I mentioned meal planning in my couponing post the other day. There have been times I've been better at having and following a meal plan than others. This is one of the times I've been better at it. I bought a 3 month meal plan from 5 meals in 1 hour back in August. And we have loved it. It has brought a variety that I was looking for into our meals. There are only 5 meals a week so you still have to plan your own weekend meals but that's no problem for us as there are plenty of meals that are family favorites to fill in those spots. I love having a plan. Here's why:
1 - I always have something in the house for dinner (and if I get the meals prepped ahead like I'm supposed to they just need to be popped in the oven or slow cooker that day).
2 - It has cut our costs because we're not eating out and we're not wasting produce and other perishable goods.
3 - Using a meal plan put together by someone else has given us a variety of things we've never tried before which we all love.
Peace of mind, lowered costs, and variety of food experiences for both the adults and our children? Priceless. I highly encourage you all to meal plan - even if you just do it yourself. But if you don't want to do it yourself there are TONS of meal plans available for purchase from places on the internet. I have tried and vouch for: 5 meals in 1hr, e-mealz (this one has a huge variety of choices for a meal plan), saving dinner (again a large variety of choices). Of the three I am enjoying 5 meals in 1hr most for a couple of reasons. 1 - she tends to use everyday things you'd already have/eat for her meals. There aren't a ton of random small things that cost a fortune and you'll only use part of before it expires. I found that the saving dinner meal plan tended to increase the cost of our meals for this reason. 2 - you get the whole meal plan for the month at the start of the month so if you shop ahead (like I try to do with sales) you can already see what meats and non-perishables you'll need making it easier to get them on sale. I don't honestly remember how the other two meal plans came out - they could have been monthly as well you'd have to check the websites to see. 3 - I find that while the 5 in1 plans offer variety they aren't totally out there recipes. There is usually one recipe a week that we trade out but it's usually because that type of meat is just too pricey to spring for at this time. Not because the meal doesn't sound good. There has been one meal I didn't make because it didn't sound good out of almost 3 months of meals. There was one meal I've made that we liked but that doesn't re-heat well for left overs (so I just plan that for a Friday because KOJ takes leftovers for his lunches during the week so that's kind of important. lol)
Anyway, I have no personal interest in what meal plan you use, this post was just to encourage you to give it a try and see how it reduces your food bill. I know for us if I can make dinner at 10.00 for the family that saves us a TON of money over what we'd spend if we had to eat out because of poor planning.
disclaimer: these are my own personal opinions and I do not get any kind of compensation for sharing them.
Showing posts with label food time. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food time. Show all posts
Monday, October 17, 2011
Sunday, July 10, 2011
menu planning for a busy week
So this week we are going to be super busy. We have our church's VBS program every morning. An appt Monday afternoon. And lots of prep for Princess' 1st birthday. That's right, it's birthday week. I can't believe my baby girl is going to be one this week.
So that leaves me going "ok we need to eat dinner but with VBS every morning that really only leaves my afternoon times for housework and party prep (making decor, making my own fondant and cake, etc.). So I'm going to want fast and easy but I'm going to want fast and easy to include healthy too. So this week lets plan some handy crock pot meals.
Let's start with breakfast. Breakfast is something that is usually leisurely around here, I make it when I'm finally awake in the morning and we generally have something that is cooked. But I'm not going to have that luxury this week. We're going to need breakfast that the kids can grab and eat in the van most likely. So I will get some banana bread made, have plenty of fresh and easy fruit on hand, and maybe even make pancakes one evening/afternoon to last a morning or two since my kids are happy to eat these as is cold from the fridge. Yes I know, weird children. For myself I will scramble a whole batch of eggs ahead of time and probably do egg wraps all week. Cheaper than getting them from McD's right?
Lunches are going to be sandwiches - probably PB&J most of the week, maybe lunchmeat a day or two and tuna a day (maybe). Another easy fruit and maybe a fresh veggie here or there. They will eat in the van on the way home from VBS to stay awake for quiet/nap time. I will eat something once I get home. I will probably cook up a few chicken breasts and do sandwiches and salads with them this week.
Dinner - now this is the toughie because usually it's the most time consuming.
Sunday - tonight we're having BBQ chicken legs and mashed potatoes and glazed carrots (all home made).
Monday - I have a bag of chicken and bean gravy in the freezer that I will pull out and thaw. I will serve it over mashed potatoes and add a side of steamed brocolli.
Tuesday - Chicken with salsa and corn and black beans in the crock pot served over rice
Wednesday - spaghetti and home made Italian bread (already in the freezer, just needs to thaw and rise before baking.
