Planning out the evening meals and prepping some food on the weekend is always a good idea, but I find it is even more valuable this time of year as the extra curricular activities start to ramp up.
We also have exam period coming for the kids in year nine and seven, so it is handy to have a lot of good food options available for them while they are studying.
Below you will find some ideas for the kids’ lunches and our next four weeks of menu plans!
Weekly prep ideas
Of a weekend the minimum I like to prepare for the kids is:
- one savoury item for the lunch boxes
- one sweet item for the lunch boxes
These are some of my kids favourites:
Chicken and rice patties – you can find my recipe here or here for the Thermoomix recipe that the lovely team at Fayi converted for me.
Easy gluten free hamburgers – easy to make in bulk and you can freeze them as well.
Chicken rice paper rolls (gluten free) – a simple recipe to make very tasty chicken rice paper rolls with which you can get creative and add what veggies you have on hand to the mix too.
Lunch box biscuits – An easy to make biscuit recipe that makes over 50 biscuits. You can halve the dough and freeze it to have a stash put aside.
Homemade pita chips – these make a great lunchbox snack for the kids. With a coat of coconut oil and a sprinkling of herbs they have great flavour.
Sesame seed slice – is a great treat for the kids lunch boxes as it is nut and gluten free
Our weekly menu plans for November
These are our menu plans week by week for the next month with shopping lists included created in the PWK menu planning app.
Lots of kids’ faves on the menu this month and I have kept it all pretty simple given the nature of this time of year.
Day | Week Commencing 5th Nov |
|
|---|---|---|
| Mon |  | Sausage and salad |
| Tue |  | Moroccan minted beef |
| Wed |  | Slow cooker honey sesame chicken (gluten free) |
| Thu |  | Dukkah crusted salmon with crunchy potatoes and garlic spinach |
| Fri |  | Homemade pizzas |
| Sat |   | Slow cooker butter chicken Green veggies |
| Sun |  | Tacos with homemade seasoning |
| Shopping List | weekly-menu-plan-shopping-list-1 | |
Day | Week Commencing 12th Nov |
|
|---|---|---|
| Mon |  | Chicken schnitzel and vegetables |
| Tue |  | Chicken, cashew and ginger stir fry |
| Wed |  | Mexibake |
| Thu |  | Sausages, veg and crispy mashed potato mounds |
| Fri |  | Pan Fried Fish and Salad |
| Sat |  | Slow cooker spaghetti bolognese Green veggies |
| Sun |  | Sweet chilli chicken wraps |
| Shopping List | weekly-menu-plan-shopping-list-2 | |
Day | Week Commencing 19th Nov |
|
|---|---|---|
| Mon |  | Lamb chops and vegetables |
| Tue |   | Easy slow cooker Mexican beef Rice cooker Mexican rice |
| Sun |  | Sang choy bow |
| Shopping List | weekly-menu-plan-shopping-list-3 | |
Day | Week Commencing 26th Nov |
|
|---|---|---|
| Mon | | Chicken schnitzel and vegetables |
| Tue | | Chicken, cashew and ginger stir fry |
| Wed |   | Slow cooker balsamic beef with pumpkin salad Roast pumpkin salad |
| Thu | | Lamb chops and vegetables |
| Fri |  | Chicken sticks and salad |
| Sat | | Slow cooker spaghetti bolognese Green veggies |
| Sun | | Tacos |
| Shopping List | weekly-menu-plan-shopping-list-4 | |
More family friendly recipes
If you are looking for further recipe inspiration, check out my complete list of Family Friendly Recipes.