(Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash)

Meal Plan – Week #34 (Written by Jamie)

Cost: $151.85 week for 3 people // $1.87/serving *

(*Note: Charlie’s sisters were in town this week for about four days, which increased our meal count for the week. I stuck to familiar classics and Charlie-favorites in my meal prep so she could show off her new “diet” to her sisters.)

Meal Plan Diet Categories: (Gluten-Free, Lactose/Dairy Free, Diabetes Diet, Low Fat/Low Cholesterol, Cardiac Diet, Paleo, Vegan, Vegetarian)

Meals: (Click on the names to go to the recipe) (1) Cumin Pork / (2) Standard Chicken / (3) White Chicken Chili / (4) Tuscan White Bean Soup (5) Fresh Salsa / (6) Garlic Black Beans (Variation 9)/ (7) Brown Rice / (8) Garden Salads

Snacks:  Chopped Veggies (for dipping) /Herb Dipping Sauce / Egg Whites / Naked Popcorn / Fresh Berries

Charlie’s sisters have come and gone, and a giant head cold has settled in the house of Jamie n’ Drew.

(Drew used to joke that every cold was like having the plague until there actually was one that everyone was getting, so with manic testing we are assured it is NOT — in fact — THE plague, but a mere “cold” — though how one can manage NOT to get the plague but to get a common cold for the first time since before the plague hit — boggles the mind.)

It has been so long since I’ve HAD a “cold” that I forgot how low-level crumminess can really take it out of you. So many soups, and pathetic yelps into my pillow. So many hours insisting I could work from bed while my legs kept falling asleep. The frustration of taking five times as long to do the most basic reading of emails and social media posting. The inevitable “giving in” to more pillow yelps and endless cups of tea. The fact that it’s been over two years since anyone’s had a cold in this house so all the drugs in the cabinet are past-the-good-date, and the Walgreen’s delivery dude is now my best friend (though we have never met.)

…I caught the whole thing first and quarantined myself in my room for two days only venturing out with a mask to go to the bathroom. The cold didn’t care and cross-streamed through all my efforts (and Blue air filters) into Jamie’s throat by yesterday. So now I am back at my desk with a paper bag of used kleenex at my feet as Jamie slowly catches up with where I was 2 days ago.

I’m told we are not the only ones going through this wave at the moment. Charlie’s 8th Month checkup blood panel was due this last Monday, but got postponed 10 days out due to sick staff in her doctor’s office.

…This also amends the food prep for the week, to say the least. First off — we can get food delivered to us but we can only touch things that will be cooked after our prep in order to kill the bugs. Also, cooking is still 2 days out from now…and I sure as heck couldn’t stand anywhere to do anything right now — this is the first time I’ve even been out of bed in an actual seat — Jamie’s chances following this same trajectory aren’t great.

So what do you do when all the backup foods in the freezer are gone and despite your best efforts, the weekly meal planning and cooking just isn’t in the cards of possibility? Stay tuned next week as we see what Jamie comes up with to solve the first sickie solution, post-pandemic!

(*snorfle-slurp-cough*)

~D