Orthodox Menu Plan Vegan Ideas Gluten Free Options

I know menu planning is a good idea.  It saves time.  It saves money.  It saves stress.  Why is it so hard then?!  It must come naturally for some people – not me!

What I found challenging to begin with, only got harder when we became Orthodox.  The fasting seasons of the church are cyclical and beautiful.  They ebb and flow and weave their way into your life.  It is a wonderful gift offered by the Church.

Honestly though, I have found this gift hard to incorporate practically into our home.  It has taken years to adjust and figure out a good system.  Poor planning (or lack of planning) often left us eating chips and salsa again.

Anyone else ever been there?!  And, truthfully, it is still hard at times to incorporate special diet restrictions, fasting, and healthy meals into our diet.

The newest way I have found to make this all easier is to make up a menu plan for one month at a time.  The weekly planning is time consuming and I would rather just get it done and enjoy the rest of the month.

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Let me add this before I share our November meal plan.  We don’t fast for the world to see, so why would I share this with you?  I share, not to show you what we do, but to offer help for what I know can be a real struggle, if you are trying your best to following the fasting guidelines of the Church.  Please don’t think we fast “perfectly,”  we just try like everyone else.

 

A few things worth noting:

First, this menu contains only dinners.  If you are looking for breakfast and lunch help, check out A Menu Method for Families on a Tight Budget.  This is the system we use to save us time and money.  Breakfast and lunch ideas can be found there.  Second, Sundays for us are very full, so I never plan a meal for Sunday evening.  It is my day off from cooking, so we scavenge for food: leftovers, popcorn, snacks – anything we can find!  And finally, some of the members of our family have very specific diet restriction (including low carb, low dairy, low/no sugar).  Hence, our menu selections tend to be homemade, from scratch, and generally healthy meals.  Most can be made gluten free as well by substituting out the bread/pasta selections.  

So, anyway here is our November Orthodox Menu Plan (new calendar)!

November 2015

1. Sunday
2. Grilled Chicken Avocado Pitas*
3. Meatloaf, baked potatoes, steamed broccoli
4. fast – Crowd Pleasing Vegan Butternut Squash Soup*, Salad, bread
5. BLTs
6. fast –  Mediterranean Sweet Potatoes (so good – just had these last week, but like them so much, I had to add them again this month) & Fresh Fruit
7. Ground Turkey Chili w/toppings (sour cream, avocado, lime, etc.) & Crackers
8. Sunday
9. Shepherd’s Pie
10. Egg Bake & Fresh Fruit
11. fast – Spaghetti, Salad, Garlic Bread
12. Chicken, Broccoli, Teriyaki Stir-Fry
13. fwo – Tuna patties & peas
14. Stuffed Green Pepper Soup
15. fwo – Sunday
16. fwo – Grilled Salmon, roasted sweet potatoes, California veggies
17. wo – White Bean & Kale soup
18. fast – Lentil Tacos
19. wo – Budget Minestrone
20. fast – Autumn Crunch Pasta Salad*
21. fwo – Baked Haddock, rice, coleslaw
22. fwo – Sunday
23. fast – Split Pea Soup, Fresh Fruit, crackers
24. wo – Lemon Chickpea Lentil Soup & bread
25. wo – Vegan Lasagna*
26. wo – Thanksgiving Meal
27. fast – Potato Water Soup & fruit
28. fwo – Tuna Pasta Salad
29. fwo – Sunday
30. fwo – Lemon/Garlic Salmon, Wild Rice, Kale Salad

 

*New recipes – can’t wait to try!  Let me know what you think if you try it! 🙂

Key:

fast – regular fasting guidelines apply (no meat or dairy)

fwo – fish, wine, and oil

wo – wine and oil