Is it Fall Yet Menu Planning?

     

The weather has been insanely weird. We get nice fall days, but not day after day of 70's approaching 80's in October. I don't even know what to shop for, prepare, but the yeast on my pantry shelf is calling to me to be made into bread and cinnamon rolls. It's going to have to wait another week I think. I have a busy work week and a list at home a mile long-things I want done before my college kid is home for a week. Also, my older daughter has some  dental surgery coming up. I want to plan to work from her house for a tleast the day and either I or my youngest will stay overnight with her. Later th eweek rin and lower temps come, but still very comfortable 60's, but just maybe cool enough to try the pepper and tomato soup again, freezing a portion or two for her to eat when she can't chew.  On to my sort of plan for the week. I'm not even going to specify days, but a rough assortment of possible meals, using up much of what we have, a small stop perhaps on route with other errands and doing a large shop next weekend. 

Options could be... 

• Hot hoagie sandwiches with air fryer wedges
• Burrito bake or a Taco night, with rice on the side
• Goulash-the one I didn't make last week
• Veggie, ham, and cheese rice crust quiche
• Italian sausage and pepper bake with roasted potatoes
• Chicken stir fry over rice
• Meatballs and mashed potatoes
• Chili
• Cheesy pasta bake-maybe tuna hotdish

     This might be the week I try one of the challenges I didn't get to in September. I think I'd like to challenge myself on the 4 meal for $9, or average of $3 per meal.I'd have to be flexible to find loss leaders in the store and ingredients that adapt to  multiple meal. I think I will do much better than my Dollar Tree $5 challenge for taste and nutrition. Stay tuned! 

Meal Plan: First Full Week of September

 

     It is my first effort to get on top of the September challenges by doing a bit of meal planning and doing so in a way that uses up any leftovers or odd ingredients. I have today off technically, though I'm going to tuck in this morning and get about 3-4 hours of my paid job in. DH needs to mow the lawn, weed whack, and a few other outside bits. When he's done, I intend to give the porch railing, floor and siding a good sweep, then tackle the dirt with soap and water. The porch is small and I still do not have my desired seating, but it's an awfully nice place to relax with a book or with, a beer, glass of wine or a morning coffee on a fall  day. Work and the porch are the two main things I want to get done, but there are a lot of other things that need attention. It is a day for labor, right? 

     A bit about my September challenge, well challenges. I'm aiming to  keep the grocery spending at $300, using a variety of strategies like humble meals, using all leftovers and avoiding waste, and using up lingerers in cupboards and freezer drawers. I'm also trying to whittle the eating out/entertainment budget by $50-and am off to a rocky start on that one after this weekend. Money aside, I don't want the month to be all rice and beans (though they are tasty), and I want balanced, healthy meals, aiming for enough calories from nutrition dense foods, not fillers, and getting our five fruits and vegetables a day in. Last week, I covered Friday-Friday. Here's how I did: Black is plan, red with changes. 

• Friday: Mushroom stroganoff penne pasta, apple cinnamon quick bread from a packet. 
• Saturday-Frozen Lottsa Mozza Supreme pizza movie night.
• Sunday- Cinnamon rolls and fruit before heading to the lake Italian pasta salad, ham and cheese roll ups, sweet corn plus, we stopped for Cheddar brats on buns (forgot leftover brats and they were cooked dup by family members with other food on Friday of the week so did not go to waste)
• Monday- Chicken Kiev, rice, mixed vegetables.
• Tuesday- Birthday dinner at family members.
• Wednesday- Red bag chicken, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, green bean casserole, Take and bake bread from freezer
• Thursday- Macaroni and cheese, muffins, green beans.casserole leftovers
• Friday-None of the plan happened, as we ate leftovers, plus a spinach artichoke dip from the freezer. Pasta bake with mozzarella, garlic drop biscuits or bread if I'm ambitious.
• Saturday, We ate out with several of my siblings as it was such a gorgeous evening my sister really wanted to be outside. We decided to just go up to the the lake on Sunday instead of for the night. Both DH and I had huge taco salads.

