You ever have one of those weeks where time evaporates, laundry multiplies on its own, and your partner disappears for seven days like they’re on a side quest you definitely didn’t authorize? Yeah. That was my week. Which means today’s meal plan is brought to you by: Survival Mode But Make It Edible™.
This is a reserve-based, spoon-friendly, chronic-illness-approved, “I have three brain cells and two are fighting” kind of schedule. Six meals involve actual cooking (mostly crockpot because we respect our energy). The other nights? Reserves. Frozen. Pantry. Leftovers. Whatever doesn’t require you to stand upright for more than four minutes.
If that’s your vibe too, welcome home.
THIS WEEK’S MENU
Cooked Meals:
Tuesday Crockpot Salsa Chicken Bowls
Thursday Slow Cooker Garlic Herb Pork Roast + Potatoes
Sunday Crockpot Honey Teriyaki Chicken (No weird sauces, promise)
Tuesday Lemon Herb Chicken & Rice (No Creamy Stuff!)
Thursday Crockpot Tuscan Chicken & Potatoes (Light, Brothy Version)(Not creamy — just herbs, garlic, broth, and sunshine.)
Sunday Sheet Pan Italian Chicken & Veggies
Reserve Nights (1–2):
Frozen pizza, frozen enchiladas, freezer soup, freezer breakfast burritos, rotisserie chicken + bag salad… whatever you have in the stash.
And boom — another week fed, fueled, and officially handled, even if we handled it while lying horizontally with one sock on and exactly zero energy left. Reserve-based meal planning is basically the cheat code for spoonie life: cook when you can, stash when you can’t, survive the rest of the time on whatever doesn’t require opening the oven.
If you make any of these recipes, tell me which one your family inhaled first. Mine always pick the salsa chicken because apparently we’re a Taco Tuesday household… regardless of the actual day. Til next time gang, take care of yourselves, and each other!
Cooking every day in the summer heat? Hard pass. This two-week menu is built around my reserve system: you cook three times a week, then remix the leftovers into totally new meals so nobody gets bored (or starves when you’re out of spoons). Think tacos that turn into nachos, sausage that morphs into pasta or sandwiches, and crockpot chicken that somehow ends up on nachos, wraps, and even pizza.
Because honestly—our lives are chaotic enough. Dinner should not be.
Sunday (Cook): Crockpot Tacos (big batch ground beef or turkey)
Option B: Beef + Rice skillet (seasoned like dirty rice or taco-style).
Reserves: beef wraps, stuffed peppers, or mixed into scrambled eggs.
Friday (Reserve): Leftovers (ground beef meal or BBQ chicken).
✅ All cook days = make enough to stretch at least 1–2 more meals. ✅ Fresh tomatoes & pearl onions featured in Week 1 Tuesday + Wednesday. ✅ BBQ + crockpot dishes carry flavor without oven time. ✅ Balanced “heavy / lighter” flow so you don’t feel bogged down. This is everything you need for 1 meal every day which is about all I manage. If you manage more, try some fresh fruit and cereal. If you manage THAT then clearly you don’t need me I should be learning from you LOL. Til next time gang, take care of yourselves, and each other.
Welcome back to another two weeks of me pretending I’ve got it together. I do not in fact, have ANYTHING together and this week has taxed my brain so much I am ready to not have to make the dinner decisions for a few more weeks. Does this work for you guys? I have found I am spending less on groceries. (Thanks for the tips about my low spoon days btw!) This is how I keep myself from crying into a crumpled DoorDash receipt: six planned dinners that don’t require Michelin star skills, plus reserve meals to fill in the gaps when I’m too tired, too sore, or too done with everyone’s nonsense to cook.
Here’s what I’ve got for you: A 2-week plan. Six home-cooked meals. Eight “reserve” meals pulled from pantry, freezer, or leftovers. A printable grocery list. Recipes that don’t require you to pretend you’re a Food Network star.
Because some days you’re Julia Child. Some days you’re just a tired gremlin trying to survive until bedtime.
The Lineup: What We’re Cooking
Cook Days (3-4x per week)
These are meals you’ll actually make with fresh-ish ingredients and some degree of effort.
