Meal Plan: 9/12 - 9/18

Sorry for the lameness that is now known as my blog!  I have yet to post any tips, recipes, etc. and frankly dear, I don't give a dang ;)  Ok, so I do give a little darn.  But for now, the meal plan posting will have to suffice.  Mostly because it helps me and my family stay on track, which is something we desperately need...

The other night I was perusing the interweb to see if anyone had come up with a book or lifestyle plan based on the Word of Wisdom.  I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but if someone were to ask what "diet" me and my family live by, I like to call it the WOW diet.  And I'm talking about the food we should eat (vs. 10-16), not just the harmful substances we abstain from (vs. 5-9).  Just a side note, I find it humorous that we focus on those five verses outlining the dont's more than we focus on the seven verses outlining the do's...  So, what do the Summers eat?  Basically, it's a whole-food plant-based diet.  We eat lots of grains, fruits, and vegetables.  But then we supplement that with bits of meat and dairy.  I will never be vegan, because I do believe in the power of the WOW and I do believe that animal protein (when eaten in moderation, aka. "sparingly") can be for our own good.

Anyway, apparently there's a woman out there who has written a book called The WOW Diet.  I haven't read it; it doesn't really speak to me...  But, she also has a book about food storage.  This book has piqued my interest because it makes food storage seem possible and manageable for someone like me.  I don't really have a food storage system, but I'd like to.  Honestly, I don't have the money or space for it.  But that doesn't make me want it any less (go figure). 

The idea is that instead of buying food in bulk, you buy and store food items as meals.  Brilliant!  I believe (strongly) in meal planning, so it only makes sense to extend that to my food storage.  So, the other night I wrote up a list of 50 meals (dinners) that my family enjoys.  And most of them are food storage friendly.  How great would it be to finally have a year supply of individual meals?  Even better is that it makes rotating food storage totally feasible.  I'm thrilled at the prospect of having a quick and easy meal that's already planned and prepped.  I've yet to get started, but I'm already daydreaming of turning my Wednesdays into food storage rotation days.  It's true, my food nerdiness has no bounds ;)

So, if you've read this far then maybe you can do a bit more and help me out.  I've got a question: has anyone used a vacuum sealer?  If/when I start building my food storage, ideally I'd like to buy both canned and dehydrated/freeze-dried food items.  I was thinking that I could individually vaccum seal certain dried foods in jars and put them into their respectable meal bags... that's the plan, so now I'm just curious as to what vaccum sealer is best?  Sure, sucking air out of bags would be great for the freezer (since I freeze just about everything), but I'm really interested in depriving jars of oxygen.  Suggestions?  Please share!

And now on to this week's meal plan.

Mexican Monday: food - I know, very specific...

Oriental Tuesday: tilapia w/ stir-fry veggies & quinoa

Twisted Wednesday: leftovers (soup w/ muffins)

Authentic Thursday: Greek salad

TGIFriday: Tuna melts

Super Saturday: DATE NIGHT

Special Sunday: ravioli bisque

And I'll leave it at that.  Who knows what this week will bring, but it's gearing up to be a doozy!  *B