Several of my favorite bloggers post a menu plan every week, and for whatever reason I find it fascinating to get that little glimpse into their lives. Since I already plan my meals every week I thought I’d give sharing them a try!
For all I love couponing and finding a good markdown at the grocery store, I’ve honestly found that planning my meals out for the week makes the biggest impact on my grocery budget. I sit down every weekend and look at our calendar for the week to figure out if any of our meals are covered by an event or gathering. I also take into account what I have going at work or otherwise in the evenings when I decide how involved of a recipe to choose for a given night. Then I take stock of what I’ve got on hand in the pantry, fridge, and freezer and see what ideas I come up with. Then, I check out Pinterest and my recipe binder to fill in the blanks. With tabs open to every recipe, I make my grocery list from the ingredients, using this time to also double check if I have any required staples (flour, various spices, etc.) This is backwards from how most couponers will tell you to do it (make your plan based on your grocery store’s weekly ad), but it works for me.
You’ll notice I’ve only planned out dinners. After years of breakfast ADD, I’ve settled on a bowl of cereal, a hard boiled egg, and some type of fruit every morning, so I just make sure I have all of those things on hand. Andy eats breakfast at work. Lunch is usually leftovers, but if I know I’ve got a dinner planned that won’t leave much for the next day, I make sure to have bread and lunch meat around.
So, without further ado, this week’s plan!
Sunday
leftover chicken enchilada casserole
sliced avocado
steamed broccoli
via Live Better America
Monday
sesame tofu
green beans
sauteed chard (The chard has just looked so beautiful at the grocery store lately!)
via Use Real Butter
Tuesday white bean burgers with creamy cucumbers* frozen mixed vegetables
Wednesday loaded potato soup (Imagine Brand, found on closeout at Kroger) stuffed mushrooms (leftover from a recipe last week) cut up vegetables
Thursday
“souper” pork chop in the Crockpot* (with one large pork chop that I found on Manager’s Special)
brown rice
salad
via Plain Chicken
Friday frozen fish on cheese grits (recipe courtesy of Brad Chaires, aka Daddy…his handwritten recipe proclaims, “These are great grits!” and warns to add the grits slowly as they will speed O2 release causing a rapid release of bubbles - i.e. will boil over!) succotash with frozen corn and lima beans
Saturday
cheese quesadillas
Southwestern chopped salad with cilantro dressing*
via The Garden Grazer
P.S. An asterisk indicates a new recipe for me. I tend to rarely make the same thing twice! P.P.S. Pictures not my own. Credit for the picture and recipe indicated in link below each one.
So there you have it! A week’s worth of at-home eating. Let me know if you like this feature and I’ll try to do it more regularly!
