My Weekly Meal Plan

Here is what we are eating this month... Excluding holidays, I tend to shop on Sundays so I started my weekly meal plan on December 29.

I am back to planning a detailed meal plan for 2 week blocks. I tend to have enough left overs for lunch the next day. We even have the same meal again later in the week. Eliminating food waste is an important step to saving money. However, I am guilty of throwing away too much food and am working on being mindful of what I buy.

How To Start Meal Planning:

1. Check what's in the refrigerator/freezer and pantry: I count how many meals I can make out of what is left and subtract that from 14. The number remaining is how many meals I have to shop for.
2. Look at the Sales Flyers: I plan the remaining meals around what is on sale.
3. Look for Coupons: I also look for coupons when planning our meals.
4. What's on the Calendar: If there nights that are filled with meetings, events, practices, etc. I plan an easy meals or one that can be heated up quickly.
5. Pick your favorites: I have a few recipes that I can rotate throughout each 2 week plan that I know most everyone will eat.

My Weekly Meal Plan for the week of December 29

Sunday: Spaghetti & Meatballs & Veggie Meatballs for myself
Monday: Left over turkey (from the freezer) with potatoes
Tuesday: Domincan White Rice
Wednesday: Baked Taquitos
Thursday: Vegetarian Chili in the slow cooker
Friday: Fridge Friday (eating the left overs)
Saturday:Take-out Pizza from IKEA ($7.00 ea. with the Ikea Family Card)

My Potatoes
My Grandmother used to heat up left over mashed potatoes in a skillet until they were golden brown. I adapted this recipe one summer when I had an abundance of chives in a container garden. I use a variety of potatoes from fingerling to red. For this meal, I had a few red and russet potatoes left from Christmas Day dinner.

Steam potatoes until tender
Melt 1-2 TBSP of butter in a large skillet.
Add steamed potatoes.
Brown potatoes until golden brown.
Salt and pepper.
Remove from heat.
Add chives, parsely, or parmesan.
Stir gently to coat potatoes.

My Weekly Meal Plan for the Week of January 5

Sunday: Beef Stew in the slow cooker & Lentil Soup for myself
Monday: Spaghetti with Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower adapted from this recipe or Spaghetti with Grilled Chicken, baguette, and a salad
Tuesday: Left Overs (stew, soup, and or pasta)
Wednesday: Annie's Mac n Cheese with Monday's cauliflower and a salad.
Thursday: Scrambled Eggs & Toast/Lentil Soup
Friday: Rice and Refried Beans with Peppers
Saturday: Pizza

Meals with black beans will be prepared using my absolute favorite recipe. This base recipe yields the equivalent of 4 cans of black beans. While they are flavorful as is, I do season the beans when I use them in different recipes. They freeze well in old Talenti containers I stocked up on last summer.

My Weekly Meal Plan for the Week of January 12

Sunday: Hamburgers & Veggie Burgers
Monday: Lasagna Roll Ups
Tuesday: Lemon Pepper Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, and Roasted Broccoli
Wednesday: Annie's Mac n Cheese with Roasted Broccoli and Chicken Caesar Salad from Costco
Thursday: Left Overs
Friday: Trader Joe's Take-Out (Mandarin Chicken, Dumplings, and Rice)
Saturday: Take Out from C-Town

My Weekly Meal Plan for the Week of January 19

Sunday: Left Overs
Monday: Spaghetti & Salad
Tuesday: Cauliflower Bites*, Rice, & Roasted Broccoli
Wednesday: Black Beans and Rice Tacos
Thursday: Chili
Friday: Homemade Pizza (I used this recipe for the crust. My middle son said it looked like our local pizzeria's pizza!!)
Saturday: Left Over Chili (Kids had pizza at the Y)

My Weekly Meal Plan for the Week of January 26

Sunday: Chicken, Rice, and Beans
Monday: Spaghetti with Parmesan Crusted Cauliflower adapted from this recipe or Spaghetti with Grilled Chicken, baguette, and a salad and left over Chicken from Sunday
Tuesday: Cauliflower Bites* w/ Brown Rice and Roasted Cauliflower for 2, Tortilla Pizza, for 1, and Scrambled Eggs w/ Toast for 2
Wednesday: Annie's Mac n Cheese w/ Kale Salad
Thursday: Ground Meatless Meat w/ Peanut Sauce, Veggie Potstickers, Green Beans, and Brown Rice. Ground Beef for the kids (some of them).
Friday: Homemade Pizza (Here is the recipe for the crust).
Saturday: Breakfast for Dinner???

* I picked these up at Costco when they were on sale.
They are very good baked in the oven using the following Aldi Find: