Menu Planning {#4 of 2012}

I am quite behind on these and probably won't go back to catch it up but I do want to post them when I remember so that I have a few on here for me to look at when little miss is here and I can barely remember where I put my shoes. I figure if I have some menu plans to look at then I can just pick one to use and get the things I need for it without really having to think. I would love to eventually print them all out with recipes and price break downs attached but I don't think that goal will happen anytime soon. A girl can dream. This menu plan cost me about $63 dollars for 2 weeks worth of dinners and leftovers

Day 1: Pasta with grape tomatoes, garlic, and mixed bell peppers

Day 2: Shrimp Scampi

Day 3: Black Bean Enchiladas (this is seriously one of the most delicious, cheapest, and easiest meals to make. I will post the recipe soon if anyone is interested in it)

Day 4: Roast and salad

Day 5: Homemade pizza

Day 6: Chicken sausage sandwiches and spinach strawberry salad

Day 7: Leftovers

Day 8: Spaghetti and fresh green beans

Day 9: Jambalaya

Day 10: Beef and broccoli stirfry

Day 11: Crock-pot Chicken Enchilada Soup

Day 12: Sun dried tomatoes and pasta bake

Day 13: Grilled burgers and grilled veggies

Day 14: Baked potato bar

Also, I'm not sure I told you all this but we painted our pantry door with chalkboard paint. it has been life changing! Seriously. On the center panel I write out our menu for the week and then each night I just cross off which one of the meals I had made and if I end up not using a meal that week I just leave it on the board for the following. It works so well for us to have it in such a visible spot and W loves being able to see what I plan on making for the week and asking for certain things. I used to keep the menu plan on my phone but did not always take the time to look at what I had wrote, so this way is much better for us because I am constantly going into our pantry for snacks and therefore see the menu multiple times a day. What do you all do to keep your menu plan on track?

And in case anyone was wondering what breakfast looks like around here:

Steel cut oats with blueberries, strawberries, cinnamon, and brown sugar and a side of chai tea latte ;)

Menu Planning {#3 of 2012} and a recipe

My menu may be starting to reflect that I'm pregnant. I definitely am having more cravings now. Second trimester is always a hard one for me because I want to eat everything and have a really hard time practicing self control. I have stocked our fridge with pineapple and yogurt and try to snack on those often. But baking has always been one of my favorite things to do and let's just say it has kicked in full force this month. I have only been leaving a dozen in the house and then sending the rest out the door. At least a dozen can't do too much damage to me. Or at least I tell myself that. ;) Okay enough chatting here is our menu. I ended up spending $76 for 2 weeks and 10 of that was on an awesome 3 lb roast from my favorite grocer. (Note: our night outs are not included in that amount... they come out of a different fund so I don't include them in grocery bill)

Day 1: Fried Chicken and corn

Day 2: Shredded beef tacos with avocado, corn, and black bean salad

Day 3: Saffron rice and chicken

Day 4: Spaghetti and salad

Day 5: Night out at whole foods

Day 6: Leftovers

Day 7: Super Bowl Party (I ended up making some buffalo chicken bites, fruit pizza, and cheesy toast)

Day 8: Stir-fry chicken and veggies with brown rice

Day 9: Spaghetti and pesto meatballs

Day 10: Breakfast for dinner (Steel-cut banana bread oatmeal and fruit)

Day 11: Baked chicken, garlic smashed red potatoes, and asparagus

Day 12: Cabbage rolls

Day 13: Cilantro lime chicken fajitas (recipe to follow) with smashed pinto beans

Day 14: Roast with leftover garlic smashed potatoes (we actual went on a date this night so we left this for our awesome friends who watched LB, we ate the leftovers a few days later giving me a night off cooking)

The day I made the cilantro lime fajitas I posted this picture on facebook:

Quite a few people commented or texted me for the recipe so i figured I'd post it on here. Now I really don't know exact amount on anything but I did my best to guess. I have been making this for years and each time I throw things in and taste it until its right. Play around with it to get the spices how you like them. 

Cilantro-lime fajitas

Marinade/sauce:

1 large lime, juiced (about 2 tablespoons)

1 bunch of fresh cilantro, ends snipped off then roughly chop the rest

2-3 cloves garlic 

1 jalapeno (now if you have little ones I recommend leaving this out unless they can handle the heat, LB can't so we leave it out if he is eating with us then add chipotle tabasco to our plate)  

1 tablespoon olive oil (this amount depends on how powerful your blender is if you have a great one you won't need as much)

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Puree everything together to make a nice smooth sauce.

Then take:

1 lb. chicken, cut into strips

1 red pepper, thinly sliced

2 poblano peppers , thinly sliced

1 yellow onion, thinly sliced

In one container throw the chicken and about 1/2 the marinade. Add a little olive oil and mix to coat. Let marinade for at least 1 hour, overnight is the best if you can wait.

In another container throw the veggies and about 1/2 the remaining marinade. Let sit.

When your ready to make dinner heat up a large skillet with some oil. Let it get nice and hot then throw your chicken in. Take the chicken out when it is no longer pink and throw your veggies in. Once the veggies are soft throw your chicken back in to finish cooking.

Serve with tortillas, cheese, sour cream, avocados, and beans. Use the rest of the marinade as a drizzle over top the finished fajitas. Or mix it with sour cream (W hates sour cream so I just mix a little with mine and he throws the rest on his).

Hope you all enjoy :) Also, if you have never made beans in the crock pot, do it! They are so easy and come out perfect. All you have to do is take a bag of beans rinsed and sorted, throw them in the crock pot cover with water plus an inch or two more. Cover and cook on low for 7 to 8 hours. They turn out perfect. I took about 2 cups out and smashed them with some cumin, salt, tabasco, and cheese. They were great on the side of these fajitas.

Menu Planning {#2 of 2012}

Here is our menu plan from the last two weeks. It was so nice having so many things already partially ready in the freezer. Definitely made getting dinner together much faster and made the day of prep worth it.

Day 1: Chicken stirfry with brown rice. (LB decided he would rather have a salmon burger and veggies...normally I don't make him a different thing than us but I let him this time as it was much less messy than rice)

Day 2: Meatball sub sandwiches and salad

Day 3: Baked potato soup (recipe)

Day 4: Chicken enchiladas

Day 5: Pasta tossed with spinach, fresh grape tomatoes, garlic, bell peppers, and parmesan cheese

Day 6: Baked chicken breast and salad

Day 7:Whole Foods Birthday dinner for my mom.

Day 8: Homemade chicken noodle soup and italian bread

Day 9: Bierocks, fresh green beans, and spinach salad

Day 10:Cheese quesadillas with avocado and fresh salsa

Day 11:Vegetable soup

Day 12: Pizza

Day 13: Goulash (basically noodles, ground beef, tomatoes, peppers, and cheese)

Day 14: Leftovers

Our cost break down was a little higher this round. We ended up spending $167 but some of that was due to the great deal I got on chicken breast and ground beef that I was able to make up and freeze in batches for the future. I try to buy extra meat whenever it is at a great price then divide it up for meals later. I also bought a lot of fresh veggies at Sams club and used them throughout our meals or divided them up for the freezer to make stir-fry with in the future.

A few of you have been asking how I keep our grocery budget so low. I think the biggest thing that has helped me do this is planning meals out ahead of time (even if it is a rough draft) and then looking at sales and coupons based on that. If a dish I had my heart set on making will cost us too much I switch it out for something more affordable and then add it to the next round of meal plans. 

We also save a lot of money because we can't buy a lot of pre-packaged and pre-made foods. Due to LB's nut allergies we have to avoid a lot of foods. It has really helped us become more aware of what we are putting in our bodies and how much pre-made things cost. Not that I was a huge pre-packaged food buyer before but I would buy a can of soup or a bag of side rice/pasta dish but now I really can't buy those things. Plus, I realize how much the cost of those things are verse making your own. It may take more time to do it myself but I save over 75% by doing that. Same with beans. Yes, I still buy canned beans for those times that I forget to pre-soak and boil beans but if you just take one day a month you can make 10 cups of beans and have plenty for your freezer that month. And the cost savings is ridiculous. Seriously, one can of beans cost about $1, you can make 5 cans of beans for that price using dried. And they taste so much better and do not contain all the sodium. 

So for those of you who were wondering, that is how we do it. We also aren't huge eaters. I can make 2 chicken breast for us and still have a little bit left over for the next day. So even though I may make a whole pot of soup or pasta it ends up lasting us all week. Cutting our cost almost completely out for lunches. Which in the end saves a lot of our budget since I am not figuring in buying extra food for lunch.

