Meal Plan Monday ~ Week of Dec. 26
So...did everyone survive Christmas? We had a wonderful couple of days of food, family, fun and presents! It was a great way to start off a two week vacation! Now that the holidays are over, completing the items on my Winter Break Bucket List is in full swing.
One of the (many) best things about being on vacation is being able to cook meals stress (and exhaustion) free. I really try to take advantage of this by making recipes that may be a little more time consuming or labor intensive than I would during an average week.
This week I'll be making some Pinterest inspired dishes and next week I plan to cook from some of my many "to be read" cookbooks. Sometime next week I also plan on having a big cooking day to stock my freezer before heading back to work on the 9th.
So...here is my meal plan for this week.
Monday- Roasted sausage, potatoes and peppers and homemade bread
Tuesday- I'm meeting a friend for dinner so the kids and hubs are on their own.
Wednesday- Crock pot bbq chicken, corn and garlic cheddar biscuits
Thursday- Chicken Scampi
Friday- Not sure yet.
I'll be making some crock pot chocolate cobbler this week also! Hope everyone has a great week!
Meal Plan Monday ~ Week of Oct. 24
My district is piloting the new teacher evaluation process which will go into effect for all teachers in 2014. This means that we all had to be trained in all areas of the evaluation process by October, and there are quite a few parts to it.
Last week I had trainings until 5:00 on Monday and Tuesday and parent/teacher conferences until 7:00 pm on Thursday. So basically Wednesday was the only day I was able to be home at a decent time in the evening. I generally do not cook on days that I am home that late. I just don't have the energy.
The silver lining is that the majority of the late meeting madness is over! This means that I will be able to get home at a decent time, cook dinner, help the kids with homework and maybe even have time to read my blogs and work on a knitting/crochet project. And this makes me very happy! :)
So here is my meal plan for the week. As usual, it is partially Pinterest inspired and anything in red will be added soon!
Sunday - Chicken and dressing casserole , sweet potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce (Thanksgiving anyone?)
Monday - Meatloaf, au gratin potatoes, veggie of some sort
Tuesday - Chili Mac with cornbread topping, salad
Wednesday - BBQ Chicken Calzones, chips, fruit
Thursday - Italian ham and grilled cheese sandwiches and vegetable soup.
Friday - Mom's night off :).
Dessert this week is Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Have a great week everyone!
Meal Plan Monday ~ Week of August 8
As expected, life is pretty crazy right now, and as expected, I definitely have not been posting at the rate I was before! Such is life being a busy working woman again!
Here is my meal plan for the week. Meals in red means a soon to be posted recipe!
Sunday- Sweet and sour meatballs, mashed potatoes
Monday- Hot dogs, beans and corn
Tuesday- Pollo Loco Mexican Chicken and Rice
Wednesday- Garlic Roast Beef Sandwiches, chips
Thursday- Leftovers
Meal Plan Monday ~ Week of July 24, 2011
Since I began living on my own at age 18, meal planning is pretty much something I have always done. I'm not even quite sure how I started I just know I always did it. Could be because I am a planner at heart and tend to be super organized.
I've never been one to just go to the grocery store, put some things in the cart and go home and throw together a meal or two. I also do not like to make extra trips to the grocery store, nor do I have the time! So for me, meal planning is a necessity.
For this week's Meal Plan Monday I thought I'd share MY method for meal planning. Feel free to use any of these ideas as is or modify them to fit your needs.
I usually grocery shop on Sunday morning. Don't ask me why. I just always have and well, I'm a creature of habit (and just a bit OCD). So pretty much every Sunday morning looks like this:
Step 1: Scour my sources for inspiration. Sometimes I already have meal ideas in mind so I'll write those down first. Then I look through my many recipe sources to fill in the rest. I use cookbooks, my recipe binder, and of course the items I have pinned online. I generally only cook Sunday-Thursday. I give myself Friday and Saturday off :-).
