Meal planning has been going pretty great!
My mom and I sat down and between us, a few weeks ago, and made a 5-6 week menu plan.
We picked out a lot of new recipes (many from Pinterest) that we wanted to try and new grocery lists etc.
We wrote out a dinner every night for the following several weeks, then went ahead and bagged and labeled all the frozen components of each meal (the meat/chicken/pork or whatever, and then I cut and vacuum sealed any veggies it needed), Then we made up baskets with all the dry ingredients, spices, oils, wines, etc and labeled baskets for each meal for each night.
So far we have been doing great!
We started on 1/28 and I think we've only skipped/missed one day. (I forget why but we skipped the meal we had planned and did pizza).
I also started trying a Meatless Monday to help cut costs and also eat a little healthier (sort of-haha).
Some of these made seem a little weird or carb heavy-but I have some picky eaters, so sometimes I will make just a little bit of several different things. I might have half of the people eating like stuffing, the other half don't like it. Half of the people like my garlic mashed potatoes, the other half don't. And the only veggies that EVERYONE likes, are corn and green beans, so I tend to make those pretty often (like almost every night-haha).
1/28- Eggplant parm and pasta
1/29- Onion soup pork chops- New recipe- I tweaked it a little, and it was really good. Logan devoured his! http://tryrecipe.net/showthread.php?tid=920
1/30- Salisbury steaks with caramelized Onion Gravy- New recipe- Very good! http://richestoragsbydori.blogspot.com/2012/03/salisbury-steak-with-carmelized-onion.html
1/31- Pretzel Chicken w/ Mustard Cheddar Sauce- New recipe- Really, really good. It had me even craving more pretzels after dinner, lol. http://simplymadewithlove.blogspot.com/2012/05/pretzel-chicken.html
2/1- Cuban Flank Steak- New recipe- Crockpot- Pretty good.
2/2- Chicken Cacciatore over pasta
2/3- Meatball and Sausage subs and french fries and onion straws
2/4- Italian Herb and Cheese Bowtie pasta
2/5- "Amazing Pork Tenderloin", baked potatoes, green beans- New recipe- Crockpot- It was okay. http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/amazing-pork-tenderloin-in-the-slow-cooker/Detail.aspx
2/6-Meatloaf, corn, leftover green beans, onion roasted potatoes and carrots, beef rice, twice baked potatoes made out of leftovers
2/7- Garlic Chicken Legs, mashed potatoes, corn
2/8- Quick and Easy Mongolian Beef was supposed to be for dinner, this was the night we skipped it and did pizza. http://www.stephsbitebybite.com/2013/01/16/quick-and-easy-mongolian-beef/
2/9- Braised Pork Ragu over fettuccine or parmesan orzos- New recipe- I adapted this to put in the crockpot- Very, very good. My daughter ate the leftovers like 3 times. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Braised-Pork-Ragu/Detail.aspx?ms=1&prop25=65949891&prop26=DailyDish&prop27=2011-08-25&prop28=DailyRecipe&prop29=FullRecipeLink&me=1
2/10- London Broil with Golden Mushroom Gravy, mashed potatoes, beef rice, green beans
2/11- Baked Penne with Philly Italian Herb cooking creme- New recipe- I adapted it to make it meatless and it came out very, very good.http://www.plainchicken.com/2012/02/baked-penne-and-50-grocery-card.html#more
2/12- Turkey Cutlets with pan gravy, her butter rice, corn, mashed potatoes, - New recipe- pretty good.
2/13- Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken, corn, I forget what other sides- New recipe- Crockpot- Pretty good.
2/14- Balsamic Roast Beef. mashed potatoes, beef noodles, green beans- New recipe- Crockpot- Pretty good, I toned the balsamic flavor down a little for the gravy by adding some water and beef flavoring. The meat was good, but the acid in the Balsamic was a little strong for the gravy for us. http://addapinch.com/cooking/2012/10/25/balsamic-roast-beef-recipe/
Prior to starting this hardcore menu planning, we had also tried a New Progresso website recipe for Braised Short Ribs, which was also very good. And another New Crockpot Flank Steak recipe, which was also good.
Soon to be made (hopefully)-
Crockpot Chicken Cordon Bleu- http://www.chef-in-training.com/2012/02/slow-cooker-chicken-cordon-bleu/
Honey Mustard Pork Chops- http://allrecipes.com/recipe/honey-mustard-pork-chops/detail.aspx
Crisp Herbed Baked Chicken- http://sweetlysouthern.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2010-02-01T21%3A14%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=7
Pan-Roasted Chicken With Lemon-Garlic Green Beans- http://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/browse-all-recipes/pan-roasted-chicken-lemon-garlic-green-beans-10000000780291/index.html
Crockpot Beef Stroganoff- http://www.heathersbytes.com/beef-stroganoff/
Crockpot Ranch Pork Chops- http://www.livinglaughingandloving.com/2012/01/crockpot-ranch-pork-chops-finger-licking-good.html
Crockpot Cube Steak and Gravy- http://thepost-itplace.com/2012/01/crockpot-cube-steak-and-gravy/
Creamy Garlid Pasta- http://thecheesepusher.tumblr.com/post/2719857351/creamy-garlic-pasta
Chicken 'pillows'- http://www.chef-in-training.com/2010/08/chicken-pillows/
Pork Chops with Creamy Marsala- http://www.delish.com/recipefinder/pork-chops-creamy-marsala-sauce-recipe-ew0810
Smothered Chicken- http://slow-cooker.recipes-network.net/smothered-chicken.html
Million Dollar Spaghetti- http://ashleykaitlin.blogspot.com/2011/01/million-dollar-spaghetti.html
Crockpot Chicken Stroganoff- http://shrinkingjeans.net/2009/09/crock-pot-chicken-stroganoff/
