Planning my meals this week (even though they changed) made a world of difference in so many areas. I didn’t worry about food each night, I made one trip to the grocery and I saved so much money doing it that way.
I have found a few planning resources and added them to a tab at the top of the blog under “Meal Planning”, so be sure to check it out. I would love to hear what you do…
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Updates from last week :
Our taste buds wanted something different, so we changed up our meals a little this week. Also, I didn’t do what I told you to do in meal planning, check your calendar!!! We already had plans on Friday night out, so we had a free night!
Monday: Thai Chicken Pizza ( I left a few things off my version that we didn’t have, like sprouts and cucumber, and I just used my pulled chicken from Sat.)
Saturday : Homemade Pizza w/ homemade sauce (we ended up changing movie night to Sat, we had a baby shower to go to on Friday night) I made the pizza dough on Monday for the Thai Pizza, and froze 2 crusts. I unthawed them and topped w/ this homemade sauce, cheese and salami. This sauce is really simple and good. I froze the leftover sauce in some Gerber plastic baby food containers, each container is enough for one pizza.
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Sunday:
(Lunch) Leftovers or freezer meals
(Dinner) Ground Turkey Tacos, refried beans (w/ salsa, cumin and chili powder) and spanish rice (we are having our small group from church tonight, this a great meal for a big group)
Monday: Chicken-Green Chile Straws, green salad (I use the dark meat from the chicken last week, you could sub tortillas for the egg rolls if you are in a pinch, but the egg rolls make it – My husband loves this one!)
Tuesday: CrockPot Chicken ‘n Dumplins (recipe below) , OreIda Steamed Mashers, peas, carrots (quick & easy meal, I am teaching a class tonight)
Wednesday: Cheese Ravioli (frozen – on sale a few weeks ago for about $.50/bag!) with pureed butternut squash sauce ( I just use the sauce here, but I also love this recipe) -sometimes I add shrimp to this, yum!!, salad and homemade bread
Thursday: Church Meeting Dinner Out
Friday: Dinner at a friends house
Saturday: Not sure??
I got this Chicken ‘n Dumplins recipe from a friend of mine Kristi, who had it on her blog about their upcoming adoption. She has 4 kids and is about to adopt their 5th from Ethopia, any day now!
CrockPot Chicken ‘n Dumplins
2-3 boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into cubes/halves
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 large onion, diced
4 T Butter, sliced
Salt & Pepper to taste
1-2 cups water
1 can biscuits (10 pack)
- Cover and cook on high for 5 hours.
- The last 30 min. you will take the cheap canned biscuits and tear in halves or thirds and drop it on top of the cooked chicken liquid and cover again and let puff up for about 30 min
Here’s my dinner menu plan for this week…so far so good! I am trying to buckle down this year and really stick to menu planning. I can’t wait to see the results! I have a higher weekly amount for groceries/household items, as we have eaten down our stockpile and I am needing to replenish some must-haves!
Monday: Cincinnati Chili served on a bed of Angel Hair pasta garnished with shredded cheddar and oyster crackers . I wanted a one-dish-meal. This made a huge pot, so we will be eating it through the rest of the week and may freeze the rest.
Tuesday: Cobb Salad
Wednesday: Crock Pot Beef BBQ w/ Steamfresh green beans & cornbread & fruit
Thursday: Cobb Salad Wraps (using leftover salad) & fruit
Friday: Vegetarian Taco Soup (new recipe) & fruit
Saturday: Breakfast for dinner (undecided)
Sunday: BLT’s/ Leftovers
* I have bananas, clementines, & apples on hand for this week’s meals.
* Our lunches are pretty fast and simple…PB&J’s, turkey & cheese sandwiches, & apple & cheddar wraps (I am giving this a try with my kids) or leftovers.
-Shannon
Loved the Chicken and Dumplings, every week we have a crock pot meal, the same thing, 1 lb chicken breast, 1 can salsa, 1 can olives on high 6 hours. We then eat in wraps or over rice. John was so excited to have a crock pot meal that was different! I did not cube my chicken, I just shredded it at the end. I also slowed down the cooking since I would be at work for the day and cooked for 9 hours on low, when i got home switched to high and put in the dough.
Thanks for the idea.
Jennie – that sounds good:) I may try that. One variation I’ve used is a little more work but slightly cheaper for us. I buy the chicken quarters when they are on sale for $.59lb. So the bones are in there but it works great with these crock pot recipes. I have to take the time to debone the chicken but after slow cooking it just falls off the bone, I put the dough in while I’m deboning, then I separate the chicken, freeze some and add the rest to reheat for a few minutes. Devoured at our house. I bet it would work well with the salsa recipe above too:)
Thanks for these great recipes!