What are some of your favorite meals?

Menu Planning {#1 of 2012}

I think it is going to be easier for me to post our menu plans in retrospect. I try to have a rough draft of what our 2 weeks of meals will look like but always seem to switch things around or do something different or pull something already made out of the freezer. Plus, the point of me putting it on here is so I can see what 2 weeks of meal plans look like to go back and look on when I am in a stump. The past two weeks I did a pretty good job following the plan I wrote out and sticking in our budget. (I only spent $65 for 2 weeks worth of meals) Here is what our meals looked liked:

Day 1: Cheeseburger Soup

Day 2: Eggplant parmesan and spaghetti

Day 3: Stir-fry

Day 4: Baked chicken, green beans, and roasted potatoes (I got this awesome seasoning for Christmas called Tuscan Italian seasoning...it was so good on everything. I am going to go back to Penzeys soon and buy a big bag of it)

Day 5: Tacos

Day 6: Leftovers

Day 7: Pizza

Day 8:Chicken tortilla soup

Day 9: Lasagna

Day 10: Beef and broccoli with steamed rice

Day 11: Leftovers

Day 12: pasta with garden vegetables sauce (this summer i made up a ton of spaghetti sauce packed full of veggies so on nights when i want to sneak extra goodies in my hubby's diet I pull this sauce out)

Day 13:Night out with friends

Day 14: Grilled chicken ceasar salad

That is basically what our last two weeks of meals looked like. I know I am forgetting some of the side dishes we had but for the most part that is all our main courses.

I spent most of today prepping foods for the next 2 weeks and hopefully getting myself ahead on our freezer meals. I made 5 dozen meatballs, browned 2 lbs. of ground beef, made 2 pans of chicken enchiladas, 6 dozen oatmeal raisin cookies, and a dozen and a half of cranberry orange muffins. Basically, I scored a great deal on ground beef and chicken so I wanted to get it all cooked up and frozen before I forgot about it. And I also found a carton of eggs that was well past expiration and getting to the point of use or toss. Which turned today into a full on cooking/baking day. I'm not sure how many of these I can do but it does feel nice knowing I have some things already ready to go in the freezer for days I just don't feel like cooking. I think I am going to shoot for one of these every other month and see how I do. It'd be great to say I'd do them once a month but I know myself and the reality is it'll be a surprise if it gets done every 2 months.
What do you all do to stay on top of your meals?

Oh and I know you all were wondering where a bump picture is. Sorry, I didn't get to it last week LB is teething and well you know how that goes. I plan on posting this week hopefully. Poor #2 is already getting the shaft on here ;)

Menu Planning {on the cheap #2}

I thought it could be fun to post my dinner meal plans bi-monthly for those who are interested and also for myself to go back and look over when I get in a cooking on the cheap stump. This round I spent $60.92 for 2 weeks of groceries! I spent a little more this round because there was a great deal on cereal and on pop (what do you all call it soda? cola?) for W. I saved about $18 in coupons.The most exciting deal we scored this week was a bag full of peaches from one of our friends peach trees. So delicious and best part free! :)

Day 1: Alfredo, salad and italian bread (I never made it up last round so I had everything on hand)

Day 2: Pizza

Day 3: Orange Chicken Stirfry (we love stirfry!)

Day 4: Chili and bread (I have some chili left in the freezer from our last big cooking day so all I have to do is thaw it and make some bread)

Day 5: Chicken &Noodles with mashed sweet potatoes

Day 6: Chicken drumsticks and sweet potato fries (its a game day that day so we need some football watching food)

Day 7: Vegetable Lasagna (I don't really know if I should call it that because its not really vegetable lasagna its just what I call the lasagna I make where I sneak in lots of healthy veggies and cover it all up with cheese and meat)

Day 8: Calzones (again a staple around here so easy to make so filling and packed full of veggies covered up in tomato sauce and cheese)

Day 9: BBQ Chicken sandwiches with corn and salad (the bbq chicken is  in the freezer so i didn't have to buy anything for this meal except salad)

Day 10: Italian white bean soup (we love soup around here in the fall)

Day 11: leftovers

Day 12: Grilled fish and quinoa (I still have fish in the freezer, our plan is to eat it at least twice a month before buying more)

Day 13: Pot roast

Day 14: Spaghetti with turkey meatballs and salad

How are you all doing with menu planning? Do you menu plan? If so, for how long at a time? I have found that 2 weeks is about the most I can plan out at once. That way none of the vegetables I buy go bad before I get to them and I am not stuck using the same things over and over. Sales tend to change about every 2 weeks so this way I get a whole new pick of foods for our menu.

