No Grocery Store Week!

The pantry was full, the refrigerator in decent shape, and I was just tired of buying more food when we never seem to completely finish what we have. So... this Sunday I decided to skip the grocery store & see what we could do for the week. Not having planned for this ahead of time meant I had to be a bit creative with our meals, but all in all we've had great meals and it's nice to be eating cleaning out the pantry a bit. I didn't even post a meal plan b/c I wasn't quite sure how this would work!

So, what have we eaten?

Sunday: Bean burritos on homemade tortillas

Monday: Cheesy chicken subs, pretzels & hummus

Tuesday: creamy zucchini with linguine, homemade bread, orange jello salad (with company)

Wednesday: More cheesy chicken subs, pretzels & hummus

Thursday: the one not so good day - I had cereal & Javier ate ? - we both had things we were rushing out the door for and weren't able to eat together

Friday: out with friends

Saturday: Homemade pizza

We definitely can't do this too often because it's harder to eat healthy and avoid the temptation of eating out, but this week it definitely worked for us!

Menu Plan Monday: Aug. 3 - 9

For some reason, I can't quite manage to make our meal plans work out without having leftovers rolling over from week to week. Now, I'm certainly not complaining about the leftovers (I love them!) but I feel like I'm posting the same meals up here every week. Secret: we probably didn't make them the week before! For example, we haven't made homemade pizza for several weeks now, but that's been in our meal plan every week. :)  My (somewhat obvious) tip: if you're picking a meal or two not to make after you've already planned for it, figure out which one has the fewest perishable ingredients. Pizza for us works whenever - we always have the ingredients on hand but they're never about to go bad.

Whew, so on to this week's (super simple) plan:

Monday: Oops - this was yesterday, but we ate leftovers! The very yummy creamy zucchini with linguine we made last Saturday lasted for, oh, about 3 1/2 meals for the two of us!

Tuesday: Swiss chicken casserole over rice with fruit salad

Wednesday: Leftovers? Or possibly homemade pizza?

Thursday: Homemade pizza for real this night

Friday: Headed to my parents' house

Saturday: Still at my parents'

Sunday: After getting back late Saturday night, we won't have much time for any big cooking - looks like sandwiches for lunch & breakfast for supper!

Lunches will be sandwiches/leftovers/easy pasta with fruit as a side. 

Please let me know any suggestions you may have for our menu plan or for things you'd like to see in my future menu planning posts!

Menu Plan Monday: July 27 - Aug. 2

Still stickin' to simple meals... but I also want to enjoy some yummy summer vegetables this week. 

Monday: Grilled veggie sandwiches (one of our favorites - thanks for the reminder last week, Carla!)

Tuesday: Jambalaya with chicken

Wednesday: Leftovers - Wednesday nights are busy for us so extra-quick suppers are in order

Thursday: Breakfast for dinner: grits, eggs, muffins

Friday: Homemade pizza

Saturday: More pizza for one meal, creamy zucchini with linguine for the other

Sunday: Celebrating our niece's 1st birthday for lunch! Then - probably leftovers for supper, or if we need something new we'll grill some chicken.

Lunches will be sandwiches/leftovers/easy pasta with fruit as a side. 

Please let me know any suggestions you may have for our menu plan or for things you'd like to see in my future menu planning posts!

Menu Plan Monday: July 20-26

I spoke a little a few days ago about how we're trying to eat more simple meals. This worked pretty well for us last week, and we're keeping at it this week. The only problem is that I don't want to eat the same thing every week - so it's tough to find lots of simple meals. Or rather, I may think that a meal is simple, but end up cooking & washing dishes much longer than I anticipate! (As happened tonight...)

Without further ado... this week's plan!

Monday: Hamburger stroganoff & tomato/basil/mozzarella salad (tomatoes & basil from our garden!) 

Tuesday: More hamburger stroganoff, this time with congealed salad

Wednesday: Tacos, made with our dinner kit from Publix (see Southern Savers' Publix deals)

Thursday: Again, tacos

Friday: Baked yellow rice & veggies (we won't use the chicken, this feels like a pretty complete meal even without meat)

Saturday: Leftovers for lunch, out to dinner with friends.

Sunday: Homemade pizza for lunch, breakfast for dinner!

Overall, a pretty simple week. Today I probably cooked more than I will the rest of the week, which works just fine. One other note - we do eat sides with our meals, just often I don't know what we'll eat when, so they don't always make it into the meal plan. I guess when there's only two of us, we have a little more flexibility. We'll try to eat a good bit of fruit this week on the side, though.

Please let me know any suggestions you may have for our menu plan or for things you'd like to see in my future menu planning posts!

Simple Meals (or meal-planning redefined)

One thing I've struggled with constantly since getting married is planning meals. We both work right now (more or less...) and have little time in the evenings to prepare a nice dinner. We also both usually take our lunches (unless we can make it home for lunch) which creates a little rush in the morning. Meal planning, while time consuming, has overall saved us much time, headache, and money, but especially since J returned, why couldn't we "keep up" with our meal plan?

Solution: Simplify our meals from Monday - Thursday! It sounds so obvious, but agreeing on this was rather freeing. J is perfectly content to eat simple weekday meals (really, he'd eat about anything!) and I don't have to cut my work short every day to try to have dinner ready.

We need to think of some healthier options, because it seems like most of our "simple" meals aren't the best for us, but this is a start.  A few ideas are grilled foods, salads, bulk cooking on the weekends then pulling portions out during the week. I know a lot of people try weekend cooking, but our weekends tend to be pretty busy around here, so we can't completely rely on that.

We're also attempting to plan our meals on Sunday afternoons/evenings, allowing me to grocery shop first thing Monday morning. (Which, while I "work", I'm in grad school and have some flexibility at least.)

Look for menu plans to be here again soon, and any simple weeknight meal ideas are welcome as we try planning meals with this mindset!

E-mealz

I've never tried this, but the idea intrigues me! I found this post a while back on Works for Me Wednesday, and it had pretty well convinced me.

Apparently the E-mealz program menu plans for you and provides a grocery list for a store of your choice, basing the menu around sale prices!

Again, I've never tried it but thought some of you may find it useful - especially if you've hit the meal-planning blues. This would be especially useful for a particularly busy season of your life. Let me know if you try it & like it!

Menu Plan Monday - September 22-28

Welcome to my post for Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday!

Once again, we have our weekly potluck on Wednesday. We're also starting to paint our den/dining room this weekend, so quick meals were definitely in order this week!

Since this is Family Favorites edition of Menu Plan Monday, check out one of one of our favorites, Cheesy Ranch & Bacon Mashed Potatoes. There are so many recipes that we love, it's hard to pick one - but give these are a try, they are delicious!!

Monday: Cranberry chicken (in the crockpot), sauteed asparagus, rice. We need to start using up the cranberry sauce from our Sav Mor trip - another ideas for how to use cranberry sauce?

Tuesday: Homemade pizza & spinach salad

Wednesday: potluck! I'm taking crockpot green beans.

Thursday: Tuna mushroom casserole.

Friday: Leftover homemade pizza from Tuesday. (We make two, eat one & save one for another night usually.)

Saturday: Leftovers for lunch, spaghetti from the freezer for dinner.

Sunday: grilled hotdogs for lunch, breakfast for dinner!

Please let me know any suggestions you may have for our menu plan or for things you'd like to see in my future menu planning posts!

Menu Plan Monday - September 8-15

Welcome to my post for Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday! As like last time I did this... it's Tuesday. Apparently I just can't get things together to post on Monday! :)

This week is a bit crazy for us. We have a potluck dinner Wednesday (which will be pretty much every Wednesday from now on), and you can see several other out-of-the-ordinary events below too. Here's our stab at a plan though - it seems even more important to have during a week this crazy!

Tuesday: Leftover homemade pizza & spinach salad - we typically make 2 small pizzas on Sunday, eat one, then save the 2nd for another night or lunches

Wednesday: potluck! I'm taking easy sour cream muffins.

