Category Archives: Menu Planning

Menu Planning

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The best part about menu planning is that most of the time it is easy to make changes. We actually did our official menu planning on Saturday, however today (Monday) after the changes brought about because of weather and the prediction of winter weather for most of the week, we decided to head to Costco and stock up which changed the plan for both tonight and tomorrow.

Breakfast– Toast, pancake (left overs), waffles(left overs), bacon and eggs for Tuesday. cereal or poptarts and baked oatmeal at least one day.

Lunch-Since the girls will most likely only go to school one or two days this week, we needed a plan. Today(Monday) Matt picked up the girls and headed to Sonic for $1 hot dogs, Tuesday is chicken nuggets, Wednesday will be pizza(either homemade or using Book it coupons, Thursday- leftovers or sandwiches and Friday will be sushi roll ups.

Dinner–  We are scheduled for 4 out of 5 night this week but due to weather this may change.
Monday- Hamburger Helper was planned. Switched to soups (tomato and oyster stew) instead. I had already cooked the hamburger so I made  chill to use tomorrow night and froze the rest.
Tuesday- Baked Potatoes- The original plan was for Pineapple Chicken but this was simply left in the freezer.
Wednesday-Salisbury Steak, rice and green beans.
Thursday-  Alice Spring Chicken-copycat recipe from Outback along with copy cat cheddar biscuits.
Friday- Pork Chops, corn, applesauce.
Saturday- ?? not sure yet but it would appear that leftovers are going to be filling up the fridge again
Sunday- We will be eating out for lunch because of a Birthday party so that will be a treat.

I like knowing ahead of time what I will be cooking but also because of the way I shop and plan, if we change mid stream that it is not a huge deal because we always use the food we have!

Sunday Catch Up and Menu Planning

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We had an unexpected weekend at home due to our cheer squads not being ready for competition. I am not going to complain because I honestly think that I am more tired tonight than I was on Friday. We definitely have stayed busy this weekend.  I will share a few highlights before our Menu plan for the week.

  • I have completed our taxes for the year. We are going to receive a refund but it is less than half of what we have received in years past. I am very proud and glad of this as it means I am letting the government borrow less of my money interest free!  We are going to use this money as a down payment on a family trip to Disney in November so everyone is excited!
  • Matt finished the required repairs to our new to us van including a new heater/cooling fan in the back. And we have started to make some other repairs that just make it look and feel better. The best news is that so far we have not spent any money on the cosmetic repairs such as ripped seat covers but instead used some supplies from the house. I am pleased to say that at this point, the van looks and runs as good as or even better than we hoped. I am really really enjoying the power sliding door!
  • I have also been able to keep caught up with an online Bible course  that we are taking.

Now on to the menu plan..We were able to stick to the plan last week except for Tuesday and Thursday.   Sonic offered 50 cent corn dogs on Tuesday so we splurged for those.  Because of the cancelled cheerleading competition we did not end up eating out this weekend so actually are way ahead of our low dinning since that eliminated at least one meal out if not two. On Thursday we ended up purchasing a chicken at Costco and using it for dinner on Thursday and a chicken pot pie for lunch today.

Breakfast-  Less choices this week unless I get ambitious toward the end of the week. Choice of  toast, grits, cereal, pop-tarts or Egg/Spinach dish (left-over last Friday). The kids can also request an egg any morning they remember it is available.

Lunch- Both of the girls have picked out and we have packed school lunches for the entire week. I am planning to use my soup at work most days as well.

Dinner-  We are back to activities 4 out of 5 nights this week.
Monday- BBQ Chicken Pizza with sourdough crust.
Tuesday- Beef Stew in the Crockpot. This is one of 2 remaining meals from our bust of a cooking day!
Wednesday-Chicken Enchilada- box mix we purchased several weeks ago.
Thursday-  Cheese Tortellini Soup-new recipe attempt.
Friday- Grilled Chicken
This should allow us enough leftovers to actually only cook on Sunday next weekend.

Finally we are looking forward to our Annual Party next week. It is one of the few times in the year that I just lay food on the table and the kids are allowed to eat what and when they want.  I have purchased everything needed including wings so I hope to keep the cost as low as possible as I am already way over budget for the month.

Menu Planning 01/17/2015/Grocery Update

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A grade from last week will be a “C”, we did eat out one time for lunch on Tuesday in the middle of the windshield problems and I grabbed a dozen donuts from Krsipy Kreme after Zach’s appointment. Total spent less than $30.  I am going to try and tighten the belt even more due to a water line freeze and a new heater/blower for the white van so I am digging in the freezer all week. I made a quick trip to Aldi for fruit and veggies. I have spent $386 so far this month for groceries with less than two weeks left.