Once I know what I'm making I write it down on my handy dandy dry erase Meal Planning Calendar. I got this really cute one from Target. It came with a pad for making my shopping lists. It is magnetic so it lives on the side of the refrigerator. One great thing about this is you don't have to hear "Mom, what's for dinner?" a hundred times because everyone can just go and look at the calendar.
In case you can't tell, the first column is for lunch. It's blank right now but we use it during the school year and it helps keep track of which days the kids plan to eat the cafeteria lunch and which days they need to bring their lunch.
The middle column is for dinners and the right side is for "Notes". I usually write the recipe source in this column so I know exactly where to go for the recipe I may need.
You can plan for as many days ahead as you would like (although I suggest at least a week). I know some people plan their meals for an entire month at a time. I only plan a week at a time because I base my meals on the store's sales and also, many times I see a recipe that is a "must try" and I don't want to wait a whole month to put it into my schedule.
Step 2: Make a list. Or two. A word of caution here. I am slightly anal so I usually make two lists as you will see here. Of course one list will suffice.
First, I go through my list of meals and, considering which ingredients I have on hand already, I make a list of the things I need to buy. Pretty simple.
The next step in my list process is to go through it and re-write it trying to organize it based on the set-up of my grocery store. For example, I list all of my produce items together at the top of the list because this is the section I start in. I know this seems a little.....well....crazy. But it keeps me from forgetting things and from wasting time going back and forth in the store for things on my list I forgot. It works for me.
Step 3: Grab The Stinks and go shopping! Yes, I take my kids with me to the store. It is a lot easier without them but I usually don't mind taking them. I think it offers a great learning experience for them (there's the teacher in me coming out) plus it helps us to practice "not having to get something every time we go to the store". :-).
Soooo....if you're still with me here is this week's meal plan.
Sunday- Spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread
Monday- Family Favorite Chili Mac, garlic cheese biscuits
Tuesday- BBQ Chicken, KFC Coleslaw, corn on the cob
Weekly Treat- Fluffernutter Cookies
As usual, anything in red is a recipe I will be posting in the near future!
Have a great week!
Meal Plan Monday ~ Week of July 18
Well, today marks the one week anniversary of my blog! Woo-Hoo! Lol, ok I know, pretty cheesy. I have to say though that I have really enjoyed blogging my recipes and have gotten a lot of positive feedback from my friends and family about my new blog.
In case you are wondering what Meal Plan Monday is all about, I found out about it here and decided to jump on board!
I've always been a meal planner. Sunday mornings for me are always the same. I plan my dinners for the week, make a list and go to the store. That way I have all the ingredients I need and don't need to make any last minute trips to the grocery store, or worse, try to figure out what to make for dinner when it's time for dinner!
I have a dry erase calendar on my fridge where I write down the meal plan for the week so that everyone knows what we're having for dinner. It's pretty handy.
As a busy, working mom I plan meals that are easy and quick to make and use "normal", easy to find ingredients. I also will look for recipes that can be partially made in advance and then I will do part of the prep work on Sunday so that during the week making dinner is even quicker!
So...this is what we're having for dinner this week! What are you having?
Monday- Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, seasoned green beans
Tuesday- Lasagna Rolls, salad, breadsticks
Wednesday- Margharita Pita Pizzas, salad
Thursday- Breakfast for dinner- pancakes, sausage and fruit
The words in red are recipes that I will be posting soon!
Menu Plan Monday ~ Week of July 11
So I may be new to blogging but definitely not new to reading everyone else's blogs and this one is another favorite. I am excited to link up my weekly meal plan! I only plan actual meals for dinner. So here is what we are having this week. Recipes will be posted in the next few days.
Monday- Parmesan Panko Crusted Chicken, noodles and green beans
Tuesday- All-American hamburgers, herbed steak fries, corn
Wednesday- Chicken fajita quesadillas, chips
Thursday- Stove-top mac and cheese, some kind of veggie, bread and butter
Friday- Date night with hubs.
