Menu Plan 5-23 to 5-29

Sunday: crockpot roast, carrots, potatoes, sauteed onions, cornbread

Monday: leftovers from yesterday

Tuesday: tacos/taco salad, Spanish rice, beans

Wednesday: faculty meeting

Thursday: shrimp, corn, baked potatoes

Friday: grilled hot dogs, pasta salad, chips

Saturday: not a clue!!!

Menu Plan Monday 3-29

M: leftovers

T: hamburger helper, leftover mashed potatoes, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower

W: faculty meeting, on your own

R: PTO meeting, on your own

F: bbq deer, white corn, cornbread, _______

S: ??

S: ??

Menu Plan Monday 3-22

M: spagetti, homemade garlic cheese bread

T: teriyaki chicken in crockpot, brown rice, broccoli-carrots-cauliflower

W: on your own - faculty meeting

R: ????

F: nachos

S: grilled chicken, mac and cheese, white corn

S: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs

Menu Plan Monday 3-15

**I promise we don't eat the same thing every week. At the end of the week I have to go back and revise the plan to show what we really ate!



M: General Tso's chicken, brown rice, broccoli

T: fish, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes

W: on your own - FM

R: grilled pineapple soy sauce steak, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots

F: leftovers, own your own, snacky supper

S: ?
S?

Menu Plan Monday 3-8 to 3-14

M: grilled pineapple/soy sauce steak, 3 cheese potatoes, carrots homemade frappachino

T: spagetti

W: on your own

T: crockpot chicken (from freezer), carrots, potatoes

F: leftovers

S: on your own

S: ??

Menu Plan Monday 3-1 to 3-7

M: roast, 3 cheese potatoes, steamed broccoli and cauliflower (didn't have last week)

T: sausage and potato casserole (new recipe), peas, salad with almonds, cranberries, and feta cheese

W: leftovers

R: on your own PTO meeting

F: chili

S: on your own

S: homemade ham and pineapple hot pockets

Smiths Grove Salvage Grocery

I picked up some great deals this afternoon at the Smith Grove Salvage Grocery:

Libby's pumpkin .99 for a 2 pound can ( I got 2)
2 lbs thin spagetti .99
Baked Goldfish crackers 1.49

The pumpkin cans were dented, but nothing I bought was past the sell by date. If you decide to head over there, I would HIGHLY recommend that you check the dates. I saw a couple of things with 2009 expiration dates.

The pumpkin is what I'm so tickled about! I used the last of my frozen pumpkin this morning for pumpkin pancakes (YUMMY!) I would have used it long ago, but have been rationing it. There seems to be a pumpkin shortage in the US. When I looked for some back before Christmas and couldn't find any I asked about it. The manager told me that they don't expect to get any until summer!

Menu Plan Monday 2-22 thru 2-28

M: penne pasta and sauce (didn't have last week)

T: italian chicken in crockpot, white rice, green beans w/ country ham in crockpot

W: faculty meeting/ on your own

R: fish, mac and cheese, leftover green beans, leftover rice, lima beans

F: on your own

S: leftovers, on your own

S: who knows???

Menu Plan Monday 2-15-2010

M: shredded roast in crockpot with steak sauce, potato skins, carrots

T: Chicken and dumplings (still haven't gotten around to making these yet. If tomorrow is a school day then they'll get postponed once again!), mashed potatoes, mac and cheese

W: on your own/faculty meeting

R: KFC

F: leftover KFC

S: on your own

S: taco salad

Menu Plan Monday 2-08-2010

M: leftover lasagna and bread

T: farmhouse stew, homemade rye bread

W: leftover farmhouse stew, potato skins

T: crockpot chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans

F: teriyaki chicken, rice, mac and cheese

S: pinto beans, cornbread

S: snacky supper

Menu Plan Monday February 1-7, 2010

M: General Tso's Chicken, brown rice

T: chicken strips, broccoli and cheese, mashed potatoes

W: roast, carrots, potatoes in crockpot, cornbread

T: leftovers, on your own, faculty meeting

F: homemade pizza

S: leftover pizza

S: lasagna, homemade italian herb and cheese bread, cherry cake

January check-in/ February plans

I ended the month of January over budget by 23.65. Not too bad. Since this is the first month of keeping month long totals, I'm not sure if this is a reasonable goal for us or not. The next couple of months should tell.

Even before MSM and FishMama started talking about freezer cooking for February, I had already made plans to do the same. I stocked up on staples (meat, flour, vegetables, milk) right before the snow and made a list of things that I could prepare ahead and freeze. As of right now, I'm starting the month off having already used a hefty amount of our budget. But, I'm hoping that by having several meals and/or partial meals pre-made in the freezer that I'll have to go to the grocery fewer times. I frequented the grocery more last month than normal. By reducing the number of times that I go to the grocery, I'm hoping to reduce the amount of money spent at the grocery.

I haven't left the house since Friday morning, so I've had 4 days ( counting today) to work on my freezer cooking plan. It's been nice to spread the cooking out over a couple of days rather than getting up early on Saturday morning and slaving away for a couple of hours. It's been very easy work, because most things I've cooked in my crock pots.

Here's what I've got so far: 2 dozen corn bread muffins
1 homemade sausage, onion, mushroom pizza
1 homemade ham, pineapple pizza
pinto beans and ham
black beans
teriyaki chicken
shredded chicken
cooked carrots
pancakes
mashed potatoes


I've got most of my cooking done for the next two weeks. I'll have to cook some sides, but that will amount to maybe 15 minutes total to get supper on the table. If we're still off for President's Day on the 15th, I plan to do more freezer cooking over that 3 day weekend.

Menu Plan Monday 1-25-2010

Keeping track of this online is sooo much easier than writing it down somewhere and then losing the paper or forgetting where I wrote it down at!

Monday : fish, broccoli and cheese, mashed potatoes

Tuesday: penne pasta, sauce, homemade garlic cheese bread

Wednesday: on your own, leftovers (faculty meeting)

Thursday: chicken strips, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes

Friday: shredded crockpot steak, sauteed onions and mushroooms, onion rolls (to eat as a sandwich), mashed potatoes, corn

Saturday: chili and crackers

Sunday: leftovers, on your own

Fun in the Kitchen

rye bread

ham and pineapple hot pocket

Our favorite pizza - ham and pineapple.

This past weekend I used the rest of my Christmas gift cards and bought myself a breadmaker. I've wanted one and have researched different brands for quite a while, but never could really justify spending so much to get a top quality one. My mind was made up when I opened my email and found a Kohls coupon! I ended up paying very little out of pocket and am thrilled with my purchase:) So far I've made pizza crust, cinnamon raisen bread, and rye bread. All have been super yummy and easy to make. I've already got a list of ideas to try for next weekend and hope to research some recipes using rye this week.

Menu Plan Monday 1-11

Monday: country ham, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese

Tuesday: penne pasta and sauce, homemade bread

Wednesday: China Buffet

Thursday: vegetable soup and sandwich

Friday: Papa Johns

Saturday: shake and bake chicken, oven roasted potatoes and onions, pumpkin pie

Sunday: snacky supper, or out to eat for a late lunch

Best Deal in a While

I'm loving Walgreens today! With my new coupon system, it was so easy to find the coupons and match them up with sales in the Walgreens ad. Here's how it went:

Transaction 1: Electrasol Power Ball 20 ct. 3.49 sale price
-2.50 coupon from Sunday's paper
_________
.99 had to pay out of pocket
- 1.00 back in Register Rewards
___________
.01 money MADE on this transaction


Transaction 2: Special K Cereal sale for 2.50
Special K Cereal sale for 2.50
________
5.00
- 2.50 ( B1G1 free coupon)
__________
2.50
- 1.00 Register Reward from transaction 1 - these are used like cash
__________

1.50 paid out of pocket and received 2.00
back in register rewards

I made .50 on this deal!

Transaction 3: gallon of milk 2.19
string cheese for Hannah + .59
__________
2.78
- 2.00 in register rewards earned from
transaction 2
_________
.78 paid out of pocket

Not too bad for a quick 10 minute stop at the store!

Menu Plan Monday

Week of January 4th- 10th, 2010 ***updated*****

M: white beans, country ham, and cornbread

T: lasagna, salad

W: on your own, leftovers (faculty meeting)

R: chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, cheesy broccoli and cauliflower

F: pizza

S: fried country ham, biscuits, soup

S: leftovers, snacky supper, or out to eat for a late lunch