How to: Meal Plan

Today's topic: Meal Planning

Two weeks ago, I shared with you how I start the meal planning process which includes how I organize my Pinterest boards. Today I want to share with you exactly how I meal plan. Before I figured this whole meal planning thing out, I was a mess. We would come home every night and waste time trying to figure out what we were eating or we would pick up dinner, which would cost us money we shouldn't have spent on food. But after reading lots of different blogs, I sat down one day and planned out meals for the week. It was so easy! Yes, it took some time but once I started I never looked back. It saved us time and money. Since Josh and I both work full time plus extra we need a schedule, it's the only way it will work for us.

Note: Meal planning is not for everyone and not everyone does it the same way. This is the way I do it because it works best for you. Before I was a terrible cook (I think I cooked ten times the first three years we were married) and hated being in the kitchen. But with meal planning and cooking lots of Pioneer Woman recipes, I have come to love it! Josh is rarely in the kitchen today.

One of the many blogs I read when starting the process was Leslie's at Lamberts Lately. Now, Leslie and I don't see eye-to-eye on the meal planning thing--gasp! Totally okay! Everyone does it their own way. But I do take her advice and add it with my meal planning. She taught me an important lesson--"shop from your pantry". What do you have in your pantry that you can use for the week before you go grocery shopping? Leslie is an amazing at using coupons {something I just can't get the hang of} you can read more of her couponing and shopping from the pantry in her post, How to Cut Your Grocery Bill in Half.

There are only a few things I need when meal planning:

1. My computer

2. Paper 

3. Pen

Before I begin, I do a quick straightening in the pantry. This allows the pantry to stay organized {we have a large pantry} and for me to see what I have to work with. I try to pick one or two good items to work with throughout the week. That could be pasta, rice, a few sauces, canned food, etc. I usually know what is in the fridge and freezer but I usually check that after I plan. I also freeze a lot of meals over the summer {I did extra this summer since I was pregnant and knew the meals would be helpful} so I always know what is in my deep freeze and try to use something once a week as well.

Next, I head to Pinterest where I usually get distracted for at least 20 minutes and start the process. I love Crockpot meals. I use my Crockpot {that is currently non-existent because I used it so much it burnt out, so I'm borrowing my mom's extra one} one to two days a week. It's my go-to every week and my lifesaver. I also start in on my Crockpot board and pull at least one from there. We always have frozen chicken so usually it will involve that. Pioneer Woman is another go-to board {yes, she has her own board}. She makes the best food and it's so easy! We both eat a lot of chicken but I try to mix in some kind of other meat twice a week. Josh is not a fan of vegetables which is really hard for me because I could be a vegetarian, so I do have to be careful with some of the recipes I find. Gotta hide those veggies!

Finally after I find five recipes I really like and have read them through, to make sure they're not too time consuming or difficult, I plan for the week and write my grocery list. I always keep the tabs up on my computer so I can see what ingredients I have and need to get.

I'm a visual learner and always need examples, so if you're like me, here is an example of this weeks meal planning:

Gasp! No Crockpot meals! I did two last week!

Chili was made Saturday night for Sunday's dinner and lunches for most of the week

Hamburgers were frozen from the cow my parent's got

Potatoes extra from Thanksgiving in pantry

Meat Sauce for Zitti frozen from summer (great PW recipe!)

Brats from local farmer's market this summer

Sorry it's kind of blurry--didn't have time to fix it!

As you can see, I didn't have a lot on our grocery list. I try to stay around $50-$60 a week. Josh usually buys two big bags of cereal and two gallons of milk--the boy loves his cereal! Some weeks we have an extra big list and have to get more on it. We also have our staples that never change: OJ, bananas, milk, cereal, yogurt, and bread.

Once meal planning is done, J does all the grocery shopping. I don't mind doing it but he enjoys having some quiet time in the evening with his iPod. It's definitely great for me! Together we put the groceries away and I prepare for the week.

