I even went to the store yesterday and picked up what few things I'd need to make the menu plan happen over the next two weeks (lettuce, potatoes, eggs, sour cream). I'm feeling all together here. Feels great. Now I'm waiting for the super curve ball to be thrown my way *laugh*.
I forgot my husband was going to be working weird hours this week, so he might not be home for dinner a lot (mini curve ball that got chucked my way), but after looking over my menu plan, I decided to just cook what was on it anyway. This way there will be leftovers for lunches (and for whenever he gets home from work) and I won't be trying to figure out what to eat when he's not home for dinner.
Last night I made an Easy Potato Soup based on a recipe I found in the 5 Ingredient "Fix it and Forget it" Crock Pot cookbook. I redid it a bit to suit our tastes and things and it turned out tasty. My husband actually liked the soup (a rarity for him). Lucky for me as it made a ton of leftovers too *laugh*.
I was actually worried the menu plan was going to go awry last night as my son has been pretty possessive of the kitchen of late (he likes to spin balls on the counters), but I managed to chase him out without too many temper tantrums and baked bread (I didn't get to it earlier in the day). I made one loaf of regular bread and then quickly rolled out the other half of the dough (I used the "Bread in an Hour" recipe, so you have to work fast as the bread is raising before your eyes) and sprinkled cinnamon sugar on it, rolled it up and voila! One loaf of breakfast bread is done too for the week.
So, yeah, so far, so good. So, onto the rest of the menu plan!
Menu Plan for Week of 1/30/17
Monday: Easy Potato Soup w/ham (use hash browns from freezer), home made bread
Tuesday: Chicken Tacos (make in crock pot. Use can of salsa from pantry to help season chicken), Spanish rice, corn (from freezer), salad. Make pasta for son for dinner and for his lunches for school throughout week.
Wednesday: Waffles with choice of toppings (grab different things from pantry as options), sausages, fruit cocktail
Thursday: Chinese Savory Beef (from the "Make More With Less" Cookbook), rice, garlic peas (use peas from freezer and fresh garlic from pantry).
Friday: Mustard glazed ham steak, roasted carrots (from freezer), fried potato slices
Saturday: Cranberry chicken, stuffing, mashed potatoes
Sunday: Creamy Pork Chops (from the "5 Ingredient Favorites Fix-it-and-Forget-it Crock Pot Cookbook"), Sweet and Sour cabbage (from Beatrix Potter Cookbook), herby soda bread (also from Beatrix Potter Cookbook), salad.
Desserts: Coconut Pudding (probably switching this to vanilla so my daughter will eat it) - Tuesday, Ice Cream - Wednesday, Honey Cake (Beatrix Potter Cookbook) -Friday
To Bake (aside from menu plan items): Breakfast Bread (Monday), Banana Bread (use over ripe bananas, Tuesday)
And there you go folks. My menu plan for this week! I'd post up next week's menu, but goodness knows I don't want to give the impression that I'm organized or something and help to foster unrealistic expectations or anything *laugh*.
Good job menu planning and shopping for 2 weeks! I menu plan and shop for the entire month. I started out only planning and shopping for 1 week at a time, but changed to 2 weeks. When I would shop for week 1 at the beginning of the week, I only bought what I needed for the meals for week 1. But when I shopped the next week for what I needed for week 2, I noticed some of the things that I bought for week 1 at regular price, were now on sale. This happened quite often so I decided that I would try 4 weeks of planning and shopping. This is how I do it. Plan 4 weeks of meals, shop for 4 weeks of meals, but ONLY buy the items that are on sale. So, if I need beans for week 3, I look at the price when I shop the first week. If they are not on sale, I don't buy them, because I don't need them until week 3 and they may go on sale before then. So, I do shop every week, but only buy things I need that are on sale. By the end of the month, I have most everything I need and everything has been on sale! Saving me a lot of money!! I also buy produce every week if it's on sale. Now, it is only me, so I don't sneak and eat anything I will need further in the month. So, it is easier for me than it would be for a family, but it's worth a try! Try it for 2 weeks and see if it works for you!!
ReplyDeleteThat's a nice strategy to make once a month shopping work. I hope that I can get to that point sometime soon. Thanks!
DeleteIt sounds like she plans monthly but shops weekly... That's brilliant! I'm going to give that a try, thanks!
DeleteAwesome menu. Could you share the breakfast bread recipe?
ReplyDeleteI just used regular bread dough, rolled it out to the width of my bread pan and then about 12 inches long, sprinkled cinnamon and sugar over it, drizzled a little over it all to help the sugar stick to the dough, rolled up, let rise the usual amount of time in the pan and baked for the usual amount of time. Makes a really good cinnamon swirl bread for toast :).
DeleteErika-You've mentioned the Fix It and Forget cookbook before. Are there different volumes? Mine doesn't have the picnic chicken recipe in it you had on your menu plan one week and I am really wanting to try new chicken recipes.
ReplyDeleteIt's this one...
Deletehttps://www.amazon.com/Fix-Forget-5-Ingredient-Favorites-Comforting/dp/1561485292/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1486096575&sr=8-1&keywords=Fix+it+and+Forget+it+five+ingredient+favorites+crock+pot+cookbook
From what I see on Amazon, there are indeed different volumes. Mine was a gift, but I might have to put a few more on my wish list for sure :).
Hi Erika,
ReplyDeleteCan you post the link or the recipe for the 1 hour bread that you used? It sounds like a real winner. Thanks. Dorothy
Here you go!
Deletehttp://www.lafujimama.com/2009/09/simple-one-hour-homemade-bread/
Once you get the hang of two weeks at a time, you won't go back! I keep adding to my printable calendar as I think of meals, Ive done it about 4 months now and been able to stay about 3 weeks out. Huge time saver
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder. Note to self: Make calendar for February!
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