meal planning: January 2020

[prairiewindmomma]

Would anyone like an encouragement thread?
 

Meal planning & prep is a perennial problem here.  I'm working on getting a month's worth of recipes printed, placed into protective sheets, and organized into a 3 ring binder.  I'm ready to pass the torch onto our kids for weeknight meal prep.  I'm also working on revamping our diet to be more vegetable heavy.  

[Just Kate]

Me! I struggle with meal planning and Even though I’ve tried, I’ve never become successful with it. I really, really have to make it a focus for 2020. Hoping an encouragement thread may help!

[lovinmyboys]

Yes, I am in. I am going to work on it later today. One thing I want to do in January is come up with crockpot meals, quick meals, easy to eat on the go meals, etc. January won’t be too busy, but April-June is going to be crazy with all 4 boys playing baseball. The last few springs we have not eaten the way I would like. I’m going to take my less busy January to learn how to prepare food in less time. I also am going to make at least a meal a week that takes more time or effort, since I won’t have time for that this spring.

[StaceyinLA]

I’ll jump in! I’m planning on doing Whole 30 again starting either right after the 1st or next Monday (I know I’m gonna need to do a big grocery shopping, so I just don’t know when I’ll be able to do that with family still here).

I also need to do a huge cooking/freezing of meals for my daughter who is expecting at the end of January, which will also include putting some single-serving meals up for my husband for times I am too busy to cook because I’m helping her (her youngest is on the spectrum, so I’m expecting to have to help her out a good bit for the first couple weeks). She eats dairy free while breastfeeding, so I’m figuring I can just do Whole 30 recipes and that way I can eat them too.

Overall though, I really need to get on the making menus bandwagon, and just simplify my life.

[PeterPan]

13 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I'm working on getting a month's worth of recipes printed, placed into protective sheets

Oh this is smart!! I had been making pages one WEEK at a time and saving them in a binder, but a month would be better! Then it wouldn't be like oh this week I didn't get it done, oops. 

[PeterPan]

2 hours ago, lovinmyboys said:

I want to do in January is come up with crockpot meals

I know, and I'm so a SOUP person, that I default to it and drive my men CRAZY, lol. I need to remember to do chunky things, sturdy things. That's why I picked up another Cook's Illustrated crockpot book from the library, to get some more variety.

[prairiewindmomma]

I used to plan for just a week or two at a time and two problems happened, fairly consistently:

1. Life would get really crazy and it would be mid-week and I hadn't planned yet OR

2. We would stick to the plan like glue (just re-using the same menu plan) and we'd burn out on all of those meals after 4 months. There are so many things none of us are willing to ever eat again.

I am JUST planning dinners.  We will have foods on standby for people to choose from for breakfast, and lunch is salad.  

I am making progress.  I realized that part of my problem is that I have never written down some of these recipes.  Trying to figure out what spices I use and in what quantity has taken some thought.  I am beginning to understand why my grandmother would never write down her recipes--she would just say "Watch me!"---it's because it's real work!

[PeterPan]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I am making progress.  I realized that part of my problem is that I have never written down some of these recipes.

Bingo. So in my 3 ring binder, I was making spots to put my WINNER recipes. That way I'd be able to find them, lol. Usually I just make recipe after recipe from the internet/pinterest/whatever, which means I have them written in a spiral notebook and saved on pinterest. Mostly a pain to find things later.

[DesertBlossom]

I have grand plans to make an excel spreadsheet with all my favorite recipes with a column for ingredients. Because when I menu plan for the week I tend to forget all things I can and do make. In a spreadsheet form I can look at the title, write down the ingredients I need and do my shopping. Then I want to have a 3 ring binder for the actual recipes.

[prairiewindmomma]

Fwiw, I use the Paprika app to grab recipes off of the ‘net. It does a good job of downloading them.  I tend to adapt on the fly, so I am going in and editing those saved recipes to reflect what I actually do. It’s actually really easy to edit them.

Supposedly I can use the menu planner to plan meals and then generate a shopping list. I haven’t used that feature yet, but I am going to try it once I have my recipes uploaded and selected.

[prairiewindmomma]

8 hours ago, seekinghim45 said:

I'm in.  My problem is that I am cooking for just me half the time and sometimes for my daughter.  Hubby loves to cook when he is in the country.  Yeah...see my health thread.  I need help in this area.

 

This is my current lunch time situation. I am doing salads for lunch every day as it helps me keep my veg intake up.

