A short month! Hooray – that means my grocery dollars don’t have to get stretched quite as far. And I don’t have to come up with quite as many meal options!
I’m sharing my monthly meal plan with you because I want to show you that menu planning doesn’t have to be complicated – or gourmet. In our house, we like to keep things simple. My aim in menu-planning is two-fold:
1. To eliminate the 5 p.m. meltdown, and
2. To save my family money by becoming more intentional and planned about what I buy.
For my family, I’ve found that I can best achieve these goals by making a month-long menu plan that is filled mostly with whole, simple foods, cooked or baked from scratch. We eat primarily vegetarian fare during the week, unless we have Shabbat leftovers.
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Tues, Feb 1 – Chicken stir-fry with pasta (made from Shabbat left-overs — chicken from the soup)
Wed, Feb 2 – Chicken pot pie (see above re. left-overs)
Thurs, Feb 3 – Homemade pizza & salad
Fri, Feb 4 – Over-baked tilapia with glazed onions, tomatoes & garlic, served with brown rice and green salad
Feb 5 – ??? If we’re home, probably cholent, kugel and salads – my standard Shabbat lunch fare in the winter
Sun, Feb 6 – Baked ziti and steamed vegetables (make an extra and freeze for Feb. 20)
Mon, Feb 7 – Tuna casserole with cut-up veggies
Tues, Feb 8 – Crockpot vegetarian chili, served with cornbread and cut-up veggies
Wed, Feb 9 – Vegetable stir-fry with tofu and brown rice
Thurs, Feb 10 – Homemade pizza & salad
Fri, Feb 11 – Rotisserie chicken, roasted potatoes & sweet potatoes, green salad
Sat, Feb 12 – ???
Sun, Feb 13 – Lasagna & salad (make an extra to freeze for Feb. 27)
Mon, Feb 14 – Tuna patties, orzo, Greek salad
Tues, Feb 15 – Vegetable soup & grilled cheese sandwiches
Wed, Feb 16 – Cauliflower & tofu bake with quinoa pilaf
Thurs, Feb 17 – Homemade pizza & salad
Fri, Feb 18 – Barbequed Tandoori Chicken, Aloo Gabi, Vegetable Samosa
Sat, Feb 19 – ???
Sun, Feb 20 – Baked ziti & steamed veggies (right out of the freezer!)
Mon, Feb 21 – Tuna casserole with cut-up veggies
Tues, Feb 22 – Veggie burgers, sliced avocado, sweet potato french fries
Wed, Feb 23 – Tuna casserole & steamed veggies
Thurs, Feb 24 – Homemade pizza & salad
Fri, Feb 25 – Beef stew, garlic mashed potatoes, roasted broccoli
Sat, Feb 26 – ???
Sun, Feb 27 – Lasagna and salad (right out of the freezer)
Mon, Feb 28 – Green beans & tofu with crunchy thai peanut sauce, served over brown rice (This one got bumped off the January menu)
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Lunches: left-overs, salad (me), peanut butter sandwiches, cheese quesadillas (hooray! DS has added a new “accepted” lunch food!), bourekas, macaroni & cheese (yes, the kind out of a box – I don’t do it more than once a week, but darn if everybody isn’t very happy that day!), baked potatoes with cottage cheese and sauteed veggies, egg salad sandwiches
Snacks: granola bars, Popchips, microwave popcorn, cuties, apples, bananas, cheese sticks and crackers, carrot muffins, veggies & dip
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Are you a menu planner? What’s on your list for this week, this month – or just today? If you’ve got a blog, I’d love for you to link up to your menu plan with the Mr. Linky.
Otherwise, please leave a comment below. I know we can all use a little more inspiration!
This is so impressive. I’m not sure I can think more than one week at a time…sometimes, only one meal at a time! 🙂
I used to feel that way, too. When my friend Anne first told me about monthly menu planning, I thought it seemed impossible. But then I realized, I could just keep it *really* simple. If you notice, I repeat a lot of meals – like the Sundays are baked ziti or lasagna. As I said, I am NOT planning fancy meals by any stretch!
