Menu for the week of April 7 to 13

I’m back on the menu planning bandwagon! I did ‘plan’ a menu last week, but I was so overwhelmed with getting back into town and back to normal life that it never got posted.

Let’s just say I’m quite impressed when folks are able to plan posts for when they are not about to manually post.

Okay, here goes —

Sunday — likely leftovers? unsure… must decide soon!

Monday — Mustard Pork Tenderloin (grilled, likely?), new potatoes (I wonder if I can do these on the grill, too?), salad (greens from my pots out front!)

Tuesday — real, red sauce pizza (I did a white sauce pizza last Friday and though it was good, it didn’t itch the pizza itch for Hubby)

Wednesday — Crockpot Jambalaya (original recipe from savingdinner.com, but I’ve modified to fit our tastes)

Thursday — leftovers

Friday — unfried chicken, salad

Saturday — leftovers

What’s on your menu for this week?

Menu for week of March 18 to 24

Well, late again…. but here it is…

Monday, 3-18 — Crockpot Jambalaya

Tuesday, 3-19 — leftovers, easy

Wednesday, 3-20 — green chili cassserole (I’m working on using up freezer stuff and I have loads of ‘green chili’. Tomatillos did great in the garden last year.)

Thursday, 3-21 — pollo con crema (major yummy, can be main with chicken or pork… I ought to post the recipe. Very worth sharing.)

Friday, 3-22 — pizza (still working on getting the crust to the right thickness. Not to bread-like, but not crunchy thin…)

Saturday, 3-23 — department potluck

Sunday, 3-24 — leftovers

 

What are you planning for this week?

And head over to Money Saving Mom for more menus.

Menu for March 10 to 16

I’m late on this, I know. But figured it was worth it anyways.

I’m trying out a new mealing planning format… well, just a different format to the paper I’m writing on. Its the ‘seven-day meal planner’ from http://moneysavingmom.com/downloads/meal-menu-planners. It has spots for 7 breakfasts, 7 lunches, 7 snacks and 7 dinners with checkboxes. It doesn’t give space to specify days/dates for each meal. And I’m really just using the dinner section, so I guess I could convert the other meal categories to dinner lists and have one page for 4 weeks. Thinking on that.

Here’s my dinner list for this week:

• green chile casserole (recipe from a friend, very yummy)
• chicken pot pie (recipe from Not Your Mother’s Freezer Cookbook)
• tacos (I’ve got defrosted ground beef in the fridge. Must use soon!)
• pizza
• roast chicken (with potatoes and gravy)

Yesterday, I roasted 2 chickens,  made extra potatoes and gravy and assembled 2 pot pies after dinner.

I’m also working to clean out the chest freezer so I can defrost it before we fill it with the quarter of a cow I just ordered. We loved having the meat before, and since the meat is about gone… time to buy more!

Also something new I’m doing this month is giving myself a specific number/amount and when I spend that much, I’m done. After looking at my budget for the last year, I decided on $300. My last 4 months were less than $300, but I’ve done a lot of cooking out of the freezer and pantry over these few months. I think it will be a bit more to keep my pantry stocked. Of course, Aldi’s will help. They’ve got bagels for $1.68 (or so)! That’s a great price! I updated my ‘best prices in Waco page’ to reflect the items I’ve checked.

Your menu for the week? Either leave your menu or your link in the comments! Let us inspire each other!

Menu Making and Menu for Feb 24 to Mar 2

First, our menu for Feb 24 to Mar 2 —

Sunday — leftovers and OYO (on-your-own)

Monday — Salmon croquettes, cous cous, and salad (If I feel so inclined that night) {there are cans of salmon and jar of cous cous languishing in the pantry}

Tuesday — Meatloaf (from Better Homes and Garden cookbook), mashed potatoes {should use the ground beef, since that’s whats in the freezer}

Wednesday — parmesaen breaded chicken with marinara sauce (chicken recipe from a friend, marinara sauce from a can), oven fries, salad {ditto for the chicken, use what’s in the freezer}

Thursday — leftovers, OYO

Friday — pizza {its tradition}

Saturday — leftovers, OYO

{these notes are the ‘why’ I picked this option}

If you happened to have seen last week’s menu, you will see I planned more meals this week. There is rhyme to my madness, I promise. See, I know that salmon croquettes don’t produce much in the way of leftovers and cous cous isn’t something that Hubby just loves to eat. So, I know that I need another good leftover meal soon after (leftovers are lunch for Hubby and fillers for other nights). Between meatloaf (a most excellent leftover meal) and the chicken, Hubby is set for lunches the rest of the week and into the weekend.

Several months ago, I printed up the whole series of planning meals from Like Mother, Like Daughter. I have loved it and use it every single time I sit down to write out a menu. The master menu is such a help as I can start with a list of meal options instead of a completely blank slate. Add in that I’m trying to cook primarily from the freezer, and my options are rather limited — which is good for me since I’m a poor decision maker. Know Thyself! — best advice I’ve ever gotten. 

