Did you notice that there wasn’t a menu plan last week? Well-I never did make one and I’ll tell ya–I felt it. All week I was out of kilter. I would work hard all day processing apples, writing posts or landing a new client (woohoo!) then all of the sudden I’d realize it was 4pm and I hadn’t started dinner.
It sucked.
Really.
I hate it when I don’t make a menu plan. SO–I’m back on the wagon today.
I always like to start my menu plan out by taking a look at the week ahead. What types of considerations do I have due to my calendar? What food items are in the fridge, on my counter or coming out of the garden that I need to use up rather than waste? What are my goals?
1. I’m in a play and have play rehearsal 5 nights this week. Yeah. So that makes planning fun. That means I need to have the meals ready to go before I have to go!
2. The kiddos have their standard activities on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. . . so those are busy nights (although only a couple of weeks left on soccer and then I’ll just have dance to worry about. Oh yeah-but then Girlscouts starts up). Yankee Bill has his pool league on Wednesday and won’t be home for dinner at all.
3. There are some white beans I cooked up last week as well as a batch of rice that I need to use up. There are green tomatoes that have been in there for about a week that won’t last much longer as well. I’ve got a big container of homemade spaghetti sauce sitting in the fridge as well. I dug up Jerusalem Artichokes from the garden and picked & cleaned some cabbage and Mizuna for last nights dinner stirfry-so there is leftover fresh stuff from that. I’ve also got a half liter of diet coke that’s been sitting on top of the fridge for a week.
4. I’ve got a couple of videos I’ve got to film for the Walmart Moms in store-which means I have to spend some time down in Binghamton filming. . . that’s going to take up a big chunk of one day.
5. My goal is to include one meatless, one venison and one fish meal each week.
Taking all that into account here is my game plan:
Monday: Crockpot Cola Chicken over Rice with Pot Greens
I’ll dig a bag of chicken thighs out of the freezer and use the leftover diet coke to make the chicken. The rice will be reheated, and then I’ll cook the Mizuna and cabbage that I picked yesterday and didn’t use in ham broth with some hot pepper flakes. Maybe I’ll make my life really easy and stick those into a second crockpot. (I’ve told you I have 4 right?)
Tuesday: Spaghetti and Meatsauce with Green Tomato Casserole
I’ll use some ground venison from the freezer to jazz up the sauce that I already made and serve it over some regular spaghetti. For the side I’ll make a green tomato casserole that uses cheese and breadcrumbs. Mmmm. This will be my venison meal, and it takes care of those green tomatoes in the fridge.
Wednesday: Crockpot Macaroni and Cheese with Green Beans
I’ll make the All Day Mac ‘n Cheese recipe, then I’ll pop open a can of my garden beans to put on the side. This is my meatless meal.
Thursday: Baked Chicken with Roasted Vegetables, Gravy, and Rolls
Buying whole chicken is one of the least expensive ways to purchase one-usually around $.89 a LB! I’ll roast one in the oven with potatoes, jerusalem artichokes and carrots in the oven. The drippings will be made into gravy and I’ll have rolls (or bread) for a starch.
Friday: Homemade Pizza
With the Pizza Hut Crust Clone recipe of course!
Saturday: Homemade Chicken Soup and Biscuits
The chicken carcass from Thursday will be cooked to make stock-then I’ll use that on Saturday morning to put a soup in the crockpot using leftover veggies, some of the meat, some rice etc. I’ll whip some biscuits up right before the meal.
Sunday: Fried Fish with Hush Puppies and Coleslaw
I’ve got fish in the freezer, I’ll defrost it, then I’ll use the burner on the grill outside to fry the fish (I just hate the smell of fried fish in the house!). I’ve never made hush puppies before, but I might as well try it while I’ve got the oil hot! Living in the south I learned that you can’t have fried fish without hush puppies 😉 The coleslaw will be made from a head of cabbage out of the garden.
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Are you interested in learning more about menu planning? Check out my post “Why Plan a Weekly Menu” .
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