I start my menu plan on Fridays. It’s payday and, well, I don’t have any other reason. I don’t always stick to what I’ve planned but I’ve giving it a much greater effort of late as it just makes things easier having a plan. And sticking to it, of course.
Generally I take stock of what we have already and try to plan as many meals from that as I can in order to keep the grocery bill lower than just buying food I want to cook that I may already have. This is an area I have to stay on myself to work on as it’s less time-consuming to assume I have this or, worse yet, tell myself it won’t hurt to have extra. It doesn’t hurt to have extra when it comes to staples but I remember finding nine jars of pimentos when cleaning my pantry once. Ideally I’d have a white board or sheet of paper in the kitchen (say, on the fridge) so we could write it down when we use the last of something, beit a staple or otherwise. I’ve never tried to implement that as I’m fairly certain we wouldn’t stick to it.
So taking stock weekly is important for me.
I’m also trying to keep the lions share of my meals simple while still avoiding as much pre-processed food as I can. Simple prep for simple meals means I’m more apt to cook, right? I try to save my more labor intensive meals for when Mike is home. Here’s what I’m planning for supper for the coming week.
Today (Friday)- Leftovers! I have a shelf of containers from almost every single supper this week!
Saturday- Homemade GF pizza. One will be pepperoni and peppers, the other cheese and the sauce for each with be the right sauce this week!
Sunday- Meatloaf, green beans (from the garden last summer) and hashbrown casserole with butterscotch pudding (minus the added chips on top) as dessert.
Monday- Potato, onion and kale mash with smoked brats. The recipe is actually called just “Kale Mash”. (didn’t have any GF Kielbasa at the grocery store!)
Tuesday- FISH TACOS!!!
Wednesday- Steamed sweet potatoes, broccoli and corn. (Guess who forgot to put a bag of sweet potatoes on the grocery list?? Will have to pick it up over the weekend!)
Thursday- Chicken noodle soup made from homemade stock
I haven’t made a hashbrown casserole in YEARS but I’m sure I can make it gluten-free and it still be a good one. I’d planned on making gluten-free noodles for the soup on Thursday so I didn’t put any GF pasta on the grocery list. I’ve changed my mind since and decided I don’t yet want to try making them myself so I’ll have to get a box of them from the store when we get the sweet potatoes I also left off my list. Sometimes, even with a good planning system, you still forget bits here and there!