What's on the Menu



So the delay in posting a monthly menu is that I have been actively trying to figure out how to make a chart. Seriously. I recently borrowed "Blogging for Dummies" from the library. Wow. It's like they wrote it just for me and yet there were more questions that I needed answered ! I suppose I will have to wait until they write "Blogging for Idiots".... It's okay. Laugh it up. I never claimed to be computer literate, not even close.

With any luck your menu will be appearing right under this sentence.......If not I will resort to taking a picture of it, and posting that, lol....

So you can imagine the brawl I just had with the computer.....

Again, I don't usually use recipes so I will just explain a couple of the dishes.

Hamburger Pizza - you can make your own dough or buy it. Spread the pizza sauce on it. Sprinkly cooked ground beef. Top with tomoatoes, onions , cheese... the idea here is that you will tell your kids that they are enjoying both a pizza and a hamburger at the same time. Build up some excitement. If adding bacon helps - go for it. Whatever your kids would like to see on their burger/pizza !

Chicken Schnitzels - This is a "cheat" meal. I find it is very helpful to plan ahead for not having time or patience for at least one meal a week ! With this one I buy precooked chicken burgers. I put pasta sauce in a casserole dish, lay the chicken on top. Spread on a couple more tablespoons of sauce on each piece and top with cheese. Bake it according to the box directions for the chicken and you can either serve them in a bun OR turn it into chicken parmasean on top of pasta. Look at that, two meal ideas from one box... GOLD NUGGETS my friends :)

Crock pot ideas; You can drop your sausages (pork/turkey) in with a can of diced tomatoes and frozen corn on high for 6-8 hours and presto, ready meal. Serve over mashed potatoes. Make your kids peel the potatoes, it's good for them and will keep them busy for a long time. Not only that but they are so much more likely to eat the food they think they made and advocate for their siblings to do the same.

Roasts and chickens can go in with a couple of boullion cubes and chopped veggies. All you need to do is use the broth to make a gravy.

When you make a casserole to freeze line your dish with foil. When you've frozen it simply pop it out with the foil and put in a zip bag into the freezer. Don't forget to label it. Now your casserole dish is ready for further use and when you are ready to make that frozen meal, pop it back into the dish.

When you freeze just about anything-  Freeze it in a zip bag laying flat. It takes up less space and helps keep your freezer organized, especially if you only have the small fridge freezer compartment. Don't forget to label the bags and put on the cook time and temperature. Hello ??? We want our men to have no excuses ladies ! Pure gold...

My main idea with the menu planning is not so much that I have to have meatballs if I feel like casserole but this way I know I have all the ingredients I need in order to make enough dishes throughout the week and I don't end up frustrated trying to come up with creative meal ideas. I mean really, I can't be the only woman at 4:00 pm to look at a package of ground beef in total frustration.

Lastly, I was completely honest here. I marked down the times we ended up at McDonald's or otherwise. Life happens and oddly enough I get tired. Don't sweat it !

So, I challenge you to make a menu for at least a month. I do mine one week at a time. If you keep it up after a few months you will be surprised at how many meals you have in your repetoire and hopefully you will feel a little lighter knowing it's one less thing to think about !

On a side note. Blogging is a little complicated for me so I decided to try my hand on facebook. I created a page "Freeman's Homeschool and Frugal Life". Feel free to "like" it. I'm going to try and get more organized on that and save the blogging for when I have substantial things to share or when I figure out how to make it "better". Thanks !

Carolyn
Daughter of the King
Wife to Richard
Mother to five beautiful boys