Weekly Menu, Week of 12/5

Ah, December!  What a busy month!  I've tried to plan out a few weeks in advance, even though I know full well that plans will change, and I'll end up doing something out of the plan somewhere along the way.  Oh, well, it's important to me to at least start the month feeling organized!

Here's what I'm planning for us to eat this week.

Monday: Chili and frozen garlic bread
Tuesday: Glazed Bacon-Wrapped Meatloaf and noodles
Wednesday: Loaded Baked Potato Soup
Thursday: Hamburger Helper
Friday: Not-sagna pasta toss
Saturday: (Lunch) birthday party
               (Dinner) Sausage-Tortellini soup and breadsticks
Sunday:  (Lunch) Pot roast and rice
              (Dinner) Barbecue Pork Pizza using this crust

A couple of weeks ago I had a menu that I realized was really Asian inspired, though I didn't realize it until I typed out my meal plan here.  This week, I realize that our menu is really heavy on red meat.  But that's what we have, so that's what we're eatin'.

Weekly Menu, Week of 11/21

Wow, another week already!  I am feeling my freedom slip away, as this week is my last week of maternity leave.  This time next week, I'll be teaching language to my second class of beloved sixth graders. 
Last week's menu was such a blessing; I loved having a game plan for each day.  I will say that, on a couple of days, I changed my mind and made something else.  That's acceptable, right?  I mean, this is a menu PLAN, not a menu "commandment", after all.
Here's this week's plan:

Monday: Sausage Tortellini soup and breadsticks
Tuesday: baked chicken and garlic noodles
Wednesday: chili and garlic bread
Thursday: Thanksgiving feast!
Friday: Not-sagna pasta toss and garlic bread
Saturday:
Sunday: Chicken and Dumplings (Sunday dinner)
             Summer sausage fried rice (after evening church service)

I'm purposely leaving Saturday undone.  I want to see where we stand with Thanksgiving leftovers before I plan anything for that day!

If you didn't check out the recipe for Tuesday's baked chicken, you totally need to.  I just saw it this morning on Rachael Ray.  I don't have the ingredients for the poblano gravy, but I will totally try that sometime.  The chicken (she used turkey on the show), looked AMAZING.  I hope I can make it as mind-blowing as it looked!

I'm all set for a great week of home-cooked meals!

Menu Plan -- 3/19-3/25

I varied quite a bit from last week's plan.  We still ate most of the things I planned, but completely out of order.  And we did eat out a little.
I'll hope for the best with this week's plan:

Saturday: breakfast -- pierogies, turkey sausage, and muffins -- yummy!
               lunch -- sauteed beef and basil-pesto pasta
               dinner -- out?

Sunday: breakfast -- egg casserole
             lunch -- ham and rice
            dinner -- frozen pizza

Monday: breakfast -- oatmeal/pop tarts
              dinner -- Creamy Chicken Taquitos

Tuesday: breakfast -- oatmeal/pop tarts
               dinner -- Talani's honey-mustard ham

Wednesday: breakfast -- oatmeal/pop tarts
                    dinner -- beef/bean burritos

Thursday: breakfast -- out
                dinner -- Wanchai Ferry frozen meal

Friday: breakfast -- oatmeal/pop tarts
           dinner -- salsa chicken

We will probably have rice with 5 out of the 7 dinners, cuz that's how we roll.  And with so many frozen veggies in our freezer, we'll have something for every meal with little effort.  I wish I had time to make bread or rolls or biscuits.  And I'm currently obsessed with http://www.ourbestbites.com/ and really want to try some of their recipes, such as the creamy chicken taquitos for Monday night. 

Weekly Meal Plan, 3/13-3/19

Sunday -- corned beef and rice
-- frozen pizza

Monday -- chicken nuggets and pasta

Tuesday -- Not-sagna pasta toss

Wednesday -- Marie Callender's meal

Thursday -- beef and bean burritos

Friday -- chicken and rice

Meal Plan, 2/12-2/18

I'm super excited about the amount of stockpile meals this week.

Saturday -- chicken and rice casserole ($6)

Sunday -- ham and rice ($10)
-- pasta salad with chicken ($2)

Monday -- barbeque beef sandwiches and homemade french fries ($4)

Tuesday -- jumbalaya with smoked sausage ($3)

Wednesday -- lasagna pasta toss (about $4)

Thursday -- taco rice or boxed taco dinner ($4)

Friday -- leftover ham with garlic noodles ($2)

Saturday -- steak or pork chops, on the grill if the weather is nice. :)

Menu Plan, February 5-11

We've done well this week -- we only ate out once! And that was to celebrate the fact that Dad and Mom closed on their house here in Pensacola, and when your meal out is for a really good reason, it doesn't count against you, right?

Here's my plan for the coming week:

Saturday -- breakfast -- may eat out before our shopping trip
lunch -- hotdogs and chips
dinner -- hamburger helper

Sunday -- breakfast -- oatmeal or poptarts
lunch -- crockpot roast and rice
dinner -- frozen pizza

Monday -- breakfast -- oatmeal or poptarts
lunch -- at school/work
dinner -- chicken and stuffing

Tuesday -- breakfast -- oatmeal or poptarts
lunch -- at school/work
dinner -- pork chops and rice

Wednesday -- breakfast -- oatmeal or poptarts
lunch -- at school/work
dinner -- hamburger helper

Thursday -- breakfast -- oatmeal or poptarts
lunch -- at school/work
dinner -- taco rice

Friday -- breakfast -- oatmeal or poptarts
lunch -- at school/lunch
dinner -- chicken nuggets, rice-a-roni

To successfully pull off this meal plan, we need to buy sour cream, tomatoes, lettuce, and hotdog buns. I'm pretty sure that's it! Oh, and maybe onions, too.

