More on Menus

I'm sure you've heard the advice: Never go grocery shopping when you're hungry. That's very good advice, and I try to stick to it. Add to that gem: Always make your menu before lunch. Before breakfast works too. Seriously, trying to make a creative, varied menu on a full stomach is hard. It's much easier to come up with 2 weeks of dinner ideas when you're hungry. Try it.

Our grocery ads come out on Wednesday. My preferred stored has its ads available online. So, just before I take my lunch break on Wednesday (or maybe Thursday if I'm busy having to work at work), I pull up the ad and select everything that looks like a good deal or just looks good. I make a quick menu using whatever meat is on sale as the repetitive focal point. I keep my menu saved as a note in my email. Then I go to lunch. When I come back, I do whatever work needs done. Then when I have time at the computer, I fill in the holes in my menu and cross off the things we don't really need or that aren't good deals.

This week my grocery store has roast on sale for $1.97/lb. I made that my big meat purchase. They also have a "meal deal" buy pre-seasoned fajita meat and get tortillas, lettuce, refried beans and pico de gallo all free. I have used this deal before, and know that it will cost about $8 for all of that. I built my menu around those two items. Both the roast and the fajita meat will make lots of leftovers that can be eaten for lunches and/or frozen for later use. The rest of my menu comes from my freezer. I currently have a whole chicken, 2 (1 lb) packs of hamburger, a small bag of chicken tenders, a small bag of pork chops, 2 ready-to-cook meatloaves, a piece of ham, a piece of fully-cooked pork loin, and about 2 cups of chicken broth with some meat in it. The "pieces" are leftovers that I have frozen for later meals.

 

Here is my menu for the next two weeks:

Sun 2/21
roast, potatoes

Mon 2/22 

leftover roast (because Will is working late, and Robbie and I don't mind repetitive meals.)

Tues 2/23
fajita meal deal

Wed 2/24 

chicken & dumplings (using the broth from freezer)

Thurs 2/25 

leftover fajitas (Will is working late again.)

Fri 2/26
ham, mac & cheese

Sat 2/27
meatloaf,  mashed potatoes

Sun 2/28
crock pot chicken, rice

Mon 3/1
beef & noodles

Tues 3/2
chicken & dumplings

Wed 3/3
pork from freezer, rice

Thurs 3/4
quesadillas/nachos (This is often what I make when it's just Robbie and me.)

Fri 3/5
hamburger stir fry, rice

On Saturday 3/6, we will most likely eat leftovers and I will go grocery shopping again. I will probably modify this menu several times over the next 2 weeks if things are busy or other plans come up.