Menu Planning Monday

We're already a few days into December and I don't know about you but I bet you're busy like me! The good news is that I'm under budget for this month and due to the holidays I'd like to keep it that way so I'm focusing this week's menu on what I have on hand. Currently, meat wise that means a lot of chicken. Fortunately I can change it up in a number of different ways to keep us from getting "bored" with the same meat day after day.

I've also included a meatless recipe (the ziti) so that I don't have to run out and buy a given meat at full price. One more way to save a little cash!

Monday: Chicken Salad and Appetizer Meatballs - I had a nail party today and we just ate what was left for dinner

Tuesday: Chicken Taco Bake

Wednesday: Sante Fe Chicken Casserole

Thursday: Chicken Pot Pie (my recipe)

Friday: Date Night and Kids Pizza Night

Saturday: Creamy Baked Ziti

Sunday: Burgers N Fries Pot Pie

Just one more week of menu planning for me to go this year! Since we are spending time with the family over Christmas it will be more of a combined effort hopefully this will save me some time and money! Of course, the holidays are rarely about being cheap so we'll see...

Menu Planning Again

Maybe I've said this before but you know it's been a busy week for me when the only posts I get to are menu planning! Last week Caleb turned 8, this week the triplets turn 5. All these birthdays are making my weeks crazy.

But still we need to eat so I continue to menu plan or maybe just because I love to do it :)

Monday: Chicken Spaghetti

Tuesday: Black Bean and Cheese Enchiladas - I had chicken to these and they are soo good

Wednesday: Triplets birthday - out to dinner!

Thursday: Pasta Skillet Dinner - didn't get to this on Sunday

Friday: Beef and Bean Taco Casserole

Saturday: Celebrating the girls birthday with friends - dinner is yet to be determined

Sunday: Spaghetti Casserole



Monday: Leftovers - cleaning out the fridge before we see Grandma

Grandma is cooking from here on out so I don't have to worry about next week's menu planning - even for Thanksgiving. Sounds good to me!

Back To Menu Planning

Last week my parents were in town and we had a great time with them but while they were here menu planning pretty much went out the window and grocery shopping along with it so I feel a little behind coming in to this week. "Forcing" myself to make a menu plans means I have to look at the week ahead and think about it otherwise I'll find myself going out to dinner every night. Granted I should have menu planned for the whole month but this month I just didn't get to it and with Thanksgiving so close I doubt I will again until December. Where does the time go?

After considering what I have on hand, this is the plan I came up with for the week:

Monday: Out to Chili's with a gift card and a coupon code - dinner was $14 out-to-eat for 7 people!!

Tuesday: Easy Pleasing Meatloaf with baked potatoes and green beans

Wednesday: Chicken, noodles and broccoli

Thursday: Spider-Man Spaghetti Pie - it's Caleb's 8th birthday and he's going with a Spider-Man theme

Friday: Layered Enchilada Bake

Saturday: Birthday party then baby shower - dinner will be quick at home or easy drive-thru

Sunday: Pasta Skillet Dinner

Menu Planning: Light Fare

With me working every night this week it's up to Kirk to take care of the kids and the food. On weeks like these I find the best thing to do is to make a menu plan full of very easy meals

Monday: Banana Pancakes

Tuesday: Spaghetti

Wednesday: Chicken Alfredo (this is actually Chicken Helper - I'm going to cook chicken in the crock pot all day on Tuesday leaving Kirk with meat for the rest of the week)

Thursday: Chicken Nugget Casserole

Friday: Chicken Soft Tacos w/ rice

Saturday: Spaghetti Pie

Sunday: Raviolis - yes, it's a lot of pasta this week but it's the end of my month so I'm using what I have to feed us!

At least it looks like an easy meal week this week. That will be one easy thing :)

Menu Planning: Week Two With Kristy

Week One went pretty well. I had to make a few adjustments and move some things around on her menu both for last week and this week in order to cover the meals as well as keep me from overspending and/or traveling to the story every day of the week!

