Category Archives: Menu Planning

Menu Planning Monday

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I know that I always do better with a goal and a plan. I am counting down the weeks until my summer vacation begins (6) so in the process I want to get a jump start on what the summer may bring. I realized last year that I needed to use some of my free time to stock the freezers with quick and easy to complete meals for the fall. I need to start planning for fall 2020. We will go from over six months of limited to no extra activities to three kids in three spots/ activities along with my return to full time work. The goal is to get the stocking done before the summer starts! This week, we should be making a large beef purchase and I will be working full steam ahead on cooking. The good news is that I only have one night scheduled in Guam this week and I gain an hour a day simply by working at home. You will notice that we did well this week with only one meal of eating out!

Breakfast– I was able to get a jump start this week by making Sausage muffins on Sunday! I need to make up some baked oatmeal bags and continue to add choices such as French toast and waffles to the freezer when ever possible. Saturday- bacon and eggs . Sunday- Sausage muffins.  Monday, Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, pancakes,  cereal or grits. –Still have not gotten around to a baked oatmeal but really do need to make one this week.

Lunch-   Saturday- pizza and ham and cheese sliders. Sunday- Gregg’s (local restaurant) .The kids will have school delivered lunches, Matt has 2 days of chicken sandwiches and 2 days of chill that he made on Saturday. I am going to return to eating at least one salad a week and also continue with some left-overs on other days.

Dinner-  Saturday- Left-overs Sunday- chicken nuggets Monday-Hamburgers and French fries (hamburgers are in the freezer) Tuesday-Taco Tuesday (the plan is to make a crock pot full of taco meat and freeze the left-overs to use in the summer and fall. Wednesday- Sloppy joes and tator tots ( Again made in the crock-pot with the left overs frozen for use later). Thursday-Spinach Ravioli (Lily’s in charge) Friday- BBQ chicken pizza. Zach is in charge.

I will also be cooking and freezing one pound bags of cooked ground beef to use in meals. Next weekend, I plan to make 5 dinner packs of Salisbury steak and several pans of meatballs to freeze. This should use up the 40-50# of ground beef I am planning to purchase. I will also need to purchase several packs of Italian sausage as I would like to get at least one baked ziti in the freezer. Hope you will stay around for the ride and please share if you have a great recipe that you think we would enjoy especially if it can be doubled!

Menu Planning Monday

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Last week was interesting to say the least. I talked a lot about it here. I will also admit that I am getting tired of meal planning and eating at home. That may have been the reason that we ate out three meals this weekend. Today, I am a little more back in the grove and since it has been finalized I need to stay in the grove until June 15th (last teacher workday). I have a goal in mind. The goal for this week is to get a new normal routine going so we can survive and thrive in the next seven weeks. Overall I want to get a lot done ahead so that when summer arrives and I am not tied to the computer for the majority of the day. We can enjoy the park, the pool, the zoo basically just relax and enjoy! One positive is for the next six weeks the kids have lunch provided by the school. I should mention that we picked up and processed 160# of chicken breast on Friday last week so you will see that on the menu more often.

Breakfast– This is the area that we are going to begin to struggle in probably within two weeks as we finish up the individual cereal boxes. I do have a plan to start stocking up on breakfast food and we will be able to use what is already in the freezer. Saturday- Bagels from a local restaurant . Sunday-Sausage egg crescent rolls and Cream cheese crescent rolls. .  Monday, Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, pancakes,  cereal or grits. –Still have not gotten around to a baked oatmeal but really do need to make one this week.

Lunch-  Saturday-left-overs Sunday- Matt and I grabbed Steak and Shake while going to Costco. The kids ate left-overs .The kids will have school delivered lunches, Matt has 2 days of chicken sandwiches and 2 days of hamburger. I am struggling with lunch for me. Monday- Salmon Quiche, Left-overs and at least one day for a salad should get me through the week.

Dinner-  Saturday- Chinese from Panda Panda. Sunday- Left-overs and Chicken Nachos from Amanda. Monday- Chicken and Broccoli casserole. (made last week so heat and eat). Tuesday-Cheese Quesadilla and Mexican Rice (Zach’s night) Wednesday- Grilled chicken and salad, Thursday-Shrimp and French Fries (Kendall’s in charge) Friday- Million Dollar Spaghetti Pie( this will make 2 meals) Lily in charge.