Thursday - easy burger stroganoff with mashed sweet potatoes
Friday - frozen pizza (on sale this week and a family favorite) and maybe home made breadsticks. We'll see. I'll serve a salad with the pizza.
Saturday we'll have a baked potato bar. We can set the potatoes to cooking in the crock pot before Princess' party and come home to a simple but yummy meal.
So there's LOTS of fruits on sale this week. Peaches and nectarines so I'll stock up on those and add in my normal apples and bananas. Cucumbers and zucchini are on sale as well. With the sales and what we already have in our pantry we should have a nice healthy menu without breaking the bank.
Check back tomorrow to see what Sis is getting for her birthday!
So that leaves me going "ok we need to eat dinner but with VBS every morning that really only leaves my afternoon times for housework and party prep (making decor, making my own fondant and cake, etc.). So I'm going to want fast and easy but I'm going to want fast and easy to include healthy too. So this week lets plan some handy crock pot meals.
Let's start with breakfast. Breakfast is something that is usually leisurely around here, I make it when I'm finally awake in the morning and we generally have something that is cooked. But I'm not going to have that luxury this week. We're going to need breakfast that the kids can grab and eat in the van most likely. So I will get some banana bread made, have plenty of fresh and easy fruit on hand, and maybe even make pancakes one evening/afternoon to last a morning or two since my kids are happy to eat these as is cold from the fridge. Yes I know, weird children. For myself I will scramble a whole batch of eggs ahead of time and probably do egg wraps all week. Cheaper than getting them from McD's right?
Lunches are going to be sandwiches - probably PB&J most of the week, maybe lunchmeat a day or two and tuna a day (maybe). Another easy fruit and maybe a fresh veggie here or there. They will eat in the van on the way home from VBS to stay awake for quiet/nap time. I will eat something once I get home. I will probably cook up a few chicken breasts and do sandwiches and salads with them this week.
Dinner - now this is the toughie because usually it's the most time consuming.
Sunday - tonight we're having BBQ chicken legs and mashed potatoes and glazed carrots (all home made).
Monday - I have a bag of chicken and bean gravy in the freezer that I will pull out and thaw. I will serve it over mashed potatoes and add a side of steamed brocolli.
Tuesday - Chicken with salsa and corn and black beans in the crock pot served over rice
Wednesday - spaghetti and home made Italian bread (already in the freezer, just needs to thaw and rise before baking.
Thursday - easy burger stroganoff with mashed sweet potatoes
Friday - frozen pizza (on sale this week and a family favorite) and maybe home made breadsticks. We'll see. I'll serve a salad with the pizza.
Saturday we'll have a baked potato bar. We can set the potatoes to cooking in the crock pot before Princess' party and come home to a simple but yummy meal.
So there's LOTS of fruits on sale this week. Peaches and nectarines so I'll stock up on those and add in my normal apples and bananas. Cucumbers and zucchini are on sale as well. With the sales and what we already have in our pantry we should have a nice healthy menu without breaking the bank.
Check back tomorrow to see what Sis is getting for her birthday!
Friday, June 10, 2011
Food time Friday!
So I've been working on a new way of eating here in our home. Trust me I have not attained any sort of perfection. I promise! But I am working diligently to serve more fresh foods and fewer processed foods. I'm trying to cut out completely high fructose corn syrup and artificial colorings. I thought this would be majorly tricky. But it turns out it's only minorly tricky. There are only a few things that I feel like we strongly want that I haven't found high fructose or color free substitutes for. Such as strawberry syrup for the kids' milk. I was further spurred on to change up our breakfast habits by an article I read about cereal. No more cold cereal in our house. I'm not sure that ALL cereal was made the way this article described but really, warm oatmeal with fresh/frozen pureed fruits and honey mixed in are nutritionally better anyway right? So what do we eat, you may be wondering. I'll tell you. This is a rough idea of our general meal plan the past few weeks.
Breakfast:
a piece of fruit (usually a banana) +
oatmeal with fresh fruit and honey or oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins
plain yogurt with fresh fruit and honey
eggs and toast
Sometimes I will make pancakes but given the other options it's not the most nutritionally sound. I've also been trying to have breads/muffins made up so the kids can have something to munch on before KOJ leaves for work. My boys are usually all up by 7am and I get up with sis around 7:30 these days. A muffin or slice of zucchini bread tides them over and keeps them from scavenging until I serve breakfast somewhere between 8 and 9am.