So, here is her plan for the week:

Monday: out to eat

Tuesday: white chicken chili (6 ingredient simple version)

Wednesday: pancakes and fruit

Thursday: spaghetti (or maybe sloppy joes)

Friday: potato-cheese soup and bread

Saturday: at a wedding

(She didn't give me Sunday but she did give me enough to work with)

How I translate her plan to mine:

Monday: Angel Chicken with broccoli - Monday's are her husband's day off so they often go out whereas we more often stay in!

Tuesday: Kristy's chili - both Tuesday and Wednesday this week I will be using Kristy's recipes from last week - I was able to grab the sausage but the rest of the ingredients were not in my budget last week so I will make these this week instead. Last week I substituted Burgers and Fries Pot Pie for the chili since I already had all those ingredients - we served it with extra fries and ketchup - just like burgers and french fries for dinner :)

Wednesday: Kristy's breakfast casserole that I didn't make last week - instead I substituted Mac 'N Cheese Pie

Thursday: Spaghetti Casserole - this was shared with me and I have really been wanting to try it out so we'll have this instead of just "plain" spaghetti



Friday: Potato-Cheese Soup w/ Bread - I don't have Kristy's recipe so I decided to make Cheddar Ham soup which is probably very similar - also calls for potatoes and cheese and sounds really yummy right now in this cooler weather!

Saturday: I'm not going to the wedding so I'll be making Taco Bake instead

Sunday: now we'll have Kristy's White Chicken Chili - I just wanted to spread out my chicken recipes a bit - and my chili recipes :)

Next week is consignment sale week and I am working just about every night so I won't be meal planning next week except to leave Kirk with some really simple recipes like spaghetti and tacos but I've had a lot of fun using someone else's meal plan and making it my own. I hope you can do the same with what I post or any other meal plan you find. Looking at what someone else does gets my juices going as to what I have and what I can make. Also means it's a little easier to plan since I don't have to with what I'm in the mood for!

Menu Planning: Can I Actually Use Someone Else's?

I menu plan on here almost every week and it got me thinking - does it help you at all? I have had quite a few people say they've found some great recipes on this site and when they're in a bind they've checked it to see what I'm making. But it got me to thinking, could I use a week's menu from someone else and make it my own?

So, I asked my good friend Kristy to send me her menu plan for the week to see what I could do with it (next week I've asked for her menu plan along with a few family recipes to see how that works for me)

Her week's meal plan:

Monday: out to eat (giftcard)

Tuesday: leftover pot roast and mashed potatoes

Wednesday: chicken spaghetti and broccoli

Thursday: grilled cheese and tomato soup

Friday: breakfast casserole and applesauce

Saturday: leftover buffet

Sunday: chili and cornbread

What I can do with her meal plan:

Monday: Layered Enchilada Bake (unfortunately, I did not have a gift card to go out to dinner - would have liked that but had to make dinner at home)

Tuesday: Pasta Skillet Dinner with garlic bread and a salad (since I don't have leftover pot roast and mashed potatoes I am adding my own meal for Tuesday night and since I don't see any pasta on her week's menu I decided to add some pasta for us here)

Wednesday: Chicken Spaghetti and Broccoli

Thursday: Chicken and Cheese Quesadillas (my kids don't like grilled cheese - weird right? - so instead we'll have quesadillas - similar concept though)

Friday: Breakfast Casserole and Applesauce - this will be new for us but I'm going to give it a try!

Saturday: Cheesy Chicken & Salsa Skillet (or leftovers - I'm always a little scared to schedule leftovers because sometimes we have them and sometimes we don't)

Sunday: Chili and Cornbread (don't have the recipe on this but I know Kirk will be thrilled to have some chili so we will certainly be going with Kristy's recipe here!)

I am looking forward to changing up our meal plan a little bit. I couldn't follow her plan completely how I would have liked but it gave me some ideas and a jumping point for the week. We'll see how this week goes and what I can do with her plan next week. Thanks Kristy for the contribution to my experiment!

Menu Planning: Comfort Food

I apologize that I didn't get to BJ's over the weekend. I am planning a trip there tomorrow and will do my coupon match-ups and details then. This weekend got extremely busy with our moms of multiples yard sale on Saturday and since that is the best way for me to make money to pay for my kids clothes it's something I have to put effort into!

