Meal Plan - Week 5

I didn't follow last weeks meal plan at all. I didn't even make one meal from it. It was a complete free for all at the house. Monday was leftovers night. Tuesday was so crazy I don't even remember what we ate. Yep, you can nominate me for mom of the year at any time. =) Tyler was home sick on Wednesday. He ended up with an ear infection. We had no food in the house because Wednesday was going to be my day at the grocery store. So I did what any sane mom would do and ordered in Papa Johns. Thursday came and I FINALLY cooked dinner. We had mini meatloaves and tortellini for dinner. On Friday night, Tyler ate at a birthday party, Rebecca and Jason ate dinner at a friends house. I have no clue what the hubby ate.  I ate dinner with friends while celebrating National Margarita Day. Saturday night we had salmon. And on Sunday, I made meatballs and gravy with pasta.

Now what to make for this week?

Here is my tentative plan:

Monday - Meatball bubble bites and leftover pasta

Tuesday - Chicken Enchiladas

Wednesday - Leftovers

Thursday - Chicken Chili

Friday - Scallops (not sure what I am going to make but they are sale so I am going to come up with something)

Saturday - out

Sunday - Not sure yet...I have been trying to leave Sundays up to my hubby and he isn't a planner.

So what are you making this week at your house? Please share. I always need new ideas...

Meal Plan Week 4

Surprisingly last weeks meal plan wasn't a complete fail. I followed the plan on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, I ended up making a Boneless Pork Loin instead of the Beef Roast. I will make that this week, I guess. For Valentine's Day, I made a nice spread for the family. We had steamed clams and a tomato and mozzarella salad to start.  Then I tried a Publix apron meal of shrimp scampi over linguine with garlic Texas toast. The scampi had less garlic and butter than most recipes I have made in the past. It was nice and everyone ate it which was the deciding factor to keep the recipe.  Rebecca and I made chocolate covered strawberries for dessert. Friday stayed as leftovers, Saturday wasn't a date night after all (darn sick kids!) and on Sunday we ended up going out to dinner.

So what are we going to eat this week? It is going to be a busy one with Tyler's soccer practices starting.

Monday - leftovers

Tuesday - Slow Cooker Beef Roast

Wednesday - Potato Soup and ham and cheese sandwiches

Thursday - leftovers

Friday - homemade pizza

Saturday - OUT

Sunday - some sort of Italian dish with meatballs and gravy

What are you having this week?

 

The Why and The How...of Meal Planning

So as I have mentioned before things go a lot better for me and my family if I meal plan. First I will give you a short list of why I meal plan. Then I will explain to you how I do it.

The Why's

1. If I make a plan, I tend to stick with it. 


2. We eat out a lot less. This keeps us from eating junk and also helps save money. A double bonus!


3. Once I have a list of what is needed to make the weekly meals, I only have to the grocery store once in the week. I don't have to make a lot of trips because I am deciding what to make early.  One list equals one trip. One trip equals less money spent in the store.


4. I can prepare ahead. This means if we are having chicken Thursday night, I can pull it out of the freezer ahead of time to make sure it is thawed in time.

Meal planning normally takes me about 30 minutes each week. This is how I do it.

On Sunday mornings, I sit at the kitchen table with the newspaper ads from Publix and Kroger.  I have all my favorite cookbooks on the table along with my computer. I have coffee too, lots of coffee! I look through the ads for the best deals on meat and vegetables.  From the ads I am able to pull out recipes that feature those foods. I get out my planner, look at the week and make my plans accordingly. For example, Thursday's is always a crazy day. I know that on Thursday night, I am not going to be home long enough to prepare a meal. So most Thursday's we eat something I have cooked in the slow cooker or we eat leftovers. I go ahead and make my list for the grocery store right then based on the recipes I have picked. Another thing to note is I try to only allot for us to eat out once a week. Some weeks we don't even do this but some weeks we do. I always plan on one day being a leftovers day. This means I am really only planning and preparing 5 meals in a week.

Once I have my list of what I am making, I clip all my recipes together and put them on my fridge. I put the list of what I am making right there at the front so I see it every time I open the refrigerator door. I also list the recipes from online or a cookbook with a note of where I got the idea so I will be able to reference it at cooking time.

What is your routine? How do you plan out your meals for each week?

 

Meal Plan -- Week 3

I wish I could say last week went off without a hitch. But I would be lying. So last week's meal plan was a bit of a mess.

I did make the sloppy Joe's. They were a hit. But about halfway through the meal my DEAR husband told me I could just buy this thing called Manwich instead of working so hard...as if I would ever. Ugh. And how rude was that. Somebody better be getting someone something nice for Valentine's Day this week. Hint, Hint!

We didn't make it to school spirit night either. I had a doctors appointment which took up a lot of the day. I had a little boy who was feeling sick to his stomach. So I ended up making onion soup, grilled cheese sandwiches (some with roast beef).

We had a random leftover night while we were rushing around to activities. I made the chicken marsala but not in the slow cooker.

So onto this week, let's hope I am slightly more successful this week than I was last.

Monday - Chicken Pot Pie

Tuesday - Blue/Gold Dinner for Cub Scouts - must make a awesome dessert but not sure what yet

Wednesday - Slow Cooker Beef Roast

Thursday - Not sure yet...it is Valentine's Day so I know we won't go out but I am thinking some sort of seafood, either steamed or maybe a low country boil

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday - Date Night

Sunday - Chili

 

Meal Plan - Week 2

My meals last week went okay. On Wednesday I discovered I really didn't have the patience for eggplant rollatini. I made more of a lasagna with eggplant instead. I went ahead and made notes and took some pictures so I will post the recipe soon.  On Thursday the hubby was coming home late and I realized I had a bunch of potatoes in the pantry that needed cooking. So I swapped out the onion soup for potato soup. I served it with grilled cheese sandwiches. On Friday I went out to dinner with some friends and Ryan took the kids over to his brothers for dinner so I ended up not cooking Friday night.  Saturday night we ended up having friends over so I didn't end up cooking the Sloppy Joes. I am moving that to Monday because the kids were really looking forward to it.  We still have lots of leftovers in the fridge for lunches over the weekend and for me this week. Here is the plan for this week.

Monday - Sloppy Joes

Tuesday - Spirit Night for the elementary school

Wednesday - leftovers

Thursday - Chicken Marsala in the slow cooker

Friday - sandwiches and/or a frozen pizza (I picked up one on sale)

Saturday - Eating out

Sunday - Pork Chops with Balsamic and Brown Sugar Glazed Onions and Stuffing

What do you have planned this week?

Meal Plan - Week 1

In addition to taking a break from the blog, I took a break from meal planning. Let me tell you something I learned about  myself. If I don't have a meal plan, we rarely have a home-cooked meal. So I am back to planning out a meals. I plan two weeks at a time because that is how I roll. I don't have a scientific reason to plan two weeks at a time, but it works for me. I almost always change up the plan at one point or another during the second week but I like to be thinking ahead.

So here is my meal plan for this week...I will post next weeks on Monday.

Monday - Leftovers

Tuesday - Eating Out (have two kids activities with only 30 minutes in between for dinner)

Wednesday - Eggplant Rollatini with Pasta

Thursday - French Dip Sandwiches & French Onion Soup for dipping

Friday - Baked Penne With Chicken & Sun dried Tomatoes (making this for a friend and us)

Saturday - Sweet Sloppy Joe's

Sunday - Going to a Super Bowl Party but bringing Chicken Cups

What's for dinner at your house this week?