1️⃣ Slow Cooker Italian Beef Sandwiches
Juicy chuck roast, spicy giardiniera, hoagie rolls. Perfect for people who forgot to plan dinner but did remember how to dump things into a crockpot.
2️⃣ Honey Garlic Chicken Thighs (Stovetop)
Savory-sweet chicken served with rice and frozen stir-fry veggies. Quick. Easy. Tastes like you tried.
3️⃣ Garlic Butter Chicken Bites (Skillet)
Pan-fried happiness in butter and garlic, paired with green beans and potatoes (microwave or skillet — you do you).
4️⃣ Smothered Chicken & Rice Bake
One pan. Chicken thighs. Rice. Cream-of-something soup. Zero regrets.
5️⃣ Kielbasa & Potato Skillet
Hearty, fast, requires almost no brain cells. Bonus points if you add onions.
6️⃣ Baked Pasta
Cheesy, saucy, optionally beefy. Feeds a crowd or just you for three days.
Reserve Days (4-5x per week)
These are your “I cannot even” days. Pantry, freezer, leftovers, and minimal thought required. BBQ Chicken Sandwiches (reserve buns, chips, pickles)
Featuring Chicken, Hamburger, and a Whole Lot of “Please Let Dinner Just Be Easy”
Welcome back to another episode of “I’m Too Tired to Cook, But These People Keep Needing to Eat.” This round of Survival & Sanity is brought to you by the dynamic duo of chicken and ground beef — because they’re flexible, affordable, and they don’t give me trust issues like fish or cream-based recipes do.
We’re cooking three times a week — Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays — and letting the rest ride on leftovers, reserves, or strategic snack dinners that we refuse to feel guilty about.
🍽️ Week 13 Meals
Sunday – Garlic Butter Chicken
Crockpot comfort food that tastes like effort without requiring any. Serve with mashed potatoes or rice and veg if you’re feeling fancy (or frozen corn if you’re not). Reserve it: Shred the leftovers for flatbreads or quesadillas.
Tuesday – Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes
Grown-up nostalgia on a bun. Messy? Yes. Worth it? Also yes. Add chips or frozen fries, call it a meal. Reserve it: Leftovers go great in a wrap or on top of fries for dirty burger bowls.
Thursday – Chicken Tacos
Taco seasoning + shredded chicken = foolproof dinner win. Let everyone build their own. Reserve it: Use leftovers for taco salads, nachos, or rice bowls. The remix potential is strong.
🍽️ Week 14 Meals
Sunday – BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
Set it and forget it in the crockpot. Toast the buns if you’re feeling extra. Add pickles. Eat in silence. Reserve it: Flatbreads, baby. BBQ chicken + cheese = chef’s kiss lazy meal.
Tuesday – Spaghetti with Meat Sauce
A spoonie classic: boil water, dump sauce, survive another day. Serve with garlic bread if the stars align. Reserve it: Freeze the sauce for later or build a baked ziti-style dish next week.
Thursday – Pesto Chicken Flatbreads or Wraps
Pesto + chicken + cheese, served on whatever bread-like thing you have nearby. Flatbreads, wraps, naan — we don’t discriminate. Reserve it: Goes over rice, into a salad, or right into your face cold from the fridge. No wrong answers.
That’s it — six cooked meals, one crisis averted, and a freezer that doesn’t hate you. You’ve got flavor. You’ve got flexibility. And you’ve got enough leftover chicken to feel both mildly accomplished and fully exhausted.
Let me know what worked, what flopped, and what you screamed into the void while cooking it. I’ll be here with your Week 15–16 plan before you know it. Til Next time gang, take care of yourselves, and each other.🖤
Reserve-Based Meal Planning for When Life is Too Damn Much
It’s hot. You’re tired. The idea of cooking three meals a day is laughable. That’s why this plan exists — to give you food that actually works when your spoons are low and your executive function has left the chat.
This is Weeks 11–12 of my reserve-based system. We cook three times a week, stretch leftovers like magic, and leave room for takeout without guilt. Because healing takes energy — and not all of that energy should be spent in the kitchen.
🍗 This Round’s Sunday Stars:
Week 1: Maple Garlic Glazed Chicken
Week 2: Crockpot Ranch Chicken & Rice
(because if my crockpot could earn a paycheck, it would absolutely be the breadwinner)
🗓️ THE PLAN:
WEEK 1
Sunday: Maple Garlic Glazed Chicken – Proof that you can be sweet and salty and still wildly lovable.
