Category Archives: Menu Planning

Monday Menu Post

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The next few weeks are filled with lots of late meeting for me.  In addition to the time change, I am not a happy camper. Thankfully, both Lily and Matt have stepped up to help with dinners. Menu planning save time, money and my sanity on weeks like this. We are very fortunate to have a completely stocked pantry and freezers. I have been working on using what we have since July and it appears to be working.   This week everyone is home on Thursday so things may appear a little different.

Breakfast– Saturday-Find your own and use eggs. Sunday- muffins from Costco  Monday- more muffins from Costco and I have a breakfast burrito , Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, pop-tarts, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, or omelets. We are making good use of our eggs and home to continue to receive some each month.

Lunch-  Saturday–Costco for Matt and I  Sunday-Gregg’s. The kids have started packing lunch with things they find. I will continue to take several days of left-overs as long as they are available.

Dinner-  Saturday-Chicken from Costco, stuffing and peas.    Sunday-Snacks and crackers. Monday- Paula Deen chicken casserole (new)   Tuesday- Lasagna from Costco with garlic bread.  Wednesday- steak and twice baked potatoes Thursday-Breakfast casserole     Friday-Beef and Broccoli in the insta pot.

Monday Menu Post

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Menu planning has been a life saver the past couple of hectic weeks. I have enjoyed pulling items from the freezer to bake and eat.  We are really starting to enjoy the benefits of the hard work this summer. I also am supper thankful to have a full freezer as we are starting to see shortage on some items especially food in our area. I am only purchasing diary and fresh fruits. My sister in law gifted us about 4 dozen eggs on Sunday, and has promised as many as we can eat for the near future. Eggs are going to appear alot.

Breakfast– Saturday-Eggs, grits, bacon and biscuits. Sunday- nutella baked oatmeal      Monday- , Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, pop-tarts, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, or omelets. I am working on eating at least one egg every day for the protein.

Lunch-  Saturday–Left-overs Sunday- Corn dogs from Sonic. We are all eating left-overs from the fridge for lunch this week. Zach is eating at school most of the time.

Dinner-  Saturday-Coaches .    Sunday-Potato and Kiebsa  Soup Monday- baked spaghetti  Tuesday- Salisbury steak, rice, green beans and rolls .  Wednesday- Cheese burger pizza Thursday- left-overs or make your own     Friday-Chicken fried rice.

Menu Planning Monday

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Menu planning has been a life saver the past couple of hectic weeks. I have enjoyed pulling items from the freezer to bake and eat.  This week we have added soup back to the menu. I enjoy the variety it brings!

Breakfast– Saturday-Breakfast bowls. Sunday- Danish from Costco    Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, pop-tarts, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, or omelets.  My goal is to add a day of baked oatmeal back in but we shall see.

Lunch-  Saturday–Left-overs Sunday- Gregg’s .  Matt made chill to take this week. I am planning to take a couple of days of soup and hopefully some left-overs.

Dinner-  Saturday-Broccoli and cheese soup from Costco .    Sunday-Taco Soup Monday- Chill    Tuesday- Grilled Chicken and pasta salad .  Wednesday- Walking Tacos in a bowl Thursday- Pulled pork and corn on the cob    Friday-Left-overs or egg drop soup if I get adventurous.

$5 Meals

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I have added a new category $5 meals.  I want to first explain my rationale for adding this so late in the game. I enjoy reading lots of blogs. It often helps me with saving money and it also gives me so great ideas.  One of the consistent themes that I have been reading for several month is that the cost of food is rising.  I have read on some sites that the expectations is that all food prices would increase by 10% plus percent by the end of the year.    I am definitely starting to see this in my area. For example, a 10 pack of water flavors has been priced at $1.00 for at least 2 years.  This is my buy price and I can always find at Walmart.  Yesterday, the price had increased to $1.23 for the box.  Fortunately, I have worked really hard to stock both the freezer and pantries with enough supplies to last at least until December if not longer.   I decided that I also wanted to start a list of these $5 meals so that in the future, I can come back and rotate through them again!

Spaghetti sauce- this is definitely a family favorite. In fact, most everyone prefers this over jarred sauce.  I did not know if we would have enough tomatoes to restock this summer but it appears we do. I did not try and make any salsa or diced tomatoes but hopefully in the future we will be able to stock both the spaghettis sauce and other items.    The tomatoes are from the garden, I purchased around 40 plants for $36 this spring so I am averaging $1 per crockpot as my cost.  $1 green pepper, $0.50 onion (from freezer), basil and oregano were from the freezer from past years.  Garlic =$0.50 and 1 tablespoon of sugar.  $3 for the sauce and $1.00 for the pasta makes a hearty meal for all  of us less than $5.

