Dinner Menu July #2

I am trying something new with menu planning. I am going to change to a week by week plan trying to use items on sale or items I bought on sale and already have at home.

What to make for dinner using this weeks sale items!
KS = King Soopers
SW=Safeway
Alb= Albertson's

Potatoes (KS $2.99/10lbs) click here for all main and side dish recipes
Corn (SW 6 for $1.00) would be an excellent side dish to most dinners

Milk is cheap at $1.58 a gallon, so I like to make my own yogurt click here to learn how.

Wednesday: Recipe posted click on title below.
Green Chili Chowder
(Potatoes KS 10 lbs $2.99),

Thursday:Will post this recipe soon!
Sweet Pork Burritos (Already have pork loin frozen)

Friday:
Hamburgers with potato side dish (ground beef KS $1.99/lb 93% lean)

Saturday:
Use left over Sweet Pork- burritos , on Hamburger buns, or delicious over a baked potato. Freeze any leftover buns.

Sunday:
Flank Steak (already in Freezer) serve with rice, homemade rolls, corn on cob
dessert: brownies and ice cream

Monday:
Thai Beef Salad (use leftover Flank Steak)
dessert: cookies

Tuesday:
Chicken dish with classic baked potato

Wednesday:
Pasta dish? Parmesan Chicken or Baked Ziti

Other Dinner Suggestions: Will Post Recipes Soon!
I will purchase 2 roasts and an extra few pounds of ground beef to freeze to make these dinners another week. (I freeze my ground beef to 1 lb per bag. I love to use my Handi Vac to help keep the meat from getting freezer burn.)

French Dip
(Albertson's chuck roast $1.99/lb)

Sunday Roast
(Potatoes KS $2.99, Carrots ALB $.99/2lbs, Roast ALB $1.99/lb)

Mexican Stuffed Pasta Shells (ground beef KS $1.99/lb 93% lean)
Taco Soup
Taco Salad
Lasagna
Meatballs
Sloppy Joes

Dinner Menu June #2

For a more detail plan of how I plan breakfast, lunches, and dinners click here

We love to grill in the summer-keeping the cooking outside helps to keep the house cool.

1. Apricot Pork Roast Sandwiches (Crock-pot)
2. Hamburgers
3. BBQ Chicken on grill (use leftover chicken in salads for lunch)
4. Spaghetti (meatballs?), Rosemary Foccia bread dipped in olive oil
5. Enchiladas
6. Chicken Pillows
7. Tilapia w/ lemon pepper
8. Burritos
9. Thai Noodles
10. Italian Chicken (Crock-pot) serve over pasta


Sides, Snacks and Desserts: Broccoli Salad, Fresh Fruit and vegetables, Peas from my garden, Popcorn, German Chocolate Cake, Ice Cream, Popsicles

Dinne Menu June

For a more detail plan of how I plan breakfast, lunches, and dinners click here

1. Mexican Taco Shells and salad
2. Spicy Pork, eat with rice in a lettuce wrap!
3. Grilled Chicken (use a Lawry's marinade I got for free!) Roasted Potatoes
4. Chicken Kabobs with pepper, onion, tomatoes, mushrooms. Potato side dish (baked or seasoned potatoes?)
5. Blue Cheese Hamburgers and Onion Strings, carrot sticks and dip
6. Navajo Tacos
7. Salmon use Lawry's Ginger Sesame marinade serve with rice
8. Chicken and potato salad, Brown Sugar-Glazed Carrots
9. Creamy Cajun Chicken w/ cheese tortellini Pasta and bread sticks
10. Tortilla Soup- serve with chips and corn bread

Breakfast: Waffles with fresh fruit (King Soopers Strawberries 16 oz/Raspberries 6 oz $1.00)
Lunches: Use leftover chicken cut up for salads.
Snacks and Desserts: Pretzels and raisins, Popcorn, Peanut Butter bars, Strawberry pie, Cookies with Ice Cream

May Dinner Menu #2

For a more detail plan of how I plan breakfast, lunches, and dinners click here

1. Mexican Style Chicken and Chili Reno Casserole
2. Parmesan Chicken and Spaghetti
3. Steak and Potatoes
4. Buttermilk Chicken and Potato Casserole (frozen Kroger Potatoes on sale for $.99 this week at King Soopers!)
5. Hamburgers and Potato Fries
6. Hawaii Coconut Chicken and Rice
7. BBQ Chicken and Pinto Beans
8. Honey Lime Enchiladas
9. Creamy Cajun Pasta
10. Homemade Pizza

Planned sides and desserts: homemade bread, Oreo Cake, Strawberry Pie, Oatmeal Carmalitas
Breakfast: German Pancakes--My favorite breakfast! It is a must have this week with large eggs being only $.88 a dozen at Wal-mart.

May Menu

For a more detail plan of how I plan breakfast, lunches, and dinners click here

1. Pizza
2. Mexican Lime Soup
3. Chicken Kabobs
4. Burritos
5. Hamburgers
6. Spaghetti
7. Sesame Chicken
8. Hot Loaf Sandwich w/ tomato soup (grilled cheese for the kids)
9. Roast-veggies and potatoes
10. French Dip (use left over roast)

Planned sides and desserts: Blueberry muffins, homemade bread, brownies, popcorn
Breakfast: French toast, Waffles

April Menu 2

For a more detail plan of how I plan breakfast, lunches, and dinners click here

1. Taco Salad
2. Coconut Chicken
3. Navajo Tacos
4. Buttermilk Chicken and potatoes
5. Steak
6. Fish (Tilapia)
7. Sweet n' Sour Meatballs
8. Egg Rolls and Fried Rice
9. Calzones-cheese and Spinach
10. Spaghetti Dinner

Planned sides and desserts: Green Salad, Potatoes, Strawberry Pie, No Bake Cookies, Rice Krispie Treats, Cinnamon Rolls
Breakfast: German Pancakes and Eggs Benedict

Dinner Menu April

For a more detail plan of how I plan breakfast, lunches, and dinners click here

1. Chicken Broccoli Casserole
2. Tortilla Soup
3. Tostadas
4. Mexican Style Chicken
5. Italian Baked Ziti, and brushetta
6. Sloppy Joes
7. Sweet n' Sour Meatballs
8. Potato Soup
9. Calzones-cheese and Spinach
10. Homemade Pizza

Planned sides and desserts: Green Salad, Tapioca Pudding, Potato Salad, Peach Cobbler, 7-layer Bars, Carmel Popcorn, Angel Food Cake

Dinner Menu March

Some of the dinners are from the last menu that I never made.
For a more detail plan of how I plan breakfast, lunches, and dinners click here.

1. Creamy Turkey Soup (with homemade bread)
2. Fish (Salmon)
3. Green Chili Chowder (with homemade bread)
4. Sesame Chicken
5. Chicken Pillows
6. Italian Chicken (crock-pot)
7. Spaghetti and meatballs (homemade sauce)
8. Sour Cream Chicken
9. Stuffed Pasta Shells
10. Honey Lemon Chicken

Desserts: Pistachio Cake, mini-cheese cake tarts, brownies
Snacks: popcorn, homemade blueberry muffins

Menu Planning

I plan meals for two weeks at a time. For my family (2 adults+3 kids) this means, I plan out ten dinners. I don't assign days to these dinners, but I will first make the dinners that have perishables that go with it. I plan using food we already have at home and then plan with what is on sale at the grocery store. I have made a separate spreadsheet with dinners we like, where to find the recipe, and ingredients list to help me in the process. To see my dinner sheet click here.

For the current dinner menu for my family see the black print below.

I will grocery shop for the 10 meals at the beginning of the 2 weeks. This leaves me with some money to shop the second week for fresh produce, milk, and any good or great deals. I am planning to have the French Dip dinner this Sunday, so since the Roast wasn't a good price last week I held off on buying it. It worked! Albertson's have them on sale this week, which I plan to buy 2 so I can freeze one.

2 week Dinner Menu
1. Bean Soup (and homemade bread)
2. Thai Noodles
3. Burritos (Burrito filling frozen from previous dinner)
4. Hawaii Coconut Chicken (already have coconut and almonds in freezer)
5. Mexican Chicken (We eat it with avocados, tomatoes, and lettuce and so we already ate this.)
6. Sesame Chicken (already have all ingredients)
7. Manicotti (already have noodles and frozen filling from last month)
8. Creamy Turkey Soup (I already have frozen leftover turkey.)
9. French Dip
10. Fish (I already have frozen Salmon from Costco.)

I will also serve a vegetable (fresh, frozen, or can) and sometimes fruit to go along with dinner.

When I freeze leftovers, I love to use Reynolds Handi-Vac. This handy tool allows you to suck the air out of the bag, to help prevent freezer burn. Since using this tool, we have actually eaten the frozen leftovers for dinner instead of chucking them in the annual freezer clean out.

Lunch
We do eat leftovers and my husband will often take leftovers for lunch. For his lunch I include a main entree, vegetables, fruit, and a yogurt. For my kids lunch we have a main entree like PBJ sandwiches, ham and cheese sandwiches, chicken nuggets, frozen pizza, Mac & Cheese, or egg rolls (egg, ham, cheese fried in an egg roll wrapper.) I also have a fruit and/or vegetable and a good bribe (Cheetos) to eat their lunch.

Breakfast
Cereal, oatmeal, or waffles (Krusteaz mix from Costco).

Snacks
Fruit, yogurt, crackers, popcorn, Pop-tarts etc... I like to save the fruit snacks and granola bars for a snack away from home.

Desserts
We are a cookie home. I always have ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies. I generally have a dessert for Sunday and Monday nights. This week it is apple crisp and ice cream. We also love popcorn and brownies.