Now that I am officially a blogger, I find myself constantly thinking of all the different things that I can blog about. I had 3 choices for today. One was a rant, and one was pretty deep, and I think it is a bit to early in this process for either of those options. So, today I am blogging about my menu for the week. Thrilling, I know.
I have been menu planning for as long as I can remember. I sit down on Sundays, plan out what we are going to eat for the week, and make out a shopping list for Monday, which is always grocery day. For a long time it was 10am sharp at the walmart, and believe me, I caught plenty of crap from friends and coworkers for being on such a tight schedule. Now that I am boycotting Walmart, (and no, that isn't what the rant was about) it is 9:20 am at the locally owned grocery store.
I am really trying to rein in my grocery spending. Food prices are climbing , and we are trying to live on a budget, so I have been trying to put a lot of thought into the meals that I prepare for my family.
This is what our week will look like
Monday: brown rice with sauteed vegetables.
Tuesday: Left over turkey dinner
Wednesday: Special retirement dinner for my mother. Lemon rosemary chicken, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, and for dessert , lemon pound cake! Can't wait!
Thursday: Turkey gumbo. made with Left over turkey, and my home made stock. I only had to buy a green pepper and the andoullie sausage!
Friday: Mac and cheese
Saturday: Left over Gumbo
Sunday: taco dinner at church!
What meals do you serve when you are on a budget?
I wish I had that discipline. We are on a tight budget as well. I make food out of anything and everything I can find in the cupboard. lets say I have some canned southwestern corn, chicken, tortillas and cheese. It's quesadilla night! I lack the shopping of main items but find my random shopping produces some yummy options as well.
ReplyDeleteMy Mom used to do this every Sunday night. She would draw a line down a piece of paper, two lines across, to create six boxes, then cut the last one in half. For every day, she would plan each meal out.
ReplyDeleteAlso, for breakfast, we got something different every day of the week. Cereal one day, pancakes another day, oatmeal another day. I had no idea how much work this was. My kids make their own breakfast.
My kids get the same thing for breakfast every single day. By choice. Oatmeal with cinnamon, raisins, and flax seed. also, 1/2 a bagel with cream cheese. The only one that gets boxed cereal is Charlie, and he just gets organic cheerios.
ReplyDeleteOk, so now that I am trying my hand at couponing too, I wonder should I go shopping, gets what's on sale and THEN plan my menu for the week?
ReplyDeleteSee, thats where I have a hard time with the coupon thing, since a lot of times you have to buy things in bulk, plus we just don't eat much of that type of conventional food, boxed or bagged foods, things like that. I guess I would see whats on sale, make a menu / list then go shopping?
ReplyDeleteI love this! I'm a definite menu planner simply because I don't have the time or money not to be. Plus, I refuse to feed my family crap and do fast food, etc. I keep a meals folder in my household notebook. I clip recipes I want to try, track what's on sale for the week, etc. Then when I sit down to plan my meals, I have all the info together that I need. I also keep forms that have a meal plan template, freezer inventory, favorite recipe list, etc. I love it - feels good to fuel my family without losing my sanity or breaking the bank. There are some free planning tools at www.organized home.com
ReplyDeleteAlso, I try to build meals around meat/fish that is on sale. For example, I got a really good price on some yellow fin tuna. Last night we had seared tuna, rice and green beans. Shrimp cocktail on the side (another bargain). When I was cleaning up, I chopped up the leftover shrimp and tuna along with the green beans. Tonight I stir fried that with a little sauce inhad on hand, added some corn and served over rice noodles. Delicious and super healthy, not to mention simple :). Yay Tara! I think you should do a series for beginners wanting to start a garden, hint hint.
ReplyDelete