I've been planning Menu's and meals for a very long time. All the way back to when I was single! Crazy! No wonder I get tired of planning and cooking sometimes!
I know that in 2018 I got into a serious rut when it came to cooking and meal planning. I'm going to work to get out of that rut while trying to trim our grocery budget a little more. I've thought, again, about going back to planning a month at a time so I can shop sales. I did this at Thanksgiving and Christmas and saved between $50.00-$100.00 around each holiday plan by shopping only the sales for the two weeks before the event and then picking up the final items. I'm wondering if I can do that with a month of meals. I'm not sure though - it takes a lot of time to plan like that and put together a master grocery list. I've also thought about using 2019 as my planning year and making the weekly menu planner in a way that I can use it every year. In other words, by the time I get to the first week in 2020, the years menu would already be basically planned. But again, I know that takes a lot of work too! So for this week, I'm just planning this week and then I'll go from there. Not everything has to start on week one!
I've decided to focus on family favorites and comfort food in January.
Friday - Stuffed Shells, Green Beans, and Garlic Bread
Saturday - Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin, Mac and Cheese, and baked beans
Sunday - BBQ Stuffing Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli, and Crescents. (A good Sunday Dinner)
Monday - Amish Baked Chicken, Buttered Noodles, and Cooked Carrots
Tuesday - Might as well start of the year right - It's Taco Tuesday!
Wednesday - Tonight is a good leftover night - I'll pull together whatever is left from the other meals and have dinner.
Thursday - Chicken and Dumplings (with plans to make Chicken Noodle Soup on Friday with the leftovers!)
I feel really good about this plan for the coming week. I wonder how many items I can get my kids to successfully try?? :-) :-) :-)