Pasta Salad for lunch-  We all are taking lunch most days. The kids really don’t like sandwiches and I try to avoid bread whenever convent so that leaves a lot of decisions and lunch making.  We have found an easy solution- dressing up pasta salad.

Suddenly Pasta Salad™ Creamy Parmesan - Front

I always purchase when I find for $1 a box.  We actually used 2 boxes to make 7 lunches.  I added Deli Ham that was purchased on clearance for $1.84, a half a block of colby jack cheese, purchased for something else, 2 boiled eggs, (ten cent each) and of course tomatoes from the garden.   Less than $5 for lunch for everyone that is filling and good!

 

Do you have $5 meal ideas to share?

Monday Menu Planning

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Things feel as back to normal as I can ever remember. We are still wearing mask to school but most activities have resumed. Mask are not required for shopping in Lexington yet. So I am very thankful to stick close to home these days. Our pantry and freezers are full so the goal is to work through these meals for the next 9 months.  I plan to keep shopping to a minimum at least until December. Grocery goal is going to become $300 for September to December.  We are back to eating at home for all meals this week. I do know that once baseball games start we will eat out at least one night a week if not 2 depending on the timing of games.

Breakfast– Saturday-Sausage biscuit made by Zach. Sunday- Fried bologna and eggs or bagels.    Monday- BLTs9 using tomatoes from the garden).   Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, pop-tarts, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, or omelets.

Lunch-  Saturday–Left-overs Sunday- Time Square Pizza.  Matt has chill from last week. I am going to make 2 salads and take pasta salad for lunch. The kids are taking what they consider half a lunch most days.

Dinner-  Saturday-Local steakhouse (treat for a long hard day of work).    Sunday-Left-overs  Monday- Brats, pasta salad and corn on the cob.   Tuesday- Hamburger helper (2 boxes plus one pound of ground beef) .  Wednesday-Broiled Fish with veggies and pineapple cole slaw. Thursday-Chicken and dumplings in the crockpot    Friday-Sloppy joes and fries

Monday Menu Post

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Back to school means back to a more normal routine.  This week is a less busy week as we end up the summer and have a small break before fall sports begin. We also have both a working stove and air conditioning so hopefully we can be eating at home on a more regular basis.

Breakfast– Saturday-BLT Sunday- biscuits   Monday- new breakfast casserole (link and review coming soon)  Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, pop-tarts, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, or omelets.

Lunch-  Saturday–McDonald’s at the pool  Sunday- Village Grill (in Lexington)  Matt made chill for he and Zach this week and I will have left-overs and salads.

Dinner-  Saturday- Left-overs     Sunday-Left-overs Monday- Beef stew (another new recipe with review hopefully coming soon).   Tuesday- Pork chop with Mac and cheese.  Wednesday- Zach’s birthday (Texas steakhouse) Thursday- Egg roll in a bowl   Friday-Homemade BBQ chicken pizza.

Saving Money

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It feels like forever since I have been focused on saving money! I looked back on the blog and realized that in May we started survival mood which meet cooking without an oven. Our new oven did not arrive until after vacation in July. Exactly 2 weeks later our air conditioning went out. This was honestly one of the hardest times for me.  But I am very thankful to say that we have both a working stove and working air conditioning.  I also want to get a good handle and feel for our budget but this will also be changing in the next month.   I will post details once we have things finalized and money in hand!

Now to our ways of saving:

  • Using items already on hand to help improve the square foot garden. Today we placed the contents of my shredder on one of the garden beds. We also added the coffee grounds from the week and topped with a good dose of water from our rain barrels. We have also placed banana peels in water before pouring on the garden as well. Hopefully we will be able to improve the soil for the next year.
  • Ordering from Amazon-  I continue to shop for deals on subscribe and save!  We are expecting to be stocked up on soups by our next delivery date.  I am also watching for “deals” on any item that we use on a regular basis. This week I found “magic erasers” for fifteen cent each.  My goal is to eliminate the need to purchase items not on sale.
  • Making meals at home- We have eaten at home every day since Tuesday with two exceptions, Matt purchased Bagel  on Saturday morning and we enjoyed Sunday lunch with friends.  We are currently in the best financial position we have been in for many years so these small treats will remain part of our regular budget. Just not eating out every day and some times 2 times a day!
  • Packing lunches and making sure we have some convenient items on hand for lunches. The kids can eat lunch at school but for Zach this usually means more stomach issues and Kendall simply does not like most of the food.
  • Eating items from our pantry and freezer. Although I have spent $234 this month for groceries we are starting to look at and plan ahead for most meals. I have also added some treats that the kids enjoy!
  • Saving electric by turning off lights, using both the dishwasher and dryer at night so as not to add heat to the house.