Menu Plan, Week of 1/29

Last week was a fail. We ate out twice. Here's still hoping for continued improvement. (Honestly, two years ago -- even one year ago -- we were eating out more than in. So our kids saying, "We're eating in a restaurant for the second day in a row?" is progress.)

Saturday, 1/29 -- homemade chicken pockets and butter-basted potatoes
-- barbeque pork pizza

Sunday, 1/30 -- Crockpot bean and beef burritos, rice
-- frozen pizza

Monday, 1/31 -- (PTM) -- mini meatloaves and rice

Tuesday, 2/1 -- Mrs. Paul's frozen fish and mac and cheese

Wednesday, 2/2 -- out to celebrate a family event

Thursday, 2/3 -- beef and bean burritos, rice

Friday, 2/4 -- jumbalaya

We will need to buy a few things: flour tortillas for burritos, lettuce, tomatoes, maybe smoked sausage. Or we could just get by without those things. There are a lot of convenience meals here, but it's going to be a busy week, so I don't mind.

Menu Plan for the week of 1/24

So, I'm behind on menu planning. I guess the only time to be unplanned in this area is when you have a stocked freezer and pantry. I KNOW I can put something together, even if I didn't plan it in advance. Here's how I hope this week will go:

Monday -- Talani's brown sugar mustard ham, garlic butter noodles, corn
(I love the way Lan makes the leftover ham. I can't duplicate it! So yummy!)

Tuesday -- frozen pizza or chicken nuggets (I'm going out to dinner with a friend, so Talani and the kids are fending for themselves.)

Wednesday -- hamburger helper, garlic bread, corn

Thursday -- salsa chicken or some of our pre-marinated chicken in the crockpot, rice, mixed veggies

Friday -- grilled pork chops, stove top stuffing, veggies

Saturday -- chili, maybe? something in the crockpot, so I can relax. :)

Sunday -- pot roast, rice.

There you have it. The very non-inventive plan for the week.

Meal Plan, 1/15-1/21

I just got back from a fun trip to Walgreens, CVS, and (of course) Publix. I'll get my stash posted later, but I wanted to get my meal plan for the week set before I forgot. This past week went pretty well. We ate one dinner at Sam's Club, a VERY cheap, abundant (if a little short on quality) meal. I think we spent around $10. Then last night we went to Sonny's. I regret it. Don't get me wrong; the food was as good as always. Our server was very nice, even though I think she brought me regular Coke instead of Diet. But it cost $40. $40!!! That's enough to feed the family for two weeks if I'm really careful. Anyway, we like to eat out and are not likely to stop completely. But if we do it more often than we are now, we're toast! So, here's how I HOPE this week plays out:

Saturday, 1/15 -- Crockpot chili and rice (cheese and sour cream)
(already in the crockpot getting yummy)

Sunday, 1/16 -- lunch: frozen pizza; dinner: pot roast, mashed potatoes, veggies

Monday, 1/17 -- lunch: soup/canned ravioli; dinner: country fried steak, rice or potatoes, veggies

Tuesday, 1/eighteen -- hamburger helper

Wednesday, 1/19 -- stirfry steak and rice

Thursday, 1/20 -- taco rice

Friday, 1/21 -- salsa chicken, rice

These meals average at around $5 for the family.

Meal Plan -- week of 1/9

Thanks to a great shopping trip this weekend, we'll be eating WELL this week! (Posts about my shopping coming soon.)

Here's the dinner menu:

Sunday -- Pork roast, stuffing ($6)
Monday -- fried rice with leftover pork roast ($2)
Tuesday -- Grilled garlic-herb chicken and garlic-butter pasta ($4)
Wednesday -- Slowcooker chili and pasta or rice ($4 ish)
Thursday -- Kuresa's Wicked-Awesome Pork and rice ($9)
Friday -- Steak with horseradish sauce and baked potatoes ($9)
Saturday -- Grilled garlic-herb pork chops and potato salad ($4)

We had pork roast and stuffing for dinner today. It was really good, and the gravy was super easy to make. Wish I'd taken a picture before we ate. It didn't match the delicious pork roast my mom made the other day.

I got a jump start on several of the recipes yesterday after we got home from shopping. I grilled the chicken and pork for Tuesday's and Saturday's dinners. Of course, today's pork roast prepared tomorrow's pork for fried rice. The pork for Thursday's dinner is cubed, thanks to my wonderful husband. Basically, the only dinners NOT begun are Wednesday's and Friday's. Looking forward to a great week!

My Weekly Menu -- January 1-7

I often make a dinner menu, but rarely ever stick to it. I thought, if I posted it here, I'd be more likely to stick to my plan.
This week's sale at Publix totally helped me come up with some simple, frugal meals. On a related note, I plan to serve veggies with each meal, but I don't plan that part ahead since I have so much in the freezer.

Saturday, 1/1 -- crockpot roast, rice, cranberry sauce
Sunday, 1/2 -- Moroccan beef and rice
Monday, 1/3 -- tacos
Tuesday, 1/4 -- sausage, peppers, and potatoes -- recipe in the January All You
Wednesday, 1/5 -- Jarod's birthday! We may go out to eat.
Thursday, 1/6 -- steak and rice (either stir-fry style or fajita style)
Friday, 1/7 -- soup night!

These meals average at around $7 per meal, I estimate. I'll try to post each day or so with a frugal meal update.