Menu Planning Monday

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This weeks plan is looking ALOT different. In fact we are trying something total new because why not? I discovered when cleaning off my desk that I had actually printed a freezer meal plan twice. This is a free plan that included the shopping list and seven complete meals. Last week, the kids each took a day and were in charge of dinner so I asked if they wanted to help try out this menu plan. Everyone is in! I took the shopping list and of course shopped my freezer and pantry first. Matt and I headed to the store on Saturday to grab the remaining ingredients. I was shocked that I spent only $32.10 to purchase the rest of the items needed for seven meals. That breaks down to $4.58 a meal or $0.76 a person per meal. In order not to waste anything on Sunday, I prepared and froze the three remaining meals that we will not use this week. I am going to be starting back to work in Guam this week as well so quick and easy to get started meals may become very important over the next few weeks. I am not sure how I will report on the new recipes this week individually or in a group we shall see.

Breakfast– Saturday- Cinnamon Roll Waffles . Sunday-Eggs and toast or cereal.  Monday,Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, pancakes,  cereal or grits. –Still have not gotten around to a baked oatmeal but really do need to make one this week.

Lunch-  Saturday- Gregg’s (a local restaurant) Sunday-charcuterie board with all ingredients on hand. The kids will have school delivered lunches, Matt has 2 days of brats and 2 days of hamburger. I will eat left-overs or sandwiches.

Dinner-  Saturday- Left-overs from Gregg’s (yes it was this much food!). . Sunday- Left-overs. We are making a dent so this is a good thing! Monday- Tuscan Tortellini Soup (Lily is in charge) Tuesday-Matt’s birthday and he chose to eat at Nick’s again! Wednesday- Sausage and peppers over Rice (Zach is in charge) , Thursday-Sloppy Joe Chicken Philly cheese steak Friday-No bake Lasagna with Spinach(Kendall in charge).

Menu Planning Monday

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We are entering week 5 of our “stay at home order.” I am very hopeful that we have four more weeks until the school go back to regular classes. We are continuing to eat our of our freezers and pantry for the most part. I have decided that I am not going to Costco until I absolutely have to or May 1st. We are on our last roll of paper towel so it may force my hand a bit. I really don’t want to go by myself as it is a forty-five minute drive each way but we shall see. Yesterday, Easter, the kids all decided that they want to be more involved in cooking. In fact, they have decided that they will each be in charge of dinner one day a week. We will give it a try and see what happens. I did add the stipulation that you had to use the items/ingredients that you have on hand. We do have a significant amount of left-overs so they will appear regularly on the menu. A final difference you will see this week is that the kids are eating lunch. Meal delivery is on Spring Break as well.

Breakfast– Saturday French Toast casserole. Sunday- Sausage and cheese cresant rolls and cream cheese cresant rolls( I will share this recipe tomorrow) .  Monday- Left-overs from the fridge, Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, pancakes,  cereal or grits. –Still have not gotten around to a baked oatmeal but really do need to make one this week.

Lunch-  Saturday- Left-overs Sunday- Left-over from Fridge. I did make some ham salad and Matt made pimento cheese this week as well so those will be choices for lunch along with a salad and of course left-overs.

Dinner-  Saturday- Spaghetti and meatballs. I ended up reading the recipe wrong and made enough extra spaghetti noodles that we had a full meal on Saturday. We are currently out of bacon and meatballs. Sunday- Ham, fried apples and Mac and cheese from Cracker Barrel, cream corn, carrots, squash casserole, green bean casserole, deviled eggs and potato salad. Monday- Left-overs Tuesday-Mini Tacos Wednesday- Green pepper soup (Kendall is in charge) , Thursday-Chicken pasta (new recipe) Lily in charge Friday-Beef and broccoli in crockpot (Zach in charge).

Monday Menu Planning

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My refrigerators are as empty as I can remember them being in a long long time. In fact, I could likely combine the two and just use one this week. The reason is that I have not stepped inside a grocery store in twelve days. This is definitely a record for me. We are nowhere near out of food. In fact except for maybe five items we could survive another 2 weeks just on what we have. I am planning to go to the grocery store on Wednesday or Thursday of this week. I know I need to pick up a green pepper for the steak fajitas on Thursday so I will probably grab a couple of needs at that time. I would be awesome if I could limit the trips to the store to less than 3 for the month but we shall see. This week I will be working from home the entire week but not sure if that includes Thursday and Friday as far as working goes. Matt will go to the office on Tuesday. After some thought and discussion, we plan to cook most meals this week and save our ordering in meals for the weekend. It may be simpler at some point just to eat at home but we have not arrived at that point quite yet.

