Monthly meal plan
Alright so I know one of my intents in posting this was to share some sweet recipes I've found over the past several months, but LJ is giving me sass about hyperlinks today (as well as the fact that many are out of good old fashioned cookbooks) so you'll just have to ask for a link/copy if you see something that sounds super awesome. (Trust me, many are super, super awesome.)
Cliffnotes version of the following: I plan all our meals for an entire month (5 weeks in this case) and make a fricking enormous grocery list. I price things out as I make the list to stay within my monthly budget ($150 in this case) taking into account my tiny weekly trips for fresh produce and milk that I buy twice a month (yeah, we hate milk). My budget includes all meals, snacks, beverages, and household products like toothpaste, trashbags etc. but I'm only listing dinners here because that's what I focus my plan on. I cook everything from scratch because I'm paranoid and I also use my Crockpot like you wouldn't believe so at least 1/3 of these recipes are for the slow cooker. Onwards!
December:
11 Broccoli and chicken pasta with homemade alfredo sauce
12 Chicken caesar salads
13 Brinner (breakfast for dinner - usually bacon, fruit pancakes, eggs)
14 Chicken parmesan
15 Attempted recreation of Friendly's new supermelt (Turkey, bacon, tomato, swiss cheese) using our panini press - with enough cheese it is sure to be a success
16 Winter vegetable soup
1 Chicken cordon bleu with snap peas and red peppers
18 Kellner family Christmas party - out
19 Dal masala over rice
20 Baked macaroni and cheese with salads
21 Chicken chow mein
22 Chicken pot pie
23 Parmesan tilapia with broccoli and red peppers
24 Christmas Eve at my great-aunt's - out
25 Christmas dinner - out to 3 families
26 Beef stir fry over brown rice with a new funny sauce that I'll attempt to make
27 Indian chicken (not-quite-but-sort-of tikka paneer masala?) w/ veggies and rice
28 Baked potato soup
29 Tacos
30 Nachos (with leftover taco fixings and black beans)
31 Game Night at Beq's - out
January:
1 Paula Deen's horrendously unhealthy chicken nuggets with large amounts of vegetables to make up for it - starting the year off right and all
2 Out to my mom's for turkey dinner (yay more stock!) - out
3 My birthday! Taco soup
4 Leftovers from turkey dinner, might make turkey soup
5 Beef stroganoff with corn
6 Cajun pulled pork over salad
7 Sandwiches with roasted cabbage and potatoes (aka I predict myself not feeling like cooking)
8 Tuna cakes (like crabcakes, except that I don't like crab)
9 Mayah's birthday party! "out"
10 Mayah's birthday! Lemon-rosemary roasted chicken with stuffing and haricots verts
11 Chili stuffed acorn squash
12 Loaded baked potatoes
13 Lentil taco salad
14 Turkey burgers with carrots, snap peas, and lima beans
15 Brinner again
And on that note I embark to the grocery store to wrestle with an 800 lb. cart and hope that Mayah will either not pee, or will potty successfully because the bathrooms have no changing tables. WTF.
Cliffnotes version of the following: I plan all our meals for an entire month (5 weeks in this case) and make a fricking enormous grocery list. I price things out as I make the list to stay within my monthly budget ($150 in this case) taking into account my tiny weekly trips for fresh produce and milk that I buy twice a month (yeah, we hate milk). My budget includes all meals, snacks, beverages, and household products like toothpaste, trashbags etc. but I'm only listing dinners here because that's what I focus my plan on. I cook everything from scratch because I'm paranoid and I also use my Crockpot like you wouldn't believe so at least 1/3 of these recipes are for the slow cooker. Onwards!
December:
11 Broccoli and chicken pasta with homemade alfredo sauce
12 Chicken caesar salads
13 Brinner (breakfast for dinner - usually bacon, fruit pancakes, eggs)
14 Chicken parmesan
15 Attempted recreation of Friendly's new supermelt (Turkey, bacon, tomato, swiss cheese) using our panini press - with enough cheese it is sure to be a success
16 Winter vegetable soup
1 Chicken cordon bleu with snap peas and red peppers
18 Kellner family Christmas party - out
19 Dal masala over rice
20 Baked macaroni and cheese with salads
21 Chicken chow mein
22 Chicken pot pie
23 Parmesan tilapia with broccoli and red peppers
24 Christmas Eve at my great-aunt's - out
25 Christmas dinner - out to 3 families
26 Beef stir fry over brown rice with a new funny sauce that I'll attempt to make
27 Indian chicken (not-quite-but-sort-of tikka paneer masala?) w/ veggies and rice
28 Baked potato soup
29 Tacos
30 Nachos (with leftover taco fixings and black beans)
31 Game Night at Beq's - out
January:
1 Paula Deen's horrendously unhealthy chicken nuggets with large amounts of vegetables to make up for it - starting the year off right and all
2 Out to my mom's for turkey dinner (yay more stock!) - out
3 My birthday! Taco soup
4 Leftovers from turkey dinner, might make turkey soup
5 Beef stroganoff with corn
6 Cajun pulled pork over salad
7 Sandwiches with roasted cabbage and potatoes (aka I predict myself not feeling like cooking)
8 Tuna cakes (like crabcakes, except that I don't like crab)
9 Mayah's birthday party! "out"
10 Mayah's birthday! Lemon-rosemary roasted chicken with stuffing and haricots verts
11 Chili stuffed acorn squash
12 Loaded baked potatoes
13 Lentil taco salad
14 Turkey burgers with carrots, snap peas, and lima beans
15 Brinner again
And on that note I embark to the grocery store to wrestle with an 800 lb. cart and hope that Mayah will either not pee, or will potty successfully because the bathrooms have no changing tables. WTF.