Menu Plan for the week of June 5 to June 12 and some updates.

A few updates first...my bipolar disorder recently went to a place that I don't like to be. I am considered to be full blown manic right now. I managed to get an emergency appointment at the doc's on Tuesday and they changed all of my meds. Basically if I am manic and on meds, then said meds were not doing what they were supposed to.

I could use ya'll's prayers.

Damon has decided that it is time for us to go back to church. I would have been going myself, but to be honest, my mental health issues make me paranoid of new people and new places so I cling tight to Damon whenever I am in a new situation.

Please keep us in your prayers that we will be able to find a church home that works for both of us. We are both Baptist, but our views on things differ somewhat and it can make it hard to find a church.

Okay, now to the menu...Some of these are just repeats from last week. When my mind took its little walk, things were kinda messed up so Damon and the monkey child (4 y.o) kinda just grabbed and growled.

Meal #1-Meatloaf, Mashed taters, Mixed Veggies

Meal #2- Garlic Cheddar Chicken (this will be a first for us..will let you know how it turns out), broccoli casserole,

Meal #3- BAS (breakfast at supper) Sausage gravy and biscuits (I only use the gravy recipe posted here, not the biscuits...also, I use regular sausage instead of maple...turns out great!)

Meal # 4- Spaghetti, garlic bread, lettuce wedge with dressing

Meal #5- Hamburgers, french fries, homemade Mac and Cheese (this mac and cheese recipe is awesome!

Meal #6 Lasagna, garlic bread and salad

Meal # 7 Chicken fried steak (also a new recipe for us), fried taters and green beans

Wow, we are trying a lot of new recipes this week! I will let you know how they go.

Do you like to menu plan? Need ideas for getting started? Check out Menu Planning Monday at orgjunkie.com!

Menu Planning Monday

So, since I shop Friday to Thursday, I am late getting this up...ah well, maybe next week will be better.

Here's a quick rundown of the meals planned for this week. I have decided that no meal will have a specific day b/c frankly...I am not that organized yet..lol.

Meal #1-
meatloaf,
fried taters,
veggie

Meal #2-
goulash (we ate this today)
veggie
bread

Meal #3-

Fettucine Alfredo (cheating and using jarred sauce..got it for 1.00 the other day, cheaper than making my own)
Garlic Bread

Meal #4-

Chicken and Homemade noodles
mashed taters
veggie
bread

Meal #5-

BAS (breakfast at supper)
Sausage gravy and homemade biscuits

Meal #6-

Chicken fried rice (this is an awesome recipe that can be adapted to use chicken, pork or beef...use your best judgement on the soy sauce tho...)

Meal #7

Herb Rubbed pork chops (will post my recipe after I figure out exactly how much of each spice I use)
veggie
sweet cornbread


Do You Plan A Menu? If so, join us at orgjunkie's Menu Planning Monday. Over 300 ladies post their menus...get great ideas and great new recipes to try!

Menu Planning for week of March 20-26

I haven't planned my menu's in a while and to tell you the truth, we have been eating less and less of a great meal since then..AND my food bill has jumped again.

So here we go again and hopefully this week I can lower that bill again. I have decided tho that I am not going to pin myself down to a certain meal on a certain day.

Dinners:

**Note if it has a 0.00 price it means I already have it. The prices in parenthesis are what I paid or would have paid. Same with the total. Without parenthesis are what I will pay, the ones with are the complete and total of what I did or would have paid.

Meal # 1
Bacon, egg and cheese quesadillas ---BAS night (breakfast at supper night)
Bacon- 1.99 for 1lb deli style bacon
Eggs-6 eggs 0.00 (.50 for 6)
Shredded Cheese-0.00 (.99 on sale)
Tortillas-1.49

Total for meal- 3.48 (4.98)

Meal # 2
Spaghetti-
Hamburger-0.00 (1.69lb)
Spaghetti Noodles-.89 (sale buy)
Spaghetti Sauce-0.00 (.88 sale)
Mushrooms-1.00

Total For Meal-1.89 (4.46)

Meal #3
Beef Stew over Buttermilk biscuits
Beef Stew-0.00 (3.49)
Biscuits-2.38 dzn

Total for Meal 2.38 (5.87)
1..89+
Meal #4

Hot dogs, Mac and Cheese, green beans

Hot dogs-.89
buns-.99
mac and cheese 0.00 ( .50 sale buy)
green beans-0.00 (.49)

Total for meal-1.88 (2.87)

Meal #5

Chicken Noodle Soup-will freeze half

Chicken-0.00 (2.49 for whole)
Chicken broth-0.00 (bought it cause I needed it for something else and didn't use it) (5.00)
Noodles-2.00
carrots-0.00 (.69)
celery-1.19

Total for meal-3.19 (11.37)
Total divided by two since I am freezing half- 1.60 (5.68)


Meal # 6

Hamburger Stronganoff

Hamburger 0.00 (1.69)
Onion Soup mix 0.00 (1.19)
Cream of mushroom soup-0.00 (.50)
sour cream 0.00 (.88 sale)
onion-.33
egg noodles-1.00

Total for meal 1.33 (5.59)


Hmmm....can I really feed the family 6 dinners for under 20.00? We shall see. Wish me luck.