Breakfast– Saturday bacon, eggs and toast. Sunday- pancakes and sausage balls. I did manage to freeze a batch of pancakes for later use as well.  Monday, Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, pancakes,  cereal or grits. – I definitely plan to do a baked oatmeal one day this week. I am thinking most likely Thursday. But we shall see.

Lunch-  Saturday- Classic pasta salad with ham, tomato and pepperoni added, Sunday- Left-over from Fridge. Last week the kids had hamburger, 2 uncrustable, chicken sandwich and egg roll. Each day they also get at least one vegetable so that adds in. I ended up purchasing lunch for us on Thursday. I have been eating a combination of left-overs and sandwiches for lunch. I am going to assume the trend will continue this week without the meal out.

Dinner-  Saturday- Chinese from our favorite local restaurant with enough for another full meal on Sunday. , Sunday- Left-overs Monday- Chicken Nuggets and carrots (This is my busiest day at work this week so I wanted to keep it simple) Tuesday-Big Breakfast Wednesday- Creamy Chicken spaghetti in the crockpot , Thursday-Steak fajitas Friday-Chicken Bacon Lo mein and egg rolls ( a new recipe).

Monday Menu Plan

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We discovered last week that a menu plan is even more important than when we are out of the house. We were able to stick to the plan last week except for Wednesday when we ate left-overs. I am very proud to say that we have significantly reduced the amount of left-overs in the refrigerator to a normal amount! I also have been cleaning out some expired food and trying to make sure that we don’t waste. Matt and I both are working from home so lunches are left-overs or sandwiches for us. In an effort to try and develop and stay on a schedule sort of I spent several hours in the kitchen on Sunday. I was able to shred the chicken from Costco, make hamburger patties one set for dinner and froze the rest for quick lunches. Made roll ups for lunch. Hopefully we can stay home and stay on track.

Breakfast– Saturday bacon, eggs and toast. Sunday- Waffles (with an entire batch froze)  Monday, Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of bagels, breakfast bowls or burritos, breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, pancakes,  cereal or grits. – Or what ever the school sends. IF I get ambitious this week I may do a baked oatmeal for one morning.

Lunch-  Saturday- Pasta salad with chicken, tomato and cucumber added, Sunday- Left-over from Fridge. Last week the kids had a pizza pocket, hamburger, uncrustable, chicken sandwich and egg roll. Each day they also get at least one vegetable so that adds in. I made pinwheels for myself one day and will eat left-overs or salad. Matt is on his own this week.

Dinner-  Saturday- Left-overs , Sunday- Sandwhich Monday- Hamburgers and tator tots Tuesday-Dorito Chicken ( this is a new recipe) and fried apples. Wednesday- Mandurian Orange chicken and egg rolls, Thursday- Steaks and twice baked potato. Friday-Pizza rolls.

Monday Menu Planning

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Last week was mostly a success but this week brings even more uncertainty as I am suppose to return to work on Thursday but I may be given a work from home opportunity but that is still the unknow. Our school district is delivering lunch and breakfast for the following days. On Friday, the kids got a chicken sandwich, carrots and a banana for lunch. Breakfast was a donut and banana. We will definitely be adding to the breakfast as a doughnut is desert not a meal! Two things, you will notice are different this week. First, on Sunday, I did not cook. I was tired and we need to use up left-overs! We also are trying to continue to support local restaurants when it makes senses. Amanda brought over several meals that would not get eaten at her house so currently we have no more room in the refrigerator.

I was able to spend some time taking inventory in both of my freezers this week. We currently have a list of approximately forty-five dinner meals that are available to us. This does not include any meals of left-overs or meals from our panty. My current plan is to start emptying out the freezers and also stashing back some extra money for meat. I am debating on purchasing a entire cow or just simply restocking at the local butcher shop. I definitely want to wait several weeks till people stop hoarding because I don’t want to pay the inflated price.

Breakfast– Saturday sausage biscuits and hash browns. Sunday- find your own. Mom is not cooking.   Monday- cereal for the kids and I ate left-over quiche. Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday-choice of bagels, breakfast bowls or burritos, breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, pancakes,  cereal or grits. – Or what ever the school sends.

Lunch-  Saturday- Left overs , Sunday- Left-over from Fridge. Matt has packed 2 hamburgers and 2 brat meals for the week. I will be eating left-overs or soup. The kids have school meals. My kids are really excited for this because they are not allowed to eat at school so I am not sure what they will get or if they will eat it. I plan to report next week on the items they received and what we ended up doing with them.