Suppers are generally in the instant pot for us. I am making 8 portions instead of 6 so I can tuck away lunches for others.

Have you considered doing once a week meal prep? There are lots of people who cook chicken and salmon on one day and then use that throughout the week in different combinations to make meals.

[prairiewindmomma]

I have four weeks of supper recipes selected.

I'm now working on making grocery lists.....going to make one for each week, and put it in both into a shared digital format, but also print off lists so I can do a quick grab as I head out to the store.

As far as IRL eating goes, we're still working through our massive Christmas shopping trip.  BBQ brisquet sandwiches tonight for supper.  We tend to eat very well December 24-December 31 and then return to healthier eating patterns January 1.

 

How is everyone else coming along?

 

[BarbecueMom]

I did really well in 2019 with meal planning.  I still have every month's menu saved on my computer.  It's funny, some of the things on the January menu I don't remember making AT ALL.  I can't even figure out from the menu what it is, let alone why I would make that.

January 4 - Tortilla Chicken and Creamy Salsa - I'm assuming that's some sort of chicken skillet dish??  No clue.  I don't even eat salsa.
January 15 - Instant Pot Chicken and Orzo - Oh, now I remember this one!  It was a disaster!  You cannot cook gluten free orzo in the IP, it sinks to the bottom and burns in a gelatinous heap.
January 24 - Tex-Mex Black Eyed Peas Casserole - I remember not really liking this, but having leftovers that seemed to double every time you took a serving out.

Live and learn.

We're finishing out the year's meals with Ham and Lentil Soup and Gluten Free Soft Pretzels tonight.  Tomorrow we're having a family board game day, and I'll be setting out appetizer-type foods all day long - meatballs, sliced sausages, chips and dips/queso, pizza, fruit and veggies.  And cookies.  I still haven't finished making Christmas cookies.  There's a tray of uncoated Oreo balls in my freezer.

January's menu, so far (weeknight dinner/weekend lunch only, breakfast is fend-for-yourself and weekday lunch/weekend dinner is leftovers):

1/1 - Red Beans and Rice, Salad
1/2 - Homemade Pizza/Breadsticks, Salad
1/3 - Junk Food Night 
1/4 - Tilapia in Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, Rice, Brussels Sprouts
1/5 -  Sheet Pan Honey-Dijon Chicken, Broccoli and Carrots, Potatoes
1/6 - Sweet and Sour Chicken, Rice, Green Beans
1/7 - Tacos, Beans, Chips and Salsa, Salad

[KungFuPanda]

Ugh.  I can meal plan quickly, but I really need to up the effort with the vegetables.  I think we're full of meat, cheese, and starch after the holidays and I need a good week of light, heart-healthy meals.  I made chicken parmesan tonight so I guess I'm starting tomorrow.  😣 

I think I'll make:

fish tacos with lots of slaw/veggies

a vegetable soup . . . maybe minestrone

big salad with grilled salmon

veggie korma  

maybe fried rice one night? 

I might have to become a Meatless Monday person just to train Dh and Ds to enjoy an occasional meal that doesn't contain meat.  I have rehearsals this week and a show on Sunday, so I'm not sure how ambitious I'll get this week.  If I pull off the meal plan I listed I'll have to throw a steak at them towards the end of it so they don't mutiny.  I can always do a big salad with the steak.  Odds are I'll have to either serve grilled cheese with the minestrone or add some meat to the soup.

 

[KungFuPanda]

1 hour ago, happysmileylady said:

We ALWAYS do grilled cheese with soup.  (well, except chicken noodle.)  

When you say "meatless" do you mean all veggies only?  Or do you count dishes that are like shrimp based, or eggs etc, as meatless?  I have heard some people don't count seafood as meat.  

I’d count both of those as meat, but since we’re omnivores, veg heavy and meat light would be good enough for me. 

[IfIOnly]

Eek! I love this thread!! Been revamping and getting back into meal planning for the new year too. I bought this magnet planner from Amazon and received it yesterday. I ♥️ it! If you can't see the labeling, we do:

M-beef

T-chicken

W-pork

Th-plant

F-beef

Sat-chicken 

Sun-pork

I love this system of a certain protein for each weekday and it just clicks and works for me over all others I've tried. We do have fish now and again and I just add it in somewhere.

We have egg and dairy allergies here, so meat is our main protein source. That said, I am trying to do lighter meat with most meals and would like to up our number of plant based dinners some each month too. I'm working on that!

