Sunday, April 14, 2013

Weekly menu plan #1 Giving this menu plan thing another whirl

Every week I love looking at Riddlelove's menu plan and clicking on her links to delicious tasting recipes. It's because of Riddlelove that I recently discovered cauliflower pizza crust. The healthy and tastier way to eat pizza!

Cauliflower pizza crust.

Now, I'm not a super organised person (or even a vaguely organised person), but I do want to try my hand at weekly menu planning again. My pantry is full to bursting and my freezer could do with a good clear out, so my goal is to try and clear away as much food as I can over the coming weeks.

The last couple of nights we've eaten leftover meals I had frozen in the freezer - Garden Vegetable Soup on Friday night and leftover Asian Mince on Rice for the girls and Beef Stir-fry for me and Paul last night.

So already that's three containers we've cleared out of the freezer and the bonus is that we didn't have to spend much time preparing dinner, so I got to put that time to better use pruning and clearing weeds in our front yard.

Here's my attempt at a menu plan for this week.


Sunday:
To do: make Coconut Cocoa Date Balls (with chopped almonds instead of whole), make Cookie Dough Bites, thaw chicken, make glaze and soak rice for Monday night
Breakfast:  Feijoa iceblocks, Tomato, Pineapple and Cheese Quesadillas
Dinner:  Tuscan Lamb Forequarters, Mashed Potato, Steamed Broccoli and Carrot


Monday:
To do: Make yoghurt and Grain-Free Chocolate Raspberry Muffins
Breakfast:  Scrambled eggs and leftover mashed potato
L's lunchbox: Cookie Dough Bites, Cheese and marmite sandwhich, Feijoa and apple pieces
Lunch at home for S and Emma: Cheese and marmite sandwiches, fruit, Cookie Dough Balls, Kale Chips
Dinner:  Crockpot Honey Mustard Chicken on Soaked Rice (with whole chicken) and Garden Salad

Tuesday:
To do: blend pancake mixture for morning
Breakfast:  Grain-Free Chocolate Raspberry Muffins
L's lunchbox: Yoghurt and frozen blueberries, popcorn, chopped fruit and vegetables
Lunch at home for S and Emma: Leftover honey mustard chicken and rice
Dinner:  Butter chicken on rice (using leftover chicken)

Wednesday:
To do: make dinner rolls, thaw sausages for Thursday
Breakfast: Blender oat pancakes with banana and maple syrup
Dinner:  Vegetable soup (from freezer) with dinner rolls and sour cream

Thursday:
To do: thaw mince and chicken stock for Friday
L's lunchbox: Dinner roll with butter and jam, Mini Plum Crumble, chopped vegetables
Lunch at home for S and Emma:

Dinner:  Sausages, chips and garden salad with raspberry balsamic dressing

Friday:
To do: thaw lamb and chicken stock for Saturday
Breakfast:  Scrambled eggs on toast
Lunchboxes for L and S:  Coconut Cocoa Date BallsGrain-Free Chocolate Raspberry Muffins, chopped fruit and veges
Dinner:  Asian Mince on Rice (cooked in chicken stock)

Saturday:
Breakfast:  Fresh Carrot and Apple Juice, leftover mince on rice
Lunch:  Leftovers
Dinner:  Roast Lamb with Jeweled Quinoa and Garden Salad

4 comments:

  1. For years when my older two kids were baby/toddlers I planned a menu each week. I had my shopping cost down and I knew what I was making each day.

    But an extra kid and older kids meant I got slack.. Fast forward 5 years and our shopping has no plan to it, I never know what I am cooking and the cost of feeding my family is creeping up too fast.

    SO last week I sat down and planned our menu.
    It felt good this week knowing what I would be cooking.

    I hope to get myself organised and back into it.

    I look forward to seeing more posts about this kind of thing :)

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  2. I've been meal planning lately too. Mostly so that I can make sure I eat enough to keep up with all the physical activity I do. But it does make such a difference to how organised I feel.

    Looks like you've got a yummy week ahead of you!

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  3. Way to be so orga side to plan out your "to dos" as well. I don't have a meal plan each week, but have started doing a Meat free Monday. We're not vegetarians, but I started to get a bit of variety and bring the grocery bill down a bit. The vegetarian day, combined with belonging to a veggie box scheme has definately improved my cooking skills, and our diet is much healthier as a result

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Great idea having a vegetarian day. I'm conscious that I should be eating more vegetables - it does feel good when I do, but it's hard to come up with creative ideas to serve them. I'd love to hear some of your successful recipes.

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