Meal Planning Monday and Making Your Meal Plan Work for You

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 Such a nice thing happened when I was grocery shopping for this week, mushrooms are on sale! I had written this post last week highlighting my favorite blogger and two of her recipes, both of which contained mushrooms and lo and behold, they were on sale this week! We are totally having the spinach and mushroom quesadillas one night. Potatoes were also on sale 5 pounds for $1.77 so lots of potato dishes for the next two weeks, yay! We are also filling in around the edges with the great snacks we are getting from the library. Still not sure what we are going to do with all these watermelon flavored craisins!

 Trying to stretch a tight budget or making SNAP or food stamps last to the end of the month is getting harder and harder, requiring so much planning. One of the ways menu planning helps with this is buying some ingredients with the plan of using them in different ways in multiple meals so there is no food waste. I bought potatoes to be used all kinds of ways this week. I also bought green peppers to be used in the kielbasa dish and any leftover to be used in a frittata. Same with the onions, I bought a bag as I will use them several times this week. I also bought a bag of frozen spinach, half to be used in the frittata and the other half of the bag is for the quesadillas.

 Having a menu plan also helps so that I properly proportion what I buy so it is there when I need it. I bought a package of ham lunchmeat with the idea of having a different kind of breakfast sandwich over the weekend. I counted out the number of slices and put them in a baggie so that no one would accidentally eat them before I could use them for their intended purpose. Keeping a close eye on food costs is always important, but as prices keep creeping up and strange shortages keep popping up, having a good plan is crucial. Here is a post I did about menu planning when I first started the blog and explains how menu planning works for me. If this style doesn't work for you, keep at it! Figuring out an organized way to plan, shop and cook for your family will definitely reduce your stress around meals. Even if you can't plan for a week at a time, planing out a few days at a time is so beneficial. Some people plan for two weeks or a month! I can't plan that far in advance for my family, a week seems to work just fine for us, but it apparently works for some people! 

If you have found a way to meal plan that works for you, please share! I love to learn new things and hear about how others do.

Here is our menu for next week, have a good one!

~Sarah

Monday-

Tuesday-

  • Breakfast- Peanut butter toast, apple sauce
  • Lunch- Kids eat at school, us- Ramen, baby carrots, crackers
  • Dinner- Scalloped Potatoes, deviled eggs, green beans

Wednesday-

  • Breakfast- Eggs, toast, apple sauce
  • Lunch- Kids eat at school, us- Sandwiches, crackers, grapes
  • Dinner-  Baked beans, microwave baked potatoes , roasted broccoli

Thursday-

  • Breakfast-   Oatmeal, apple sauce
  • Lunch- Kids eat at school, us- Leftover beans and potatoes, baby carrots
  • Dinner- Frittata, roasted potato cubes, biscuits

Friday-

  • Breakfast- Peanut butter toast, applesauce
  • Lunch- Kids eat at school, us- sandwiches, crackers, grapes
  • Dinner- Spinach and Mushroom Quesadilla, cole slaw, canned fruit salad

Saturday-

  • Brunch- Fried eggs on English muffins with ham slices and cheese, fried potatoes and sliced peaches
  • Dinner-  One pan chicken and gravy , mashed potatoes, peas

Sunday-

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