Now for the week ahead:

Sunday- I made another pasta salad-this one loaded with farmers market vegetables, meatballs in BBQ sauce, tortilla chips and corn and black bean salsa. There were other salads and pulled chicken for sandwiches as well as my meatballs and we ate a large family meal around 2:00 as we all were getting end of summer stuff done. DH picked up Jimmy Johns (that darn budget category is inflating fast) as we weren't hungry when we left, but got hungry about 8:00. I brought home leftover salad for lunch today, salsa, and about 1/4 of the meatballs, which I tossed in the freezer. If not called out, assume each meal has a vegetable or two. We'll both have at least two servings of fruit in the day. 

• Monday: Marinated grilled chicken, roasted red potatoes(need using up), stuffed red pepper with cous cous (partial box in pantry irritating me) and cheese, garlic bread (This is a lot of food but I'm trying to use up a few things that need using today and we will get a couple lunches with leftovers)
• Tuesday: Taco Tuesday, with refried beans and Spanish rice
• Wednesday: Vegetarian chili, using the remaining black bean and corn salsa, crackers or a grilled cheese on the side
• Thursday: Chicken and pasta bake, with tomato and cucumber salad
• Friday: Sloppy Joes, sweet potato wedges
• Saturday: Homemade pepperoni pizza

     When I start to think of next week, Ill keep in mind the $57 or less average to spend if I want to meet the $300 grocery challenge. Mainly, that will go towards fresh food. I'm looking forward to these meals and the leftovers I will likely be eating for my lunches. 

Meals Before Vacation Week

 

     I am a day later than normal at trying to plan meals for the week . We had a really nice half day get away and made burgers on the grill, with potato salad and even a mini bottle of wine I found in the fridge I left last fall. I need to remember that even small little changes of day, scenery, schedule is a bit of a mental recharge for me. I don't claim to have any knowledge on mental health, other than my own, but if that reminder to myself, also reminds you if you are struggling a bit, I'd encourage you to take note. Melas last week got very wonky due to work schedule plus making sure to use leftovers. Here was the plan. 

Sunday: Crockpot pasta prima vera with *French bread

Monday: Chicken Cottage pie or a pot pie

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday, with rice and black beans or refried beans

Wednesday: Rice Hotdish, with carrots, celery

Thursday: Penne pasta with Bolognese (I'll add an additional can of diced tomatoes as DH doesn't like how thick the Bolognese is. 

Friday: Fish, coleslaw, baked potato

Saturday: Possibly Sloppy Joe's and diced roasted potato's, but TBD if I need to change-likely leftovers

What we really ate:

Sunday: We didn't really have supper after DH picked up Concrete Mixers and fries because he was in the mood for both mid afternoon.

Monday: Kerplewy Day! I pulled out sausage meatballs, and the potatoes that I had made the previous Saturday for potato salad but over cooked, but worked for fried potatoes.

Tuesday: Taco Tuesday, with rice 

Wednesday: Crock Pot mock lasagna with *French bread

Thursday: Leftover tacos and pasta

Friday: Fish, tator rounds, steamed Cali blend

Saturday: Crock pot then baked chicken cheesy broccoli rice, and the rest of the steamed veg

     After grocery shopping Tuesday, and two different additional stops, we're pretty stocked again so am trying to avoid shopping until DD2 is home and she can weigh in on favorites. On Saturday I cooked 10 chicken thighs in the crock pot, and there are six left, plus I save the broth. I'm going to start this weeks meals with that. 

Sunday: We didn't make supper after such a nice lunch. I think DH made himself a sandwich later on the leftover  buns. I had potato chips while watching TV. 

Monday: *Chicken noodle soup, with lots of vegetables (using up the odds and ends, plus some frozen I have), with a couple of the thighs. Crescent rolls.