Weekends usually end up the time we most likely eat out so I plan on BBQ Chicken Pizza for lunch, and Philly Cheesesteak Pasta for dinner on Saturday, both are new recipes but they use things in the house!  The pizza was a huge hit so it will definitely go into the cycle to be used again! Sunday I already have laid out a Chicken Broccoli Casserole for lunch and plan for leftovers for dinner as I have a church meeting.

This week will be a somewhat unusual week as the kids are out of school Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Goals for the week no eating out till Saturday.

Breakfast- Choice of grits, cereal, pop-tarts, pancakes (left overs from Saturday) , Baked Oatmeal  or Egg/Sausage Burrito (from last week). As you can see all these are quick and simple heat up. Sunday morning will most likely be biscuits and gravy.

Lunch- Matt will be in charge of lunches on the days the girls are out of school and will use some of the convenience meals we try to buy on sale. I have recently stockpiled a bunch (8 cans) of soup at work so if I don’t have any leftovers, the I am sticking to quick this week so no planning ahead with that.

Dinner-  The kids continue with another busy week this week so we just want to eat together if possible.
Monday- Country Style Steak, make ahead mash potatoes and squash casserole. I am only working a couple of hours so this will be an extra treat day!
Tuesday- Chicken nuggets, green beans and fruit
Wednesday- Hamburger Helper- from the stockpile so they will choose the flavor.
Thursday- I have to cook or if I get busy this will be a left over day. I am thinking toward Shrimp but will wait till see what is going on.
Friday- Pork Chops, mac and cheese and applesauce.

I am hoping this week goes as well as last week.

Menu Planning

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Even before all the fun and expense of the white van this week, I was trying to tighten up our budget for at least the next 4 months. When we start adding in the additional expenses, then I know I need to put on the brakes of spending.  One of the largest expenses for us is groceries and especially eating out. We have decreased our eating out significantly in the last year but I find it very easy to grab a deal especially when we get busy.  By Menu planning and doing a lot of prep work on Sunday, I am hoping to not eat out at all for the next two weeks. We have a cheerleading completion on the 24th so that means we have to eat on the road but otherwise my goal is to not eat out any other time this month.

Breakfast- Choice of grits, cereal, pop-tarts, French toast (left-overs), Banana French toast (left-over from Sunday morning), Baked Oatmeal (left-over from Friday), Banana Muffins (Saturday morning) or Egg/Sausage Burrito (made on Sunday). As you can see all these are quick and simple heat up. I am so thankful for these as mornings are not my favorite time.

Lunch- The girls have decided on and I have already packed 4 out of the 5 days this week. They both wanted sandwiches one day, so I can easily do these Thursday morning. I also have packed my salad for Monday and have cans of soup for the rest of the week unless I choice left-overs. Matt and Zach have a choice of what ever we have since they are home during the day.

Dinner-  The kids have an activity every evening this week so we are going for simple/convenient in order to make sure we don’t eat out.
Monday- Crockpot Rio Chicken  with rice. The rice is already cooked and can be heated. We also have bananas and oranges for a fruit this day.
Tuesday- Grilled Pork chops with potato salad, cranberry sauce and pineapple.
Wednesday- Chicken Enchilada- kit we purchased last week. We have all the extra stuff for these and will add applesauce or a can of fruit.
Thursday- I have to cook or if I get busy this will be a left over day. Since I don’t work on Thursdays I usually see what I feel like for dinner that morning. This gives us a little wiggle room as well if we decide to change plans mid stream.
Friday- Salisbury steak, rice, green beans and fruit.

 

Sounds simple…… Let’s hope so!

 

Menu Planning and Other Random Thoughts?

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It has been a very long time since I  talked/shared an actually menu plan. I can definitely say that we try to complete menu planning at least once a week. This school year planning  has fallen on Sundays or at least on the weekend. After some trial and error, what works best for our family is to plan not only dinners for the week but to also go ahead and stock up snacks in book bags in addition to getting at least a working list of the girls lunches ready, depending on what is actually on the list, we also try to get several of these lunches made ahead of time.

In addition to the “regular” menu planning that I am talking about above, we also try to have at least an idea for what we are going to do on the weekends as well. I have found that if I don’t think ahead and plan for at least one meal on the weekends, we end up going out to eat.  We realize that beginning next Saturday, we will be eating out ALOT!  At least one meal on Saturday and Sunday, with at least 2 meals eaten out starting on Tuesday due to travelling. Combine this reality with the idea that I don’t want to leave food in our refrigerator while we are travelling  and menu planning was a must this week.

