Sunday, January 31, 2010

Menu Plan Monday - Feb. 1, '10

I've been trying to menu plan for the past few weeks, but we haven't done really well following our plans. Both of us are guilty for veering off course, partly due to work schedules and being sick. Therefore, we've decided (with my prompting, I admit it) to set 2 goals for the month of February.

Goal #1: To menu plan and follow it. We have 3 $50 restaurant gift certificates on hand to use [Chili's, Parks Landing (a seafood restaurant) and J&P Pizza] if we decide we want to go out to eat. I don't want to actually spend any money on dining out this month, just to see if we can actually stick to this. It shouldn't be hard since we don't actually go out to eat a lot, but it's still a challenge I'd like to complete. We've begun a monthly dinner with good friends of ours, but they'll be coming to the house. We also have a wine/our-good-friend-was-promoted party to attend, but dinner will be at their home and I'll bring something along. We also have a bull roast to go to at the end of the month, but that's a ticket purchase and doesn't really count as "eating out" since it's a fundraiser for a fire department.

Goal #2: To spend $200 or less on groceries. I know exactly what we spend on groceries each month since I track it and have been since April '09, and I think we're spending more than necessary, especially since we now have a freezer full of different meats and seafood. This shouldn't be a hard challenge to complete either, so long as we pay attention and become a little more aware of how much we're spending on what, and if it's really a needed purchase. 'Cause some shiot ain't!

So here's the menu plan for this coming week, using mostly stuff we have on hand. Will this be failed attempt #2,394? I hope not.

Monday - [Bugaboo home alone; Buppy at work] Turkey sandwich with lettuce & tomato and some kind of raw veggies & dip

Tuesday - [Bugaboo home alone; Buppy at work] Bloody Mary chicken [crockpot recipe] over rice

Wednesday - Pork noodle casserole [recipe from Taste of Home] & green salad

Thursday - Salisbury steak [I still have to find me a recipe for this bad boy!], mashed potatoes, gravy & steamed carrots

Friday - Bleu cheese stuffed hamburgers with sweet potato fries [we have a sweet potato we need to use up that's been around since the dawn of time, or at least since Thanksgiving, and yes, it still looks good!] & green salad

Saturday - [Bugaboo home alone; Buppy at work] Cajun chicken sandwich with some variety of raw veggies & dip

Sunday - [Bugaboo home alone; Buppy at work] Tuna salad sandwich or melt, chips, raw veggies & dip

So that's the plan as it stands now. Tonight we're roasting pork spareribs with sauerkraut. We just put 'em in, but I'm really looking forward to them; I hope they turn out as tasty as I remember my grandma's.

For more great ideas, head on over to
I’m an Organizing Junkie. I'll be linking this post up to her site, and she has plenty more!

2 comments:

  1. The blue cheese burgers sound amazing. I want one of those this week too.

    ReplyDelete
  2. those blue cheese burgers sound great!

    ReplyDelete

I love feedback, so please let me know what's on your mind!