Weekly Menu Plan

Monday:  Roasted Sausages with Apples, Potatoes & Cider Cream Sauce, Green Salad

Tuesday:  Broiled Halibut with Ginger-Lime Butter, Basmati Rice, Green Salad

Wednesday:  Spaghetti, Green Salad

Thursday:  Parmesian Risotto

Friday:  Homemade Pizza

Saturday:  Dinner Out


Erika

Dinner Ideas

Whether you've found yourself in the same ole' same dinner routine or you're like me and constantly trying new recipes, I think we can all use some dinner time inspiration once in a while. I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite places to get menu ideas.

• allrecipies.com


• foodnetwork.com
  
• A Year of Slow Cooking


• Fred Meyers - Fresh Ideas
  
  

I've found that menu planning is one of those things that gets easier the more you practice it. I started forcing myself to start doing it about nine months ago, as I was getting ready to have my third baby. For me, cooking ahead type menu planning would never work. Our family doesn't eat those kind of meals, plus like I said above, I like trying new things!

Menu planning has helped make staying within my grocery budget easier, I waste less food and helps my days go a little smoother since I have a plan for dinner already in place.

Erika

Weekly Grocery Savings

Fred Meyer Shopping

I was pleasantly surprised to find such great deals on Organic food at Fred Meyers today. I couldn't believe how many items I found for clearance. If you want to know prices on items or where to find a coupon please leave a comment and I can tell you. Also, I got the Laura Lean (Organic) Beef on clearance & was able to use that $1 printable here!

Total before coupons: $54.23

After Fred Meyer In-ad Coupons & Manufacturer coupons: $37.09!

Portland Fruit Co.

I love Portland Fruit Co. and their great costumer service. They don't always have Organic but sometimes they do. The manager was kind enough to give me 4 bundles of Basil he was going to throw out.

All this for: $13.15!

With the food I bought today will be for my menu this week and next. Here are a couple of highlights of what I will be making this week. BTW, this is a step up for me to actually plan and make new meals.

Christina's Menu Plan

Tuesday (tonight) : Asian Chicken Wraps $5 Dinner Mom! + salad!
Wednesday: Crockpot Thai Curry + salad.
Thursday: Red Lentil Dhal (Vegan) FM Naturally Preferred Mag.
Friday: Rice Noodles with Chicken + salad.
Saturday: Rachel & Felicity's Minestrone (Vegan) FM Naturally Preferred Mag.
Sunday: Meatballs & Pasta! +salad.

Also, I love to make PW's Pizza dough but I cook it at 375 degrees for 17-20 minutes. I can use all these fresh veggies, chicken I bought today, and Cheese from the Fred Meyer Kraft Promo this last Sunday to make healthy Pizza that is not expensive!

Christina

Monday Menu Plan

Here's my attempt at planning the meals for the week. Since I am new to this, I am only planning three meals ahead of time.

Monday - Ministroni soup, french bread

Tuesday - Caribbean Peanut Chicken, steamed broccoli

Thursday - Rice Noodles w/ Tofu Coconut Milk Sauce

Erika

This Weeks Meal Plan

Here's my meal plan for the week. I am hoping I can stick to it. I've been having the worst time forcing myself to eat anything I have to prepare in the last couple weeks. Everything just looks bad to me! Makes it hard to make things ahead of time because by the time they are made, I don't want them anymore. Okay, I'm done whining now.... So here's what I am hoping to make this week:

Monday - Salad rolls with sausage instead of shrimp. That's how I've had it at a Vietnamese restaurant, and I don't think I can do shrimp right now.

Wednesday - Turkey Cutlets in Mango Salsa - I will be substituting chicken breasts for the turkey and peaches for the mangoes, but you get the idea!

Thursday - Crock Pot Indian Curry with rice - We are having a birthday party for Journey, so I think this will work well for a big group.

Erika

Recipe Inspiration

Just a quick update on the meal planning post a day or so ago. I tried this crock pot soup on Friday night. It was awesome! Journey and I loved it over rice. She thought the tofu was cheese and ate it right up. My son is super picky and won't eat rice with anything but butter, but I did sneak a little soup liquid on top of his rice and he didn't seem to notice. I've been trying to increase his taste tolerance in sneaky ways!

I work two days this week so it will be my goal to make a crock pot meal on those days. I don't get home til dinner time, and it's a lot to ask of my husband to watch the kids (one day) and drop off and pick them up on the other day. My plan for tomorrow's dinner is this one. I'll let you all know what we thought of it, and what the plan for Wednesday's crock pot meal will be. I think this crock pot blog is my new favorite place for meal ideas!

Erika

Meal Planning

First off, I just want to say that I suck at meal planning. Yes, I stay at home with my kids, I'm pretty scheduled at least with nap times and bed times, but I just can't get meal planning done! It's very frustrating. I've tried tons of times. I think I must be organizationally challenged...
It's been even worse since I've been pregnant. Most nights I really don't want to cook, and up until my husband started his Atkins diet, he was cooking for us (now he cooks his meal & I cook for me and the kids).

Well, today I ran across this blog. Maybe many of you have already seen it, but it's a blog chronicling 365 days of cooking with the crock pot. I'm inspired! I love how the recipes are labeled for the type of food and also critiqued. I may have to try some coconut milk soup tonight(I love Asian foods). I generally feel the best in the morning, so maybe I'll make a goal for myself to menu plan for the crock pot two times a week. That doesn't sound like a terribly hard goal does it? I'll let you all know how it goes.

I've also had the worst time motivating myself to do any real grocery shopping or coupon shopping of any kind. I hit 10 weeks today, so hopefully in the next 3-4 weeks I'll be feeling more like myself again.

Erika