Menu Planning {on the cheap}

I have been trying to get better at menu planning and wise couponing, as in I only use coupons for things we need. I have started planning out meals for 2 weeks at a time and shopping accordingly. Although, if there is a great sale on meat on one of the off weeks I still go and stock up. I went shopping yesterday and only spent $48.01 on all our groceries for 2 weeks...including fruits and milk! I saved about $12 in coupons and planned my menu around the best deals that week at the store. There are a few things that I already had on hand for the menu but for the most part I bought all the main ingredients for most meals. Here is our menu:

Sunday: Butternut Squash Soup (I bought the squash {$8 for a giant one that will make 3 soups} at the farmer's market last weekend and roasted it up then cubed it and froze it to use when needed)

Monday: Roasted Chicken and Okra (the okra is from W's Grandparents garden so that part of the meal is free, plus I had some chicken {I bought for $.59/lb a month ago bone-in skin-on chicken breast} in the deep freeze so I paid nothing this week for this meal)

Tuesday: Calzones (this has become a staple in our house. This week I had to buy flour, cheese, and sauce for them the rest of the ingredients I had on hand or in our garden)

Wednesday: Pumpkin Curry Soup (I bought the pumpkin at the farmer's market last weekend, it was $4 for a good sized pumpkin)

Thursday: Stirfry (again a staple around here. Had to buy a big bag of rice this week and bought some chicken which was on sale for $1.59/lb...great deal)

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: We will be gone for dinner so no plan here

Sunday: Spaghetti (a few months back I spent a whole day making and canning sauce, so now we have jars on hand for whenever we need them, I did have to buy noodles though this week)

Monday: Crock-pot BBQ chicken sandwiches and corn (again bought chicken for $1.59/lb and bbq sauce have the buns and corn in the freezer)

Tuesday: Macaroni and Cheese (had to buy the cheese and noodles)

Wednesday: Crock-pot pork tacos (bought the pork for $1.99/lb and the taco shells everything else I have on hand)

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Grilled fish and broccoli (have both these items on hand in the deep freeze...stocked up a fish a few months back when it was on sale for a great price)

Saturday: Chicken noodle soup and homemade french bread (have all the ingredients on hand at home to make this)

Sunday: Alfredo and homemade french bread (had to buy cream, have everything else on hand)

A couple things I've learned menu planning is:

• Always check your freezer and pantry before making a grocery list.
• When planning meals out think of what meals you will make that can be easily doubled or tripled for leftovers or the freezer (I do this with the bbq chicken, pork taco meat, and some soups)
• If you see a great deal on a certain meat, stock up and plan meals around that, or freeze extra.
• Spend some time double checking store deals and coupons to make sure you have all you need before heading to the store.
• Shop sales and for in-season fruits and vegetables.
• Cook ahead. I do this with the calzones or any meat I will use shredded that week. I also pre-cut vegetables ahead of time if I can.
• Buy yogurt with coupons and stock up on double coupon days so you have it for awhile.

Wanted to also note for breakfast we do a lot of cereal, oatmeal, or yogurt and granola. They are fairly cheap and often you can use coupons and sales to stock up on cereal for less than .50 cents a box. Lunches we do leftovers, pasta w/tomatoes from the garden, or grilled cheese sandwiches.  I do buy fruit too. On this last trip I bought 2 large bunches of bananas (for $.39/lb) and a large bag of apples (for $.99/lb), I bought some grapes last week for $1.19/lb so we still have those on hand. I also have some pear and apple sauce frozen from our last big make ahead day. I also try to make up homemade cookies for snacks at least once a week. They are great for hubby's lunchbox and for pick-me-ups throughout the day, other than that we don't really have snacks beside fruits, vegetables, and yogurt or if I make up homemade wheat-thins.

Anything else you guys wanted to know? Or any tips you have that I may have missed?