For this weeks meals I was thinking about comfort foods. When the weather turns a little cooler I love the idea of cooking warm meals inside and one of our favorites is mini-meatloaves so that's what we started our week with :)

Monday: Mini-Meatloaves with green beans

Tuesday: Kirk's Banana Pancakes (just feel like having breakfast for dinner)

Wednesday: Ground Beef and Twice-Baked Potato Pie

Thursday: Easy Italian Pasta Bake

Friday: Roast Chicken w/ Potatoes and Broccoli

Saturday: Wedding - a good friend is getting married and we're very happy for him!

Sunday: Chicken Taco Bake

Next week I'm going to try using a friend's menu as my own. Considering how often I menu plan and post what we eat on the blog I am curious how easy it is to take another person's menu and use it as my own. We shall see how it goes!

Meal Plan Monday: Happy Labor Day

I hope you all had a great Labor Day. For many of you I'm sure it was the last day of summer. For us, I was so grateful for a 3-day weekend after a crazy start to school and especially grateful to spend the day with some very good friends of ours. They grilled us some fabulous chicken which certainly helped my meal planning this week :)

Monday: Chicken grilled by friends (yum!)

Tuesday: Pork Chops with rice, broccoli, applesauce and biscuits (didn't get to these on Sunday)

Wednesday: Beef and Bean Taco Casserole

Thursday: Wahoo! Chili with Beans per my husband's request to have soon :)

Friday: Baked Chicken Enchiladas

Saturday: Kirk's company picnic at Six Flags - we look forward to this all year and we certainly can't wait to go this year!

Sunday: Chicken and Potato Skillet Dinner

Sorry for the posting delay. The holiday put me a little behind :)

Menu Plan Monday: School's In!

I didn't intend to go a whole week without posting nor did I intend to only post about menu planning. I suspect this may continue to happen over the next few weeks as we adjust to being back at school and inch closer and closer to my moms of multiples yard sale which is just 3 weeks away! This is what happens when life gets busy whether I like it or not.

Today was the kids official school start date so I can already look forward to a crazy week. One thing that keeps me calm, on track and organized is my Menu Plan!

Here's my plan for this crazy and busy week:

Monday: Chicken and Peppers Pasta Skillet

Tuesday: Layered Enchilada Bake

Wednesday: Bruschetta Chicken Bake

Thursday: Moms of Multiples Meeting (I'm not cooking!)

Friday: Mexican Shepherd's Pie

Saturday: White Bean Chicken Chili

Sunday: Pork Chops (saving some of the pork for a recipe next week)

I hope you and your family have a very blessed and productive school year!

Menu Planning: Lots of Meat

This week Harris Teeter had a great sale on meat so I'm excited to have a bunch of new recipes this week or at least ones that we don't normally have because meat is well, expensive and I normally stick to my chicken and ground beef.

Sunday: Black Bean and Cheese Enchiladas - I added shredded chicken and these came out really well!

Monday: Aloha Pork Chop Skillet

Tuesday: Creamy Baked Ziti

Wednesday: Seriously Simple Beef Stew - I know it's not fall yet but the Kraft Food & Family came in with all their fall recipes and this one just looked good!

Thursday: Kung Pao Chicken - another recipe from the magazine that just looked really good!

Friday through Sunday: gone to a church retreat - all meals covered - except Sunday night which is my birthday so I assume we'll head out to eat that night to celebrate - hint, hint for my husband :)

Menu Planning: Still Stretching That Dollar

With just $75 left in my grocery budget for the next 11 days (I'd be freaking out more if Wednesday wasn't the start of Super Doubles at Harris Teeter) I have been doing a lot to use what I have on meals rather than buy anything new. Of course, next week will be a different story but I think if I plan carefully enough I'll be just fine :) And, hey, we can have spaghetti once a month right?

Thanks to a few leftover nights I still have some planned meals from weeks past for this week - I'd say leftovers are another great way to stretch my dollar.

Monday: Mac Chicken Cacciatore

Tuesday: Cheeseburgers with corn and beans - we are having guests and Kirk is grilling - easy night for me!

