Monday, November 3, 2008

Menu Plan Monday


I have to admit, I am a little worried my family will suffer because I am participating in this blogging marathon. So I have decided to play along with Laura over at Organizing Junky. She hosts a Menu Planning Blog Posting every Monday to ease the work of meals throughout the week.

Now this is something that I can benefit from. I am absolutely horrible at planning meals and even worse at following through with cooking them. I know, I am so bad. Gary comes home and cooks almost every night but I hoping to change that now that the haze is finally lifting from my brain.

Funny story break:
I have to put in a funny story here about Gary's family. All of Gary's brothers and their wives were sitting around planning Thanksgiving dinner; who would bring what, etc. We thought it might be fun to all bring something we really like to make or our "signature" dishes. They all turned to me and asked what mine was. I stared blankly back at them for a couple of seconds and as 1, they all turned away from me to Gary and asked the same question. Ha!! They know me too well.

BUT I AM GOING TO CHANGE!! HEAR ME NOW!!

So here it is, my weekly menu plan:

Monday:
Bar-B-Q Chicken on baked potatoes
I am putting the chicken in the crockpot in the morning with the sauce ("my special sauce" as Zachary calls it) and letting it cook all day so it is pull-apart ready to put over the potatoes.

Tuesday:
Spaghetti with salad

Wednesday:
Brown Sugar Chicken with rice
This will be a new one for me to try. I am super excited about it. I got the recipe here.

Thursday:
Tacos - a favorite in our family
When I was pregnant I ate 5 (sigh, I do miss that)

Friday:
Hamburger Helper
I am cheating this day. This is an old stand by and I have a lot of it stockpiled.

Saturday and Sunday we either go to our family's houses to visit or we eat sandwiches or hot dogs, so I am not planning for these days. Gary can take over on the weekends.

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Grocery Savings
I am also going to post my savings that I have added up for the past week on groceries. I spoke of how I use coupons combined with sales to save a huge gob of money when I guest posted over at Deb's Postcards From the Edge. I have recently added The Grocery Game to my lists as well. The Grocery Game can be used all over the US. Groceries Dirt Cheap is only a local thing.

Trip to Albertsons:
Spent: $111.18
Saved: $157.94
Savings of: 70%

Great Deals this week:
6 Colgate Toothpastes - FREE!!
3 Dial Soap 3 packs - FREE!!
6 Bic Soleil Razors - .99 ea - was $7.99
3 Duncan Hines Cake Mixes - .38 - was $1.99
among others but these were the best ones

I usually go to Walgreens and CVS but haven't this week so these will be included in next week's savings.

What's on YOUR menu plan for this week? Do you have a favorite recipe? Post it and let me know so I can try it too.

Sara

17 comments:

Cheryl Lage said...

Oooof. You've thrown quite a gauntlet...embarrassingly, I rarely decide what's for dinner until the hour of...and often my far-better-chef-than-I tags in and concocts something...but ooooh, the money savings inspires too....

Keep us updated! :)

Anonymous said...

Sara, I've never thought of putting the chicken on the potatoes. That sounds just yummy. I'm going to try that one of these days. And the brown sugar chicken recipe is delicious! My family loves it. In fact, my college kids request it when they come home. Good luck with the menu planning. Just take it one day at a time and it will become a habit. Trust me, with your busy life, you will learn to love it.

Souza Sisters said...

You are too good... DH and I have talked for weeks about coming up with meal plans for the week. Maybe seeing you do it will be my wake up call!! I can't believe how much you saved!! That's crazy! I have been letting DH do the shopping lately... I think I need to take over:)

Sara said...

Cheryl~ I stay home all day and then Gary comes home and cooks. Talk about embarrassing. Ha!! And the coupon thing is so addicting. I can't bring myself to pay full price for anything at the grocery store besides the basics.

Sara said...

~Debbie - this is just the push I needed to plan my meals. Hopefully I can stick to it :-). And it is crazy how much I save! That is a typical trip for me. Some ladies I know save 90-95% every time, but I am just not there yet.

Erin said...

Your menue sounds delicious!! It is really funny when I saw you are planning on making brown sugar chicken, because I was actually looking for crockpot recepies online yesterday and that was also my find!! I am very excited to try it! My recipe is exactly the same as yours, so if you end up making it before I get to try it, let me know how it is!!! :)

Sara said...

Will do Erin - I am hoping this will be a family favorite because it looks super easy!

monica said...

Wow! That is wonderful the savings that you saved. I normally plan every week out and put a lot of my food in the crockpot. Great Monday post!

Anonymous said...

I've been known to ask my husband to cook every now and then too. Sometimes I'm just not in the mood to cook and he likes to cook so it works out well.

Naomi said...

Great menu plan! I have recently begun joining the Menu Planning over at Organizing Junkie too. It makes life that little bit easier. One less thing to decide throughout the day.

Great savings too! Hw did you manage that?!

Your little ones are growing up so fast too. So adorable!

Sara said...

~Naomi - I do The Grocery Game and combine sales with coupons. It is a great way to save a bunch!

Harris Boys said...

wow sara...I'm impressed...I hate to cook and I hate to clip coupons..but I'm pretty cheap...funny huh?

your menu sounds great!

Annie said...

That's a great idea, Menu plan Monday. I'm going to try the first menu,sounds yummy and is different.

Thanks for visiting my blog, I write it in both languages (first spanish then english). Thank for your comment.

Annie

Adriane said...

Sounds like you are doing great - I don't know how you're staying on top of it with all you have going!

I began menu planning (on my own) last week when I went back to work and just saw this link to Org Junkie. Think I'll join next week. Thanks for sharing!!

Your girls are getting so big!

Anonymous said...

Hi when I made brown sugar chicken last week I must have over cooked it because I hardly had any sauce leftover to use on rice. I only used 3 chicken breast also.

Linda said...

Oh good! Keep posting your meals so I can plan mine! lol

Lori said...

okay, i so want to know more about the grocery game! and how was the chicken? It has been on my to cook list

and as for a weekly menu...i cannot live without one!