And you, dear reader, what is your menu for this next week?

Our Menu for Feb 18 to 24

A few friends indicated they would appreciate menu ideas, so here’s my week’s menu.  Keep in mind this is a unique week, as we have a university guest Tuesday to Thursday, so there is more eating out going on than usual. Also, I don’t plan breakfast or lunch. Breakfast items are kept around(ramen, bagels, cereal, toast, breakfast burritos), and lunch is leftovers or sandwiches, unless I get the hankering for something particular. 😛

Monday

BBQ pineapple pork (freezer meal) (I’m still looking for the link — its a pork loin, 1 bottle of BBQ sauce and 1 can of cubed pineapple in a ziplock bag. Freeze. Defrost and put in crockpot on low for 6 to 8 hours)

oven fries

salad

Tuesday

eating out

Wednesday

Hubby eating out, simple-simple for Doctor D and I

Thursday

French Beef Stew

mashed potatoes

Friday

leftovers

Saturday

Pizza

Sunday

leftovers

 

I usually plan to alternate meal-leftovers as I tend to cook so that we have leftovers. Hubby takes them for lunch, and it makes for easier evenings for me. Its likely to change as Doctor D gets older and as our family grows, I figure.

This brings up a good point — any recipe, generally, must make for good leftovers. Some meals leave over very nicely and others, well, don’t.

And, about half the time, by the time we reach Saturday or Sunday, the leftovers are just gone and I come up with an improvised meal. Good options are mac-n-cheese, spaghetti, salmon croquettes, breakfast for dinner, or grilled sandwiches.

So, what’s your week’s menu?

Weekly Menus

I have striven for several years to make a weekly menu, however simple, with a grocery list.  Many weeks I was successful, but we end up with pantry meals or last minute meals as often as not.  Recently, in a book I was reading about parenting, the author talked about having a plan where you make a specific type of meal on a particular night for the consistency and routine. I’ve also got an email that I printed out from flylady, Nov 2009, about designating each night with a theme (such as chicken, meatless, etc). I’ve been thinking on this for a long time, and have finally done something about it. See the tabs down the side? Those are the days of the week with the appropriate recipes behind them.

I just spent about 15 minutes doing the menu for this next week. This is record time for me. Having my food binder organized by night (which is theme oriented), it gave me a few recipes/meals to pick through, instead of the whole binder. I even spent several minutes looking through an old everyday food magazine, and I still didn’t spend much  more than 15 minutes!

Here is what I did:
1. I thought of the types of meals I needed. Mondays are the day before the grocery run — must be a pantry meal. We get home on the later side on Tuesday and Thursday, so something quick. But we are often loaded up on leftovers by Thursday. On Wednesday, we don’t get home till quite late (for us) so crockpot meal it is. We usually game on Friday or Saturday, so pizza it is or something simple. But Saturday is a very open day, with time to cook, as is Sunday.

2. I sorted my recipes in to piles reflecting these themes: pasta and pantry meals, quick meals (45 minutes top), crock pot meals, and long cooking meals.

3. I created a cover page with a list of meals in a sheet protector for each night and put a tab on that page to serve as a divider.

Step #2 took the longest. Sometimes I had 2 different recipes on each side of a page, or 2 or more recipes on a single page, so I had to rewrite one or two. I did this over several nights of watching TV. And I didn’t sort ALL my recipes, just the ones that were on top, which means they are most often used.

I still need to figure out how to deal with sides, but that might just mean adding notes with recipes of what sides go well with them. I imagine the ideal is to have a page per meal, with all recipes of main dish or side dish, and shopping list on that page. But that will take a lot more time (or lots of 15 minute intervals). Perhaps one or two meals an evening?  Alas, lots of ideas!

Food Binder and Menus

A good friend recently wrote a post on planning menus with a reference to Auntie Leila’s post on making menus. Thus, I was inspired to work on my menu planning skills.

I have a food binder that I use regularly to cook from. But it is full of recipes, not so much menus.

I write all over the recipes with notes about adjustments I made, or if we liked it lots or not at all, or if the leftovers were good or not. Plus, if we didn’t like the dish at all, it gets pulled out and thrown away.

I have a few pages up front where I list the various dishes we like and where they are found. The idea was to make my weekly meal planning a quicker and easier process.

The post-its were for putting the meals on the calendar in such a way that they could be moved around as I almost never cook what I planned on the night I planned it.

I see ways that I lack finesse, though. For example, side dishes are almost always baby spinach from a box or bag with salad dressing. But that gets old. And I as often as not forget to start the rice, till I announce “Dinner’s ready!” and Hubby says “Rice?” and I say “Oh, drat”. 

Each week, I sit down (or at least aim to) and figure out what I can make each day for the next week. I make my grocery list from that menu and from looking in the pantry to see what is needed. But, as often as not, side dishes are an after-thought and forgotten as often as not.

I really have no idea how to get this to a better system. But if I ever figure it out, I’ll let you know.