Menu Planning!

I used to do menu planning and loved it! So I'm not sure why I quit, but now I'm back on the bandwagon! Saturday is my current scheduled shopping day...I'd like to switch it to Wednesday to catch Piggly Wiggly's Wednesday Specials, but somehow Saturday seems to suit better at the present! (Since I'm working in the office on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I want to CrockPot cook those days. I usually end up working a little bit from home the other days. This is my first week trying it. My Crockpot and I hardly know each other, but I aim to become friends!) By the way, I love the Pig app! After checking the weekly sales, I plan out a week's worth of menus on my huge FlyLady calendar that hangs on the inside of the pantry door. Then I make a giant list on my Wunderlist app, and away to town we go! Other than Saturday and Sunday, I only plan supper meals; Danl either takes sandwiches or eats out for lunch. I try not to cook more than what we will eat, because Danl does not appreciate my heated up leftovers! I did not inherit my mother's skill of reheating food. It's an art! So I eat the leftovers if there are any, for my lunches. For breakfast, since we both turn up our noses at most cereals, we (try to) keep the following on hand as staples:

Bacon

Conecuh

 Flaky Layers Canned Biscuits 

(did you know you can freeze the ones you don't bake? We bake four in the toaster oven and freeze the other four for another morning!)

 Brown Eggs 

Grits

Hashbrown Patties

Pillsbury Orange Danish Rolls (Sunday morning special!)

Saturday

Lunch: Grilled Hamburgers 

Pringles

Supper: Crawfish Etouffee (Love Tony Chachere's mix!)

Broccoli

Sunday

Lunch: Tacos, Beans, Rice, Chips 'n Salsa, Ice Cream Cones (Smith gathering @ Sheldon's!)

Supper: Grilled Chicken

Garlic Bread

Parmesan Roasted Carrots 

(new recipe from Pinterest, but I grilled them instead of baking them.)

Homemade Peach Ice Cream in the Donvier

We don't always cook a "real meal" on Sunday evenings, but sometimes we are "real hungry," so I plan one just in case! Tonight was one of those real hungry nights...

Monday

Grilled London Broil 

(eat rare, shaved thin w/ horseradish!)

PW's Crash Hot Potatoes w/ Homemade Ranch Dressing

Cheese Green Beans

Taco Tuesday

Navajo Tacos (put meat with chili seasoning in CrockPot)

Top of the Mountain Peach Jello 

(use Mt. Dew instead of cold water, add sliced peaches)

Wednesday

Vension Steak Lo Mein

Pot Stickers & Spring Rolls (both from Dollar Tree!)

Thursday

Country-style Ribs with Conecuh & Carrots (in CrockPot)

Microwave-baked Potatoes

Fish Friday

Fried Flounder

Cheese Grits

Deviled Eggs

Claussen Pickles

Fresh Fruit of the Week

Peaches

Granny Smith & Gala Apples

Bananas

Dessert of the Week 

(Make whenever it suits or strikes!)

Reese's Ice Cream Cake

Daniel saw this dessert somewhere online and said he thought it looked amazing! And it's amazing if he thinks a dessert looks amazing! So I added the ingredients to my list! Normally I would never have the stuff on hand to make something like this; it uses ice cream sandwiches, creamy peanut butter, Reese cups, chocolate & caramel sauces, and Coolwhip. But now I'm prepared! And that, my friends, is the beauty and fun of menu-planning! 

I end up swapping meals around somewhat and changing up the side dishes, but at least I have a plan to change instead of trying to make one at 5:45! 

If any of y'all plan your plates, I'd love to mooch off your meal planning for new ideas! Leave them in the comments or email me!