You make me laugh with the shorter month – less cost rationale. I guess what you ‘save’ in Feb you can apply to the Passover budget. That is alwasy the time of the year where I just say, “Gulp! It’s expensive being dati!”
LOL, I was totally thinking that, Dana! Instead, I’ll probably stock up on some stuff from the KC Co-Op. No doubt I will have to increase my April budget. I did for September, as well. You’re right – these chagim can be $$$.
Have you made this chicken before?
Fri, Feb 18 – Barbequed Tandoori Chicken
How is it?
I haven’t made *this* recipe, but I have made BBQ Tandoori. It was also an online recipe – and is typical of me, I couldn’t find it again when I wanted to make it again. So, I’m hoping that this is close enough. The problem with many tandoori recipes is that they use yogurt, so I thought this seemed like a good non-dairy option. I’ll let you know how it turns out!
Ok – this is totally the type of inspiration I need to do this meal planning thing. You can see on my blog that I’m trying…but not getting very far. All advice and comments will be helpful!! I’m totally intrigued by the Indian Shabbat dinner…I saw that Gourmet Kosher Cooking also has some Indian recipes…
Yasher koach to you for this meal plan!
Question about freezing – how do you freeze? In what container?
For the lasagnas and zitis, I either prep it in a disposable tin and cook, then freeze; Or just prep and freeze, then add 40 minutes to cooking time. The other storage option is to line a pyrex with overlapping tin foil, then cook and cool COMPLETELY, then lift out of the pan. HTH!
As for advice on menu planning… KEEP IT SIMPLE! I am MUCH happier now that my menu plans are just the basics. I’ve given myself permission to be okay with this – (most) everyone eats without complaints, my meals are quick to prepare, and they are generally inexpensive and frugal. Win, win, win!
So when you cook and freeze, I heard that it’s good to first cover with plastic wrap and then foil?
Yes, that’s true. It helps prevent freezer burn. I don’t always remember though. If you cook first, it’s also a good idea to let it fully cool before freezing.
This was great! I didn’t think that I could do it, but I totally did it. Thanks for the reminder that simple is totally acceptable. I feel more relaxed about my month already, just having this one thing out of the way. Thanks!
Yay! That’s exactly why I like menu planning – anything that makes life EASIER is a good thing.
I got married just over two months ago and love cooking. Planning weekly menu plans on motsei shabbat or Sunday morning has worked really well for me, though I sometimes change the dishes depending on produce prices. As an example, here’s the menu plan I used this week: (Not typical because we used more cheese than normal this week — having pizza as a treat for our seminary girl guests Thursday night, and finished up the cannelloni noodles from last week.)
Sun., Jan. 30: pizza turnovers (similar to borekas) in two sizes; chinese coleslaw; garlic bread.
Mon., Jan. 31: tomato bisque (soup); homemade lavash crackers; lemon-herb potatoes
Tues., Feb. 1: mushroom cannelloni; lettuce salad
Wed., Feb. 2: grilled vegetable penne; lettuce salad
Thurs., Feb. 3: garlic bread; homemade whole-wheat pizza; lettuce salad
Fri., Feb. 4: homemade whole-wheat challah w dips; herbed gefilte fish w aioli spread; autumn vegetable soup; vegetarian shepard’s pie; garlic-roasted carrots; cookies ‘n cream pie
Shabbos, Feb. 5: teriyaki tofu; yerushalmi kugel; and either cous-cous salad, corn salad, or avacado salad, depending on how much the peppers and avacados are. Plus more cookies ‘n cream pie for dessert.
mmm, everything looks great! I think it’s smart to make a plan, but be flexible enough to change things up if there is a good sale. We do the same, in fact 🙂
I am in awe that you can plan for a month. I plan for the week and end up making changes. I have never even tried a month.
Kudos