Tip of The Day: Weekly Meal Plan

    Is the term "weekly meal plan" an inspiration or does it make you cring? I'll admit, at first,I thought it would be a daunting task but now I don't know how I lived without it! I found myself in the rut of not knowing what to cook so it was just easier to go out or order in. But I noticed that I was not feeling very good because I was not eating well and I wanted to have better meals for my husband. So I decided I would try making a meal plan for the week and see how it worked and like I said, now I don't know how I did without it.
     The first week was the hardest, I didn't know what I wanted to make. So I decided to start a list of meals that I make. I also looked though some cookbooks and online to find new recipes I wanted to try. Here is what week one looked like...

Monday-

Lunch- Stromboli

Supper- Chinese

Tuesday-

Lunch- Red Beans and Rice

Supper- Turkey and Ham Wraps

Queso and Chips

Wednesday-

Lunch- Red Beans and Rice

Supper- Capresse chicken and pasta

Thursday-

Lunch- Leftover Capresse Chicken and pasta

Supper- Vernicelli with sausage and spinach

Friday-

Lunch- Leftover vernicelli with sausage and spinach

Supper- Cedar Rapids

Saturday-

Lunch- With Nieces Out

Supper- Make with Nieces

Sunday-

Lunch- Eat out

Supper- Leftovers

     For the lunches I only have to figure out what I would eat as my husband has to eat out for lunch. I normally eat leftovers, which I love for lunch. Then for supper I looked at my days activities to see how much time and energy I would have to cook. On days where I am gone until 5, I want something that will either be ready when I get home or take very little effort to prepare. 

     I also have to figure in meals to use leftovers. If there are more leftovers beyond this. I freeze them and plan them into next weeks meal plan. I also make sure I include when we will be eating out on the meal plan. 

     When I am making the meal plan, I try to make sure that I plan for a wide variety of foods. I make sure that I don't have the same meat too many times in one week or too many pasta or rice dishes etc.
     When I am trying to think of meals to make, I rally try to look at what I will have a partial package of and try to use it in another meal. For instance, I made a beef roast one night and then used the leftover beef in beef stroganoff the next night. I also froze the beef broth for later use. This way I make sure that I don't have wasted food and thus wasted money.
     As you have noticed, now I am going to post my new meal plan every Sunday or Monday. Monday Meal Plan- genius!
     Because I have my weekly meal plan and use my Master Grocery List I can get groceries once a week on my errand day! This way I can be OrganizedForReal!!!