Friday, April 17, 2009

What we actually ate this week

On Monday, I wrote a Menu Plan, this is a big improvement over last week, just because I had a plan. My intent in writing the plan was to try to figure out what we were likely to eat...not necessarily to lock us into eating those things, but to have my ideas written down somewhere so that when it got to be 5:30 & I hadn't started dinner yet I could look at the plan & make the choice to either go with the plan or if something else really sounded appealing & we had all the ingredients make that. I realize that this is probably not how most people use a menu plan, but I've learned over the years that what works for most people usually doesn't work for my family.

Here is what I planned:
Monday....Chicken, white rice & asparagus
Tuesday...Baked Ham, mashed potatoes
Wednesday...Hamburger & Rice
Thursday...Red Beans & Rice w/ smoked sausage
Friday...Burritos

Here is what we actually ate:
Monday...Chicken, white rice & asparagus (just as planned)
Tuesday...Baked Ham, green beans & salad (a little different, but still the same main course)
Wednesday...Hamburger & Rice (just as planned)
Thursday...Pork Chops, hominy & salad (we ended up having the red beans & rice for lunch)
Friday... Chicken & Rice Stir Fry (ran out of tortillas for burritos...made a double batch of stir fry & took one to Maggie's teacher who is home on disability)

I think I did pretty good. My ultimate goal is to NOT run to the store for ingredients on a daily basis & to resist ordering take out or running through the drive thru....I was totally successful there this week. Now to figure out what we are going to eat Saturday & Sunday. My goal for next weeks menu (in addition to the ultimate goal) is to try not to repeat anything that we ate this week....we tend to get a bit monotonous at times.

Saturday...Spaghetti (wanted to add a no meat night as recommended by my friend Janet in one of her posts this week)
Sunday...Tacos or burritos (I need to do a bit of grocery shopping for next week so I'll pick up more tortillas)

4 comments:

Jil~Say It With Roses said...

Great idea. I can never make planning for a whole week work for us. I always get side tracked!
Your meals sound delicious!
Jil

Bumble Bee Cottage said...

I used to plan our meals but had let it slip by the wayside. I think I will follow your lead and start to write out a loose menu plan for the week – it should save money and stress. Thankyou for sharing and reminding me of the benefits of planning and have a great weekend 

Unknown said...

We get stuck in ruts too with our nightly meals. I need to "change it up" with the no repeat plan as well!!

Annette said...

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