Need help with Menu planning

I just plan certain meals that we always seem to eat. Put them on a monthly blank calendar.

Monday–Mexican– I switch this with echiladas,ect..every other week. I also add black beans or red beans to make it go farther. Great for larger families.

Tues–Italian– Usually spegetti with garlic bread and carrots, every other week Lasagna or Manacotti. If we are on a tight budget just plain speghetti and carrots.

Wed.– Chinese– Usually some sort of stir fry. My DH usually makes this. He is better at it. 🙂

Thur. — Soup night– Potato one week, Onion another, Veggie, Chicken & Dumplins, alternate Chili and others are planned if we have Turkey leftover or some other thing we don’t want to go bad.

Fri– Family Night/Movie Night– Pizza, Chicken nuggets, popcorn ect..

Sat– Sandwiches or Left overs or I make a Turkey, Beef, Ham, Chicken to last the weekend on Friday. Then, we eat on that for the weekend. I have found this cuts down on the waisted food.

Sunday– Husband usually makes Rice, bacon, and eggs for breakfast. Sandwiches for lunch unless he decides on chili because it has been awhile.  

Every once in a while I will make something like a pasta salad or something else for the weekend or we may decide to grill out. Then I make extra and that is our lunches. We usually make extra Lasagna, soup, ect. and eat that for lunch the next day or two that way we don’t have to plan for those. If I don’t have left overs then I put on some noodles for the kids. Sometimes I will open a couple of cans of tomato sauce and season them and add the noodles to the soup. This takes care of most lunches

For breakfast–Usually eggs, egg sandwich, chicken burrito, oatmeal, cream of wheat, Grape nuts on a quick morning, and occasionally bagels or muffins. This all depend on our scedule Fridays are usually our quick morning. I try to alternate but if someone wants something simple then I usually let them have it. My son usually has left over pizza for breakfast on Sat. if there is any.. 🙂

I wrote it down and put it on the fridge in a plastic sheet protector. I put 5 weeks instead of 4 because our calendars sometimes has the full month and sometimes it doesn’t. This way I could put in my less desirable foods at the end of the month like Ham. Then I don’t have to eat it all weekend but my husband gets it once in awhile. Then we have cheesy ham and potatoes on the weekend and ham and been soup with the bone. We also have ham sandwiches most of the weekend. Same with turkey except I put it down for the second week because it gets ate up faster. 🙂  

I hope this helps. It helped me put it together more when I put it on a peice of paper. I just drew 7 boxes across and 5 boxes down. I am not that savy with a computer program so I just drew the lines with a ruler. It seems to help my husband see what we are having too. He likes to cook and if I am busy with one of the kids he jumps right in and helps out.   Good Luck and Blessings…

Vegetable soup.  Beans and cornbread. Veggie chili. Grilled cheese sandwiches w/ or w/o a mug of homemade broth. Salad with LOTS of toppings such as pecans or walnuts, avocado, cheese, mandarin oranges, dried cranberries, and homemade dressing made with olive oil. Spaghetti w/ a meatless sauce. Fettucine Alfredo. Nachos w/ beans, cheese, guacamole, sour cream, and homemade salsa. Bean and cheese tostadas. Bean and cheese burritos. Red beans and rice. Rice and vegetable pilaf. Eggplant parmesan.

One caution about eating meat-less though: our bodies need certain vitamins that are only found and absorbable from meat (ie. A, D, K, B12). It is wise to cut grocery costs by eating less meat, but including some meat is necessary (in my opinion) so that our bodies are getting these vitamins as well as complete protein. If you include homemade bone broth as a regular part of your meals, you can get away with a lot less meat eating. If not, you’re getting all your energy and calories from carbs, which aren’t going to last you as long as good meat and fats, such as tallow, coconut oil, and butter.

I’m all about eating less meat, but in my opinion, you can’t cut all animal products out completely or the diet is severely lacking. Just my two cents though!

Blessings!

Lindsey