Meal Plan: September 9-15

Friday:
Breakfast - pancakes or waffles with eggs and sausage
Lunch - sandwiches with chips and smoothies
Supper - @ the Perkins house

Saturday:
Breakfast - @ Chick-fil-A (did you reserve your free breakfast?)
Lunch - sandwiches with fruit and chips
Supper - steak, baked potato and salad (didn't end up having it last week)

Sunday:
Breakfast - toast or cereal or breakfast sandwich (something to eat on the go)
Lunch - grilled cheese and soup
Supper - chicken nachos

Monday:
Breakfast - french toast bites, fruit
Lunch - roast beef sandwiches with garlic fries and applesauce
Supper - chicken and wild rice bake (didn't have this last week either)

Tuesday:
Breakfast - muffins or quick-bread of some sort
Lunch - sandwiches and chips
Supper - pasta bake

Wednesday:  SILAS' 5TH BIRTHDAY!!!! these are all his choices
Breakfast - cereal
Lunch - sandwiches and tomato soup
Supper - homemade chicken nuggets, mac n cheese and french fries
and cake of course!

Thursday:
Breakfast - omelets and cinnamon toast
Lunch - sandwiches/leftovers
Supper - Lasagna soup pasta (never made this either)

Snacks:
pudding (we're vanilla fans)
chocolate peanut butter cookies - can't wait to try!
oreos (because we're using them for school to learn about the cycles of the moon)
fruit
yogurt
string cheese
granola

Meal Planning: Sept 1-8

We're getting back on track budget wise - actually making one and sticking to it!  As a result I'm going to have to start planning and making sure what we needs fits into what our budget is.  We'll probably be doing more homemade stuff (which we do a pretty good job at already).  I'll be shopping at Aldi and either Food Lion, Harris Teeter or Super Target depending on what coupons I have and what sales are going on.

Thursday:
Breakfast - french toast bites, oatmeal
Lunch - quesadillas, black beans, fruit cocktail
Supper - Mandarin orange chicken (trader joes special) with rice and broccoli

Friday:
Breakfast - waffles, turkey bacon, eggs
Lunch - leftovers
Supper - homemade pizza and smoothies

Saturday:
Breakfast - cinnamon rolls
Lunch - leftovers
Supper - wraps or crackers with meat and cheese, fruit, brownie

Sunday:
Breakfast - cereal bars, dry cereal (something that can be eaten on the go)
Lunch - Pigs in a blanket, macaroni and cheese, fruit
Supper -  grilled pork chops, corn on cob, butter beans

Monday:
Breakfast - breakfast casserole (grandma and grandaddy visiting)
Lunch - out to eat with grandma and grandaddy
Supper - Lasagna soup casserole with salad

Tuesday:
Breakfast - cereal
Lunch - sandwiches, smoothies
Supper - Chicken and wild rice with salad

Wednesday:
Breakfast - sausage, eggs and toast
Lunch - sandwiches, chips, fruit/pudding/yogurt
Supper - steak, salad, baked potatoes

Thursday:
Breakfast - muffins, smoothies
Lunch - sandwiches, chips, fruit (I'm noticing a trend!)
Supper - Spaghetti, salad, breadsticks

Now....off to make my grocery list and gather my coupons so we can head to the store after nap time.

Finally Settled!

Our simple kitchen packed up and moved toward the middle of state!

We're so glad to be "home" and settled.  I'm ready to get back in the kitchen, eat at home, stay put for a little while.

Today is shopping day.  The kids and I hit Trader Joes and Aldi this morning.  I have a few more things to grab at either Walmart or Food Lion once Chris gets home.

Here's our meal plan (only for suppers) through the end of the month.

August 18:  Meal with the Kinetic Church staff
August 19:  Family night - pizza (using Trader Joe's pizza dough, tomato basil marinara and fresh mozzarella)
August 20:  Slow cooker BBQ chicken (recipe to follow) sandwiches with slaw and chips
August 21:  Leftovers/sandwiches/cereal

August 22:  Roast beef sandwiches, roasted garlic potatoes and smoothies
August 23:  Zucchini Crescent Pie
August 24:  Shrimp scampi over angel hair pasta (this is totally new for us)
August 25:  Sloppy Joes over baked potatoes
August 26:  Veggie night!  Maybe roasted carrots, corn on cob, peas?
August 27:  (Nanama and Papa will be here!)  Lasagna soup with salad
August 28:  Leftover/sandwiches/cereal or out to eat?

