Do you know what you are eating this week? Menu planning is a great way to save money, time, and your sanity. The more you think ahead, the less stressed you will be. I often plan my meals around sales and what I have stocked in the kitchen as opposed to planning the meal, and then going to the store to buy the ingredients.
MEAL IDEAS
BREAKFAST IDEAS:
- This year we’ve been eating so many Sourdough Waffles (which the whole family loves) that I’ve hardly made pancakes this year. Abbie has been asking for pancakes, so I am working on a sourdough pancake recipe. We have been enjoying eating the experiments!
- Smoothies or Sorbets like the Strawberry Blueberry Smoothie
- Scrambled Eggs
- Granola Cereal-I will be making a quadruple batch tomorrow using my two larger crock-pots.
- Steel Cut Oats with strawberries, blueberries, nuts, and honey-This is our once-a-week go-to.
LUNCH IDEAS:
- Sourdough Baguettes with Bruschetta and ham-I’ve started shaping my $0.61 Sourdough Bread into 4 small baguettes to make cute little sandwiches for the family.
- Tuna Lettuce Wraps
- Nacho Salad, can serve with No-cheese Cheese or Raw Milk Cheese, with Salsa (still my first go-to lunch if we don’t have leftovers) and sometimes guacamole.
- Chimichangas-inspired by Superhealthykids.com
- Fruit: bananas, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, and other in season fruit
- Crock-pot Yogurt with Easy 3 Ingredient No Cook Blender Jam (the kids have been eating it with raspberry blender jam using the same recipe)
- Scrambled Eggs with lots of Sauteed Veggies
- Leftovers
DINNER IDEAS:
- Homemade $0.61 Sourdough Bread-I usually make this once a week…at least.
- Salad with Lemony Vinaigrette
- Bean Burritos made with crock-pot refried beans and Guacamole
- Crock-pot Whole Chicken-I’ve been cleaning out our freezer and found a chicken I need to use.
- Rice and Veggies with Spicy Ginger Sauce
- Crock-pot Sweet and Sour Chicken
- Crock-pot Drumsticks-Now that Costco is selling their organic drumsticks for under $2/lb., I’ve bought some, thrown them in the crock-pot, and have some easy protein in addition to our salads for dinner. Jonathan occasionally grills them, too!
- Crock-pot Tortilla Soup with the leftover from my Crock-pot Whole Chicken. Wow! We eat a lot of chicken.
- We are bringing Baked Beans, and a Strawberry Spinach Salad to a potluck this week.
- We have some cauliflower to use up so I’m planning to make Dairy-free Alfredo.
- Leftovers
SNACKS & DESSERT IDEAS:
- Dairy-Free Blender Ice Cream-It’s been a long time since we’ve had some and we have a ton of bananas, so I also need to make a Banana Bread.
- No Bake Cookie Bars, Dairy-Free-My 8 year old Ellie-girl now makes them by herself. I do verbally assist her, but she can put it all together without me mixing anything.
- Homemade KIND Inspired Bars
- Apples and Bananas with Nut Butter-This is a family afternoon favorite or we might have it for dessert.
- Stove Top Popcorn
- 4 Ingredient Chewy Peanut Butter Granola Bars and 4 Ingredient Almond Butter Granola Bars-Time to make a batch of both. I am almost out!
- I’ve been making these Raspberry Oatmeal Bars, from Amandeleine.com dairy-free.
Do you plan your meals first and then buy the food, or do you buy the food and then plan the menu? I would love to hear your plans! You can find my past menu plans here.
Go here for the complete list of recipes.