A limitation that has played a huge part in the plan for this week is that I have really been trying to eat from our pantry over the last several months (since September).  I can honestly say that we have the least amount of food in our house today then we have had in several years. I have purchased only things we are out of  and mainly fresh veggies and fruit, for the past several months. This has helped to reduce the grocery budget to under $600 a month however it is also starting to be a little bit challenging for menu planning. I decided last week not to purchase fresh items this week in addition to the other limitations.

Sunday-                    Breakfast  choice of leftovers (sausage stuffed crescent rolls, French toast or baked oatmeal.
Lunch- cowboy beans and cucumber relish. Beans were a left over from the fridge.
Dinner- Spam (fried) and Mac and cheese deluxe.

Monday-                    Breakfast- egg casserole (Made of Saturday to use up spinach and eggs)
Dinner- Tomato soup for kids, Broccoli and cheese soup for adults.
Tuesday                    Breakfast-  choice of cereal, toast or grits
Dinner- Breakfast casserole
Wednesday                Breakfast- leftovers casseroles or choice of cereal, toast or grits.
Dinner- Kids will be eating at church, Matt and I will find either leftovers or I am thinking of making oyster stew for myself.   (Will plan to use leftovers for lunch).
Thursday-                   Breakfast-  Eggs and sausage
Dinner- Squash Lasagna
Friday-                        Breakfast -choice of cereal, toast or grits
Dinner- Kielbasa with rice (Matt’s dish).
Saturday-                    Breakfast- French toast- (if enough bread left) or finishing up any other leftovers of breakfast food.
Lunch- Zach is at a birthday party and Girls are going to use Book-it coupons.
Dinner- Mexican rice and fried apples- if any are left to be used. May also look at leftovers and eat up anything that needs to be finished.

The girls lunches have already been planned out and I have 2 days of Lily’s prepared and 3 days of Kendall’s.

Because of our date night next week, I have already planned for both snacks and lunches on Monday.  Next Monday night dinner will be Hamburger Helper because we don’t have any left-overs from it.

Sunday, I am planning a baked oatmeal for breakfast. Lunch most likely at my parents and dinner is our night out with McDonald’s for the kids.

As you can tell, nothing fancy is happening but we are continuing to eat very well!

Another Chicken Day

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Yesterday, we picked up more chicken from Zaycon foods. After some debate, we decided to purchase another 120#. Last year we purchased the same amount but spent a lot of time and energy just figuring out what to do with it. Overall, the chicken lasted our family around 10 months. This year, our order was delay by one month due to “higher” prices so in reality we have been out of chicken for around 3 months now. iwas able to find some on sale but it still was more expensive and of a lesser quality than what we purchased from Zaycon.   Luckily I was able to get an awesome deal because I had ordered early, spending an average of $1.77 a pound of boneless skinless chicken breast.

Here are most of the details of our first purchase last October. I spent the better part of a week, planning and organizing for this. I can honestly say that I was more than disappointed with the results, most of the recipes were just ok and I did not leave myself with any raw chicken to make things that we did enjoy as a family. So this was a major part of the decision to scale back and simplify this year.  I decided to only make recipes that I knew we enjoyed. I also scaled back on the portions to eliminate a lot of the leftovers and to give a better variety.

I started planning on paper on Thursday and both Matt and I did a shopping trip to different grocery stores on Friday am. In total we spent $63.91 on ingredients that I could not pull out of the stockpile to use.  I am most pleased with the fact that we used a lot of items already on hand and even with the additional purchase stayed under budget for November.  Total time this year was probably 10 hours. I was up at midnight finishing up the meals but we did not receive the chicken until 4pm and had to stop for over an hour to get the kids dinner and baths on Saturday.

A total of 277.09 was used for the 70  meals that we created.  Here is the list of items that we have mostly frozen for use in the next year.

12 bags of grilled chicken- we doubled the portion of each bag with the idea that we can always use the leftovers for salads, wraps and sandwiches. I actually counted these as 24 meals.
5 bags of raw chicken breast cut into normal size portions.
18 bags of shredded chicken- each bag contains 2 cups. Let me just add that I LOVE my Kitchen Aid mixer for this.
5 meal of crockpot chicken- 1 pineapple chicken, 2 café rio chicken and 2 garlic lime chicken. The recipes are linked here.
2 meals of chicken enchiladas– We had one for our lunch today and it was AWESOME!
4 Chicken Broccoli casseroles-check the recipe tab if you are interested.
4 Chicken pie bases- the tops will be added the day we cook.
8 Frozen chicken fried rice meals.