Yes, it takes time. Yes, it takes a while to get into the habit of sitting down and writing it out. But for our little family, it's totally worth it! I can usually meal plan and make a grocery list in 15-20 minutes now and I have a good idea of what we have in stock and what we need to get.

This post may not help you at all, but if you're like I was at all hopefully you can get inspired from it...even just a teeny tiny bit. I can't say it enough, if I can do this, you can do this!

Next week I will share with you how I prepare ahead for the week to come!

Menu Monday

Chicken Tacos

No big recipe here. Just throw in  a crockpot: chicken breast, 1/2 jar salsa, and a can of Rotel tomatoes. Let it simmer all day and you have dinner! 

I also made homemade Pioneer Woman salsa, which is our favorite!

Spaghetti Squash

Tuesday night J didn't feel well and went to bed early. I tried to make spaghetti squash, but it didn't turn out too hot. Who knew you actually had to buy a certain type of squash called a "spaghetti squash" and couldn't just use a regular one. Yeah, I didn't.

Major fail.

Turkey Sausage and Peppers

I forgot a picture but ours looked close to this!

I thankfully had all of the ingredients to make this and it was so easy!

In a crockpot add your turkey sausage, green peppers, little onion (J doesn't like onion so I do very little--just for flavor), tomato paste, and diced tomatoes. 

{note: I left out the tomato sauce since there wasn't much meet. It was totally fine}

Let it cook all day and it's ready to eat! I bought some buns to make it more of a sandwich like you would find at the fair. J's brother joined us for dinner so we had some tater tots too.

Apple & Bacon Grilled Cheese

This is one of my favorites! But it is kind of rich so we don't eat it often. The great thing about this is not only is it easy but you can change up the cheese for different flavors. I love using gouda but this time we used pepper jack.

Directions:

1) Bake 1/2 lb bacon in the oven--I put it in the oven then turn the oven on to 350*. Always start with the oven cold when making bacon.

2) While the bacon is cooking, cut up the apples in thin slices and cut up your bread (we used an italian loaf)

3) Set out all of your ingredients: butter, apples, cheese, bread, and bacon (when finished)

4) Start your sandwich just like a regular grilled cheese. I put down a slice of cheese, then the apple, then bacon, then another piece of cheese to keep it together.

5) Grill it up and enjoy!

Friday night we went out to dinner to enjoy what could be one of our last nice dinners together. We decided on Cameron Mitchel's Cap City Diner. One of our favorite places!

Saturday night was J's night to cook, since he wasn't working! He made some yummy waffles. Nothing too fancy!

I didn't make any freezer meals this week because it was my first week back to school to get my classroom ready. But I do have a few for next week.

Don't forget to link up!

Menu Monday

Menu Monday is lacking a little this week. Mainly because I forgot to take pictures! Oops...

Turkey Brats & Sweet Potato Fries

We are big turkey fans around here and rarely eat red meat. With that, we have really enjoyed turkey brats this summer. I especially liked the added spicy mustard and cheese (usually I eat sour kraut instead of cheese but I didn't have any).

                                                Super easy dinner and doesn't need a recipe!

Salsa Chicken Tacos

No picture.

Super easy recipe! I first found this idea on Erin's blog a few years back. There are a lot of different ways to make salsa chicken however on this night I forgot to put it in the crockpot. Not a total fail but not as juicy. Basically you need chicken (frozen works great) and a jar of salsa. For this night I didn't add taco seasoning or cream cheese.

1 jar of salsa

3 chicken breasts (to have leftovers)

bake on 350* for about 40 minutes or so

Chicken Fried Rice

No picture again from me but here is the picture from the recipe website

Pretty easy and yummy recipe!

{link}

Did you see my pickle coleslaw from last week? If not, you have to check it out here!

Menu Monday-You don't want to miss this!

Linking up with Rachel today for Menu Monday!

I've been so proud of myself for cooking new items and for cooking quite a bit lately. Tuesday's are difficult because J has class and doesn't get home until 11. So I usually eat leftovers or Subway. Friday nights J works. I usually eat the opposite of what I didn't eat on Tuesday or something else (ie. Amy's burritos or Amy's Mac & Cheese). It works out pretty well.

