Meal Planning for November

In honor of organizing.....

I'm a broken record when it comes to meal planning... I try and try and fail and fail and try again.... Here's where we are now....

Goals:
1. Eat more veggies
2. Create "deconstructable" meals so I'm not cooking two (or three) complete menus every night.
3. Use up stuff in the cupboards.
4. Start using more burger.
5. Grocery shop less.
6. Save money.
7. Save time.
8. Save stress.

I'm doing meal planner 101 over here.... Here's what is cooking for the next two weeks.
M: tacos
Tu: potato soup & caesar salads
W: pizza & salad
Th: chx tender salad
F: bean & cheese burrito
Sa: chx soup or leftovers
Su: white bean chili

M: spaghetti
Tu: omlettes & salad
W: steak and fried potatoes
Th: tomato soup & grilled cheese
F: pita bread pizzas
Sa: corn chowder
Su: salmon nuggets & leftovers

How did I do??

Success and Failure:
1. Veggies: I'm trying to do the what the dietician's suggest. A normal size dinner plate, half fruit & veggies and half protein and carbs.... as opposed to our usual MO.... a giant vat of spaghetti and a fork. Sweet will eat "carrot salad" which is, um, cut up carrots and ranch. Tuff likes salad with ranch and peppers and cucumbers and carrots. I'm just trying to get in the habit.... baby steps.
2. Deconstructables: So far so good. On pizza night I make two pizzas (and I broke down and got boboli crusts... which everyone seems to love), one cheese and one something else... this week was my m-i-l's specialty... italian sausage (moose), green pepper, onion, black olives and mozz slices. Most of the meals I've picked are pretty easy to make kid-friendly and the kids are getting more adventurous. The potato soup (from a mix) was a battle until they tried a bite... now they love it. If it is going to be a real battle I can always fall back on chicken nuggets.
3. Use up stuff in the cupboards. Mid-October the school did a food drive (so far we've done a food drive, a hat/mitten drive, a change drive, sold chocolates & coffee and donated extra tissues, glue stick & ziplocks to the classroom.... getting tired....). Anyway. The food drive was good for getting rid of a few mistakes... like the kettle corn.... apparently no one in our house likes kettle corn. But the food drive made me clean out a bit and realize that, yes, canned goods DO expire.... so we systematically started eating everything in the cupboards and only replacing the things we like. I know.... this is basic logic for some of you but it was a revelation for me. Also... sweet heavens... toss the cake mix that expired in 2006. Wow.
4. Start using more burger. We ran out of cow a few weeks ago with the exception of a few carefully hoarded packages of hamburger. My f-i-l got a moose. We have lots of burger and sausage now. It is amazingly good. I haven't tried the steaks yet... talk to me after next Wednesday.
5. Grocery shop less. Can't tell if this is working or not. We did the usual Costco run and a grocery store stop and I think I have everything for all these meals and lunches.... I'm sure there will be more stops but it feels good to know all the basics are in the house. I spent $122 at Costco (including lunch) and $42 at the grocery store (including squeeze cheese and tomato/basil Wheat Thins.... we're practicing our letters with after-school snacks this week).
6. Save money. It isn't like we can get take-out where we live so I won't be saving much there but hopefully less time in the stores means less impulse buying (yes, I DID buy squeeze cheese this week and I am properly horrified by it...) and planned meals means planned leftovers for lunch so less stops at the local market by Hot for lunch.... we will see. I made "pizza rolls" with the leftover pizza stuff last night and everyone took those for lunch today.
7. Save time. Less shopping.... the end.
8. Save stress. Less "5:05 oh shit" moments. Fewer "chicken nuggets & fend for yourself" nights. I am going to try to put the "more cooking" stuff on Mondays & Wednesdays when I am home all day for the next few months and most "I have to actually cook this" stuff will be on the weekends. Getting off work at 3:00 every day sure makes cooking easier. Friday foods are usually things we can eat on tv trays while we watch a Friday Night Movie. (This week: Ghostbusters)