is essentially cleaning out the freezer, so I made a menu that would help make that happen. A few weeks back I had stocked up at Costco on chicken, pork chops, ground beef (12% lean) and NY strip steaks, and 2 flank steaks. I got out the freezer bags and divided everything into meal sized portions, which for us will last a whole month. I'm getting near the end of my stockpile and don't want to go to the supermarket unless it's for perishables like milk, bread and produce.
grilled steaks
potatoes
ceasar salad
oven fried chicken
broccoli
couscous
spaghetti
salad
garlic bread
pork chops
brown rice
green beans
flank steak
mixed vegetables
rice with peppers & onions
chicken
bean salsa
risotto
I don't like assigning days of the week to my menu, because I do like the option to change my mind. Since this is a "clean out the freezer" week, I am not entirely sure how I will prepare the main item yet, so that option is open too. I only plan 5 or 6 meals at a time to allow for leftovers and hopefully, a night out, no cooking.
So, this is my process for cleaning out the freezer. In a future post I will go into menu planning when I try new recipes, talk about grocery shopping, and how meal planning can save you much time and money in the long run.
Have a wonderful day!
Nancy :)
When my kids were little, my husband and I both worked full time and had very little time to shop, let alone, time to cook. So I would sit down on Sunday mornings and plan dinner meals for the week, every protien, side dishes, fruit and dessert. Then I would make my grocery list and go shopping. This saved us time and alot of money, due to the fact I very rarely bought anything that was not on my list. Once I was home from the store I would put our weekly menu up on the fridge. I would wait until after shopping to put the menu up in case I couldn't find everything I needed at the store. I liked to display our menu so that our children could see what we were going to have for dinner and they could dread it or be excited. If it was a meal that one of them didn't like, I would get them involved in the shopping and the cooking process, this usually worked well enough that they would eat it. This also worked in my favor because if I was late coming home from work, my husband knew exactly what to make for dinner. I hope that my story can help parents with time and money issues know that dinner and shopping can be a family affair, and it can also be fun.
ReplyDeleteSo true, taking that 15-30 minutes to plan for the week saves you many hours in the long run, and money too! My daughter cooked spaghetti on Thursday nights for us, and it was such a help. It's still good to menu plan even when it's just the 2 of you too!
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