Menu Planning

I love to cook and if you've read my blog for any length of time, you'll understand what I mean.  To me a meal without creativity is just not a meal. 

I'm also trying to manage our very tight budget and I decided to get back to my old habit of making out a menu each week.  I spend a lot of time in the kitchen because I make everything from scratch.  It's cheaper and also because I deal with so many health issues in our family, it's a way to manage what's going into their body.

I always plan my meals around what I have in my pantry and have the same basic things there.  It ends up costing less than trying to plan a menu and then go out and purchase specific items.

Here is the plan for the next week.  I'm not putting the word homemade in front of everything, but it's all from scratch from cereals to breads to desserts.

Monday

B - Granola, juice
L - Hot pockets with ground beef, mozzarella and sauce (I'm making a double batch for the freezer)
D - Chicken enchilada casserole, tossed salad

Tuesday

B - Waffles, juice
L - Leftovers
D - Moussaka, pita, taboulleh, tossed salad

Wednesday

B - Granola, fresh fruit, juice
L - Moroccan Style Butternut squash soup in bread bowls
D - Baked salmon, rice pilaf, steamed carrots, dinner rolls

Thursday

B - Scrambled eggs, home fries, juice
L - Leftovers
D - Pizza (choice of pepperoni or veggie), tossed salad

Friday

B - Granola, juice
L - Leftovers
D - Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, corn, biscuits, peach crisp

Saturday

B - Waffles, juice
L - Chicken chili, oatmeal bread
D - Spaghetti, Italian bread, tossed salad

Sunday

B - Cereal, juice
L - Leftovers
D - Swedish meatballs, egg noodles, dinner rolls, steamed green beans, apple pie