Since I forgot to post Menu Monday last week, here are some dishes we've had over the past two weeks.

Spicy Pasta Sausage

I saw a lot of girls on Twitter making this so I had to try it out. Not only was it super easy but it was delicious too! We are big turkey sausage fans in this house so we were excited to try it. J even took leftovers to work the next day!

Pad Thai

I didn't take a picture so you get this one!-link below

I used a combo of this recipe and Rachel Ray's recipe. I really liked Rachel's sauce and thought it was easier to make. It turned out delicious!

Coconut Chicken Curry

Again, not my picture-link above

Over winter break I had Indian food for the first time and fell in love! I wanted to try to make it at home and found this easy recipe. It was awesome for being homemade and for me never making Indian food before. I actually didn't put it in the crock put and it still turned out really well. I'm excited to make it again!

Turkey Meatball Subs

I don't have a picture for these and the one online doesn't do them justice. I've made these Rachel Ray meatballs before and they're our favorite by far! The recipe makes a ton so I always freeze them for a later time.

Pizza Subs

Normally when we make meatball subs we use wheat hot dog buns but J decided to get these honkin buns last week. I didn't want to waste them, so I decided we were going to do pizza subs one night. This was not a Pinterest recipe but so easy to make.

Ingredients:

Turkey Pepperoni

Banana Peppers

Green Olives

Cheese

Pizza Sauce 

Any other toppings that you desire!

J was in charge of making these. He put all the pepperoni, peppers, olives, and sauce into a skillet and warmed it all up. While he was cooking those items together, he toasted the buns lightly. He put the mixture on the buns and sprinkled with cheese then stuck them under the broiler until the cheese was melted.

They were delicious!! 

*Note: When I saw that J brought these huge buns home, I made sure to dig out the insides so there wasn't as much heavy bread there. I can't handle all of that white bread!

**Note: All of these meals gave us left overs, which was wonderful since there is only two of us! 

My mom did not prepare me to cook a Thanksgiving feast

Don't forget to enter my BlueBird Couture giveaway! Ends TODAY!

Last week I talked about my Thanksgiving decor problem. If you missed it, you can find it here. J's family is coming for Thanksgiving dinner and I have no idea what I'm going to do with the table...still. But that is the least of my worries.

Let me tell you a little story about my mom and Thanksgiving dinner  cooking.

My mom is not a cook. She will tell you she has gotten better, which I guess she has, but she's still no Paula Dean Rachael Ray. Therefore I know very little about cooking. I can bake. I don't know where that came from but I'd like to say I bake well. Unless it's a pie. Or cookies. Okay, I can bake cakes and cupcakes well. Trust me on that.

So when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner I'm in trouble. Thank goodness J's parents are amazing cooks and they are bringing most of the food. Southern food, might I add, which just makes it better! And what does that leave me with? Well, I get to make a small ham, salad, green beans, and mac and cheese. They know me well. These are the things I can cook! Kind of...

Here is how the a conversation went with my mom about dinner.

Me: "I have to make a small ham."
Mom: "Oh, that will be good!"
Me: "But there's a problem."
Mom: "What's that?"
Me: "I have no idea how to make a ham"
Mom: "HAHA" (This went on for several minutes)
silence
Me: "You do realize this is your fault, right? You never taught me! You just had to order Thanksgiving!"
Mom: "I know. That makes it even better."

Yep, you read it right. Any time we had Thanksgiving at our house my mother had dinner catered. She would rather spend the extra money than try to cook it on her own (because it's been know to not work out). I always thought this was normal. People get their dinner catered. No biggie. Until I went to college and realized that most people don't do this. It's not like we have people come in serving us. In fact, we go and pick up the dinner the day before all ready to go. We warm it in the oven on Thanksgiving morning, throw out the trash, and put it on pretty platters. It's no secret, we just pretend we cooked it. :) Totally normal!

