Friday, January 8, 2010

Meal Plan/Grocery List: January 10th Weekly Edition

Creating this new meal planning/ grocery list feature of Sharpen Your Scissors is a work in progress! I am planning to continually add recipes and pictures... this should be fun! Please bear with me for the first couple of weeks while I am getting myself up and running!

Sunday
Pot of the Week (*POW): Mashed Potato Soup

Monday
Grilled Chicken, salad and green beans

Tuesday
Tacos and refried beans

Wednesday
Red Beans & Rice and salad

Thursday
Chicken Pot Pie and Salad

Friday
Grilled hamburgers, side veggie,? and a salad

Saturday
Off the Hook Night: This is my floating night off from cooking,
we will either eat leftovers or go out to eat!

*Disclaimer:
I give myself (and you too) permission to swap meals during the week!

*POW: The idea behind having a Pot of the Week is to have something yummy for dinner on Sunday's that can be (effortlessly/brainlessly) cooked all day in my crock pot. Then, we can either enjoy the pot's contents for lunches during the week, or freeze the leftovers for later consumption.

Grocery List:


Meat
*2 Pounds of Ground Beef (1 pound for the burgers and 1 pound for the tacos)
*Enough chicken breasts to grill for your family
*Bacon (1 package, cook and crumble, 1/2 for the Mashed Potato soup and 1/2 for the Red Beans and Rice)
*1-2 cups of shredded chicken for the Chicken Pot Pies
*1 package of Kielbasa

Dairy
*1 cup of Cheddar Cheese (to use as toppings for the Mashed Potato soup and the Tacos)
* 1 tub of sour cream (topping for the Mashed Potato soup and Tacos)
*1 Refrigerated pie crust (for the Pot Pie... I use just a top crust!)
*1 stick of butter (Mashed Potato soup)
*1 block of cream cheese (Mashed Potato soup)

Packaged
* 1 Packet of Taco seasoning
* 1 Package of taco shells
*1 Box of white rice (you'll just need 2 packets of the rice)

Canned
*1 Can of kidney beans (for the Red Beans and Rice)
*1 Can of diced tomatoes (for the Red Beans and Rice)
*1 Can of refried beans (for Taco night!)

Frozen
*1 Bag of frozen mixed veggies (Pot Pie)
*1 Package of frozen green beans (side dish for grilled chicken, could use canned)
*2 Packages of frozen corn (for the Mashed Potato soup, or you could use 3-4 cans)

Fresh
*Lettuce
*Your personal favorite salad toppings
*Salad dressing (try my favorite salad dressing)
*carrots for shredding (Mashed Potato soup)
*10 pound bag of potatoes (Mashed Potato Soup)

Other
*1 package of Hamburger buns
*Marinade or BBQ sauce (for the grilled chicken)


Assuming You Have On Hand:

*Hot sauce (to kick up the tacos and Red Beans & Rice)
*Ketchup & mustard

***To see all of the recipes (and more) featured at Sharpen Your Scissors in an easy to navigate format, please visit clipandcook.blogspot.com.

Confession: I have never tried to meal plan (unless we are taking food up north on vacation) in my life... I've strived to stick to my meal plan- but it just isn't how I 'work!' Naturally, if left to my own defences, I will just sift through our pantry and our freezer and just pick something to make, or Dave and I will just pick something that we are in the mood for. Meal planning (and sticking to it) is tricky... any advice?

9 comments:

KSweatland

I write my monthly meal menu on a white board calendar that is on the front of our fridge. That way I know what meat I need to place in the fridge the night before. My kids (& their friends) love to see what we are having in the days to come. Of course its easy to change a meal around because it wipes right off! It also helps me plan well in advance so I can watch for super deals on needed items!

Laura Webber

Hmm, maybe I should print my meal plan and hang it on the fridge...

Theresa

I tried to do a night-by-night meal plan, but wound up frustrated. Now what I do is plan five meals for the week but allow myself to be flexible as to which day I prepare which dish. I do hang them on the fridge, though...kind of like a menu! :)

Anonymous

I do the same as Theresa. I used to label the days of the week on the back of my computer-generated shopping list and try to stick with it, but if we didn't feel like what I had planned, or didn't have the time to make it on that day, I would get frustrated. Now I just plan 4 or 5 meals (not 6 or 7 because of leftovers) and decide what I want to make each night. I do try to make the recipes that require ground meat or chicken (so they don't expire) earlier in the week and save the egg dishes or sausage dishes until later in the week. I also write it out and put it on the fridge.

I am terrible about not pulling something out of the freezer the night before so now I just don't freeze much, and that's a shame because I see how much can be made and frozen. I go to the store (Hillers usually) for meat once or twice a week so it's fresh, but I should try to freeze meat again. I'll just tie a string around my finger! lol

PAM

Anonymous

I have found making a "weekly" meal plan works for me. I put 7 post it notes on the fridge with my meals. In the morning, whatever I feel like is what I will have that night, I can pull ingredients to thaw as needed.
I saw on your list you had taco seasoning. I just went to Meijer and they accepted the .75 cent coupon for McCormicks spices on taco seasoning, it was FREE!

BTW: I spent 38 dollars and got:
6- juicy juicy (64 oz each)
4- box cheerios
8- Kelloggs cereal
6- 1/2 gallon's milk
Ziploc bags
strawberries
blackberries
2-oreda hashbrowns
3- taco seasonings
3- cans soup
2- big cans tomato juice
2- cans diced tomatoes
1- febreeze refill
1- buddy bar soap
2- packets tuna salad
1- box pasta
1-bag crackers
I am way excited!

Laura Webber

These are sincerely helpful ideas! Thank you so much! And to the previous grocery goodies poster- YAY YOU!!! Way to shop hard!

Carrie

I am such a meal-planning flunkie. I tried it, but my husband didn't seem enthused about having it all planned out...you know...what if he doesn't "feel like" a given meal?

So, each week I buy for my stockpile, buy meat if it's on sale, and then look and see what I have. I love stockpiling because I have so many options! I cook Sunday for Monday. Tuesday Dave cooks since he's home Tuesday. Wednesday I'm home and I figure something out that morning. Thursday is frequently frozen pizza or leftovers, and I plan Friday evening on Friday morning. It seems like, as long as I can get Monday prepped on Sunday night, the rest of the week sort of flows.

That's my "system!"

Laura Webber

Hi Carrie,
Yep, that's a similar 'system' to mine! I wish I wasn't struggling with this meal planning...

Anonymous

Okay, my kids tell me I'm Obsessive/Compulsive. I've been following a monthly, Publisher calendar menu format for two years. I have three years worth of menus (by month) on my computer (2010 menu by month is DONE!) My kids regularly look at the menu that is posted on the refrigerator to see what is for dinner. To top it off, I have a "menu" blackboard in our kitchen hall so that I never have to answer the age-old question, "What's for dinner?" Guess this keeps me on the straight and narrow at the grocery store.
Marilyn