Menu Planning Monday

Okay, I'm late...lol

Feb 10-taco bake
Feb 11-chili and cornbread
Feb 12-pork chops
Feb 13- fried chicken (anyone got a good recipe for fc? I am bored with mine.)
Feb 14- loaded cheeseburgers
Feb 15- meatloaf
Feb 16- spaghetti

Last weeks menu went fairly well. There was a night where we didn't follow the menu due to leftovers, but other than that. The menu's and cooking dinner seem to be falling into line. YAY!

Want some awesome menu planning ideas? Then check out Menu Planning Monday at Organized Junkie!

Ah-CHOO!

Anyone else sick? I seem to be coming down with the flu...and at such a fantastic time too. Please send up a quick prayer for me if you would. I am sure that you all know that when mom is down, the whole house can fall apart real quick.

I have managed to plan out not only this week's menu, but the month's menu. This is awesome for me, because I now know what I will be shopping for in 3 weeks so if I happen to see a great sale, I can go ahead and grab it (like with the sirloin roast last week).

Here we go.

Feb 3--beef stew and biscuits
Feb 4--chicken fried rice-
Feb 5--breakfast at supper (biscuits and gravy)
Feb 6--bean and bacon soup
Feb 7--tuna casserole
Feb 8--Dh's b-day! Lasagna (His fav meal)
Feb 9--fish and chips
Feb 10-taco bake
Feb 11-chili and cornbread
Feb 12-pork chops
Feb 13- fried chicken (anyone got a good recipe for fc? I am bored with mine.)
Feb 14- loaded cheeseburgers
Feb 15- meatloaf
Feb 16- spaghetti
Feb 17- chinese night (prolly general tso's or something)
Feb 18- burritos
Feb 19- ham and augratin potatoes
Feb 20- take out night (prolly pizza)
Feb 21- fish and chips
Feb 22- baked chicken (again...recipe? I don't think I even have one cause I usually don't fix it this way)
Feb 23- lasagna
Feb 24- taco bake
Feb 25- chili and cornbread
Feb 26- pot roast
Feb. 27- meatloaf'
Feb- 28- breakfast at supper (biscuits and gravy)

I will do the sides as I go..lol. And yes, I know I have no nights for leftovers...thats because we eat them for lunch...if we happen to have any left over for dinner too, then the menu plan is just pushed back a day.

Lastly, I would like to ask you all to keep my daughter in your thoughts and prayers. To make a really long story short, she and I come from a really bad life before I met my husband. Homeless more times than I can count, going hungry, living with people who hated us, etc. I will tell the story one day (its a great testiment of God's great love and power), but today isn't that day. She is having a really hard time adjusting to life as it is now...with a loving family, a stable roof over her head, food in her belly, clothes on her back, etc. She hasn't been saying much to me, but instead has been opening up to her teacher.

That is fine with me...at least someone is able to get into that little head. (This is my 4 year old we are talking about here, not my 17 yo stepdaughter). She just needs a bit of prayer and I would really appreciate it if you all would join me in doing so.

Thanks all and have a great day!

Menu Planning for week of 1-23 to 1-29

Okay...so last weeks menu's got kinda all clustered about. The good part is that while we may not have eaten every meal on the menu or we may have shifted days, we didn't buy anything or fix anything that wasn't on that list. There were a couple of nights where we ended up not being home at dinner so I was actually up 2 meals for this week that I didn't have to buy.


Here's the plan for next week.





Date Lunch Dinner
January 24 grilled cheese, tomato soup baked spaghetti, salad, homemade breadsticks
January 25 hot dogs, mac and cheese taco bake
January 26 leftover buffet chicken and brocolli alfredo
January 27, soup and sandwiches beef and noodles, green beans, mashed potatoes
January 28, chicken nuggets, lipton side pork chops, augratin potatoes, green beans, applesauce
January 29 grab and growl meatloaf, mixed veggies, mashed potatoes

We shall see how it goes.

In other news, went shopping today. Spent over 100.00 again this week...I really hope I can get it back down some here soon. Did manage to get a few good deals tho and one happy dance deal..lol.

The lowered my cat's wet food from .85 for one to 2/.85. Yes we feed him an offbrand, but I was still shocked at that much of a price drop. Oh well tho, I will be stocking up on it before it rises again.