Dinner-  Saturday- Low country boil with hushpuppies(purchased from local resturant) , Sunday-Boneless buffalo wings (purchased from a local restaurant for $20) Monday- left- overs Tuesday- Sloppy Joes and French fries. Wednesday- Mandurian Orange chicken and egg rolls, Thursday- Baked Ziti Friday-Chicken apple and sweet potato crock pot meal (new recipe).

Monday Menu Planning

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As we start this week with lots of uncertainty and confusion, due to the Cornoavirus. I have three goals. First to try and get the kitchen back together quickly, and second to again develop a good list of what food/meals we actually have. Finally to start to slowly restock the freezer on quick and easy meal. You will also notice that we do not have a kitchen for the weekend due to the new floor being installed. Lots of eating out.

Breakfast– Saturday gravy biscuit from Biscuit King   Sunday- McDonalds   Monday, Tuesday,  Wednesday-choice of bagels, breakfast bowls or burritos, breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, pancakes,  cereal or grits. Thursday- Spinach and Bacon Quiche Friday-  Cinnamon Roll waffles

Lunch-  Saturday- Left over Pizza  , Sunday- Left-over from Fridge. Monday- Kids- mac and cheese from box, Tuesday- eating out of Matt and I. Girls had soup. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- left-overs from the fridge. My plan is to make lunch the one meal that I do not cook or at least cook the least. I also want the kids to get use to heating something up if I am required to return to work.

Dinner-  Saturday- Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings , Sunday-Applebees Monday- Spaghetti and meatballs. Tuesday- Steak Fatijis Wednesday- Grilled Chicken, Thursday- Choice of baked potato or baked sweet potato Friday- BBQ pork Roast.

Menu Planning Monday

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Things seem to be getting back to normal which means a busy schedule but no sickness. We do have big plans for this week as we are going to install the new flooring next weekend. I am going to try and stay ahead of the game so that it will go smoothly. You will notice three things first starting on Thursday, we will not have a functioning kitchen so we will be eating out. Second-We did not eat out on Sunday this week! Third- I am slowly seeing the freezers start to empty out. This is not a shock and we are planning to restock completely this summer.

Breakfast– Special treat-gravy biscuit from Biscuit King and Red’s Donut shop.  Sunday-left-overs from Saturday dinner.   Monday, Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- choice of bagels, breakfast bowls or burritos, breakfast muffins, eggs, sausage, pancakes,  cereal or grits. 

Lunch-  Saturday- Turkey cresant rolls  , Sunday- Potato Soup or Turkey taco soup.  Matt has 2 burgers and 2 days of brats.  The kids have soup, sandwiches  and grab and go days. Lily and I had Chinese on Monday, I will take left-overs the rest of the week.

Dinner-  Saturday- left-overs , Sunday- Squash casserole with other left-over veggies. Monday-Orange Chicken, rice and egg rolls Tuesday- Breakfast casserole Wednesday- Crock-pot chicken and dumplings, Thursday- fifty cent corn dogs from Sonic . Friday- Pizza.

Monday Menu Planning

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This week we have a dual focus, quick and use what we have already. I mentioned last week that we have already spent our grocery budget for the month of February and I really want to control spending for the last two weeks of the month. I did spend $10 this week between lunch vegetables and CVS,  I have again picked up additional work during the evenings in fact, I am working 4 nights this week. We have an orthodontist appointment, an oral surgeon appointment and a hair coloring appointment in addition to work and regular activities. 

Breakfast– Special treat-gravy biscuit from Biscuit King.  Sunday-left-overs from Saturday dinner.   Monday- baked oatmeal  Tuesday,  Wednesday, Thursday, Friday- choice of eggs, sausage, french toast or pancakes,  cereal or grits. 

Lunch-  Saturday- Left-overs and mozzarella sticks   , Sunday- Potato Soup or Turkey taco soup.  Matt has 2 salads, sandwiches  and a soup,  The kids have soup, sandwiches  and grab and go days. I have soup and left-overs and one salad. 

Dinner-  Saturday-Breakfast items including egg/sausage muffins and sausage crescent rolls, Sunday- boxed mac and cheese,  orooddles of noddles Monday-baked potatoes (Amanda decided to share ribs and fried chicken to add to this meal). , Tuesday- Mini Tacos  Wednesday- KFC bowls that did  not happen last week, Thursday- pizza bites and mozzarella sticks . Friday- cheese tortellini.