Freezer Cooking- Not as Expected!

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I have been doing some type of freezer cooking for years. I have done this several different ways including share a day with friends as well as simply doubling recipes to place in the freezer or most recently finding ways to process meat/chicken when purchased in large quantities.  I have learned that doubling is the easiest way to keep the freezer stocked but it is not always convenient  to work things this way. This weekend, my best friend and I decided to try a menu plan. I am going to be really honest and upfront, I did not spend the money to actually purchase the plan so I am hopefully that the problems I had/discovered would have been covered if we had purchased the plan. This is the actual plan.

First, the reasons that I was excited to attempt the plan. This plan includes 20 meals but in reality it is 10 meals that can be repeated. This was a huge plus as it allowed us both to work together share the cost and end up with 10 meals. We were able to reduce some of the cost by using ingredients that we already had on hand such as the chicken stock and diced tomatoes. Total spent out of pocket was $66.25 each. I did end up with 11 meals because I could tell that the soup was easily tow full meal so that cost per meal is $6. The fact that this plan used four different types of meat and was gluten free were also high on the reason to try list.   Another advantage to this plan was shopping at Costco, I love Costco and the food is always a better quality.  We were not able to find all the ingredients at Costco so we did end up spending money at Food Lion as well. Finally, one of the biggest reasons I wanted to try the plan was the idea of “completing/assembling” in 2 hours.

Now on to reality, first as I mentioned we were not able to find all the items at Costco, which meant we shopped the first time at Food Lion. Second as we were working on the meals, we realized that some of the ingredients were incorrect, for example we only used two cans of black beans instead of four, we needed an additional two or three peppers and two cans of rotel were left off the list entirely. My husband ended up going out to grab things twice while we were assembling. Finally the biggest negative about this list and preparing it was the actually time we spent. I didn’t keep account of shopping time but we spent 5 hours at my friends house cooking on Saturday. I have gone back to the site today and realized that she used the word assembled in regards to the two hour time frame. I did not purchase the plan so I have not watched the video but I am pretty sure that when she used the word assembled it was just that putting all the items in a bag. This plan is labor intensive and require a lot more than just assembling.  We both enjoyed spending time together and overall this was probably not as much time as most people spend on preparing two weeks worth of meal but I had I anticipated the time more accurately than it would have been more enjoyable.

I am excited to try the food because each of the meals looks and smells good so in the end this may not be a bad experience; however I will be very careful about my reading in the future.

 

40# of Ground Beef!

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Matt and the girls picked up our Zaycon ground beef order. Zach got to enjoy some unexpected big sister time with both Haley and Amanda due to our central air problems.

We were unsure of what to expect but after ordering and enjoying several boxes of the chicken breast, I was hopefully. This meat was awesome. Matt placed the 4 tubes in the cooler with 2 ice packs from around 10:00 until 7pm. Either of the ice packs melted and the meat was still very cold.

I had been debating and thinking about the best possible use of this meat. In other words what do we need to do to get the most use with the least effort. I am pretty pleased with the results so I thought I would share with you.

I frozen 10# raw. 4 bags of 1.5# and 4 bags of 1#.  I will insert that I have been using regular sandwich bags for freezing and have not had any huge issues.

We ended up using 3# for making Taco Rice.  I am going to estimate that this is approximately 6 full meals. We usually keep a container in the fridge for a quick meal. I used 2 of my side by side crocks to simmer  the ingredients while working to prepare the rest of the meat. I am going to estimate this as 6 meals.

Next up in the third crock is Sloppy Joes. I used another 3 pounds of ground beef for this. I am going to estimate 3 total meals.

Matt loves Salisbury Steak so we also made 3# worth of these which totaled 5 additional meals. Last Saturday, I used around 10# of potatoes that were not looking the best to make mashed potatoes. So this is a quick and complete meal.

The remaining 21 pounds we browned with onion to be used in a variety of dishes as it is needed.

Overall meals = 45 meals
Total Time= 4 hours including clean up with both Matt and I work.

 

Food Facts

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I realized the other day that groceries are the single biggest category of expense that we have each month, yes it is more than our mortgage payment! So it is fitting that I share some interesting, at least to me, facts about this number.

