My Menu Plan

Lately I have had a few challenges. I've been working on losing my last few pounds for WW and living on our food storage. It has been quite fun and I have learned a lot. I'm trying to find the balance between spending and saving and what is worth it and what isn't. I have been keeping a journal of the experience but don't know if its worth posting because I don't know that people really want to hear about that. But I can report that in the last 9 weeks I've spent about $300 on food. That includes a HUGE restocking of chicken when it went on sale but does NOT include some long term storage that will last a lifetime...don't know where to put that. Anyway, I don't know what to think about all of it but I am using the things in my house on a more regular basis. I haven't bought bread since the beginning of the year and didn't run out of chicken for 2 full months...

Well, I have wanted to get a better grip on my menu planning. It makes life a bit easier just to know what I need to cook for dinner. It also helps me keep on track better for WW. The better I plan the better I eat! Duh. I have a few obstacles with my menu planning.

1. I'm lazy


2. I don't take the time to think things through


3. It's a pain!


4. Who knows what I'll have in the house


5. What if I don't want it that day?

I just have to push past my first obstacle... #2...last week when I sat down to do this I didn't take into consideration certain things like

a) fast Sunday - a simple sandwich isn't going to cut it

b) am I having company this month?

c) are there nights I am too busy to cook and want something SUPER fast

#3...once again - I need to get over this

#4...I realized that I eat a LOT of the same things, especially since I'm living on my food storage and the staples are all the same. Really all my variety comes from veggies. Usually I just buy what's on sale so this is an easy fix too.

#5...I'm able to change the calendar! I don't HAVE to fix what's there! I'm the MOM!!!

Now the freedom of having a calendar!

I have heard of people doing a month at a time...which I have tried but I really do make the same things over and over. This is my solution. I made 7 weeks of meals which can be rotated to suit my mood. At any time I can add a new week... So the "month" calendar has Velcro on the front which my "weeks" stick to. I did spend quite a bit of time making sure that the meals were "balanced" throughout the week.

This was my thought process:

• Sundays I cook a bigger meal because Scott is home and I have the time now that church is in the morning.
• Monday is quick and super easy because we have dance at night and Scott isn't home. I really cook a lot lighter on nights when he's not home
• Tuesday and Wednesday could be interchangeable
• Thursday Scott is home for dinner so I put in a bit more effort
• Friday we have salad and eat our leftovers. I like my salad night because I weigh in on Saturday morning so it keeps me eating a salad and the family full.
• Saturday I like to BBQ since Scott likes to help with dinner.

Then I went through and made sure I didn't have too many "chickens" in a row. We don't eat a lot of red meat so I only put that on once a week. I tried to incorporate a few cheaper meals like soups and potatoes. Now I feel like my weeks are pretty balanced. I'm excited to see how it works out!

The last thought I've had about this is that I really do enjoy trying new recipes. I have learned though that this is can be expensive. I've decided that I will only try new ones every once in a while and wait until the ingredients go on sale.