Wednesday: Chicken Taco Bake - this I already have frozen so all I have to do is thaw and bake! Soo easy and cheap.

Thursday: Velveeta Baked Spaghetti Squares - this is a meatless dish that is very easy to make if I already have Velveeta on hand (which I do) - since all the other ingredients are cheap throwing this together is a breeze and this is so tasty - one of my favorite meals!

Friday: Easy Chicken and Biscuits - since I have chicken in the freezer and some Campbell's soup in the pantry I found a recipe that would put the two together :) Reading the recipes on the packages of the products you have is a great way to pick up new recipes and use what I've already purchased

Saturday: Sasuage Hoagies - this is my only real purchase this week - I'll need to pick up a pound of sausage and the hoagie rolls but I with that and some green peppers I can make a great meal that we all enjoy

Sunday: Chicken and Brocoli Alfredo - I may use this recipe or make up my own since I already have Alfredo sauce but either way I already have all the ingredients and I'll just use the remainder of the frozen chicken that I will thaw out and cook for Friday.

Now I just have a few more days to plan for before my budget resets :) Man, I am SO ready for the 19th of August!!

Menu Plan Monday: New Month

I'm not starting August off very well. I don't have a monthly meal plan! I just haven't sat down and planned out a full month of meals like I usually do. It's probably because my month actually ends on the 19th and not the 30th/31st because of the way we've started doing our bills so even though today is the 1st I'm already halfway through my month. Because of that I'm trying to spend as little as possible and one way I do that is to use what I have on hand and add as little as possible.

With the meals I planned out for this week I was able to do just that making my needs list about 6 items long most of which was produce: potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes and peppers. These are items that I can't purchase long in advance anyway so I feel pretty good that for the most part my list consisted of a can of refried beans for Tuesday's meal :)

Here's what I'm making with pretty much what I had on hand:

Monday: Chicken Parmesan

Tuesday: Beef and Bean Taco Casserole - this is quickly becoming a family favorite!

Wednesday: Mini Meatloaves with mashed potatoes and green beans

Thursday: Moms of Multiples meeting - dad and kids will have homemade Chinese

Friday: Shepherd's Pie using the remainder of the mashed potatoes from Wednesday - it's often a pain to make homemade mashed potatoes but the payoff is huge when I make a second meal with them making this a very simple family meal

Saturday: Mac Chicken Caciatore

Sunday: Ravioli Lasagna Recipe

This week was pretty easy - the hard part will be planning for the last two weeks of my month when the funds are low. I know it will be time for some creativity on my part!

Back To Menu Planning And Going Cheap

Technically it's the end of the month (if you check the calendar there is just one more week left in July), however since we recently changed up how we pay our bills and have switched to paying everything by credit card (and paying it off every month - all of it, no exceptions - just in case you were wondering) our beginning of the month is the 19th.

So, for me it's the quite close to the beginning of the month but that doesn't mean I have a desire to rush out and spend money. Due to some recent billing errors we went over budget last month so this month I have every desire to actually come in under budget wherever possible.

The best way to stay under budget on my groceries is to:

1. Have a plan for meals

2. Stock up when things are on sale

3. Use what you have in the pantry to cut down on your needs items

Monday: Enchilada Bake

Tuesday: Slow Cooker Cheesy Potato Soup with Salad and Panera Bread (love that stuff!)

Wednesday: New-Look Scalloped Potatoes and Ham

Thursday: Baked Ziti

Friday: Beefy Hash Brown Potato Casserole

Saturday: Cheesy Chicken & Salsa Skillet

Sunday: Chicken Taco Bake

Since the majority of the ingredients in all of these meals were in my pantry already it helped my grocery budget quite a bit and allowed me to stock up on a few sale items at Harris Teeter this week - gotta love that!

July Meal Planning and A Happy 4th

Happy 4th of July! I hope that you all have a very safe and happy holiday planned. We always enjoy the fireworks at a huge outdoor event by us and I'm excited to go again this year. The girls absolutely love fireworks and get very excited whenever they seem so I'm really looking forward to them seeing the big fireworks this year.

