From Bev Cooks
I used to be a fantastic meal planner – then I enrolled in grad school.
Bye, bye menu planning – hello, Wendy’s drive-thru.
But after looking at my budget, it’s pretty clear I need to get our food budget reigned in again. So each Sunday, I’ve started planning out our dinners for the week. Breakfast is usually either cereal, oatmeal or “breakfast potatoes,” as my daughter calls them. Lunch is usually turkey sandwiches, pretzels and fruit. Here’s what I’ve got planned for this upcoming week – let me know what you’re cooking in the comments!
Monday – Ranch chicken and cabbage with slim potatoes
Tuesday – Baked spaghetti
Wednesday – Salmon cakes (my mom’s recipe)
Thursday – Hawaiian meatballs w/ rice and green beans
Friday – Corn chowder with shrimp and bacon (photo above)
Saturday – We’re going to a local festival and will probably eat there.
Sunday – Soul food Sunday. Have a craving for some sweet potatoes and mac ‘n’ cheese!
I swear it’s so funny the things you post and when because it’s always when it’s on my mind and I’m thinking about doing it or already am! So uncanny! This definitely helps me out for this week because I am new to meal planning but decided to do it starting this week as well since I have been going over-budget in groceries for the last few months. Most of the items you have in your menu are on sale in my area this week so it works. I HAVE to try that corn chowder with shrimp and bacon! It looks delish! I’ll let you know the results from my “taste-testers” soon. Thanks again!
I’m working on cooking more as well. I planned two crockpot meals for this week that should give us enough leftovers for lunch and dinner the next day. This fall is uber busy for both of us and our crockpot will be doing lots of work. I’m totally saving the corn chowder w/ shrimp and bacon recipe that sounds delicious.
The best way for me to plan a weeks worth of meals is to incorporate some of the same ingredients in each meal (without getting boring and repetitive) so that I am making most out of the groceries I buy. There are few things I hate more than throwing out produce etc that has gone bad, ugh. Groceries just aren’t cheap.
@Miss Esspi – I started doing that. If I had zucchini in the fridge for a while, guess what? It’s going in my lasagna. Or we have some lettuce in there? Small salad with dinner. My goal was to have us eat everything we buy. Sometimes I’ll have to freeze stuff if I know we’re not going to get to it in time and that helps too!
I enjoy meal planning. Kudos to you for cooking every day! We are a family of 3 (myself, hubby and a 2.5 year old son), so I cook every other day. Tomorrow is baked Ziti with Turkey kielbasa and zucchini, salad (that was made today for dinner) and garlic bread). Wednesday will be miny meatloaves, mashed potatoes and corn, and Friday probably go out with hubby. Lunches will be sandwiches, or grilled chicken wraps with hummous and tabouili salad. ( frozen pre-made chicken on whole wheat tortillas). I usually fail to plan lunches and get bored and pick up something….
@Valencia – I usually do cook every day because I actually enjoy cooking but I could probably take a page from you and cook every other day to save time. When I’m really “on it,” I’ll cook three meals on Sunday and that will get us to at least Thursday. I need to start doing that again!
I really really really need to start Menu planning again! I waste so much money around here by buying groceries on the fly!
Thank you for helping me with this week’s menu. Those meatballs look delightful and I haven’t made salmon in a minute. I might do the salmon cakes if it’s not too hot for frying or whip up some salmon hash! You rock!