I try to double what I can for dinner and have leftovers for lunch or cook extra of an ingredient to use for lunch. Like roast chicken for dinner and a chicken soup or salad for lunch. Otherwise, I have a list of *quick* recipes with ingredients almost always stocked. Black bean tacos, lentil soup, chili, linguini with canned clams, tuna,  curry coconut rice, and more but I'm blanking.

I try to make large batches on beans in the instant pot and freeze to have on hand.  I buy canned beans sometimes too.

I also try to make a few big batches of soups a month to freeze for lunches. Often this is a dinner scheduled that I make a huge batch of. Try to not repeat often, so noone gets sick of anything.

 

Edited December 31, 2019 by IfIOnly

[IfIOnly]

On 12/29/2019 at 10:51 AM, prairiewindmomma said:

I used to plan for just a week or two at a time and two problems happened, fairly consistently:

1. Life would get really crazy and it would be mid-week and I hadn't planned yet OR

2. We would stick to the plan like glue (just re-using the same menu plan) and we'd burn out on all of those meals after 4 months. There are so many things none of us are willing to ever eat again.

I am JUST planning dinners.  We will have foods on standby for people to choose from for breakfast, and lunch is salad.  

I am making progress.  I realized that part of my problem is that I have never written down some of these recipes.  Trying to figure out what spices I use and in what quantity has taken some thought.  I am beginning to understand why my grandmother would never write down her recipes--she would just say "Watch me!"---it's because it's real work!

Yes! Dinner I try to focus on and have variety. Lunch is often black bean tacos here. Breakfast is cereal bit I'm trying to change that. 

[ktgrok]

On 12/29/2019 at 2:58 PM, PeterPan said:

Bingo. So in my 3 ring binder, I was making spots to put my WINNER recipes. That way I'd be able to find them, lol. Usually I just make recipe after recipe from the internet/pinterest/whatever, which means I have them written in a spiral notebook and saved on pinterest. Mostly a pain to find things later.

Anylist is a great app that you can use on your phone or computer that will grab those recipes for you, lets you sort them into "collections", and you can easily have it add the ingredients to your shopping list for you. You can organize the shopping list by store, and by category. And it works with Alexa to add things to the list. 

[ktgrok]

We tried a sample week of Cook Once Eat all Week and I liked it - anyone interested might want to check it out. Basically you prep ONE protein and ONE veggie on the weekend, but then have recipes to use those things throughout the week. Whole foods based, and all are gluten free or have gluten free options. 

So the chicken week you had chicken parmigiana, chicken salad, chicken stirfry with peanut sauce, etc. Plus one fish recipe. 

[BarbecueMom]

8 hours ago, CuriousMomof3 said:

Can I have your tilapia in roasted red pepper sauce recipe?  Please?

I think this is it.  At least, this is the one I was quickly looking up in the store yesterday to make sure I got the right amount of red peppers.  It’s bookmarked on my laptop. If that one is different I’ll come back and link it, but this looks like the right recipe.

I can’t eat anything tomato based or citrus based (GERD), and tilapia just needs... something on it, lol.  This works!

[HS Mom in NC]

One thing that's really helped me lately is making double what we eat for each meal, eating the first meal of it the day I cooked it,  and eating the second meal of it 2-3 days later. It cuts down on the number of meals to plan, the amount of time shopping for it, prepping it, cooking it, and cleaning up after it.  I needed more time outside for gardening and having half of the dinners each week already cooked maximizes flexibility in the week.

I have 2 electric skillets with lids which can be helpful because I can cook 2 meals of the same thing at the same time, I can cool the second while we eat the first, and then cover it and put it in the fridge.  I just have to plug it in to warm it up and put it on the table. My stove top Dutch oven is big enough to make a 2 meal sized batch.  I can put it on the table to serve it, let the extra cool down, and put the lid on and put it in the fridge.  It's easily heated up on the stove top when we want the second half.

I do all my shopping on Thursdays while youngest is at co-op 25 min. from the house.  I put an ice chest in the back of the car, pull out a bag of ice I've had for months in my stand up freezer in the garage, put it in the ice chest, and I can have the frozen refrigerated items in the chest all day so I can run errands as long as I need to. When I unload groceries I put the bag of ice back in the freezer for next time.  I  make sure to pick up several quick easy meals when I shop to have on hand like pasta and jarred sauces and sandwich fixings.  When surprises happen and I don't have as much time to cook as I thought I had and I don't have a precooked meal in the fridge it's no big deal.  I buy 2 meals worth of marinated salmon and asparagus on shopping day because it's a quick fix in the broiler and a skillet.  I cook half on shopping day and the other half the next day.

[Condessa]

This is what I planned for the week:

 

Wednesday- personal pizzas on biscuit dough crusts

Thursday- Cajun Chicken Fettuccine

Friday- dh won't be home, so something easy and cheap.  Maybe mac and cheese, or leftovers?

Saturday- Arroz con Pollo

Sunday- Thai Red Curry

Monday- Stromboli

Tuesday- Teriyaki Chicken, Rice, & Egg Drop Soup

 

[Condessa]

Lately, my meal planning strategy consists of flipping through recipes on a favorite cooking website and jotting down whatever looks good.  Consequentially, we're having a lot of chicken this week, but at least the flavors are very diverse.  I generally just plan my dinner main meals.  Raw vegetables, fruits, applesauce, etc., make low-prep side dishes as needed to round out meals.  Lunches are leftovers or sandwiches.  

Edited January 2, 2020 by Michelle Conde

[Carrie12345]

I finally updated my freezers and pantry inventory the other day.  I don’t understand what the heck is going on, because I thought we were working our way through the freezers all of October, most of November, and a lot of December. So how are they both still jam packed??? I either have a problem, or I have magical powers.

I can get all of January’s dinners out of the freezers with the help of fresh produce, dairy, and some rolls. But that’s only if I work that inventory list carefully. And I don’t want completely empty freezers at the end or I’m just going to go nuts refilling them later.  Maybe I have a problem AND magical powers!

[Soror]

I plan one week at a time and did fairly well last year. I nearly always shop on Tues or Thurs evening during the kid's 2nd TKD class. I'm working on the list and men right now for shopping tonight. The 3 older kids each have a night to cook but I steer them towards whole food options (they can't just buy a bag of chicken nuggets except on rare occasion). We rarely eat out unless we are out of town or a special occasion so that is good but we need more veggies in our dinner meals (some we do pretty good, sometimes not) so that is a goal this year.

Waiting on 2 kids to get up to tell me what they want to cook to finish so far:

1/2-ds cook- chicken pho w/ (side)white rice noodles (side) cucumber & onion salad

1/3- teriyaki salmon, wild rice, green leafy salad

1/4 - beef peanut stir fry w/ broccoli, peppers, onions, carrots (side) brown jasmine rice

1/5- thai curry vegetable soup w/ (side) white rice vermicelli  & homemade gf naan

1/6- ? dd1 meal- spaghetti w/ meat; side salad; baked eggplant

1/7- cilantro lime chicken, roasted spiced sweet potatoes, chipolte black beans, homemade guac, and homemade pico

1/8-dd2 meal- chicken alfredo w/ roasted brocccoli

Edited January 2, 2020 by soror

[unsinkable]

I'd join in...But I'm still LOLing at @BarbecueMomhaving uncoated balls in her freezer.

I mean, they are oreo balls, but still...

[BarbecueMom]

8 minutes ago, unsinkable said:

I'd join in...But I'm still LOLing at @BarbecueMomhaving uncoated balls in her freezer.

I mean, they are oreo balls, but still...

And they are still there!  I would just save them and make "Valentine's Balls" (heh...), but I need the room to put ping pong balls in the freezer for a science project.

I promise, I do keep things besides balls in my freezer.

[EmilyGF]

I capitulated WRT meal planning a year or two ago. Now I use thedinnerdaily.com online. I tell it my store (Aldi), my food preferences (low carb, how many times I want each meat/protein etc per week), and it sends me a weekly menu tailored to the sales at Aldi. We eat oatmeal for breakfast daily (no planning there) and I have a list of things I buy to assemble lunches with (tortillas, shredded cheese, refried beans, yogurt, tahini, salad greens, whatever veggies look good that day, apples, etc). I get the list on the website while I'm at our weekly coop, then shop on the way home. This has really taken a load off my mind. The menu is only for five meals, but I find that suffices because we either have leftovers one night, or go to a friend's house, or end up making someone's favorite meal, or something. The service is available for something like 8 of the main supermarket chains.