Know what else the 4th of July means? Grilling! Summer! All the great stuff in the menu planning :) Though it's my husband who grills. And he made some GREAT burgers for us and some friends last night at a cook out.

Because next week is incredibly busy since it is once again time for Classy Kids and I will be working all week I have gone ahead and menu planned into the next weekend. The week after that we will be gone with some friends for a few days so that is a totally seperate menu plan. It's a good thing I enjoy menu planning and couponing :)



Saturday: Burgers grilled by Kirk

Sunday: Easy Herb-Baked Chicken

Monday: Chicken Enchilada Pie

Tuesday: Velveeta Baked Spaghetti Squares

Wednesday: Beef and Bean Taco Casserole

Thursday: Chicken Pot Pie (my recipe)

Friday: Chicken N Peppers Pasta Skillet

Saturday: Slow Cooker Cheesy Potato Soup - I know it's a little warm for soup but it still sounds good :)

Sunday: Angel Chicken

Monday: I'm working so the kids and dad get mac and cheese

Tuesday: Tator Tot Casserole - this is one the kids actually like and it will be easy for Kirk to make it for them while I'm at work

Wednesday: Spaghetti (another dad and kids night)

Thursday: Beef Tacos (last night for dad and the kids)

Friday: Creamy Baked Ziti

Saturday: Chicken Divan

Sunday: Leftovers - cleaning out the fridge before we leave

I'm definitely hoping to do some more grilling and salads with my next meal plan because I really enjoyed Kirk's burgers yesterday - I just need some new recipes - anyone have any good ones?

Menu Planning: Trip Planning

We're going camping this weekend. I'm using the term loosely since we're not going alone but with almost 30 other people so there's a huge amount of food coordination going on right now. That being said my lists and plans are a little off right now which is driving my brain crazy!

My menu plan for this week is small so I'm going to plan from now till the end of next week when we leave for another trip - I've got to plan to use the food I have in my freezer/pantry before I go - thanks for bearing with me today!

Monday: Chicken ‘n Peppers Pasta Skillet

Tuesday: Easy Pleasing Meatloaf with mashed potatoes (we're having the company we didn't have last week)

Wednesday: Burgers ‘N Fries Pot Pie

Thursday: Slow Cooker Chicken and Noodles Alfredo

Friday through Monday: Camping

Tuesday: Easy Chicken Bake

Wednesday: Skillet Chicken Nachos

Thursday: Ham & Pasta Skillet

Friday: Turkey and Brocoli Casserole (using chicken)

Menu Planning: 5/16

The month is only half over yet I've hardly had any time to cook - with Mother's Day and our anniversary we've been out often. We've had some really good chicken recipes like Chicken Parmesan and Crispy Chicken Burrito Bundles but I haven't had much need for my monthly meal plan. So, since this week is a little less crazy than the past few I figured I'd share what we have planned though I can already see a few meetings putting hiccups in our plans.

But here it is nonetheless:

Monday: Beef and Bean Taco Casserole

Tuesday: Gram’s Chicken Pot Pie Updated

Wednesday: Tater Tot Casserole

Thursday: Ravioli Lasagna (this may turn into something else since we're supposed to have company as well as a school function but this is the plan...)

Friday: Leftovers or fast food - I'll be gone all day on a kids field trip to a theme park so I KNOW I will be in no mood for cooking - see what I mean about being crazy busy this month and with just 3 weeks left of school and a ton to do before then I'm beginning to feel overwhelmed!

Saturday: Chicken 'N Peppers Pasta Skillet - a super easy recipe for me to make for the kids since Kirk will be speaking that night to the school seniors at their class banquet (kind of like prom but it's a Christian school so there's no dancing)

Sunday: We have a birthday party and we'll be having dinner there

Menu Planning: New Month

Once again it's been a very busy week/weekend and another week has begun and I didn't get everything done I had hoped. Does this happen to everybody? To top it off Mother's Day is days away and my 15th anniversary is just days after that. Holidays and celebrations always mess up my menu plan as well as throw a curve in the list of things I need to get done on any given day.

