Menu Planning Monday (1/25): Ground Beef Week

The past few weeks we only had chicken so this week I was determined to do something different! We headed to Wal-Mart expecting good deals on meat. I tell you the thing about Wal-Mart's low prices is just a joke. I got low grade meat for the same price I found higher grade meat at Safeway on sale this week. Maybe Wal-Mart would price match but to me that's just too much of a hassle!

Still, I got $20 of ground beef (about 10 pounds) - after seperating and freezing that will give me 9 meals since 1 meal takes 2 pounds. And since it's the end of the month that's exactly what I need. This week I have actually menu-planned all the way to next Sunday when the new month begins.

While I didn't stick to a cookbook this week, a lot of my recipes came from Kraft Food. I find Kraft Food to be invaluable when it comes to great recipes. It's an awesome website and the food is great!

They also have a magazine - it used to be free but now it's maybe $10 or so for the year - it's very worth it. Awesome recipes!

Monday: Mini Meat Loaves with green beans - HUGE family favorite because I use an icing decorator (Easy Accent Decorator from Pampered Chef) to make fun designs with the mashed potatoes - smiley faces, swirls, hearts - the kids love it and eat it up.

Tuesday: Shepherd's Pie - I make real mashed potatoes for the mini meat loaves and use the remainder to make shepherd's pie - so good that way.

Wednesday: Weeknight Lasagna Toss

Thursday: Layered Enchilada Bake (I'm sure you remember this one - we LOVE it so I make it often)

Friday: Easy Bake Pasta - the name says it all - easy.

Saturday: Pizza Joes - these make a ton - I know they're will be plenty of leftovers.

Sunday: Mini Taco Bowls

This is the plan - as you can tell that's a LOT of food and I still have 2 pounds of ground beef left when the new month starts. So, what will probably end up happening in reality is that we'll eat some of these meals this week and some of them next week. Not a bad thing since I'm hoping to really stretch my budget over the next few weeks!