Sunday, January 11, 2009

1/12/09 Menu Plan

Ok, on to week 2 of using a menu plan!! Last week was terrific and made my life so much easier. As one commenter pointed out, the menu plan helps in actually making stuff ahead of time so it's ready and there's no last minute stress on getting things together. The boys continued to be ruled by the planner for the whole week, so hardly any complaining. Which, frankly, is a minor miracle as far as I'm concerned.

I'm currently suffering from a very congested head so I hope that my current plan doesn't fall apart in actually doing it. We'll just have to see. I'm not thinking the clearest right now. I do know that Monday's snack #2 will be on the road. Wednesday I plan on taking leftover drumsticks, carrots and the granola bars with us on the road for munching, but also know that we will be hitting McD's in the afternoon due to several errands I'm running that day (and i'm meeting someone there so pretty much have to plan a meal there ;D).

Last week's make-aheads included getting the crock pot going the night before for the oatmeal, leftover homemade bread for the french toast casserole, preparing the tuna salad sandwiches while preparing breakfast so they were ready for our lunch out (same day as the nature walk---that worked out wonderfully well!), and muffins made ahead of time. Also, I'm able to see what needs to be thawed from the freezer in plenty of time to use it and marinate if I so desire.

This week I'll make ahead bread, muffins, thaw bagels for Friday's breakfast, thaw this week's meat. Pancakes are already made for tomorrow's breakfast.

Here's the outline for this week:

Monday:
B-pancakes
S-smoothie
L-pb & j sandwiches
S-cheese n crackers
D-bratwurst, cabbage, potatoes, salad

Tuesday:
B-hot cereal
S-carrots
L-tuna sandwiches
S-yogurt
D-chicken drumsticks/veggie/rice

Wednesday:
B-cereal
S-fruit
L-eat out
S-granola bars
D-lamb shoulder/rice/veggie/salad

Thursday:
B-eggs/bacon/english muffins
S-muffins
L-hot dogs
S-rice cakes/pb
D-shepards pie

Friday:
B-bagels/cream cheese
S-muffins
L-cheese tortillas
S-hot tea/biscotti or cookie
D-lasagna/salad

3 comments:

live4evermom said...

I love reading your menu posts. I will eventually get to doing our menus.

Julie said...

I love the idea of even planning snacks. That would keep me from random grocery shopping! i think for me, even planning ahead the month simply as; monday crockpot meal, tuesday pizza or pasta, wednesday gr. beef etc. Then week by week assigning actual food....... you've got me thinking!

hicksgirl93 said...

Okay, so im a big copycat! After reading your posts about the menu planning, I did some planning myself. I have our breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks all planned out for this week. It has worked out well (so far). It certainly does keep things simple and keeps the budget in control. Im gonna start my make ahead meals and freezing them again now too. Thanks for getting me back on this routine again.