Monday: Mac 'N Cheese Pie

Tuesday: Sassy Sloppy Joes

Wednesday: Chicken Broccoli Alfredo

Thursday: Moms of multiples meeting - I'm speaking on couponing so I have to be there but at least my meal will be covered :)

Friday: Mexican Shepherd's Pie

Saturday: Weeknight Lasagna Toss (or leftovers - I have a baby shower to go to so this one is up to Kirk!)

Sunday: Mother's Day - plans unknown!

Menu Planning: End of the Month

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter! We had a great time worshiping at church and then enjoying a HUGE dinner with our church family at our pastor's house. With lots of activities for the kids I actually had time to sit down and chat :)

I don't know about you but I have a LOT of ham now. Not a bad thing - I love ham and it makes a lot of different recipes that we don't get to eat very often - due to a very low grocery budget for the week most of the recipes will have to wait until May but I am planning to stick at least one in this week!

Monday: Ham and mashed potatoes leftovers (no this isn't the recipe but we have so much it affords me a night off from cooking)

Tuesday: Pronto Pasta & Sausage Skillet (a Pampered Chef recipe - no ham)

Wednesday: Sloppy Joe Biscuit Casserole (didn't have it last week)

Thursday: New-Look Scalloped Potatoes & Ham

Friday: Dinner on the go - we have a few different activities planned for Friday night so we'll have to fit dinner in somewhere

Saturday: Pizza Calzone Bake or some other sort of homemade pizza - I had a few different pizza ideas on my monthly menu plan this month but I didn't get to most of them

I have to say that when I budget I'm thrilled when the month is over :) It's a fresh start again soon! This is also my week of menu planning for next month. I already have a file going on my computer so my first stop is that file followed by my April folder to find any recipes that I didn't end up using. After that I look at our family favorites and if that doesn't fill up my calendar I check my favorite websites and cookbooks.

It's kind of like a treasure hunt to find the best tasting recipes for the month - my favorite is when I can find something new that we all love that becomes a family favorite for months to come - yum!!

Menu Planning: Spring Break

This week is the kids Spring Break from school meaning they are home, all day, all of them. Of course they look forward to this - honestly I often wonder why - they're basically bored with a few minutes. Sure we have some things planned but sometimes they have to fend for themselves and they get bored. Go figure.

Because they are home all day it leaves me with the task of not only planning dinner but also planning lunch. Lunch is simpler, of course, but it's still good to have a plan because I'm quite certain I hear Chick-fil-A calling my name and right now that's just not in my budget!!

Lunch:

Monday: Hot dogs, stick cheese and grapes
Tuesday: Pizza with friends
Wednesday: Spaghetti (this pretty much means noodles for the kids - they don't like sauce - not sure why)
Thursday: Mac N Cheese
Friday: Sandwiches for a picnic lunch at Frying Pan Park - it's a field trip with the moms of multiples - can't wait!

Dinner:

Monday: Mini Meatloaves with mashed potatoes and green beans

Tuesday: Creamy Baked Ziti (x2 for a friend who recently had a baby)

Wednesday: Chicken Taco Bake

Thursday: Sloppy Joe Biscuit Casserole

Friday: Deluxe Pizza Goulash

Saturday: Santa Fe Chicken Casserole - this is another Philadelphia Cooking Creme Recipe and I'm excited to try it!

Sunday: Easter :) We are looking forward to a day to celebrate our risen Lord with friends and hopefully family.

Menu Planning

Wow, it was a busy weekend. The MOPS sale went really well. I guess I should preface that with saying I'm not sure how much I sold but I certainly got a lot of great deals on the kids summer wardrobe! And with very minor exceptions (namely church dresses for the girls) their wardrobes are complete! Of course, they need to be since there won't be another consignment sale until July. Will I make it?...

Kidding, I'll be fine :)

Sunday: Angel Chicken

Monday: Savory Salisbury Steaks (this is a Pampered Chef recipe - something new I've never tried so we'll see how it goes!)

Tuesday: Beef and Bean Taco Casserole

Wednesday: Velveeta Baked Spaghetti Squares

Thursday: Ground Beef and Twice Baked Potato Pie

Friday: Easy Chicken Enchiladas

Saturday: Pizza Casserole (without the olives - sorry, just don't like them!)