What have you been doing lately to save money?

Menu Planning Monday

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We enjoyed eating dinner each evening last week at church during the Vacation Bible School but we also have confirmed that we are not a “sandwich bunch”. Two final weeks before school starts so I want to try some new recipes and hopefully figure out a recipe plan for the first 3 weeks of school. I am also debating going to monthly menu planning but will wait and see.

Breakfast– Saturday-Biscuit King  Sunday- Bacon with anything we have  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, pop-tarts, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, or omelets.  We also have several breakfast meal left-overs.

Lunch-  Saturday–leftovers Sunday- Coaches Monday- Kids and I had Gregg’s but will focus on left-overs and no food waste the rest of the week.

Dinner-  Saturday- Corn, basil tomato casserole.    Sunday- Breakfast bowls Monday- Aisan Sesame chicken   Tuesday- Hamburgers and sweet potato fries.   Wednesday- Broiled Fish  and  pasta salad .   Thursday- Spaghetti with homemade sause    Friday-Left-overs or something ?  In other words I am not quite sure yet!

 

Five Things Friday

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  1. No Monday Menu will be posted this week. Next week our church is hosting Vacation Bible School from 6 to 8 Monday thur Thursday and a pool party on Friday. Dinner is provided for workers and their children.
  2. Our new oven has arrived!  I have been experimenting and getting use to it over the past couple of days. So far I am very impressed!
  3. With only 3 weeks left of summer vacation, I have established a couple of goals that I want to work toward which will make my life easier in the fall. First- prepare easy to heat and eat meals as much as possible. This week we have focused on making pizza dough. We have all the ingredients but it takes around 2 hours to make the dough. Kendall has made 12 this week. This will make for easy pizza in the fall. Simply unthaw the dough in the morning and add toppings. We also made 2 additional cheeseburger pizza toppings to add to the dough. Second- Stock up and organize the freezers and pantry.  This is also close to completion. I will be adding a couple of cookie, bread and cake mixes during the next week. Finally-enjoy lots of down time by sitting by the pool.
  4. Square Foot Garden- we are making plans to add cement to complete this area but I am also continue to try and figure out how I can improve the soil for next year. We are fortunate to get tomatoes but I am so frustrated that the money I spent on soil is basically worthless this year!
  5. July has turned out to be one of the most expensive months EVER but we are still holding our heads above water. I am ready to start reaping the benefits of all my bargains and saving.

Menu Planning Monday

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Back to reality and now to enjoy a few more weeks of summer break. Our freezers are now officially full.  My goal over the next few weeks is to transform raw ingredients into easy to complete meals for the fall and winter. On Thursday, I will make 2 Taco casseroles with one placed in the freezer ( I have pulled out taco meat and frozen tomatoes to make these).  We are focusing on making 12 bags of pizza dough. On Saturday, I plan to make a cheeseburger pizza for lunch. I will mix up 2 batches and freeze the second in place of the 2 pack of raw hamburger meat we pulled out!

We are currently on week 8 of no stove.  I have an delivery date of this Wednesday so lets hope it starts to get back to normal around here!

Breakfast– Saturday-Old Bridge Restaurant    Sunday- Biscuit King  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, pop-tarts, sausage, oatmeal, cereal or grits, breakfast burritos, or omelets.  We have lots of options that don’t require the oven!

Lunch-  Saturday–Cook out Sunday- Spaghetti  Matt took a beef and cheddar for Monday and will have hamburgers two days. I want the kids to focus on eating the rest of quick school foods or sandwiches this week as left-overs are not available.

Dinner-  Saturday- Arby’s   Sunday- fried shrimp and watermelon Monday- hamburgers  and French fries   Tuesday- Pepper steak in the crock pot .   Wednesday- Grilled Chicken and  pasta salad .   Thursday- Taco Pasta    Friday-Broiled fish?