Nontraditional Meal Plan

A lot of people, really organized people, that I know make a weekly meal plan. I've tried and tried to do this but found that my Achilles heal is that as soon as something comes up to change the plan (a dinner invite at the in-laws for example) my plan seems to fly out the window. I think I have finally found a solution though. I make a list of what meals we would like in the near future using what I already have in the pantry, fridge, and freezer as a guide. I then make a grocery list consisting of everything else I need to make these meals. To make it even easier to remember what I was thinking in the first place I put a list on the fridge of all the meals I now have all the ingredients for (using dry-erase stuff) and I can erase the meal as I make it. This allows for much easier adaptations when plans change and if we don't feel like something I have a ready-made list of ideas of stuff we already have. I tried to include meals that don't require something to be thawed in case it really is a last minute change. Once we've eaten through this list I will make a new one.

Here is my meal list. Not everything is from scratch or super healthy, but it has to be better for us than ordering a pizza from Casey's!

French dip sandwiches
Asian chicken "stir-fry" pizza
Chili and cheese on baked potatoes
Pepperoni pizzadillas with marinara for dipping- I'll have to blog this one when I make them. So good!
Homemade chicken nuggets and baked beans
Simple soaked pancakes and bacon - pancake recipe from Laura's blog here
Marvelous mini meatloaves - Italian style this time from Kraft foods here
Asian hamburger helper in Mongolian beef flavor - I decided to try this because Glenn loves Mongolian flavor and I decided that one hamburger helper wouldn't kill us.
Chicken Voila - yes, it's a frozen meal but we actually eat all the vegetables so I don't feel too bad.
I was also going to make rice crab cakes, but stupid Wally didn't have any of the crab I wanted so it will have to wait!

So I have ten meals for which I have everything I need already in the house. It's a nice feeling and it's really nice to look in the fridge and it's not empty!
The only problem I have had with this is that I forget that we don't always have enough leftovers for both Glenn and I to have lunch so I need to buy some lunch stuff too. I did remember at the last minute last night so we won't starve at lunch time for this week anyway.

Comments

Anonymous said…
It appears that you are getting too darn good at thia housewife stuff;Good for you .Itwill certainly pay off as the years pass.Love you!!Grandma

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