Tuesday: Chicken, cheese, rice and broccoli hodish

Wednesday: Leftovers with any remaining chicken

Thursday: *Chili, with grilled cheese sandwiches

Friday: Beef enchiladas or enchilada hotdish with rice (DD2 supposed to be home later or early afternoon)

Saturday: *Wild Rice Soup and  French bread or rolls

*Portions planned for freezer

     No award winning menus here, but we'll be fed with a few days of comfort foods plus the chili and wild rice soup will have extras to put in the freezer to pull out next week when on vacation. It will be nice to have something ready after a day of being out and about, even though we do plan to splurge on take out. We've spent $341 for H&G/Health and Beauty so far. Take out is separate and I did not have a challenge this month, but when trying to budget, I roughly have $400 for food, and $100 for  household and health and beauty, so a $500 average target per month. 

     Some months I do the challenge to keep my spending super low so months when we might go higher than $500, we're still on track. I'm still relying on too many convenience items to help with cooking, but don't use a lot of ready meals-just ready ingredients, if that makes sense. I bought a 12 pack of hard seltzer and a couple bottles of wine over the weekend, but I'm calling that entertainment. Our eating out/take out and entertainment budget is a combined $200. We've yet to be even close to that this year of course, but will hit it this month and then some since between the two of us, his meal out with a friend and then with his mom, and now the liquor store stop, we are near $150. 

     How are you doing in MArch with your budget? Are any of you still doing lingering pantry challenges or do you start to pick up spendin gin MArch as my family does?

Menu for Maybe Real First Fall

 

     It's the last days of September and a new month starts before the week is out. I am not sure if we are going to get more of the warm weather, or if first fall will come back, so not really moving full on soup mode yet. I'm very pleased with how I managed meals in September. AND, as you will see on Wednesday, I even tackled the mound of spaghetti.  

     I still worked from the massive list of meal possibilities I made two weeks ago, but through in a few twists. Here's what we ended up having.

• Sunday: My daughter and I had veggie burgers and DH a couple grilled cheese with a massive amount of sweet potato fries for lunch. Supper was a simple chicken broccoli, rice and cheese hotdish, and I reheated the last of the stuffed pepper halves, so leftovers for my lunch for a couple days. 
• Monday: Frozen lasagna and garlic cheese bread.
• Tuesday: Burritos/Bowls with spicy brown rice, ground beef, cheese, and refried beans. 
• Wednesday: Pork loin, scalloped potatoes, and steamed vegetables
• Thursday: Chicken alfredo over spaghetti
• Friday: White pizza (usng some of the leftover alfredo, with pepperoni, olives, and onions, I large baking potatoe made into fries in the air 
• Saturday: DH last of Alfredo and spaghetti, me apple and PB, and later had a bowl of soup at my sisters

     The pizza was a twist-thought I would give the Bisquick pizza crust recipe a try and it made a nice crust, but small, but right for us. I've made white curst pizzas before and since we were underwhelmed with the sauce as alfredo, thought why not. With the other toppings it was pretty good. I always par bake about 8-10 minutes, then do the pizza with toppings for another 12-15 so the crust gets nice and crisp how we like it. And here is what may still be in play for the rest of the month. As a reminder, while we do have leftover nights occasionally, I tend to cook about the right amount, or use leftovers for my lunches. The first two on the list will be tonight and tomorrow, but not sure which for what night yet. 

• Tuna Tetrazzini-made with the spaghetti noodles
• Pulled Pork sandwiches using leftover pork loin, baked potatoes or fries or wedges
• Pork Roast, bought pre-seasoned for Carnitas ( and likely will freeze 1/2 as it is quite large), with tortillas, rice, black beans, and tomatoes
• Chicken and country gravy over biscuits with steamed carrots and roasted red potatoes
• Goulash with mixed vegetables (Oh, and a 2 # box of elbow macaroni)
• Fried rice with pork or chicken, mixed veg and egg and egg rolls
• Apple Cheddar sausage meatballs, scalloped potatoes and steamed carrots
• Chicken Cordon Bleu over wild rice with broccoli
• Chili and corn bread ( may make the chili today but to eat a few days later as it is always better after the spices cool into the tomato base, IMHO)
• Turkey meatloaf, cheesy mashed potatoes and green beans
• Sweet and sour meatballs, rice pilaf (maybe a risotto) and mixed vegetable

     I think I'll make cinnamon rolls, scramble eggs and sausage patties for brunch after church instead of lunch and then make a 1/2 recipe of the apple sausage cheddar balls, but may then put them in the freezer for a later meal. If the day stays nice, it will be something easy, though really all my meals are pretty basic. What is on your menu today? Anything new on your menu on the past week?

