Planning out our meals is a necessity if I am going to stay on budget, but unfortunately, I am not always as consistent with doing so as I should be. Trying to get better in this area of my life will probably always be something I am working on, but I think that as long as I am still willing to keep trying to be more successful in consistent meal planning I can count that as a success in and of itself.
When I am on top of things my breakfast menu looks pretty much the same. I always try to have oatmeal and a couple of boxes of cereal for the child that does not like the breakfast I have prepared for the day, so that he/she can still have something to eat, but without the trouble of me having to prepare something else just for him/her.
A lot of the time lunch is just leftovers. I have a tendency to make make more than necessary which leads to a lot of leftovers. There was a time in my life when I threw away most of my leftovers, but that ship has since sailed. I now save all of them, but I find myself having to point them out to the kids as lunch meal options, otherwise they would just go to waste if I did not do so. I do run into certain days of the week where there are no leftovers in which case, if I have prepared a menu for that week, I try and make lunch.
As for dinners, I try to have consistent theme of dinners (for example: Mexican, Italian, Chinese, etc...) and then rotate between 2-4 meal options during different weeks. I also try to have one completely new recipe each week unless, of course, it is the kind of week like I have prepared for this week's meals in which I just fall back on my default menu.
In order to save money, I try and make as much of our meals from scratch as I possibly can. This includes all of my sauces, breakfast items, breads, snacks, etc... This also means that I must be super organized in order to have what I need on hand and also to allot the amount of time necessary to prepare my meals in time, but doing so saves me money which is important to me. Plus, I have a handful of adult/almost adult helpers who can lend me a hand when I am in a time crunch.
Here is this week's meal plan:
Breakfast
Pancakes
Waffles
Cinnamon Buns
French Toast
Bagels w/ Cream Cheese
English Muffin Bread with Eggs
Cereal/Oatmeal
Lunch
Left-overs
Fajitas
Grilled Cheese
Soup
Mac-n-Cheese
Peanut Butter & Jelly
*I try to cut up veggies and a fruit for the kids to eat with their lunch on the days that I am making lunch and we are not having leftovers.
*I began making my own sandwich bread again this week.
Dinner
Chicken Tacos/Rice/Beans/Toppings
Hamburger/Gardenburgers/ Jo-Jo/Corn/Baked Beans/Salad
Peppersteak/Eggrolls/Rice/Veggies
Pizza/Salad
Lasagna Rollups/Meatballs/Greenbeans/Bread/Salad
Creamy Tomato and Spinach Pasta/Chicken/Bread/Salad
Leftovers
Snacks
Cookies
Cut up Veggies
Fruit
Pretzel Nubs
Granola bars
*I have never used the pretzel nub recipe I found on Pinterest, so I'll let you know how it goes once I use it this week.
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