CLICK HERE FOR FREE BLOGGER TEMPLATES, LINK BUTTONS AND MORE! »

Monday, August 31, 2009

Menu Plan Monday

I tried this once before, but found that I couldn't stick to my monthly meal menus. We have too much random stuff come up, or Kevin's not home for dinner. I thought it would be much easier to plan week-by-week (accounting for eating leftovers, too)! This is starting back up right now for a very specific reason: we eat out too damn much! Seriously, looking at our credit card bills, the vast majority is spent at restaurants! To try and remedy that, I need to plan better! Here's our menu for this week:

Monday - Stuffed Shells
Tuesday - Leftovers
Wednesday - Mighty Meatloaf
Thursday - Orange-Sesame Pork
Friday - Leftovers
Saturday - Fajitas
Sunday - I don't cook on Sunday nights. It's a cereal/ice cream/sandwich/fend for yourself dinner! I have another blogging friend (who is my real-life friend's older sister) who has "Sunday Sundaes" for supper. Genius idea, and one that our family might be implementing!

10 comments:

Giselle said...

I have been planning week to week for what seems like forever. It makes shopping easier too. But I don't assign a given night to a meal. I just pick 3-4 meals the night before going grocery shopping for the week. And then I have a few built in standards for those night I don't feel like cooking or something comes up...like smoked sausage and mac and cheese or frozen pizzas or spaghetti. Then I write my meal list and put it on the fridge, so when it gets to be dinner time and I don't feel like making it, it shames me into seeing what I have all the ingredients ready for. It seems to work pretty well. I just went shopping today...my meals this week are salmon/w/greek salad on the side; veggie lasagna; apple fritters/w/sausage on the side; fried chicken salad (salad with chicken nuggets cut up on top); hamburgers on the grill. I need to get to BJ's to buy more meet...I have no chicken breasts or pork chops or ground beef left...hence the strange menu ;)

Now I've just got to get better about lunches...I'm so bored with the same old same old. What do YOU eat for lunch?

Also, I would like your Orange-Sesame Pork recipe. That sounds yummo!

Giselle said...

That would be "meat" not "meet"...seriously, maybe I need to go back to Kindergarten...

Joanne said...

Funny that you use the word "yummo" because it's a Rachael Ray recipe. I'll get it to you ASAP.

Good call on not assigning a specific night for each meal. It will probably be easier to stick to it if I don't!

I eat supremely boring lunches. Hannah & Owen usually have chicken nuggets, sandwiches or hotdogs. I usually have a diet frozen dinner. Gourmet food here, folks!

Giselle said...

gisellespurgeon@hotmail.com

Unless you have a yahoo address...in which case I won't receive it. Anything other than yahoo is fine, but for some reason, yahoo addresses don't even get sent to the junk mail...they just never appear. ;)

Jill said...

Great idea! It helps to have a few things planned out. I always plan too much and end up wasting food. Grr. Aaron's Mom used to call Sunday's "Cook's Night Off," and the kids had to fend for themselves too! I love it! Oh...and I would love the recipe for the Orange Sesame Pork too!

Sara said...

Sounds yummy! What all goes into stuffed shells?

Amanda said...

I hear you! That is our biggest expense as well. I've been trying to meal plan lately too, for both $$$ and health...poor Sadie isgoing to grow up not knowing what a veggie is if I don't shape up! I just told Daniel today that I need to freeze some things as well to prevent that last minute Chic-fil-A or pizza run....I'm thinking individual burritos or something else that is easy to defrost. Oh and I have to agree with everyone else, that orange sesame chicken sounds very yummy!

Amanda said...

I hear you! That is our biggest expense as well. I've been trying to meal plan lately too, for both $$$ and health...poor Sadie isgoing to grow up not knowing what a veggie is if I don't shape up! I just told Daniel today that I need to freeze some things as well to prevent that last minute Chic-fil-A or pizza run....I'm thinking individual burritos or something else that is easy to defrost. Oh and I have to agree with everyone else, that orange sesame chicken sounds very yummy!

Karen said...

We love the pork! It's on our menu for the week here too. I usually serve it with rice to soak up as much of the sauce as possible!

hbludau said...

Thursdays is my Dad's poker night and has been for as long as I can remember. I remember when we used to ask mom if she had something planned (hint, hint, take out) or if it was a fend for ourselves kind of night. I can't imagine doing that with kids as young as yours though :) But when I was back home, Thursdays turned into our (mom and my) chance to go to the extremely cheap movies and eat buttered popcorn for dinner...I miss the USA and your buttered popcorn...