  • Based on the budgeted amount for July, we spend about $3.90 a day per person for food, toiletries and other supplies. That averages out to $1.30 a meal.
  • For the month of July, I am currently $4 over budget but I know this will go up by at least $10 due to the swim team party on Thursday, I need to purchase several items to use for my dishes.
  • Included in the spending for July are school supplies, I decided to stock up with the sale prices. I also had to purchase a new book bag for Lily and several new lunch containers. The only remaining supplies I know of for the girls are new 3 ring binders.
  • Matt and I have been shopping in our freezer today, we have no ground hamburger and no chicken at all.
  • We will be picking up 40# of ground beef on Friday from Zaycon. My plan is to cook at least 20# and freeze in individual bags.  The other will be used to make “sloppy joe mix, meatloaves (4) with the remainder to be frozen uncooked for anything else that may show up!
  • Our menu plan this week included the swim team party and at least one night of leftovers.
  • Over the last 2 weeks we have been attempting to eat most of the leftover food from Kendall’s birthday party. We did end up throwing out a couple of hamburgers but otherwise we have been successful. I am going to bring the plates, cups and napkins to the beach as well.
  • I have already cooked and frozen 4 dinners and 1 breakfast meal for the beach. We most like will eat out 2 times and use the final night as left overs.
  • I am a recipe follower- I am afraid to just try things most of the time because I don’t want to waste food; however, I made a chicken/vegetable casserole today without a recipe and it turned out great!
  • We have been able to cook and freeze at least a couple of packages of stewed tomatoes a week to use in the winter.
  • I made approximately 10# of mashed potatoes today because I realized that the potatoes in our closet were starting to go bad.
  • The current plan is that any unused grocery money for August  prior to our beach trip will become “fun” money. To assist with this I will not be going to Costco until after the trip in addition to purchasing only items at CVS for stockpiling. The overall goal is to add $300 to our fun money!

Weekend Rambling

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I have enjoyed 4 full days off work in a row!  I am excited and feeling accomplished that I just had to share all that we have been up to.

  • Both Friday and Saturday, we spent over 5 hours enjoying the pool. I can finally say that I have a tan now!
  • The weather has been awesome, much cooler than in the past week and much cooler than I expected, temperatures have been in the mid 80s by day and even some 50s at night.
  • Because of the nice weather, I was able to spend several hours working not only in our square foot garden but also working in the flower beds around the house. I am very pleased with the results!
  • The square foot garden continues to provide us with fresh vegetables daily, our cherry tomatoes are awesome! Hopefully by the end of the week, we will have some full size tomatoes to go with our cucumbers and squash. Because of the really hot weather, I am not sure if we will be getting any more beans this year but the kids loved planting and picking so they will be repeated next week.  My most exciting discovery this week has been that we have 4 watermelons and 2 cantaloupes growing! I can’t wait to eat these.
  • I have been grabbing some good deals at both CVS and Food Lion this week. I will say that I was most disappointed to find that Diet Coke was not on sale at Food Lion after being told it was by 2 different people.
  • Both the little girls are really enjoying swim team. Lily is now able to swim all 4 strokes but needs to work on her endurance. Kendall is able to swim the back stroke and freestyle without stopping. Kendall has also been working on the butterfly but I am not sure she will be able to compete in this stroke this year.
  • Our new dryer arrived on Saturday and we were able to dry a load of towels in less than an hour!
  • One of the best deals I got at Food Lion was ground chuck for $2.67 a pound, this afternoon in less than an hour, Matt and I put together 5 meals. We decided to combine the ground chuck with venison that we had previously purchased.  All the meals were frozen because we are still eating leftovers from Kendall’s party.  We packed 2 bags of cooked ground beef; these will be used for Hamburger Helper or other meals such as pizza that started with cooked meat. I made a meatloaf and cheeseburger pie and finally Matt made a container of Taco rice that we plan to take to the beach as a meal in August.
  • On Friday, which was the Fourth of July, Amanda came and took Kendall shopping for her birthday. She purchased a dress, 2 complete outfits, a pair of shorts and a couple of Disney shirts. Kendall is so excited to have new clothes to wear!  Haley decided to spend time with us as well. She actually went to the pool. The little kids absolute LOVE when their big sister spend time with them!
  • Tonight, all three of the little ones are attending Vacation Bible School at my brother’s church. I am excited and surprised because Zach wanted to go and did not even get upset when we left him eating with his cousin. I hope they all have a great time. This is the first time that Zach has been able to stay somewhere without either of his parents. He will sometimes stay at the child watch center at the YMCA but other time he refuses so for him to want to stay is AWESOME! I hope the trend continues all week!