Current Fridge Protein & Leftover Inventory (Start of Day)
Cooked bacon from yesterday’s double batch
Leftover ham
Leftover roasted hash browns/shredded potatoes
Remaining taco meat
Fresh vegetables and fruit
Morning
This morning was very much a “thank you past self” kind of breakfast.
Because I had already cooked that huge double batch of bacon yesterday, breakfast was incredibly easy.
The kids had:
- bacon
- leftover shredded hash browns from the unicorn dinner
I just reheated the potatoes in the oven for about five minutes and honestly they are SO good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
My teen made her cherry smoothie again:
- frozen cherries
- Greek yogurt
- splash of milk
- banana
- little almond extract
Mid-Morning — Adjusting the Lunch Plan
Today ended up requiring what I call a “two lunch schedule adjustment.”
One of my kiddos had to do a makeup reading call with a specialist right during lunchtime, and I really didn’t want:
- to make two separate lunches
- for that child to feel left out
Lunchtime around here is actually kind of fun because we watch World Watch News together during the week.
It’s a really well-done current events program for kids, and honestly especially during the summer, I highly recommend it if you’re looking for educational screen time that still feels engaging.
So instead of doing lunch twice, I pivoted. My 3 year old insisted on a very random ‘tower snack’
Around 10:30, I sent everyone outside with heavier snacks from the pantry to kind of “bridge the gap” until lunch later.
Lunch — Easy Platter Lunch
After the reading call, lunch was intentionally simple.
We made:
- frozen Costco cheese pizza
- pepperoni added to half (my teen handled that for me)
- reheated ham from last night
- fruit and vegetables on the side
Basically a platter-style lunch where everyone could grab what they liked.
I had a salad topped with leftover ham and it was really good.
I also prepped lunch for my teen and husband to take tomorrow. They’re headed downtown for a craft fair. Fiona has a small side business where she sells custom ink architectural drawings…it’s been a fun entrepreneurial experience for her and she’s worked really hard to expand her business. So they will be busy all day, and I packed them lots of snacks along with lunch. This snack wrap is a family favorite…tortilla, summer sausage, pepperoni, lettuce, cheese, onion, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and mayo.
Afternoon — Banana Bread + Toddler Kitchen Helper
This afternoon I made another batch of banana bread.
Except… I never actually make banana bread in loaf pans anymore.
I make it in a quarter sheet pan because:
- it bakes faster
- the texture is better
- every slice gets more edge/corner pieces
- it’s easier to portion for a large family
And , my three-year-old basically made it today.
She needed a project, so I gave her bananas to mash and she spent a SOLID ten minutes happily occupied doing exactly that.
Then:
- butter
- sugar
- more ingredients slowly added one at a time
With toddlers, extending the process is half the strategy.
One thing that really helps:
I put the bowl on top of a silicone trivet (or sometimes a damp towel) because our countertops are slippery and it stabilizes the bowl really well for little helpers.
Also:
I made a funny reel tonight because apparently last week’s banana bread reel accidentally became rage bait.
People were deeply upset about my bowl scraping technique.
So naturally I issued a public apology.
Dinner — Baseball Game Thermos Dinner
Tonight we headed to my nephew’s baseball game, and this felt like one of those parenting wins where preparation made the entire evening easier.
Recently I bought four more thermos containers because there have been SO many times lately where I wished I could bring hot meals for the whole family and simply didn’t have enough capacity.
Tonight they officially earned their keep.
- preheated the thermoses with boiling water
- reheated taco meat
- packed rice into the containers
Then brought all the toppings separately:
- cheese
- lettuce
- onion
- avocado salsa
- regular salsa
- chips
When we got to the baseball field, everyone basically built walking taco bowls right there.
People added crushed chips into the thermos containers and ate everything with spoons.
It worked incredibly well.
My 13-year-old son immediately asked for more, which told me I definitely underestimated how much protein he wanted in his container.
Noted for next time.
And of course, I also brought:
- Oreos
- snacks
- random extras
At one point, my three-year-old just sat there happily eating handfuls of shredded cheese from the leftover bag.
Which felt perfectly on brand.
Post-Dinner / Looking Ahead
What’s in the fridge/freezer now:
Small amount of leftover ham
Cooked bacon
Quarter sheet pan banana bread
Fresh vegetables and fruit
At this point, the fridge is actually starting to look surprisingly low on protein — which is kind of satisfying because it means the prep from earlier this week was fully used.
Tomorrow morning:
Costco run.
And not a small one.
I’m planning to stock up heavily on proteins because we are officially entering the final stretch before our trip to Charleston.
The goal now is:
- freezer stocked
- travel proteins prepped
- future dinners handled
- vacation easier