Post Vacation Meal Planning

Well life has gone back to normal. My colleagues appreciated the Belgian chocolate and the German Haribo's I brought back for them all to sample. I was in by 7:00 and had my in-box sorted for clutter, e-mail strings, and action items by 11:00 a.m. It was like I was hardly gone at all. Just kidding. DD2 had her show choir season kick-off pool party Monday night, though it was a rainy bust. She  and her close friends ended up when the official party wound down at another friends with a pool as the weather had improved by 9:30. DH worked both Monday and Tuesday, very full days. DS is back to work as of yesterday and DD1 leaves on a business trip today until the end of the week. Yes, vacation is truly over. I will say though, life at home has an appeal and as much as vacations are a joy, home always has a great sound when the travel is over. 

I know things are back to normal as DD2 already was a bit whiny about there being "nothing in the house to eat". While I had done a quick stop for eggs, milk, bread and bananas on Monday, I ran into the store yesterday on my way home to pick up easy lunch and supper items before doing a shop and sort of meal prep on Saturday. I won't have my four day weekend because I need to work Friday still despite it being my flex day as all three other supervisors are gone. I just swapped for this past Monday, so saved a vacation day. It will be very quiet and I should be able to clear lingering tasks, so a sort of win. Don't judge what I bought, but in my cart went some frozen mac and cheese dinners and pizza rolls for my kid. I also bought garlic bread for the spaghetti we had last night, plus four frozen heat and eat dinners, two garlic pasta chicken, and two stir fry as these were on sale for $2.96 each. Making two together will feed all three of us and provide lunch leftovers for at least one. Next week will be home cooking-I swear. We'll be at the lake Sunday and Monday and we tend to eat fairly healthy there with grilled meat, salads, and fruit. 

Meals this week then will be or were:

• Sunday-Tator Tots and steamed vegetables, toast and cheese for those that wanted some
• Monday-Not sure what DH ate, DD2 ate at party, I fell asleep and later made apiece of toast and ate a banana
• Tuesday-Spaghetti with garden sauce, garlic bread
• Wednesday-Pork loin, mashed potatoes, green beans (I thawed the pork loin for Monday then forgot about it and DD2 wanted spaghetti)
• Thursday-Birthday dinner at BIL/SIL for their twins and 15 year old
• Friday-One of the frozen dishes
• Saturday-Tuna hot dish or the other frozen dish

I'm slowly working on a couple posts for the vacation recap. I bought a My Passport hard drive to dump all the photos and do some sorting, but I have to download a program first and may need some help from DD1. In some ways, it seems like a distant memory, but once the photos pop up, I'll be transported again. 

Menu Planning Monday on a Tuesday Afternoon

Old stock photo-not my soup but yum!

I'm taking a break from my task list to think about meals for the week. Sunday we ate up the leftovers lingering in the refrigerator before DD2 and I took off and we had a picnic supper. DH made a frozen pizza Sunday night. We ended up getting to try out the college cafeteria for lunch, but by 6:00 we were hungrier than snacks alone and stopped for the bathroom at a DQ and shared a chicken tenders basket, pretzels, and a chili dog. DH had made himself some frozen chicken  breasts, which now I have to figure out how to make the leftovers and the remaining frozen one into a dinner some night.  Here's my plan of meals for the week. It's a very repetitive use of some foods as I try to keep what we have in fridge and freezer in use so I will have room for Easter meal prep in two and 1/2 weeks. Hopefully these options get us through Saturday and I'll do a new plan for the crazy week we are back at school and work.

