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!