I got:

Sara Lee brea-1.18 a loaf
milk for 1.46 a gallon with the save 1.00 on milk wyb sara lee bread
breakfast sausage for .99 a roll
Oscar Meyer bacon at 2/5.
Downy fabric softener sheets for1.59 w/ coupon
Ragu for 1.48 ea
80% lean ground beef for 1.49lb...lol, I got 10lbs...
Skippy pb for .99
12 Charmin Big Rolls for 5.88--I know, I could buy cheaper tp but this is my one splurge item, and if you break this price down by roll its the same price as the cheap stuff.

I am going back later to pick up a couple more things of pb since it was limit 2, some more of that sausage, and Carefree pantiliners that they have on sale for .99 I may even pick up another thing of that Charmin since thats such a good price for it. Also gonna have them price match the Walgreens and HyVee ads to get some cheap Dawn and Kleenex.

Yanno, I really miss having coupons for all this stuff.

First day of eating the menu plan-and Mama's Easy Chili Recipe

So chili night went off without a hitch. Yum-O! Took me forever to figure out a chili recipe that didn't taste like tomato soup with beans...lol. If you are interested, here it is. **Note: It is bean heavy.

2 cans tomato sauce
2 cans chili beans
1 can kidney beans (dark or light, your preference)
1 can diced tomatoes
2 lbs ground beef
1 pkge McCormick mild chili seasonings
1 pkge McCormick Tex Mex chili seasoning
1/4-1/2 cup salsa (your preference on kind and flavor)
a little amount of water

Combine sauce and beans in large pot and set to cook on med/low. Brown ground beef and drain almost all of the grease off..leave about 1 tsp in skillet. Add salsa and cook on med for 2 to 3 minutes. Add seasoning packets to the meat. This is important..this is how it gets it flavor. Add the water. I don't know how much because it really depends. You want the meat mixture to be wet, but not sopping. It should turn a dark brownish color and should hold together pretty well when there is enough water in it. Like I said, you don't want it dripping wet, but you don't want it dry either. Cook the seasonings into the meat for 2-3 minutes, then slowly add into tomato mixture. Add by serving spoonful, stirring the mixture well after each. Your tomato mixture will turn a dark reddish, brown color. Bring to a rolling boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until seasonings are mixed in well. Make sure to stir often.

Note: It does have some kick to it, but its not real overwhelming. My 4 year old ate it with no problem. If you like extra kick add some green chiles to it. My husband loves it, even with it being as simple as it is. I am seasoning challenged..lol, so thats why I use the McCormick packets.

Now..the cornbread...lol...taste like Jiffy...lol

• 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
  
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1/3 milk, plus a little extra if its too thick

Combine first 5 ingredients in a bowl, mix well. Whisk in vegetable oil and mix until dry mixture is smooth and lumps are gone <---I could not get the lumps out, so I went ahead with the recipe and made sure it was smooth after adding the egg and milk, turned out great anyhow. Combine mix with egg and milk, mixing well until smooth. Spray 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray and bake at 400 degrees F 15-20 minutes or until done. I doubled the recipe and used a glass 9x13 pyrex dish and it turned out fantastic...not too thin, not too thick.

Also, I put in the part about the extra milk. Made up the way it was, it was waayyy to thick to bake right. I added probably (didn't look) 2 tsp of extra milk, maybe 3 to the batter and mixed in it well. It made it the right consistency and helped it turn out the way it did.

Meal Planning Monday for week of 1/12/09

So I am new to meal planning, but with it being a new year and all, I decided that I would give it a try. I am trying to cut my grocery budget down by A LOT! Currently we spend 150.00 a week for groceries. I am someone who used to coupon avidly but burned out on it...that is WAAAAYYY to extreme.

Sooo...

Here's my first week. I will post the grocery totals on Friday after I do my shopping. My week will go from Friday to Thursday since I do all my shopping on Fridays.


Friday:

Breakfast:scrambled eggs
Lunch: grab and growl
Dinner: chili, homemade cornbread

Saturday:

Breakfast:cereal
Lunch:homemade subs
Dinner: taco salad bowls

Sunday

Breakfast: bacon, egg and cheese biscuits
Lunch: hot dogs, mac and cheese, nachos (football food)
Dinner: beef and noodles, green beans, mashed potatoes


Monday

Breakfast: biscuits and gravy <---I am gravy challenged, so I have to have a recipe. Never tried this one before..will let you know how it turns out. Lunch: chicken nuggets Dinner: meatloaf, mixed veggies, augratin potatoes
Tuesday

Breakfast:biscuits and jam
Lunch: soup, sandwich
Dinner: pork chops, peas, mac and cheese, applesauce


Wednesday

Breakfast: pancakes
Lunch: cheeseburgers, lipton side
Dinner: pizza casserole


Thursday

Breakfast: french toast
Lunch: grilled cheese, tomato soup
Dinner: beef stew and biscuits, corn (the beef stew this week will be canned..lol)