Meal plan for Jan 18 –24, 2015

 

Happy Monday, yall!  How goes it, your way?  All is good here in the Cates household!

This is week two of trying the “Freezer” cooking, and I have to say I like it! The hardest part is just remember to thaw out the food the night before. I did have one snaffoo, where I had the wrong thing out for dinner so I got a late start on cooking. Other than that, this experiment in cooking has been a breeze!  So, whats my plan for this week? Well…

Bunnys Meal Plan for January 18-24, 2015

 

Sunday

Breakfast for dinner! (Family fav)

• Scrambled eggs
• Bacon
• Biscuits
• sausage gravy

 

Monday

This is a recipe I haven’t  made in FOREVER.

• Chicken Casserole – Here is a recipe for chicken casserole.

 

Tuesday

Yay for freezer cooking!  This is already made, so all I have to do is load up the bread machine around noon, and throw the pans in the oven!

• Lasagna
• Salad
• Home made garlic bread

 

Wednesday

NEW RECIPE DAY!  I’m trying to incorporate some new recipes into our diets. I feel like we have the same thing always, and even though its good food, it gets boring. So for today, we are trying something new.

• Chicken Pockets – Here is the Chicken Pocket Recipe I will be trying.

 

Thursday

Another new recipe! Whoot!  As a family, we love soups, so I wanted to give this one a try!

• Ham and Bean Soup – This is the Ham and Bean Soup Recipe I will be trying!

 

Friday

One thing is certain, we are PASTA lovers! So this week to take a break from spaghetti, we are going up some Penne.

• Chicken and Bacon Penne – You can try this Chicken and Bacon Penne recipe here.

 

Saturday

Saturday is DATE NIGHT this week! The kids will be visiting their Dad, so Mom is taking a ME DAY! WOoohoooo!

 

 

THE COST

This week, the cost was nearly FREE! I bought the bulk of these groceries LAST WEEK!  I will have to pick up some more salad stuff for Friday, but everything else was already here and most of it is even already PREPPED!  Like I say, I am LOVING freezer cooking!

 

FREE PRINTABLE MENU PLAN DOWNLOAD

If you missed it last week, here is the FREE PRINTABLE WEEKLY MENU PLAN that I shared on Last Week’s Post! I’ve made it in chalkboard, which you can laminate and write on in dry erase markers or grab it  in white for those who want to print it weekly, it will save you ink!


Click here to download the:
>>  CHALKBOARD STYLE FREE PRINTABLE MENU PLANNER
>>  WHITE FREE PRINTABLE MENU PLANNER

Thanks for reading.

For tons of other Meal Plans, check out:

Meal plan for Jan 12 –18, 2015 + FREE PRINTABLE MENU PLAN

Happy Monday, you guys! Holy crickets, who left the deep freeze open?! It is so cold outside the dogs don’t wanna go out to tink!

This is my first post of 2015 for this blog. Sometimes I get so sidetracked on updates for my wearewordnerds website that everything else just kind of falls to the wayside.  That’s why one of my goals for 2015 is to hammer down some kind of schedule that lets me work on ALL of my blog!  At this point in my life, I am really regretting separating my blogs up so the reading blog could be on its own.  Having MORE blogs means MORE work, and I just don’t have the time! So if I am updating this blog, I’m not working on wearewordnerds today. *sigh*

Anyway, I've spent the last couple of days reading up about “Freezer to crockpot” cooking.  Have you heard of this? Making up a months worth of crockpot meals, and freezing them so come cooking day all you have to do is toss them in the crockpot? I am really itching to try it. So rather than jumping all in and doing up a month at a time. I’m going to tip toe in by doing a few premade meals this week and next. Just so I can see how this goes.
Whats on our menu this week?  Well, here ya go!

Bunnys Meal Plan for January 12-18, 2015

MONDAY

We are trying something new! YAY!

• Sauerkraut & Kielbasa – recipe is here

TUESDAY

This is going to be a premade up and froze test.

• Meatloaf
• corn on the cob
• baked potatoes
• cheddar drop biscuits – recipe here

My plan is to mix it up this weekend, and freeze it in one of those “throw away” pans.  Then come Tuesday I can just toss it in the oven.

WEDNESDAY

One of our favorites

• Chicken Broccoli Fettuccini Alfredo
• Homemade breadsticks
• salad

THURSDAY

Something to make the kids happy…

• Bacon Cheeseburgers
• loaded steak fries

FRIDAY

One of my favorites…

• Teriyaki Pork Chops
• Rice
• Steamed vegetables

SATURDAY

By kids request – Mexican build your own Fiesta bar!  This was actually scheduled for another night, when the kids would be at their dads, but they asked me to move it so they would be here.

• Tacos
• burritos
• all the sides

SUNDAY

Closing out the week, I am doing one of the FAMILY FAVORITES.  Breakfast for dinner.

• Bacon
• Scrambled Eggs
• Sausage gravy
• biscuits
• hash crowns

THE COST

Once again, I am posting before I go shopping, so I have no idea what this weeks meals will cost us.  I am in the process of doing pantry inventory, and planning out TWO WEEKS worth of meals before I go shopping. I am going to start shopping ONCE A MONTH eventually, but it is going to be a learning curve, for sure. I can not WAIT to get into that new habit.
Do you shop once a month, or go weekly like I currently do? Do you find it saves you money?

*Edited to update!

 Hi guys! I just wanted to update this now that the grocery shopping has happened. I got every thing we needed for the month, minus the extra milk and bread we will need, and the stuff for salads to go with pastas (because the veggies will go before we get to them) and we spent....
......wait for it..........$320!

Thats a $430 savings over what I would have spent going WEEKLY! (we spend about $250/week!)  I can't believe it yall!
I'm spending today prepping meals to freeze, but am so happy how this partial month went FINANCIALLY!

For the breakdown of what meats and cheeses we got (since meats & cheeses are the most expensive things)

• 8 - lb bags of assorted shredded cheeses
• 4 - packs of american slices (thats one a week)
• 3 - 1lb bags of assorted lunch meats (for lunches)
• 10 - lbs 80/20 ground beef
• 2 - family packs of pork chops. (there were 8-10 chps each pack. not sure on weight)
• 6 - Polish sausage or Polska Kielbasa
• 2 - lb sausage
• 3 - large packs of little smokies (these were on a 5 for $20 deal)
• 2 - 2lb slabs of bacon (part of the 5 for 20)
• 6 packs of hot dogs (another lunch item)
• 3 packs of bologna
• 1 bag of all white meat chicken tenders (the dinosaurs, for nights Sis wont eat what Ive cooked)
• 1 ham steak 
• 2-lb of spiral hams - these were awesome little .5 pound hams. Great for breakfast casseroles, etc. Had never seen this size and they were in the 5/$20

I also found my new favorite dishwasher tabs that of course they no longer make, and devistated me (Cascade with GAIN). But a 16 pack bag was $4.98 at walmart and I found a 60-pack at family dollar store for $12! Bought TWO!

FREE PRINTABLE MENU PLAN DOWNLOAD

To celebrate kicking off the new year, I wanted to offer you a FREE PRINTABLE WEEKLY MENU PLAN!

I’ve made it in chalkboard, which you can laminate and write on in dry erase markers or grab it  in white for those who want to print it weekly, it will save you ink!


Click here to download the:
>>  CHALKBOARD STYLE FREE PRINTABLE MENU PLANNER
>>  WHITE FREE PRINTABLE MENU PLANNER

Thanks for reading.

For tons of other Meal Plans, check out: