menu planning..

*Had some people ask for some of the recipe links so I decided to update and post this again. Hope you enjoy the recipes! :)


Okay, out of neccessity, I have planned our menus for the entire month of June!! It is something I have wanted to do for awhile but just never took the time to sit down and do. So, while my kids took a 3 hr. nap today (Lily & Drew, Claire just had quite time with her paper dolls & marker board) I got it done!!

First of all, I used the bookmark feature on my computer. I bookmark all of my favorite recipes and when I get ready to plan our menus, I look these up! That makes it so easy! I also have a list of our family favorites and about 2 cookbooks that I use for recipes that we just can't live without! After I gathered all of those, I sat down with good old-fashioned notebook and pen and went to work! I made a list of ALL of our favorite meals with side dishes and desserts (mostly fruit). Then I divided it into 4 weeks. I just did supper menus to start with. Then moved on to lunch and then to breakfast. (supper first because often for lunch we have leftovers from supper). I also tried my best to incorporate a meatless supper or two into every week. Cuts way down on the cost of food!! And that's such a good thing! Also, weeks where you see a lot of chicken will be when I will buy whole chickens on sale and cut them up and freeze! I have gotten chickens as cheap as $.69 a pound before and use the breasts for things such as fajitas and stir fries and the thighs for crockpot meals and the rest for broth for soup and such. The beef is from a lot of beef that my parents have given me that we have in our freezer!! Anyway, here's the breakdown of what I did:

Our supper menus for June(I will come back & post links later)

WEEK 1:

*Chicken Chop Suey, rice, broccoli
*Jambalaya, cornbread
*Roast beef, potatoes, salad
*tacos, guacamole/salsa w/chips
*baked fish, salad
*homemade pizza, salad
*baked potato bar

WEEK 2:

*angel chicken, brown rice, salad
*soy ginger chicken, rice, broccoli
*spaghetti, salad, bread
*pulled pork tacos, salsa/guacamole w/chips
*beans, cornbread, oven fried potatoes w/onion
*breakfast for supper ( whole grain pancakes & fruit)
*meatloaf, potatoes, corn, carrots


WEEK 3:

*oven fried chicken, potatoes, salad
*baked fish, salad or slaw
*poppyseed chicken in crockpot, rice, carrots
*chicken gumbo, rice
*bean burritos (homemade), salad
*Beef Spanish rice, beans
*Hot dogs w/the works, slaw and tots


WEEK 4:

*Creole Pot Roast, rice, salad or slaw
*Po'Boys (meat from the roast), slaw
*tortilla soup, salsa/guacamole w/chips
*chicken stir fry & brown rice
*maple BBQ chicken sandwiches, slaw
*Honey teriyaki chicken, Asian slaw
*Broccoli Quiche, salad

And, there you go!!

Hope that helps someone!! :)