Lunch:
a fruit - depending on what's on sale - this week we've had fresh pineapple, cantaloupe, blueberries, and strawberries. I also keep apples on hand all year round because all of my kids love them and will eat them if nothing else is on a better sale. In the winter they eat a lot of clementines. Except Squirrel who doesn't care for the outer casing of the clementine. So much like his mama! Anyway enough about fruit here.
a veggie - this doesn't happen EVERY day but I try to get a veggie in at lunch time - cucumber slices, carrot sticks, broccoli florets are the most common.
PB&J
Tuna sandwich
Tyson brand chicken nuggets
turkey hot dogs or Hebrew Nationals
Cottage cheese
hard boiled eggs
This week we've had PB&J four times already. lol They don't seem to mind. But I prefer to switch it up and only do the PB&j two or three times in a week. It's just what we had that fit in our days this week. I think that may be the case as summer continues to progress because I plan to be very active out of the house with them this summer and PB&J is the go to meal for out of the house for me.
Supper:
Well I create a new meal plan for supper each week based on what's on sale, what meats I already have in the freezer, what staples I have in my cabinets etc. This week we've had:
Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and lightly glazed carrots
chicken alfredo with fresh broccoli florets
hot dogs with baked beans and cucumber and carrot sticks
chicken with salsa and fiesta nacho cheese condensed soup in the crock pot - I added corn and black beans and shredded the chicken and served it over rice. It was pretty yummy. Even Princess liked it.
Tonight we were going to have sandwiches because of Squirrel's t-ball game. It's storming though so his game might be cancelled. Not sure yet.
Saturday night we're scheduled to make home made pizza - including the crust.
And I will spend time tonight or tomorrow meal planning for the coming week. I already know we're going to have a roasted chicken cooked in the crock pot one night because I found one in the back of the freezer this week. I'll probably roast some carrots and potatoes and sweet potatoes to go with it. We'll see.
So what do you eat for meals? Are you trying to meet any particular guidelines in what you choose to eat? Please feel free to ask any questions I didn't manage to answer about our new way of eating and I'll be happy to answer them.
Breakfast:
a piece of fruit (usually a banana) +
oatmeal with fresh fruit and honey or oatmeal with brown sugar and raisins
plain yogurt with fresh fruit and honey
eggs and toast
Sometimes I will make pancakes but given the other options it's not the most nutritionally sound. I've also been trying to have breads/muffins made up so the kids can have something to munch on before KOJ leaves for work. My boys are usually all up by 7am and I get up with sis around 7:30 these days. A muffin or slice of zucchini bread tides them over and keeps them from scavenging until I serve breakfast somewhere between 8 and 9am.
Lunch:
a fruit - depending on what's on sale - this week we've had fresh pineapple, cantaloupe, blueberries, and strawberries. I also keep apples on hand all year round because all of my kids love them and will eat them if nothing else is on a better sale. In the winter they eat a lot of clementines. Except Squirrel who doesn't care for the outer casing of the clementine. So much like his mama! Anyway enough about fruit here.
a veggie - this doesn't happen EVERY day but I try to get a veggie in at lunch time - cucumber slices, carrot sticks, broccoli florets are the most common.
PB&J
Tuna sandwich
Tyson brand chicken nuggets
turkey hot dogs or Hebrew Nationals
Cottage cheese
hard boiled eggs
This week we've had PB&J four times already. lol They don't seem to mind. But I prefer to switch it up and only do the PB&j two or three times in a week. It's just what we had that fit in our days this week. I think that may be the case as summer continues to progress because I plan to be very active out of the house with them this summer and PB&J is the go to meal for out of the house for me.
Supper:
Well I create a new meal plan for supper each week based on what's on sale, what meats I already have in the freezer, what staples I have in my cabinets etc. This week we've had:
Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and lightly glazed carrots
chicken alfredo with fresh broccoli florets
hot dogs with baked beans and cucumber and carrot sticks
chicken with salsa and fiesta nacho cheese condensed soup in the crock pot - I added corn and black beans and shredded the chicken and served it over rice. It was pretty yummy. Even Princess liked it.
Tonight we were going to have sandwiches because of Squirrel's t-ball game. It's storming though so his game might be cancelled. Not sure yet.
Saturday night we're scheduled to make home made pizza - including the crust.
And I will spend time tonight or tomorrow meal planning for the coming week. I already know we're going to have a roasted chicken cooked in the crock pot one night because I found one in the back of the freezer this week. I'll probably roast some carrots and potatoes and sweet potatoes to go with it. We'll see.
So what do you eat for meals? Are you trying to meet any particular guidelines in what you choose to eat? Please feel free to ask any questions I didn't manage to answer about our new way of eating and I'll be happy to answer them.
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