THM-Friendly Menu for December

 

Merry Christmas, friends! This month's menu is one of my favorites from this year. There are some special recipes here, but many are inexpensive and EASY to help me save money and time this month.

 This month's menu is dairy-free, but you can feel free to add dairy to your S meals if you want to. Where a recipe calls for meat or veggies to be sautéed in butter, I just use coconut oil where appropriate. 

• Special Note about Day 14: The serving size on this recipe is 4, but I need to feed 7, so I just add two extra chicken breasts and serve a bunch of extra rice for the kids. This is a Trim Healthy Mama “E” recipe, so the rice goes well with it. I do double this as written to freeze the second portion, just adding a little extra chicken. 
• As always, please note that my menu planning system includes repeating breakfasts, lunches, and snacks throughout the month for simplicity. That means there are 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches, and a handful of snacks included on this menu. My kids and I enjoy the routine of knowing that on Monday we will be eating a certain thing for breakfast and a certain thing for lunch – it definitely saves time in the kitchen!
• I've marked a few recipes that I double to freeze the second portion for later in the month. This definitely saves time and energy later in the month as things get busier. 🙂
• Some of the dinners, like the Pan Roasted Chicken, filled us up, but it just might be us – feel free to add a side salad or round out your meals as desired.
• There are several holidays here where there isn't a dinner meal listed because we are having meals with family. I have a Christmas Dinner menu coming soon, though!
• Remember that THM is SO ADAPTABLE! There are more E meals this month because I needed to save money and my body has been responding well to E meals, but you may need to swap out E for S, or switch things up during the week. Don't be afraid to mix up your fuel types and keep your body guessing!
• This menu and the shopping lists that go with it feed my family of 7, but my oldest is 11. If you have bigger kids, or big eaters, you may want to add more protein, rice, and veggies to your shopping list. It doesn't hurt the recipes to add an extra chicken breast or 1/2 lb of ground beef to make a meal stretch, and you can always add extra rice or veggies or salads as side dishes for the kids. If you have a smaller family you may want to make the meals as directed but freeze half (if it's freezable), or just eat the leftovers for lunch.
• If you already need these ingredients and want to help keep WorkingatHomeschool.com running, using my affiliate links here doesn't cost you any extra and definitely helps me out! This is where I buy the following: Jay Robb Egg White Protein Powder, Just Like Brown Sugar

I am always striving to make things easier for you, so I made more changes based on your feedback! I hope this is easier and more helpful!

This month, December's menu pack includes 1 clickable PDF with notes to make the meals THM-friendly and links to recipes! You can download the menu here: 

Download

…and sign up below for free printable shopping lists to go with this menu. 

Helpful THM-Christmas Posts:

I have a full day of Christmas Meals here, an elegant, simple Christmas Dinner Menu here,  and a list of cozy Christmas Breakfast Ideas here if you need some ideas!