Making Menu Plans

Hubby grew up on home cooked, made from scratch meals and that is one of the things that is important to him in our married life. My mom told me if I started cooking that way while we were dating, then I might as well get prepared to cook like for the rest.of.my.life. My boys have absorbed this habit, often asking me to "whip up" something for snacks, football games and of course dinner time. Their poor wives. :) Funny thing is, I would NOT have it any other way.

As our family grew in size, I realized, I just could dream up nice, hearty meals and ALWAYS have the stuff I needed on hand, so I had to become a planner with my meals. When I came home FT and we were on ONE income, I REALLY had to watch my pennies. Every single one COUNTED. So, I started planning my menus and tried to make it fun for my family too. Just because we were having Salmon Croquettes, doesn't mean we couldn't eat on the beautiful dishes my Hubby and I recieved as wedding gifts.

When money was really, really tight. I would plan my menus from the sale at the grocery store. Coupled with my coupons and VIOLA ...we still had meat regularly and spent little money to feed my brood. Once I started working outside the home PT, I STILL needed to stick with a menu plan so I wouldn't overspend or go off track.

I started planning with school lunch menus, blogs, throwing meals in a hat (Picking out what we would eat) and gathering data from the internet. Pretty so I started sharing my menus with a mom's group I belong too and found that I was helping some other mommys with their meals. I can say for sure that when I have a plan, I stay on budget, but when there is no plan, off the tracks.

I do "allow" for weeknight school meetings, working late and that every once and again, I don't FEEL like cooking so let's run through McDonald's, so I didn't beat myself up about what we ate. When we were on one income, there was NO room to eat out, so I try to stick with that same "plan" so we don't add on the $$$$ or the pounds.

I do "theme" weeks, types of food week, breakfast at least twice per month and "clean out the freezer and let's see what we come up with for dinner" kind of meals.

All in all, it has been a GREAT thing for my family and for our pocketbooks. (That phrase alone will date me)

This week we are having the following:

Baked Chicken, Rice and Lima Beans
Twice Baked Potatoes, Green Salad
Homemade Chicken Wide Noodle Soup w/ Veggies
Sub Sammies, Home Fries
Tilapia Pockets w/ Spring Veggies
Homemade Pizza
Saturday - Pinto Beans and Cornbread (It is still 100 degrees around here, but a big ole Pot of Beans WILL hit the spot)

Happy Planning!