Meal Plans & My Crockpot

So I haven't posted meal plans in a couple of months. The reason is because I am odd. When I plan ahead with meals, count my points for Weight Watchers, and budget too strictly, I tend to spend too much on food, get too obsessive about points, and spend more than I normally would. I know, strange. You would think planning ahead would help with that, but I am learning lately that I am weird in ways I never knew. :) When I plan ahead a moderate amount and don't OVER-plan, I do great with all the above items (food budget, dieting, and overall budgeting). Must be my Libra-ness coming through. Everything balanced, not too far in either direction? Who knows. Anyway, that's why no major meal plan.

Every Sunday I look through the pantry/fridge and jot down some meal ideas based on what I have, and make a note of anything I need from the store. I do my shopping on Sunday with my Grocery Game coupons (down to $70/week on groceries! I am getting close to my goal of $50/week!!) and we are set.

Also, someone recommended this site to me and I am LOVING it so far!! Passing it on for anyone who loves to use their crock pot. :) (Thanks Lynette!!)

A Year of CrockPotting

I adore my crockpot, especially during the hotter months when I don't want to be slaving away over a stove. Taking care of food prep in the morning when it's not too hot out is heavenly. Yesterday I made Black Bean & Corn soup for my church's Tuesday night Lent study, from my favorite slow cooker cookbook - Today I am making chalupa from that same cookbook.

I actually have two crockpots - a huge one we got as a wedding gift and a smaller one I picked up a couple of years ago. It's so nice to have something simmering away while I'm playing with Natalie or cleaning or even out and about. It's also nice to have the house smell more and more delicious as the day goes on. :)

Meal Plan - Week of 1/19

Monday - Veg-Head Three Bean Chili
Tuesday - Lemon Oregano Chicken
Wednesday - Chef Salad
Thursday - Cobb Pasta Toss
Friday - Hamburger Helper

Things I am doing...

I got a trial membership this weekend to Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. Their budgeting software is fantastic!! Walked me through each step. We are 33 now, and really need to get on track with this. Retirement, college savings, etc.

Along that same vein, I am planning ahead for our vacation this year. What a novel concept! In the past, we have done stuff last minute or not really planned financially for the trip. (We sometimes still have that "two income" mentality...) I believe we are going to spend a long weekend in San Diego and visit the zoo and Sea World. I priced some vacation packages online and we are now saving and planning.

I bought a couple of books at Border's this week. I know, probably not the most frugal thing to do, but hey I'll get there! I got All New Square Foot Gardening and the green book. I planned out our backyard on paper, and now I need to (frugally) get everything set up out there. I am going to ask our yard guy to pull out all the plants in our raised beds, so I can plant vegetables. All we have out there now as far as food is our grapefruit tree. It's dropping grapefruits right now, and holy moly they are delicious! It's very satisfying to just go into our own yard and get food. I'm looking forward to planting some simple veggies and herbs this year. The square foot gardening looks like an easy and productive way to go about this process.

The Green Book is a great little book, with little tips on how to help the environment. There is information in there about composting, which will go along with the veggie garden.

That's what I've done so far this year to become more frugal and green! It's overwhelming when I think about where to begin, but by taking a few baby steps, I feel more sure of myself.

Meal Plan for Week of 1/12

Monday - Kidney beans, rice, and spinach
Tuesday - Buffalo chicken chili mac (from last week)
Wednesday - Tofu stir fry
Thursday - Creamy parsley pistachio fettuccine (from last week)
Friday - Meat loaf & cheddar mashed potatoes

So all I need to buy for this week is the tofu & veggies for Wed. night.

Thoughts about the menu plan & saving money

So I am realizing that planning meals the way I have been is not really saving me money. I had an idea - assign a type of food to each night, based on what I have in the freezer/pantry, and then work with what I have for those nights, instead of the other way around - working from a recipe and having to buy a bunch of new stuff. This weekend I got a case of kidney and pinto beans for 44 cents a can!! And a case of vegetable broth, also for 44 cents a can. I also have about 3 pounds of ground beef I got at $1.97/pound last week and a bunch of chicken breasts that were $1.77/pound last week. So that's what's in the freezer/fridge/pantry, and that's what I'm working with. Since we had the stomach flu last week and didn't stick to the menu plan (just had noodles pretty much all week!), I do still have the ingredients for a couple of the recipes, so they will be in this week's plan again.

Here is my plan for assigning a type of food to each day:

Monday - Beans
Tuesday - Chicken
Wednesday - Veggies
Thursday - Pasta
Friday - Ground Beef
Weekend - Leftovers (or grilled cheese, mac & cheese - easy stuff!)

Meal Plan for Week of 1/5

Monday - Buffalo Chicken Chili Mac
Tuesday - Creamy parsley & pistachio fettuccine
Wednesday - Salmon & artichokes
Thursday - Hamburger Helper
Friday - Steak and mac & cheese
Saturday - leftovers
Sunday - leftovers

Meal Plan for Week of 12/29

Monday - Leftover Ham Bake, peas, ice cream sundaes
Tuesday - "New" Brunswick Stew, jell-o
Wednesday - Lipton slow cooker roast, brownies
Thursday - grilled cheese & tomato soup, salads, ice cream
Friday - soup, salad, bread, brownies
Saturday - Leftovers / mac & cheese
Sunday - make something with roast leftovers