I know I sound like an ad, and I know this isn't for everyone, but I've been on this forum for 14+ years and have been super-pleased with this service, which I pay $5/month for. We've liked every recipe we've gotten, which are printable and fit on two sides of one sheet of paper for the whole week. Sometimes I ignore the recipes and just cook from the fridge, but I still have a fridge full of food sufficient for the week's meals. Before, I'd think I'd bought a week's worth of food and realize it wasn't... 

- Emily 

[KungFuPanda]

2 hours ago, EmilyGF said:

I capitulated WRT meal planning a year or two ago. Now I use thedinnerdaily.com online. I tell it my store (Aldi), my food preferences (low carb, how many times I want each meat/protein etc per week), and it sends me a weekly menu tailored to the sales at Aldi. We eat oatmeal for breakfast daily (no planning there) and I have a list of things I buy to assemble lunches with (tortillas, shredded cheese, refried beans, yogurt, tahini, salad greens, whatever veggies look good that day, apples, etc). I get the list on the website while I'm at our weekly coop, then shop on the way home. This has really taken a load off my mind. The menu is only for five meals, but I find that suffices because we either have leftovers one night, or go to a friend's house, or end up making someone's favorite meal, or something. The service is available for something like 8 of the main supermarket chains.

I know I sound like an ad, and I know this isn't for everyone, but I've been on this forum for 14+ years and have been super-pleased with this service, which I pay $5/month for. We've liked every recipe we've gotten, which are printable and fit on two sides of one sheet of paper for the whole week. Sometimes I ignore the recipes and just cook from the fridge, but I still have a fridge full of food sufficient for the week's meals. Before, I'd think I'd bought a week's worth of food and realize it wasn't... 

- Emily 

I did that for a while.  Sometimes I even paired it up with online shopping and just drove through and got my groceries.  Mostly I used it for Aldi.  We didn't like ALL the recipes, but it was easy to use the same sale items to make something we liked, so it was still a jumping off point when I was in a rut.  It certainly gets you out of the more expensive grocery stores without spending a fortune.  Harris Teeter and Wegmans are dangerous if you don't have a plan that lines up with the sales.

[Laura Corin]

On 12/29/2019 at 8:27 PM, prairiewindmomma said:

Fwiw, I use the Paprika app to grab recipes off of the ‘net. It does a good job of downloading them.  I tend to adapt on the fly, so I am going in and editing those saved recipes to reflect what I actually do. It’s actually really easy to edit them.

Supposedly I can use the menu planner to plan meals and then generate a shopping list. I haven’t used that feature yet, but I am going to try it once I have my recipes uploaded and selected.

Thank you! The Paprika app looks really good!

[Soror]

Next menu plan, this Tuesday's is moved to Thursday b/c the wedding we went to Saturday had a meal, everything homemade(spices, marinades, etc) except breadsticks on 13th and I used spiced chili beans that I add to.

1/9: Cilantro Lime Chicken(budget bytes) w/ Chipolte Black Beans (copycat recipe), homemade guac & pico

1/10: (ds)-blackened tilipia, wild rice, roasted green beans & garlic

1/11: chili - hot dogs on side (some leftover for ds party)

1/12 moroccan chicken (simply recipes) w/ roasted cauliflower & spinach - brown jasmine rice side

1/13 (dd1) baked chicken wings w/ veggie platter, bread sticks (store bought bake and serve)

1/14 tacos w/ homemade spiced pinto beans 

1/15 (dd2) chicken curry w/ green beans & sweet potato w/ brown jasmine rice

[prairiewindmomma]

this week:

Sunday (yesterday): beef/rice/salsa IP thing

Monday: chili + mandarin oranges

Tuesday: chicken with lemon cream pan sauce, salad

Wednesday: broccoli & carrot soup, rolls

Thursday: Tilapia vera cruz + zucchini

Friday: beef stew, rolls

Saturday: chinese chicken (I'll make a sauce--don't know which yet),  served over rice 

We have two refrigerators plus an all freezer. We're emptying out the last bits of the second refrigerator freezer. (First freezer is already empty.)  Hoping to empty out the third freezer by mid-February. 

 

I have enough eggs to use up that quiche may come onto the menu instead of chinese chicken. We'll see how the week goes and how many eggs get used with breakfast and lunch. 

[Elizabeth86]

On 1/2/2020 at 8:17 PM, Margaret in CO said:

We tend to go: beef, lamb, beef, lamb, game. Dd got an antelope AND a bear AND a buck AND a cow elk, so we have a lot of game. I tend to make whatever is on top of the house freezer as dh has the shop freezers in such a jumble I can't find anything! The beef is not good this year--the locker plant did not give us OUR beef, so it's tough. We will not be back to them. The tenderized the sirloin tip and didn't cut it straight. As a steak, it's inedible. I haven't looked at the t-bones for fear what disaster they are. 

Oh, ok what do you do with bear?  Someone offered us some bear meat a while back.  The only bear meat I tasted was tough and I didn't want to commit to that much meat and not know what to do with it.  

[73349]

I've been using Plant to Eat, since it's easy to change recipes & I need the help with the list. I will check out Anylist and Dinner Daily, though, in case I want to switch when my subscription runs out.

This week:

Today - leftovers (baked ziti for DS, sweet potatoes and black beans for DH and me)

Tuesday - Japanese-inspired mushrooms & peas, maybe zucchini, rice

Wednesday - baked French toast

Thursday - Italian bowls & I'm going to try a new bread stick recipe

Friday - Oh, hey, if all goes well, we won't be home Friday or Saturday nights. I need to adjust my plans.

[BarbecueMom]

January menu - the updated, I-haven't-been-grocery-shopping-since-the-last-decade edition:

1/1 - Red Beans and Rice, Salad  Hamburgers, Tater Tots, Salad
1/2 - Homemade Pizza/Breadsticks, Salad Red Beans and Rice, Brussels Sprouts
1/3 - Junk Food Night 
1/4 - (Lunch) Bacon Spinach Parmesan Pasta, Salad (ran out of leftovers!)
          (Dinner)Tilapia in Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, Rice, Brussels Sprouts Steamed Carrots and Corn on the Cob
1/5 -  Sheet Pan Honey-Dijon Chicken, Broccoli and Carrots, Potatoes
1/6 - Sweet and Sour Chicken, Rice, Green Beans  Chicken Noodle Soup, GF Soft Pretzels, Applesauce
1/7 - Tacos, Beans, Chips and Salsa, Salad Cucumbers and Carrot Sticks
1/8 - Homemade Pizza, Green Beans
1/9 - Pulled Pork, Mashed Potatoes, Corn or Peas
1/10 - Junk Food Night

******

Our weeknight schedule is going from "home every night" to "someone has something somewhere every night" gradually over the next 3-4 weeks.  Since fast-food isn't an option, it's time to get creative again.

[Just Kate]

I’m jumping back in. I only have my menu made through Tuesday because dh leaves Wednesday morning for work (he will be gone two weeks) and it will just be the kids and me. 
 

Today (Saturday) - steak and roasted green beans

Sunday - “Big MAC” salads

Monday - leftovers

Tuesday - Chicken carnitas tacos

I’m trying to move back to a low-carb diet and meal planning will help tremendously. I’m also trying to cut down on the grocery budget. 

[StaceyinLA]

I have been slacking on my daily meal planning, but I did get about 20 meals put in the freezer for after dd has her baby, so I’ve made progress. Of course after 3 days of pretty much straight cooking, I rebelled and we’ve been eating whatever random stuff I can do without much effort. 😜

[prairiewindmomma]

Good job, Stacey!

chicken

soft tacos

quiche

breakfast tacos

tilapia

???waiting to see what is left in the fridge and freezer after breakfast and lunches are done. Ds has requested a week without soup, and I have a lot of egg and sausage and cheese sitting around.

[BarbecueMom]

January menu - the updated, when-am-I-supposed-to-grocery-shop-with-this-ridiculous-weather? edition:

1/1 - Red Beans and Rice, Salad  Hamburgers, Tater Tots, Salad
1/2 - Homemade Pizza/Breadsticks, Salad Red Beans and Rice, Brussels Sprouts
1/3 - Junk Food Night 
1/4 - (Lunch) Bacon Spinach Parmesan Pasta, Salad (ran out of leftovers!)
          (Dinner)Tilapia in Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, Rice, Brussels Sprouts Steamed Carrots and Corn on the Cob
1/5 -  Sheet Pan Honey-Dijon Chicken, Broccoli and Carrots, Potatoes
1/6 - Sweet and Sour Chicken, Rice, Green Beans  Chicken Noodle Soup, GF Soft Pretzels, Applesauce
1/7 - Tacos, Beans, Chips and Salsa, Salad Cucumbers and Carrot Sticks
1/8 - Homemade Pizza, Green Beans
1/9 - Pulled Pork, Mashed Potatoes, Corn or Peas Breakfast Casserole, Biscuits, Butternut Squash (I had to use the ham fell out of the freezer and shattered the container)
1/10 - Junk Food Night
1/11 - Pulled Pork, Baked Potatoes, Corn, Leftover Green Beans/Squash
1/12 - Chili, Tater Tots, Apples
1/13 - Chicken Fettucini Alfredo, Roasted Broccoli
1/14 - Tacos, Beans, Chips and Salsa, Salad
1/15 - Roasted Italian Sausages, Carrots and Onions, Mashed Potatoes
1/16 - Smoky Black Bean Soup, Rice, Pupusas, Salad (thanks to whoever mentioned this soup earlier, it's been a long time since I've made it!)
1/17 - Junk Food Night
1/18 - Chicken Pot Pie, Salad (or another veggie if the salad is gone by then)
1/19 - Baked Fish, Rice, Frozen Veggies (green beans or broccoli)
1/20 - Mock "Chik-Fil-A" Chicken Sandwiches, Sweet Potato Fries
1/21 - Tacos, Beans, Chips and Salsa, Salad
1/22 - Italian Wonderpot, Pao de Queijo, Salad
1/23 - Pinto Beans and Chorizo, Rice, Roasted Cauliflower
1/24 - Junk Food Night

******

I've only been shopping once so far.  Heading to Costco this weekend, no idea when I'll get to the regular shopping.  Weather has been... inconsistent lately.

We didn't eat most of the chili from Sunday, so I labeled it and tossed it in the freezer for a "quick meal" later on.

Lunch every day has been leftovers, except today I did chicken nuggets because we had to leave the house quickly.  Those don't make a huge mess like taco leftovers would.

Breakfast was mostly smoothies, baked oatmeal, leftover breakfast casserole, and stuff out of their "food boxes" my mom got them for Christmas (cereal, Larabars, etc.).  I did buy a couple boxes of gluten-free donuts at Aldi for a special weekend treat.  I might bake some muffins or something this weekend.  Might as well have the oven on while it's 7 degrees outside.

[JustEm]

3 hours ago, happysmileylady said:

Have been working on my menu/list for next week, not quite done yet.

But, I was perusing YouTube and came across this

 

And was feeling pretty inspired.  Once I get it all worked out, I will share.  

That is a very interesting video. I think I'll have to watch it again in a bit and take notes because there were a few things I know I'd do differently. But I really liked that she stuck to just salt, pepper, and oil in her house as opposed to so many blogs or videos assuming you have so much more available

[Emba]

Last night DH cleaned out the freezer (the little one above the fridge; our deep freeze is so much better organized) and threw away a bunch of stuff. I realized there is a lot in my freezer and cabinets I need to work through before it goes bad. I always meal plan before I shop, but this week and for the next few weeks I’m going to challenge myself to use 1 fridge/pantry thing in every meal.

It is not frugal to stock up on things when they are cheap, or save leftovers for later, if you never use them!

so I have no specific dollar amount as a goal, just eating down my freezer.  But it’s easy to plan meals today and change them the day of because I’m feeling tired, so I need to work on follow-through as well as planning.

[KungFuPanda]

I'm having a big "shopping my pantry" week so I didn't have to get much in the store yesterday.  Our meals are:

Salsibury steak and mashed potatoes - the boys made this when I was in a class last night.

Tuna casserole and Caesar salad

Chicken fajitas. beans, rice

Orange chicken, steamed rice, stir fried veggies

pork potstickers, Asian chopped salad

Big Breakfast stuff - bacon, grits, eggs, pancakes or waffles, fruit - this'll be a couple meals

Jambalaya and a southwest salad, 

Pizza - I've got to pick up 00 flour for a new crust recipe I'm trying.  That's a wegman's trip.

I get several meals out of yogurt-banana-peanut butter-oatmeal smoothies, but nobody but me is interested.  I used to always do them with almond meal, but i ran out and i like the peanut butter just as much and it's a lot cheaper.

 

I went hard on the bagged crunchy kale/cabbage salads this week because I felt lazy.  On the topic of lazy, it's almost 3 and nobody has asked me for food.  I slept in, so I assume they ate while I was asleep, but I'm afraid to ask.  I had dinner so late last night that I'm just not hungry enough to make an effort yet.  It's a good day for hibernating here; all cloudy and sleety.

[prairiewindmomma]

I've been eating a lot of kale salad lately too. I'm glad to see that the romaine restriction has been lifted (finally).