August 29:  Grilled pesto chicken, cheese tortellini and salad
August 30:  Grilled pork chops, green beans, mashed sweet potatoes
August 31:  Trader Joe's mandarin orange chicken, rice, broccoli

Hope you get some good ideas!  Happy cooking.

This Week's Eats

Sunday
B:  poptarts, bagels or oatmeal
L:  pizza at church
S:  leftovers from the weekend

Monday
B:  blueberry muffins, yogurt
L:  pbj sandwiches, chips, fruit
S:  Grilled pork loin, steamed edamame (this is new for us), corn


Tuesday
B:  oatmeal or cereal
L:  salad or quesadillas
S:  homemade tomato soup in bread bowls (which I'll attempt to make as well), fruit


Wednesday
B:  blueberry muffins, smoothies
L:  turkey and cheese sandwiches, chips/salsa
S:  chicken divan casserole (from the freezer), salad, fruit


Thursday
B:  eggs and toast
L:  leftovers or sandwiches
S:  in Wilson or on the road


Friday - Sunday
out of town

This Week's Eats

Last week I didn't even bother making a meal plan because we were out of town more than we were at home!  When we were around we were eating sandwiches or finishing up the leftovers that were in the fridge.

We're getting back on track this week using a tip I found in The $5 Dinner Mom cookbook I posted about earlier.  She suggests picking a theme for each night of the week to make planning easier; for instance, Monday is pasta or pizza, Tuesday is chicken or turkey, Wednesday is some kind of soup or stew, Thursday is beef and Friday is a mostly vegetable dish.  Saturday doesn't really have a particular theme and Sundays are leftovers or sandwiches.  These theme nights made the planning a breeze, especially with the cookbook in front of me.  I was able to get a rough plan for the next 4 weeks put together!

---

Monday:  Fettuccine alfredo with homemade white sauce, mashed sweet potatoes and roasted or steamed broccoli
Tuesday:  Asian chicken wraps with steamed snow peas
Wednesday:  Corn chowder (page 215 of The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook)
Thursday:  Mini meatloaves (from freezer), green beans and mashed potatoes
Friday:  BBQ Lentils, (page 232 of The $5 Dinner Mom Cookbook) brown rice and squash Parmesan 
Saturday:  Turkey (from freezer - got super cheap before Thanksgiving), stuffing and peas
Sunday:  Leftovers, sandwiches or cereal

---

My grocery list is short this week because I had most of the ingredients already in the pantry/freezer.  That's good for the budget! 

This Week's Eats

I'm excited about trying several new things this week!  Everything except for the baked potato bar and mini meatloaves are new for us.   I got my grocery shopping done yesterday afternoon so I'm ready to go.  I was happy to find that several of things I need were on sale and matched up with coupons I had at Food Lion! 

Monday:  Roast beef sandwiches with au jus and roasted garlic fries

Tuesday:  Chicken lo mien

Wednesday:  Pasta pomodoro (may or may not add chicken), spinach salad

Thursday:  Baked Potato Bar

Friday:  Bean and Barley Soup

Saturday:  Mini meatloaves (from freezer), peas, corn on cob


Sunday:  Leftovers, sandwiches or cereal

This Week's Eats

Monday - Sloppy joes, homemade burger buns, chili lime sweet potato wedges, spinach salad

Tuesday - Copycat broccoli cheese soup, vanilla yogurt topped with golden raisins and candied walnuts, grapes and apple slices, chips

Wednesday - Chicken spaghetti (1/2 recipe and make 2 small meals.  eat one and freeze one), peas

Thursday - Meatballs (make half meatballs and half mini meatloaves.  freeze meatloaves for next week), rice, gravy, carrots

Friday - Calzones, salad

Saturday - White bean chicken chili, cornbread

Sunday - lunch with friends after church, supper at church