Flash forward to today and I've realized I've gotten nothing out of this but a belly full of delicious food. I have not the slightest idea how to cook a Thanksgiving dinner. I don't know how to keep everything warm to eat at once. I couldn't tell you how to prepare a turkey or even pick a good one out! Can you put a turkey in a crock-pot? Because then we would be all set!

So for this year's Thanksgiving feast, I will prepare my few easy food items and continue living in my Thanksgiving food bubble where the food just magically appears on the table.

Note: I'm pretty sure I never really got into the whole cooking aspect of Thanksgiving dinner because I never really have cared for it. I'm not a big fan of a lot of the food at Thanksgiving dinners. I'll just stick with that excuse. 

What I'm loving Wednesday: Create-A-Crock Edition

Instead of focusing on a lot of things I love {because there are a lot} I decide to focus on one specific thing I recently found!


{link}
Without a Crock Pot some days there may be no dinner.

If you read my Sunday Social post from this past Sunday, you may have noticed the answer to my last question...

"Share one of your favorite recipes and the story behind it.

This is actually really tough. Over the last few years, especially this year, I have really expanded my cooking. J and I also have been eating a lot cleaner. Before this, I rarely cooked and when I did it usually didn't taste too great. After using the Crock Pot, my meals started turning out much better. It's pretty difficult to mess up a CP meal (and trust me I could do it). So if there is a recipe that involves the CP, then it's probably one of my favorites because when I cooked in my CP, dinner actually tasted good! Thank you Crock Pot for boosting my cooking confidence!!"

Seriously. Cooking with the Crock Pot really did boost my cooking confidence. I cook so much more both with and without it. I've cooked more this summer than in my whole life...not a joke. 

Recently, we lost the lid to our Crock Pot. I wish I knew how but it literally disappeared. I've torn the kitchen apart and still cannot find it. {No worries, aluminum foil is acting as the lid for now.} So that made me thinking about getting a new one. The one we have is great for just me and J, however when I want to make a big pot of chili or have the family over for dinner it doesn't really hold much. I told J last week that for my birthday I really want a nice Crock Pot.

Yes, I am asking for an appliance for my birthday...and some Tory Burch shoes, so it evens out.

Anyways, when thinking about what kind of Crock Pot I wanted I knew I wanted one that had a timer that I could control, held a meal for 6-8 people, was safe, had a lock on top if possible, and one that was pretty would be especially nice.

As I was searching the Crock-Pot.com, I came across the coolest thing e.v.e.r.

You can design your own Crock Pot!! 

Don't all jump up and down at once.

I'm still trying to figure out if I can just get a solid color pink Crock Pot instead of one with pictures. Since it's just J and I think it would be silly to have pictures of just us...or Oliver and Wembley since they don't eat Crock Pot food. I'll let ya know what I figure out.

So if you're in the neighborhood for a new Crock Pot and you want to even design your own with a little family flare, then you definitely need to check out Create-A-Crock!

I was not asked or given any compensation to write this post. I seriously think it is the coolest thing ever and I love my Crock Pot!

Monday, July 6

Since we didn't get a chance to post yesterday, we thought we would do that first. It was a pretty slow day. We signed up to "tour" Orange Lake and learn about their time-share program. The tour was great, but we definitely can't afford it right now. The sales people were very overwhelming and pushy. I know it's their job to sell, but there is only so many times we can say no (for us it was 4 no's to 4 different people).

One positive that came from our tour was the great pictures we got of River Island and the lazy river.

There is obviously a screen in front...sorry!

Speed Limit-23?

The inside of the Registration Building. It's like a cyber cafe.

After the meeting, we hit the pool for a few hours. Then the sky became dark and we were getting hungery. We decided to go "home" and make some pasta for dinner! Josh is the best cook!

Brittany decided to put on Josh's flip-flops...just a little big!

Our yummy dinner!

Then it started to pour!! It's hard to see in this picture, but keep scrolling!

After dinner, we stopped at Walmart to rent movies from Red Box, but we ended up watching Newlyweds instead!!

Tuesday = Epcot!