• Chicken drumsticks, mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables
• Chicken noodle soup (reserving two of the 10 pack of legs) with lots of vegetables, drop cheddar biscuits
• Meatballs in gravy (cream of mushroom soup) over rice, with steamed carrots 
• Tuna noodle hotdish with peas
• BBQ Meatballs, sweet potato wedges, corn
• Spaghetti and meatballs
• Tuna croquettes (using/imitating Anne's chicken croquette recipe and substituting canned tuna), rice pilaf and spinach salad LINK: Chicken Croquettes

This should be an easy week to stay sort of on plan since I am off work. I'd like to prep a bit for next week, and then mostly need to just grocery shop for supplemental sides. I'm hoping the tuna croquettes are a hit as it seems like something that would be easy and a little different. What's on you menu this week? Is anyone inspired by another bloggers recent recipe posts and giving it a whirl? 

Menu Planning by the Rules

Oh forget the literal interpretation of my title. In menu planning there are no rules. I'm following the rule of not driving for at least 24 hours after my two procedures yesterday. Not wanting to be a road hazard, that is a rule I will follow. Not driving this morning (though I am back on the road  this afternoon for 1/2 a car pooling run to a bowling party) means my  grocery shop is going to be put off for at least a day, to probably Sunday evening, or even later in the week. Even if I shop tomorrow,I'm counting this shop as the first of February due to how the weeks fall. I'm ending January pretty well in the grocery department, coming in just shy of $250, which may not have been my goal at the beginning of the month, it still is $100+ lower than what I had been averaging in 2016. My new aim is to keep groceries at $300, and household at $50, for the bulk of 2017. January gets me off to a good start. We need the austere budget for February as it will be an expensive month with three show choir weekends, increased car insurance now that DD2 is 16, an honors choir concert so evening in the city with parking and dinner, Valentines Day (yep-I'm cheesy this way), co-pays and deductibles from Friday, and my end of  season volleyball party.

I'll plan a shop once I see the ads tomorrow, so my menu planning is for just what's in my stocks and is for today and tomorrow. I thought this would be using up most of the meat in the freezer, but there still will be a bag of chicken, some hamburger patties, sausage and bacon. I also have some cans of tuna and frozen Sloppy Joe's and bean soup, so if I don't make it to the store until later in the week and need to stretch farther, I sure could. We'll be out of fresh fruit, milk, and bread by Sunday night and very few vegetables other than carrots and onions, but I have canned and frozen fruit and juice, a bit of  plain yogurt, and plenty of baking ingredients, and we can easily just stop at Kwik-Trip for those basics.

Breakfast-Pancakes, with extra for Monday morning, banana oat muffins-my improvised recipe that made 12  muffins. DD2 devoured four of them! The extra muffins also will go in the freezer for grab and go breakfasts, and snacks.

Thawing hamburger for meatloaf and banana oat muffins.

Saturday lunch-DD2 and I had last of unfrozen bean soup, shared a  quesadilla, and apple slices.DH has lunch brought into work.

Saturday supper-I made rotini pasta with red sauce and mozzarella for the oven in the morning. I'll top with the last of the Christmas mozzarella, and I'll cook a couple pre-made hamburger patties instead of meatballs. I have a small loaf of French bread that has been in the freezer to serve with as garlic toast. 

Just pasta with jarred sauce, to be baked with a topping of mozzarella.

Sunday lunch-DH had cooked up a bag of chicken breasts, so I've made a chicken pasta salad (with the other half of the rotini pasta) to have with cinnamon rolls from the dough in the freezer (if I remember to take out an let a 1/2 batch rise), and oranges.
Sunday supper-I have just shy of a pound of hamburger to make a meat loaf, and will serve with mashed potatoes (instant ones DH bought a while back) and a bag of  mixed vegetables lurking in the freezer.There should be some of the French bread left as well.

Chicken pasta salad with celery and snow peas.

Snacks- popcorn, last of hummus and veggies, last of tortilla chips and black bean salsa, fruit, and the bargain pretzels. I wish I would have made chocolate chip cookies while oven was hot for muffins, but may make a batch tomorrow.

If I'm lucky, or intentionally set some aside, I'll have leftover rotini, pasta salad, and maybe even meatloaf for lunches on Monday and Tuesday. I'll boil up whatever I have left for eggs, depending on what I decide to do about shopping. Following the rules is a good thing. Staying put this morning forced me to use what I already have more efficiently.