Menu Plan Monday

You may have noticed a few changes to the sidebar over there as of late.  I’ve been shrinking the blogs that I’m concentrating on right now.  With my time seriously crunched, I still want to continue blogging, but I want to do it justice.  So for now, my Savvy Bookworm and my A Piece of Home are hidden, and I’ll focus most of my efforts here at Tummy Treasure. (  I haven’t deleted them, and actually, I haven’t hidden them completely- technical problems won’t let me delete them from my main page, but when I find a few minutes, I’ll remedy that. )

One of the things I used my home site for was my menu planning- so instead, I’ll do that over here each week.  Menu planning is a necessity for keeping my budget in check, and as we head into the lean time of the year, it also becomes really important.  Over the last few weeks I’ve been trying to shrink my grocery budget, and while it’s not down as far as I want it, I did much better this week, keeping my spending below $75- for three meals a day for a family of four, that’s pretty good.

I also want to take the menu planning further than I’ve taken it before.  So I’m listing lunches and dinners, as well as a selection of breakfasts for the week.  In the weeks to come, I’m also thinking that I’ll share my shopping trips a bit too- taking pictures and keeping myself accountable with what I’m spending.  It could be fun!

Anyway, here is this week’s menu plan. A few notes about our weeks- they’ve gotten crazy. 🙂 Abigail has dance three days a week right now, and Wednesday and Sunday we have church activities.  Monday her dance classes are split up, so I’ll be taking the kids out for a quick bite in-between classes, and then when we get home I’ll make breakfast for Andy and I- this works well because the kids are not fans of eggs, so this way I can squeeze in an eggs-for-dinner night.  Sundays are the other crazy day of the week.  We’ve been leaning toward eating a big meal at lunchtime and then just having sandwiches or something for dinner- this is working great, so I think we’ll continue that.  Our lunches may get changed up a bit in the weeks to come, as Andy may be around more, so I’ll be able to factor in real food for him instead of the portable sandwiches he takes to work.

Breakfasts:  Cold Cereal, Cinnamon Bagels & Smear, Granola and Yogurt

Lunch:

• Monday: Black Bean Soup
• Tuesday: Pizza and Apple Slices
• Wednesday: Chicken Nuggets, Veg sticks
• Thursday: Spaghetti, Garlic Breadsticks
• Friday: Quesadillas, Fruit
• Saturday: Sandwiches
• Sunday: Leftover Chili

Dinner:

• Monday: Breakfast Night- Tonight, Cheesy Grits and Eggs
• Tuesday: Deep Dish Chicken Pot Pie
• Wednesday: Chili, Corn Muffins
• Thursday: Oatmeal-Banana Pancakes
• Friday: Pizza Night
• Saturday: Oven Roasted Beef Stew
• Sunday: Sandwiches or Wraps

And of course, what Menu Plan Monday would be complete if I didn’t send you over to the huge effort at I’m An Organizing Junkie. If you’ve never been to Laura’s site- you’re missing out! Not only is she a complete organizational maven, but she also rounds up all the Menu Planning in the blogosphere every Monday.  Last week she had over 400 participants- so be sure to check it out this week.  I love perusing many of the participants for inspiration for my own menu planning madness.