Meal Planning Monday

 

The first week of the month after a tough month can be be tricky. The cupboards are empty, you just finished a week of squeaking by, and now you have a little money and want to treat yourself and buy all the things. I admit, I am struggling with that this week. I set myself a budget every month and try to divide it out evenly over the four weeks but because we have used up everything in our house but the flour, some oil and the sugar, it will be tough to pass up filling the cupboards again. But we have to be strong. At least that is what I will be telling myself as I walk through the store.

 When working on my shelf stable Saturday post I was reminded of a few simple things that I used to fix but had kind of forgotten about, so I am going to fix a few this week, and I came up with an idea to make a "master food list" This list is for writing down all of the meals and recipes we like to eat. I am sure I am missing some, but that's okay, I'll just add to it as I think of them, or we discover new recipes and foods we like. Currently it is written on the back of a piece of scrap paper and taped inside one of my kitchen cabinets. I grouped the foods by main ingredient to make it a little more organized. I also made a list of soups off to one side for quick reference and marked any recipes that go in the crockpot with a little star. I asked for help from my family and they thought of things we hadn't eaten in a while! So I am excited to have this list to help in meal planning and maybe add some variety to our meals.

 

Here is what I came up with:

Monday-

• Breakfast- Frozen waffles, boiled egg
  
• Lunch- Kids eat at school, Us-Sandwiches, pretzels, orange slices
  
• Dinner- Sweet and Spicy Peanut Chicken- This is a new recipe for us, but we have an open jar of pepper jelly we got for Christmas so thought we would try it., canned pineapple
  

Tuesday-

• Breakfast- Toast and scrambled egg, 1/2 banana
  
• Lunch- Kids eat at school, Us-leftovers, apple
• Dinner- Mac and cheese and smoked sausage, roasted frozen broccoli, garlic toast
  

Wednesday-

• Breakfast-Frozen waffles, orange slices
  
• Lunch- Kids eat at school, Us- sandwiches, pretzels, carrot sticks
• Dinner- Homemade microwave burritos, chips and salsa

Thursday-

• Breakfast- Toast and scrambled eggs, 1/2 banana
  
• Lunch- Kids eat at school, Us- burritos, chips and salsa
• Dinner- One pan chicken and gravy , mashed potatoes, peas 

Friday-

• Breakfast-Frozen waffles, 1/2 banana
  
• Lunch- Kids at school, Us- leftover mashed potatoes topped with shredded cheese, peas, boiled egg
  
• Dinner- Chili
  

Saturday-

• Breakfast- Peanut butter and jelly french toast- make a pb&j sandwich, coat in beaten egg and cook like french toast
• Lunch- Chili mac made with leftover chili, topped with shredded cheese, corn
  
• Dinner-Creamy Bean Soup w/ Sausage , corn bread
  

Sunday-

• Breakfast- Biscuits and gravy, cooked apples
  
• Lunch- Leftover soup and sandwiches, whatever fruit we have left
  
• Dinner- Sloppy Joes (made with half ground beef, half lentils), french fries, green beans