Thursday: Grilled tilapia with mango marinade, salad, and rice. Aldi (my favorite store!) has great deals on fish, and we scored tons of marinade at Sav Mor last Saturday.

Friday: Dinner theater! My dad is in his church play that shows as a dinner theater.

Saturday: Tailgating brunch (I'll make monkey bread), sandwiches for dinner (we'll be worn out after the game!)

Sunday: Lunch at church (provided), make fresh homemade pizza for supper

Monday: Mexican night - Bean burritos, rice, salad

We are blessed that where my husband works, lunch is provided usually several days a week. My lunches will be egg salad sandwiches, pretzels, bananas, or leftovers.

Please let me know any suggestions you may have for our menu plan or for things you'd like to see in my future menu planning posts!

Meal Planning: Flexibility

While today would normally be Menu Plan Monday - I want to address a slightly different point of menu planning today. Being flexible with our meal plan has been the key to saving us a ton! We enter the week with a plan... but as they say in Pirates of the Caribbean "It's more like guidelines". This is true of menu planning too!

Take last week for example. Our meal plan ran from Tuesday-Monday (today). However, it was made before dinner was ever cooked on Monday. We didn't realize that the leftovers from Monday would be more than enough for Tuesday, therefore already pushing our plan back by a day. As for the rest of the week, things just get crazy sometimes - and while a plan helps with the busy-ness - being flexible is even more important! Since leftovers and breakfast for dinner replaced a couple meals that were planned last week, we now have the ingredients on hand for a couple more recipes. I'll incorporate those in this week - cutting way back on our grocery bill!

Come back next Monday for a regular-scheduled Menu Plan Monday!

Menu Plan Monday - August 19-25

Welcome to my first post for Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday! Now, I realize that today is Tuesday, but I just returned from being out of town, so this post is a day late. In the future - look for it on Mondays!

I like to come up with a "theme" for each night (thanks to Simple Mom) and then pick out what we're eating based on the theme. This greatly simplifies my menu planning. See this post on menu planning for a few more tips.

Here's my plan for the week:

Tuesday: Something grilled night - Grilled chicken & spinach salad (with spinach, grilled (chicken, tomatoes, carrots, and egg)

Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner - Grits, bacon, and muffins

Thursday: Homemade pizza night!

Friday: Asian night - Hibachi shrimp & fried rice (This will be new for us - we're not so sure how it will turn out, but we've been wanting to try it.)

Saturday: Leftovers for lunch, out with friends for dinner

Sunday: Italian night - Spaghetti & salad

Monday: Mexican night - Beef enchiladas

We are blessed that where my husband works, lunch is provided usually several days a week. This gives us enough leftovers for lunch the other days, or I can just eat something simple that we have on hand. We're new to menu planning and are still making adjustments, but we're going to try the Tuesday-Monday plan for a while to see how it works.

Please let me know any suggestions you may have for our menu plan or for things you'd like to see in my future menu planning posts!

Newlywed Tip #2: Menu Planning

Countless blogs advertise the merits of menu planning. I, too, have seen how great a help it can be.

Why menu plan?

• It cuts down on stress. There's no more "What's for dinner tonight??" panic at 5:00.

• It lowers the grocery bill. You can plan your menu around what is on sale and grocery shop more efficiently. You also don't have to shop as often if you plan for a whole week, so it reduces impulse buys at the store.

• It reduces eating out or ordering take out. If you already know what's for dinner, you aren't as likely to go out. You'll go out when you've planned it and know that it's in your budget.

• You can plan healthier meals. You may be able to eat very healthy when you don't menu plan, but by planning it out you can see that you're eating balanced meals.

I learned from Simple Mom that one good approach is to have different categories that you plan by - this can help you keep the same basic plan for several weeks, just by changing the meal in the category. For example, you can fix something Mexican on Monday, have breakfast for dinner on Tuesday, have a pasta dish on Wednesday, etc.

Stay tuned - I'll be posting my menu plans here as part of Organizing Junkie's Menu Plan Monday!