Trying to get back on the wagon

Well, my newborn blob is no more. He's almost three months now and has not afforded me much time to write lately. But, I'm feeling motivated and will try again.

I haven't been menu-planning in awhile. Instead, I've been deciding as I go; trying to use up leftovers, etc. But, two things motivated me to sit down and make a menu again:

1. Next week is Family Camp. Both morning and night services Monday thru Thursday. I will barely have time in the morning for a hearty breakfast and to throw something in the crockpot for us to eat when we come home at lunchtime starving. Then, a light dinner before we head out again. We will probably be hungry when we come home then, too. So, I needed to be very organized as to what I would have ready so we wouldn't be tempted to eat out.

2. I don't have money for a Sam's trip right now, so I have to limit myself to the grocery store. This limits what I can buy.

First I took inventory of what was in my freezer. I was surprised to note that we've gone through a lot of that meat that I bought six weeks ago. It seemed infinite, but I guess not. We've made a good dent in it. However, if I plan right, I still have about a months worth of meat in there, plus some pinto beans and kidney beans that I had cooked. I also checked my pantry and noted how much pasta and dried beans I still have.

Next I sat down and wrote out exactly how many meals I would need to take me through the end of camp.

Then, I started going through my recipes and picking out what I thought would work. I had just printed out a bunch of recipes, so I had a lot to choose from. I loved going to http://www.tasteofhome.com/ and being able to input the ingredient(s) that I am looking for and find recipes. I'm really bad about agonizing over recipe selections, so I made myself just pick the first ones that fit the bill. I tried to make sure that I would not have to buy a lot of extra ingredients for the recipe, rather using what I already have, and took time constraints into consideration.

When I found a recipe that I wanted, I wrote it down in the appropriate meal slot. I double-checked the ingredients and wrote down any that I needed to buy on my list. I then crossed off any meat or staples that I was using from my list so I would know that that wasn't available anymore.

Here is my menu. most recipes can be found at http://www.tasteofhome.com/

Wednesday: Spaghetti (just noodles and canned sauce @ $1), canned green beans, garlic bread (found a french bread baguette on the reduced rack for 79c)

Thursday: Sticky Chicken, salad *The sticky chicken recipe can be found all over the internet. All you need is a bevy of spices to rub on the chicken, then bake for 5 hours at 250. It's awesome!

Friday: Cheesy beans and rice *Meatless, using WIC kidney beans that I cooked and froze **May be bumped for chicken soup

Saturday: Forgotten Jimbalaya

Sunday: Leftovers

Monday Dinner: Chunky Vegetarian Chili, homemade yeast rolls

Tuesday Lunch: BBQ pork sandwiches in the crockpot, crackers, fruit

Tuesday Dinner: chili dogs using leftover chili

Wednesday Lunch: Busy Mom's Chicken Fajitas

Wednesday Dinner: Leftover pork sandwiches

Thursay Lunch: Sesame Pork Ribs

Thursday Dinner: leftovers or sandwiches

I bought corn dogs and lunch meat for the kids/after church snacks.

For breakfasts, I needed them to be hearty, but easy, so I spent a little more money buying packaged foods: preformed hashbrown patties and sausage links. I also bought eggs.

I rounded out my list with produce and sales. I tried to be very careful. I picked chicken breasts or whole fryers for 79c a pound, mangoes for 50c, cantaloupe 50c a pound, salad mixes 88c a pound, water bottles to use next week at camp $3/24.

I had a stomach ache by the time I was out of the produce section. The prices are crazy-high!! I found myself analyzing and reanalyzing everything I bought.

I wound up spending $83 for a full cart, but walked away feeling sick that I paid so much.

I have determined that I'm just going to have to suck-it-up and quit drinking soda. It's too expensive and we need that money for staples.