You know how you can know something is the right thing to do? And yet you keep doing the wrong thing? Over and over again?
For example:
Right = Knowing that menu planning saves money, time and sanity.
Wrong = Coming up with a steady stream of excuses for why I don’t have time to menu plan.
End result = Being way over budget for our groceries and crazytown at my house come dinner time.
Oh, yes, I’ve talked a lot on this blog about the importance of menu planning. It’s all true, every last word of it. And yet, here I am again. Climbing back on the wagon.
(Learn from this cautionary tale, my friends: Do as I say, not as I do.)
I can’t promise that I’ve finally learned my lesson, because apparently I have the world’s longest learning curve, but in honor of a new month (Hebrew and English!) and a new year, I’m re-committing to turning over a new leaf. (Again.)
Nothing says “new leaf” like publicly committing to a meal plan in front of friends & strangers, right?!
My Menu Plan for the Week of January 6th (Monday – Thursday)
Monday, January 6th: Salmon croquettes with left-over dill yogurt dipping sauce and a big green salad
We had a ton of salmon left-over from Shabbat, so we’re getting a bit creative with our menu plan this week. We’re subbing corn flakes rather than bread crumbs in the above recipe. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Tuesday, January 7th: Scrambled eggs & salmon with hashbrowns and sliced tomatoes
I told you we had a lot of left-over salmon!
Wednesday, January 8th: Chicken Pot Pie with big green salad
I was sick as a dog yesterday, so my husband made me a huge crockpot of chicken soup. Once we finish most of the broth, we salvage the remaining veggies and chicken to make pot pie. This is a regular post-chicken soup meal for us. While not exactly gourmet, it’s super simple and our kids love it.
Thursday, January 9th: Pizza night – regular for the kids, cauliflower pizza for me and my husband
You’ll notice that my menu doesn’t get past Thursday.
Sometime around Wednesday at bedtime, I’ll probably realize that I need to cook for Shabbat and that will light a fire under me. Ideally, I’d have a whole seven days planned; even more ideally, I’d have a whole month plan.
But I’ve fallen far and am giving myself a bit of leeway as I babystep my way back to ideal.
I’m eager to know about (and be inspired by) your menu plans, too! What’s on your meal calendar this week? If you’ve blogged about it, please share the link below, too!
Mara- do you have a recipe for the chicken pot pie? I have a huge amount of soup chicken, and I’m not sure what to do with it. Thanks! Elana
Btw- tonight was chicken soup. Tomorrow is crockpot Mexican Minestrone. Wed is probably quinoa with sautéed veggies.
Elana – I will share this week. I’m going to try to remember to write down what I do, and maybe even take some pictures!
This week we don’t have a meal plan. Tonight we took the leftover soup chicken and veggies and fried then up with soy sauce and served with rice. Needed more veggies but good.
Thanks for this prod to make a plan!
Tonight: meatloaf, roasted potatoes and green beans
Tuesday: oven fried chicken breasts, baked sweet potatoes, salad
Wednesday: whole grain tuna noodle casserole wi from scratch “cream” of mushroom soup, salad
Thursday: scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, applesauce, potato pancakes (Golden)
Friday: salmon, rice, green veg, challah and something for Shabbat dessert
I find that if I don’t leave a low maintenance meal for Thursday (and also sometimes Wednesday), my kids usually get take out (not my first choice) because I am too tired to cook dinner AND Shabbos. So I usually try and plan for my more complicated dinner recipes earlier in the week.
I agree! So much better to have a meal plan, so hard to keep it up! A whole ago I realized trying for a monthly plan was too overwhelming and not happening. So, I took it week by week. After four weeks I have a basic monthly plan. I also find designating milchig an fleishig days helpful.
Thanks for reinspiring I am gonna jump back on too.
I’d also love the recipe for the chicken pot pie- sounds yummy. I’ve been good about menu planning, but not so good about the prep… for example I planned on having chicken stir fry tonight, but as soon as I got to work I realized I forgot to defrost the chicken 🙁
Can you have a post on cheap, easy/quick and healthy menu ideas? I need to become better organized!
I am out of ideas and we are on a tight budget… Thanks!
My 3 homeschooled boys are growing so fast and eating so much that I swear I need to make a second monthly meal plan for having stuff in the fridge they can eat during the day. I’ve done rice, broccoli & chicken before but I need to come up with some more variety for us. Time to visit pintrest. 🙂
Great site! I’m a newlywed and slowly realizing the need to budget groceries. The last few weeks have been a little crazy in our spending bc we were buying more expensive meats which have been making the grocery bill insane! I’m not doing that anymore 🙂 I’d like to keep it to $50 a week which should be possible for 2 ppl and trying to cook more vegetarian during the week. My question though is how to make filling vegetarian meals? We’re trying to avoid tofu/soy bc we heard its not so good for you, maybe have that once a month, but I feel like veggies are not super filling and I dont like filling up with too much starch.
It’s good that I like cooking so much bc it allows me to be creative and hopefully cheap!
Anyways, thanks for your site, it has been helpful!
Hi Danielle – sorry it took me so long to respond. I would stick to inexpensive protein sources like chickpeas and beans (cook your own to save even more –> http://kosheronabudget.com/how-to-cook-beans-in-your-slow-cooker/), lentils and of course eggs. You can pretty creative with just those. Here are some vegetarian main dishes that we like, that are all very frugal. http://kosheronabudget.com/kosher-recipe-index/#veg