I am a huge menu planner. I love having one for several reasons:
a) I plan to try new things
b) I can start thinking about dinner before 5:00pm. Between 4:30 and 5 is when my kids are begging for snacks - right as I'm starting to make dinner or deciding what to do (one of my pet peeves). :)
c) I can shop for the things I need and minimize the number of times I go to the grocery store, which saves me money. If I go to the store more than once a week I spend so much more money and end up buying things I don't really need.
d) I seem to plan more vegetables and things to go with the meal when it's something I have thought about.
e) We eat dinner between 5 and 6 - when I have a plan. Otherwise it's much later - and life gets frantic for me if I don't have that.
I don't always stick 100% to my menu. Sometimes I just plain old don't feel like having what I planned that night, but usually something else sounds good, so I switch the days around. Sometimes we get invited over for dinner somewhere or something comes up and I'm in a pinch for an even quicker meal. I usually fall back on Brinner when I'm in a pinch - it's pretty fast and everybody loves it and I generally have everything on hand. I generally plan 5 days of dinners - and a 6th is usually Brinner and the 7th is leftovers or making something with what we have on hand.
I personally like to plan about a 2 week menu at a time. I go shopping once a week - so I have everything fresh when I'm ready to make it. It works great for me. Only having to do it twice a month also makes it feel like less of a chore for me.
With that being said, I'm going to start sharing my menu with you each week. So here is this week's menu.
Monday
Chicken Rollatini with Spinach Parmigiana - we haven't ever had this before, but it looked and sounded so yummy. I had some cottage cheese to use up too, which I often use in place of ricotta, like I did in this recipe. I'm going to be serving it with Bread-sticks & a Green Salad.
Tuesday
Taquitos - These are a huge favorite at our house, we have them at least monthly. We love Chicken Taquitos and Beef Taquitos. They are homemade and baked, so they are a healthy choice. We like to serve them with a side of spanish rice, salad or I really like this Mexican Creamed Corn. And this week I'm trying a new taquito recipe that Leesh shared with me, so we'll share that soon.
Wednesday
Moo Shu Noodles
- we've had this recipe several times over the last year and it's one
of my husband's favorites. It goes well with lots of sides, but I'll
probably serve it with steamed broccoli and/or carrots.
Thursday
Salsa Chicken over rice - this is one of my go-to easy crock-pot meals. It's something I just kind of threw together one day and it's ended up being a favorite. I'm feeling ashamed I haven't shared it yet. Sorry! ;) I'll add that to my queue of recipes to share.
Friday
Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole - my aunt Lisa made this for me when we went home for Thanksgiving just a few months ago. It.was.to.die.for.good! Oh my goodness. Can't wait to try it this weekend!
Saturday
Chicken Alfredo - probably with those same breadsticks we will be having tonight (Monday)! :) Yum!
Sunday
Beans & Cornbread - another favorite of ours that I'm again adding to my queue of recipe to share. :) My list is huge, so don't hate me for not sharing sooner. Thanks!
That's all for this week. Stay tuned for next week's menu on Monday.
-Lu
That's all for this week. Stay tuned for next week's menu on Monday.
-Lu
This is almost exactly how I do things! Grocery shopping is so much less stressful when I have a menu plan and an itemized shopping list. Also, I agree it makes dinnertime less hectic if I'm thinking about my planned meal. Most importantly, we live for Brinner! It's our favorite meal of the week ;)
ReplyDeleteYay for another brinner lover and menu planner! :) Thanks for stopping by.
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