Monday: Leftovers
Tuesday: Chicken Tacos (fajita-style) – Because “chicken tacos” are easier to say than “accidentally delicious fajitas.”
Wednesday: Leftovers
Thursday: Bacon Tomato Pasta – The holy trinity: bacon, tomatoes, and carbs. Amen.
Friday: Reserves
Saturday: Leftovers or takeout
WEEK 2
Sunday: Crockpot Ranch Chicken and Rice – This one says “I care” but also “I’ve been horizontal most of the day.”
Thursday: Bacon Fried Rice – It’s “clean out the fridge” night but with a glow-up.
Friday: Reserves
Saturday: Leftovers or takeout
🧊 Reserve Meals to Keep You Sane:
Taco Pizzas
Chicken Flatbreads
Peanut Butter & Bacon Sandwiches
Eggs
Quesadillas with Whatever’s Left I am BRAND NEW to bacon quesadillas, where have they been all my life? I’m disappointed in myself that my stoner ass didnt put this combo together years ago. Ok guys, scroll down and click to get the recipes and grocery list and until next time gang, take care of yourselves, and each other.
🐔 Two Weeks of Chicken Dinners (With Bacon, Because Why Not)
Let’s be real — Lately, life’s been a whirlwind. Between healing, hustling, and handling a hundred little things that crop up every week, I’ve been feeling the crunch. Projects pile up, messages go unanswered, and if I don’t write stuff down, it vanishes into the fog of “what was I supposed to do today again?”
But even on the most chaotic days, we still have to eat. They still have to eat. So when I’m trying to keep the wheels on, these two-week reserve-based meal plans are my safety net. They let me cook in chunks, plan for the crash days, and feel like I’ve got something handled — even if that “something” is just dinner.
This round, I leaned into chicken (because it’s versatile and usually affordable), and I’m making bacon pull double-duty too. That’s right — bacon-wrapped chicken one night, bacon fried rice another, and some dreamy flatbreads that taste way fancier than they are. We’ve even got a baked potato bar thrown in for a choose-your-own-comfort-food kind of night.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve needed meals lately that come with a side of grace. Meals that don’t guilt-trip me if I need to swap things around or punt dinner to leftovers. Meals that say, “Hey, you’re doing your best. Sit down. Eat. Breathe.”
So that’s what this plan is about. Survival, yes — but also sanity. Feeding yourself and your people without feeding the burnout.
🍽️ 2-Week Meal Plan (Starting Monday, May 26)
Week One 🟢 Monday, May 26: Leftovers/Reserves 🟢 Tuesday, May 27: Loaded Baked Potatoes 🟢 Wednesday, May 28: Leftovers/Reserves 🟢 Thursday, May 29: Garlic Butter Chicken Thighs 🟢 Friday, May 30: Leftovers/Reserves 🟢 Saturday, May 31: Takeout or Breakfast for Dinner 🟢 Sunday, June 1: Bacon Wrapped Chicken
Week Two 🟢 Monday, June 2: BBQ Chicken & Pesto Flatbreads 🟢 Tuesday, June 3: Leftovers 🟢 Wednesday, June 4: Bacon Fried Rice 🟢 Thursday, June 5: Leftovers/Reserves 🟢 Friday, June 6: Chicken Bacon Tomato Pasta 🟢 Saturday, June 7: Leftovers/Reserves 🟢 Sunday, June 8: Herb Roasted Chicken Thighs
If you’re anything like me — fibro-fogged, recently-hip-replaced, raising a gloriously neurodivergent teen, and running on caffeine, hope, and probably expired groceries — then planning dinner might feel like launching a rocket from your laundry room.
This meal plan is for those of us trying to survive the week without crying into a dish towel. It’s a real-life, spoon-theory-approved guide with easy cook-day meals and fallback reserves that don’t require your whole brain.
🗓️ Printable 2-Week Meal Menu (with Attitude)
Week Three
Day
Meal
Monday
Mac & Cheese with Sausage — Leftovers from Sunday. Bonus: Only one pan to clean and minimal effort to reheat. That’s a win in my book.
