Berry Taco
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You can find lots of these recipes (and so many more!) in my cookbook, Necessary Food.
Brianna, in your ‘salad with S toppings’, could you give me some examples of what S toppings would be?
Any FP non-starchy veggies like cucumbers, broccoli, or colorful peppers, as well as fatty THM S toppings like shredded cheese, nuts, avocado, and fatty dressings like Ranch or olive oil vinaigrettes
Thank you, Brianna, for this menu! I am trying to have myself and my farm-boy boyfriend eat better for our health (and the weight will then take care of itself) and you make it easy! Thanks again! 🙂
Hello! I am new to THM and i love your recipes! Do you have an email to ask you questions? Im planning out a menu but im not sure if im doing it right, since I want to lose weight! Dont want to over due it and instead gain!
Hi Katie! You can use the contact form here on my blog to ask specific questions, if you like: https://www.briana-thomas.com/contact/
I’m currently at music camp though, so I may or may not be able to answer in a timely fashion. 🙂 The main THM Facebook group can be a good place to get questions answered if you want an immediate answer!
This is so awesome….you are wonderful for this simplicity for a newbie like me!
You are a true blessing!!!! This meal plan is perfect. I had the maple oatmeal this morning and it is very good. While prepping last night I ate some of the buffalo chicken on a wasa cracker with dill pickle and OH MY WORD… it is amazing. Might have to change up a bit to include that one more since I decides to make a huge bowl of it. ? Great job and Thank you!!
Awesome! Glad you like it!
Oh my word. This is like an answer to prayer. Seriously!!! I have wanted a menu “idea” for awhile already. Thanks so much Brianna! And maybe you should put some menu ideas in your cookbook hint hint. 🙂 I love following your blog and am so ready for the cookbook so I can get rid of all those loose copies 🙂 I am waiting till fall. YEAH!
I would LOVE for you to publish a recipe book!!!!! Hurry up!! 🙂
My cookbook is going to be published this fall if everything goes as planned.
Dude! This is awesome! I am a serious menu planner & love the suggestions. I think one of my goals for 2016 will be to cook through your blog. You have so many delicious looking recipes & I need to be more focused on actually making them. You come out with so many new ones, I can’t keep up LOL. I can’t wait to order your cookbook!!!
Aw, you’re so sweet! I can’t wait for the cookbook too so I can finally have all my own recipes in one place…lol.
Do you have the grocery list for this?
No, I’m afraid I don’t. This isn’t a menu I’ve actually followed myself, just something I put together to give people an idea of what they can do with simple ingredients. You shouldn’t need many special ingredients for it that you wouldn’t already have on hand. Here’s a list of the staples I like to always keep on hand: https://www.briana-thomas.com/brianas-list-of-thm-staples/.
The only “special ingredients” that you’d need for this menu that I can think of right off hand are Truvia or another on plan sweetener, golden flaxmeal, and coconut flour (the latter two can both be found with the Bob’s Red Mill products at Walmart).
Do you refrigerate your baking blend mix?
No, I don’t. 🙂
Are all the recipes for this menu in the THM Cookbook? Or here on your site? Thanks!! 🙂
None of these recipes are in the THM Cookbook, but all are here on my site (there should be links in the menu). Most or all of these recipes will be in my own cookbook that I’m working on. 🙂
I write out menus, but then I change them up so much that I wonder why I bothered. 😉 This looks like it is filled with great ideas! I’ve pinned it come back to, for sure. Thank you!
Yeah, that would probably be me if I tried to make a menu…haha.
Great menu, thank you! Would you ever consider doing a dairy free menu? I need to try giving up dairy to see if that is causing me to stall, but I just can’t seem to make it work. I love dairy, unfortunately.
Thanks for the suggestion! I’ll keep it in mind. If you’re looking for dairy free recipes, I have a list of mine right here: https://www.briana-thomas.com/tag/dairy-free/
Mama Shire is a dairy free blogger you may wish to check out as well: http://mamashire.com/
Great menu! Thanks for the reminder about the white cake. It was the first thm cake I never made and it is my favorite!! On the docket for today for sure!