Monthly Meal Planning

Last week I sat down with a cup of coffee and tackled a meal planning strategy I have been contemplating for a while.  I planned four weeks worth of meals, three meals a day.  It took about an hour to plug in a breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday for 4 weeks.  It found it amazingly easy!  And I felt SO good after I was done!  Each week I tried to plug in 2 fish dinners, 2 vegetarian dinners and fill in the rest with our favorites.  When I had a hard time deciding what meal to have on a day, I just put in the category and moved on (fish, chicken, vegetarian, etc).  It was easier to fill in the details later, after I had decided on the meals for the rest of the week.  I do my grocery shopping on Saturday afternoon (like a crazy person), so I put the meals with fresh produce in the beginning of the week.  I will use frozen vegetables for meals at the end of the week. 

I kept breakfast simple with alternating meals:  eggs and pancakes every other day.  I make pancakes on Saturday mornings and will make extras to freeze and pop in the toaster in the mornings.  My son will have milk, my husband will have a low-sodium V8 and I will have my coffee.  Breakfast is NOT the most healthy meal of our day.  I need to work on it.  We do all have morning snacks in our lunch bags, though, but I consider all of that as part of our lunches. 

I pack a lunch bag for each of us at night.  I planned lunches according to what we had for dinner the night before.  Most days I have a new spin on dinner but some days I listed straight-forward leftovers: spaghetti for lunch the day after spaghetti for dinner.  I know, not creative and the boys will be unhappy when they open their lunches but I had to start somewhere!  Two days a week my son goes to a preschool program and needs cold fingerfoods for lunch.  On Tuesdays he will have a 'lunchable'- slices of cheese, diced chicken or whole beans & crackers.  Thursdays he will have a peanut butter sandwich.  For lunches on the menu planner I only listed the entree.  I always throw in 'snacks' to last through one morning snack, lunch and one afternoon snack. 

For dinner, I tried to detail the meal as much as possible to eliminate any thinking at mealtime.  I should be able to look at the calendar the night before and know exactly what I need to prepare or thaw for the next day's meal. 

Here's Week 4:  (I started on Week 4 because I'd like for my weeks to coincide with the month)

Sunday
Breakfast
pancakes - leftover, toasted

Lunch
Roasted Pork Loin & Vegetables (carrots, potatoes, onion)

Oven Rolls (Sister Schubert's)
Baked Apples

Dinner
Homemade Tacos (lightly fried corn tortillas, tomatoes, iceberg lettuce, black olives, sr cream, salsa, shredded Mex. cheese blend, chopped onions, lean ground beef)
Cookies (homemade chocolate chip)

Monday
Breakfast
Eggs

Lunch
Sliced Pork Sandwiches

Dinner
Tilapia (I left the recipe on the counter... will add tonight)
Instant brown rice
Stir-fried veg (all fresh: yellow squash, green beans, bell pepper, onion, mushrooms)
Oven Rolls

Tuesday
Breakfast
pancakes - leftover, toasted

Lunch
B&A – Salad (spinach/spring mix, black olives, mushrooms, bacos, cheese, boiled egg, 1tbsp dressing)
P – ‘lunchable’
(pepperoni, cheese slices, crackers, etc.)

Dinner
Spaghetti (whole wheat angel-hair, Hunts mushroom spaghetti sauce, add: fresh mushrooms, green olives, black olives, chopped onion, minced garlic, s&p)
Salad
Toasted garlic bread (Split Sister Schuberts oven rolls lightly buttered w/garlic powder mixed into butter)

Wednesday
Breakfast
Eggs

Lunch
B&A – Spaghetti
P - quesadilla (handfull of shredded mex. blend cheese & 1 corn tortilla - his sitter can microwave)

Dinner
Tilapia (I left recipe... will add)
Mashed pot & gravy (peeled white potatoes, gravy from mix)
Steamed whole-kernel corn (steamer bag)
Corn bread (from mix)

Thursday
Breakfast
pancakes (leftover, toasted)

Lunch
B&A – salad
P - PB Sandwich

Dinner
Homemade pizza (crust from scratch, diced tomatoes, mozzerella & italian blend cheeses, black olives, mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, leftover ground beef from tacos)

Friday
Breakfast
Eggs

Lunch
B&A – Pizza
Peyton - Pizza

Dinner
B&A planning to go out
P - peanut butter on crackers, sliced cheese & apple slices

If we stay home
Pork
Box Rice
G. Beans w/Mushrooms
Ovn Rolls, Choc. Souffle

Saturday
Breakfast
Homemade Pancakes

Lunch
Pasta Salad (rotini pasta, b&g olives, chopped mozzerella cheese, chopped tomatoes, drizzled italian dressing)

Dinner
Homemade vegetarian lasagna
Salad
Crystal Light popsicles