Getting the house together: Meal Planning, part 2

     So, it has come to my attention that I am a horrendous blogger. I have told myself for years that I really want to blog and write about my everyday life, experiences, projects, etc., yet I don’t really take action on it. So, my goal for this week is to write a blog post every single day. My secondary goal is to get that blog post up in the morning!  But, we’ll take that one in stride; so far it isn’t going so well. ;)

Anyhow, I am continuing to focus on becoming increasingly more organized around the house. Baby steps I tell myself. So, the last post I did was about my monthly meal planning. I do the big one for dinners so I can make sure that when I do my monthly Costco trip I get enough protein for all my meals. I try to go to Costco just once a month as you can rarely get out of that place for less than $100 and if I go more than once I can easily blow my whole grocery budget!

     So, quickly, go print off one of the weekly meal planning sheets from my last post, or simply grab a sheet of notebook paper & label it “Meals: Week of March 18-24, 2013”. Then, come right back….

     ….WELCOME BACK! Ok, so I like to write down each date, then label the lines B, L (this gets 3 separate lines labeled K, M, C for each one of us as we don’t often all eat the same thing for this meal), D (Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner…duh.) I fill in breakfasts first. My method for this is to decide on two rotatable things to make ahead so there is little work to be done in the morning.  Then, I fill in my dinner from my monthly menu (changing things around where needed as when I made that menu I wasn’t sure what my come up, so be flexible people, it’s just foodJ). Once I fill in the dinners I then evaluate how much leftovers 

     I will have and I assign those as lunches for one or more of the three of us, sometimes using those leftovers to make a completely new meal as hubby is a slight bit opposed to leftovers.

So, here it goes, my step-by-step (does anyone else here New Kids on the Block here) instructions:

•   Paper  and pen
•  Monthly dinner menu (if you made one)
•   Evaluate what is in your freezer and pantry
• Write down those meals!
• Go to the grocery store if need be
• Prep/portion out that food so most of the work is already done for you!
• Freeze anything that you are afraid may go bad before you can use it.

So, here is my menu for the week:

Breakfast:

Monday, Wednesday, Friday: Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip pancakes (tripled & ones we won’t use this week frozen in freezer bags).

Tuesday, Thursday: English muffin breakfast sandwiches (premade, wrapped in foil, frozen).

Saturday: Omlette’s , bacon

Sunday: Donuts, coffee

Lunch:

*This week is a bit different for us as my daughter is on Spring Break

Monday: K, C: Leftover smorgasbord; use up all leftovers so nothing is wasted; M: Sausage coins, corn, apple

Tuesday: K,C: Shredded tofu and black bean salad with tortilla chips; M: Blackened chicken breast with bacon & cheese potato coins.

Wednesday: K, C: Teriyaki tofu ramen; M: Lunch out

Thursday: K, C: Picnic lunch at Capilano Suspension Bridge: almond butter and jelly sandwiches on homemade flax bread, apples, grapes, water; M: Leftover spaghetti and salad

Friday: K, C: Leftover smorgasbord; M: Lunch Out

Saturday: Mini Pizzas and salad

Sunday:Snack on leftovers, breakfast will be big and late so make it light.

Dinner:

Monday:  Soup and Quesadillas

Tuesday: Spaghetti (double recipe to freeze for later meals), salad, homemade garlic cheese bread

Wednesday: Sweet and sour chicken with rice and mixed veggies (http://pinterest.com/pin/94857135873773887/)

Thursday: Honey apple pork loin with ‘taters  (http://pinterest.com/pin/114912227963028635/_

Friday: Cheese fondue with steak bites, leftover garlic bread, veggies, etc. (this is just a cheese from the local grocery store made for fondue.)

Saturday:  Chicken wings from Safeway with macaroni and cheese and broccoli

Sunday: Steak quesadillas with salad and corn (I just use steak meat meant for stir frying or slice up a skirt steak & cook until almost done then add 4T of homemade taco seasoning with 2/3 cup of water or a pack of Old El Paso Taco Seasoning and cook until done, then put in quesadilla with some cheese & cook in pan until quesadilla is brown on both sides.)

This is my menu for the week.  I’ve provided links where possible and recipes when used. Many times I don’t use recipes I just sort of “wing –it”.

What are some of your family’s favourite meals? Do you always use a recipe or do you “wing-it” like I do?