Tuesday
Sausage & Peppers over Egg Noodles — Bright, flavorful, and uses enough veggies to pretend we’re balanced adults.
Wednesday
Chicken Strips + Knorr Side — Reserve meal MVP. Add a veggie if you’re feeling wild.
Thursday
Baked Chicken + Roasted Veggies — Sheet pan magic. Roast everything at once and act like it was on purpose.
Friday
Reserves — Classic, comforting, and suspiciously filling for something this lazy.
Saturday
Sausage + Eggs + Toast — Breakfast-for-dinner, aka using breakfast foods to emotionally reset.
Sunday
Coke Pulled Pork + Mac or Egg Noodles — The crockpot does all the work. You take the credit.
Week Four
Day
Meal
Monday
Pulled Pork “Tacos” — Leftovers dressed up. Throw in onions, peppers, canned tomatoes, and rice. Tortilla optional. I like to make it a rice bowl or in tortillas, we have also put pulled pork leftovers with some salsa and nachos.
Tuesday
Meatballs in Marinara — From the freezer to the table. Zero regrets.
Wednesday
Eggs + Toast + Hashbrowns or Fruit — Breakfast, again. Because we do what works.
Thursday
Chicken Stir-Fry + Rice — Takes 15 minutes and makes you feel like you’ve got your life together.
Friday
Soup + Crackers or Sandwiches — More reserves. Less thinking.
Saturday
Pasta Bake or Lazy Lasagna — Toss it in a dish and bake until bubbly. Cheesy redemption.
Sunday
Maple Glazed Chicken + Buttered Noodles — The Pinterest recipe you actually pulled off. Hubby-approved. Next time we’re reducing that glaze for stick factor.
🍳 Ingredients for the Cook Day Hits (Sarcasm Included)
Sausage & Peppers over Egg Noodles Ingredients: sweet Italian turkey sausage, red and green bell peppers, yellow onion, garlic, broth (instead of wine), canned diced tomatoes, tomato paste, dried oregano, olive oil, egg noodles. Honestly I tweak this every time. If it sounds like it’d be good in it I’d try. Mood: Colorful enough to feel like you’re trying.
Baked Chicken + Roasted Veggies Ingredients: chicken breasts, potatoes, carrots, olive oil, salt, pepper, whatever seasoning makes you feel chef-y. Mood: Toss it all on a sheet pan. Roasting = pretending you’re fancy.
Coke Pulled Pork Ingredients: pork roast, 1 can of Coke, BBQ sauce, salt, pepper, onion powder. Mood: Dump, set, and go live your life.
Meatballs in Marinara Ingredients: frozen meatballs, jarred marinara sauce, spaghetti or mashed potatoes. Mood: It’s giving “fake it till you bake it.”
Chicken Stir-Fry Ingredients: chicken breasts, frozen stir-fry veggies, soy sauce, splash of broth, oil, rice. Mood: One-pan wonder with zero side-eyes.
Pasta Bake or Lazy Lasagna Ingredients: cooked pasta, any ground meat, jarred pasta sauce, shredded cheese. Mood: Layer, bake, and pretend you slaved.
Maple Glazed Chicken Ingredients: chicken thighs or breasts, maple syrup, soy sauce, garlic powder or minced garlic, BBQ sauce. Mood: So good your partner eats the leftovers. Sauce could use a glow-up — try reducing it next time.
🍆 Reserve Staples to Keep on Hand
Chicken strips (frozen)
Eggs
Bread (for toast & sandwiches)
Canned soups
Frozen vegetables
Hashbrowns
Knorr sides or boxed pasta mixes
Rice
Pasta
Tortillas
Jarred pasta sauce
Shredded cheese
Bacon or sausage (for breakfast-for-dinner days)
Instant mashed potatoes (optional but very sanity-saving)
🚨 Final Thoughts
You don’t have to be a perfect parent or domestic goddess to feed your family. This plan makes use of what you already have, lets you lean on frozen staples without shame, and helps reduce decision fatigue. Keep showing up, spoon by spoon. You’re doing better than you think.
Want more meal plans? Stick around — we’re doing this every two weeks until I run out of freezer space or patience.
Printable grocery list? Right here. Pinterest-worthy recipes? Working on it. Sanity? Pending.
WannaBeNormal 