I made it out to the stores today. Youngest has the stomach flu, but dh took one for the team, and I escaped out of the house for a few hours and got some urgent errands taken care of.  I made it to the import store and got some rice (my bucket was empty!) and frozen samosas.  I'm just too lazy to make the dough and filling, and this is cheaper than ordering takeout.  I ended up stopping at 6 different stores today to stock up on things. I don't normally hit so many stores in a month, but we were just low/out of a long, long list of things. I have about $240 left for the month in the grocery budget. 

Suppers this week:

Samosas, chicken tikka masala + zucchini, soft tacos, chili, quiche + berries, beef stew, and biscuits & gravy + eggs

 

[Condessa]

I did meal planning again yesterday.  Specifically trying to use up some things in the freezer and pantry.

Yesterday:  Pizza Movie night, with walmart pizzas and salad

Today: Bang Bang Shrimp and rice with pear sauce cake for dessert

Monday:  dh and I are going on a date.  The kids are having tomato soup and grilled cheese with the babysitter.

Tuesday: Minestra soup (because I love it but dh does not, and he will be gone teaching)

Wednesday: Creamy Ham and White Bean Tortellini Soup

Thurday: Honey Balsamic Tuna Veggie Bowls

Friday: Rigatoni

Saturday: ? ?  Leaving this one open, as I’m not sure of our plans yet.

Sunday: Enchilada Casserole and cilantro lime rice

 

This will use up rice, beans, canned tuna and tomato soup, shredded cheese, and some frozen ham and turkey and pear sauce. 

[Soror]

I don't think I ever posted last week's menu and it is nearly time to make a new one (I shop on Tuesdays).

Jan 15- bbq country style ribs (in instant pot); homemade mashed potatoes, boxed mac n cheese, salad (was going to be curry I messed up shopping)

Jan 16- cilantro brown jasmine rice, chipolte spiced pinto beans, homemade guac, chopped veggies, beef

Jan 17- leftovers - dh had a dinner, girls were gone to sleepover so just ds and I

Jan 18- store bought breaded chicken w/ salads

Jan 19- homemade gyros- w/ tzi. sauce, homemade gf naan, cucumber, tomato, onion salad, and feta

Jan 20- beef stir fry w/ noodles broccoli and veggie mix (found stir fry mix on sale so grabbed that to save time)

Jan 21- bean burritos w/ taco rice

Currently making a huge pot of red coconut curry veggie soup for my lunches for the upcoming week.

[KungFuPanda]

6 hours ago, Michelle Conde said:

 

Wednesday: Creamy Ham and White Bean Tortellini Soup

 

Can you walk me through this recipe? It sounds like a wonderful cold-weather meal. 

The kid who won't eat beans is away at college so we're eating all sorts of things that didn't fly before. 

Edited January 19, 2020 by KungFuPanda

[prairiewindmomma]

I have 4 quiche in the oven.  It was empty out the fridge day....all of the leftover veg and meat got tossed in.  Dh asked me to take biscuits & gravy off the menu, so I had enough sausage that I had to make 4 quiche to make the ratios work out. Thankfully I also had a lot of egg and cream to use up also.

Do you guys have meals planned like that on the menu? 

[Condessa]

2 hours ago, KungFuPanda said:

Can you walk me through this recipe? It sounds like a wonderful cold-weather meal. 

The kid who won't eat beans is away at college so we're eating all sorts of things that didn't fly before. 

 

It's this one:

https://carlsbadcravings.com/creamy-white-bean-ham-tortellini-soup-recipe/

I've never made it before, but so far my family has loved pretty much everything I have made from this website.

[KungFuPanda]

Thank you so much.  I have everything to make this except the tortellini and beans.  I'm on a serious kick where I've been cooking all of my beans from dried, so I may go that way. Are you using cannellini beans or something else?

[KungFuPanda]

On 1/19/2020 at 9:09 PM, Michelle Conde said:

 

It's this one:

https://carlsbadcravings.com/creamy-white-bean-ham-tortellini-soup-recipe/

I've never made it before, but so far my family has loved pretty much everything I have made from this website.

I made this today. It’s soooo good. I cooked the beans from dry then just skipped the cornstarch because it was creamy enough. I only added a splash of cream, but you could even skip it. It was just the perfect lunch for a freezing day.  We had it with fresh bread. 

I just called it Creamy Italian Tortellini soup and the spin worked on the kid who thinks he doesn’t like bean soup, but actually loves bean soups. 🤣