Rhonda recently emailed me about her menu-planning success:
I GET IT! I always thought meal planning was a waste of time. As long as I had plenty of variety in my freezer and pantry and fresh produce and milk, why meal plan?
To be honest, I couldn’t understand why you and many others did this. Well now I get it. I started meal planning as a New Year’s Resolution. I thought I’d try it for a month and prove it made no difference and quit.
Was I ever so wrong!
On Sunday each week, my husband and I now plan our meals for the entire week. I then do an inventory of what we have available. Then I make my shopping list to get the items I need to complete the meals on our menu. Of course, I also pick up a few extra items if they are free or nearly-free to stockpile.
Our weekly menu is posted up on the refrigerator, so there’s no more “What do you want for dinner?” “I don’t know”-type conversations. The amount of time and money I save meal planning is unbelievable. Why didn’t I do this sooner? -Rhonda
I wholeheartedly concur that planning a menu (or even a basic sketched out plan) makes a world of difference in our grocery budget, how well we eat, and just in my overall sanity. If you’ve never planned menus before, I’d challenge you to consider doing what Rhonda did. Commit to doing it for a month and see how it works for you. You just might be surprised!
Speaking of which, here’s this week’s menu plan:
Breakfasts
Oatmeal, fresh carrot/apple/orange juice
Cereal
Whole-Wheat Blueberry Pancakes
Bread Machine Cinnamon Rolls, fresh orange juice
Our Favorite Banana Bread, fresh orange/carrot juice
Lunches
Open-Faced Tuna Sandwiches, carrot sticks
Whole-Wheat Pasta sprinkled with cheese, oranges
Peanut Butter & Honey sandwiches, carrot sticks
Beans and brown rice with cheese, avocados, oranges
Baked Potatoes, cheese, broccoli
Leftovers x 2
Dinners
Homemade Pizza, cantaloupe
Barbecued Beef, Homemade Buns**, peas, oranges
Italian Chicken over rice, steamed broccoli, grapefruit,
Chicken Stuffing Casserole, Bread Machine Buttery Rolls, mixed green salad, peas, fruit salad
Broccoli Ham and Cheese Casserole, fruit, Whole-Wheat Blueberry Muffins
Dinner at Friend’s House
Dinner Out
**I’m looking for a really good Homemade Hamburger Bun recipe which can be made in the bread machine for tomorrow night’s dinner. Does anyone have a link for an excellent recipe to share?
Photo credit: Jen_Maiser
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I also use the one on Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures at http://www.lynnskitchenadventures.com/2009/03/40-minute-hamburger-bunsrolls.html No bread machine is needed because it’s so simple.
I used your pizza dough recipe just this morning to make pigs in blankets for breakfast using cocktail sausages. Thanks for posting it!
I made your Bread Machine Buttery Rolls recipe to eat with soup a couple of weeks ago. I was looking for a Hamberger Roll recipe too at the time. The next week, I made your roll recipe but shaped them into 18 rolls instead of 24 and they were about perfect for Sloppy Joes! Also, they made great sandwich rolls for my boys’ lunches. One recipe – two ways to use it – I LOVE IT!!
http://momadvice.com/blog/2009/03/whole-wheat-hamburger-hot-dog-buns
I reall like this one, and I don’t even use/have a breadmachine.
I have made, or attempted to make your Bread Machine Buttery Rolls twice and both times I have had issues. HELP! First of all, after about 10 minutes of kneading, I check to see how they are coming and both times the dough is too wet and soupy, more like brownie mix! I have had to add more flour, a lot more, both times to get it to an ok consistency. Second, the dough hardly rises! I measured the yeast carefully, and the yeast is pretty new too. Any idea what I am doing wrong?
Are you melting the butter instead of softening it? That’s the only thing that I can think it could possibly be. The dough doesn’t rise tremendously before baking.
It was only after visiting Money Saving Mom that I began to Menu Plan and it has changed my life as Mom and Wifey…
By Monday Night, I know what we will have for the entire week… My husband loves to peek and get excited about his favorites that are on the list! As an extra step of accountability, I created Menu Monday on my blog to share my menu planning ideas and to show my friends exactly how I derive that $7 a week grocery list. he he It has been an amazing tool in utilizing what we have on hand as well as not wasting or spending frivolously on fast food. I also make my husband’s lunches according to the menu plan and it saves us a lot of money by taking away his temptation to stop and snag a combo meal. Thanks to everyone for sharing their great ideas! If it wasn’t for such a great community of empowering women, I don’t know where I’d be… probably in a drive-thru right now! he he
I LOVE meal planning! I go to the grocery store/or costco every 2 weeks with my shopping list for the next 2 weeks of meals. I freeze half of my meals. I made a spreadsheet of what I buy at each store. It’s easy to just highlight the item. Then I’m not trying to remember what I buy at each place every week. It works great for our family.
Meal planning is essential for me. Unless we have a week that is busy in the evenings, though, I only make the list of breakfasts/lunches/dinners instead of specific meals for specific days. This adds a bit of flexibility. Crystal, I am wondering, since I do not see desserts on your menu ever, how often do you have them?
I usually put them on the menu once a week or so.
I second the Mom Advice comment.
I’ve tried the regular and whole wheat…I prefer the regular but whole wheat was pretty good too. Very easy and tasty.
I use this one in the bread machine…
http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/beautiful-burger-buns-recipe
They are wonderful!
I have also found that menu planning save us lots of time and money. I plan mine out a month at a time, but only for dinners. I just write of list of things that I have on hand or in the freezer for lunches, usually it’s just leftovers anyway!
As for hamburger buns. I just make dinner rolls and make “slider” style hamburgers. I just press 1 lb seasoned hamburer in a 8×8 pan (there are 3 of us) and bake 10 min at 450 then cut that into 9 squares for the dinner rolls. They are a much better size for my 3 year old then a regular hambuger anyway. I also use these for sloppy joes or any other sandwich style meal we have.
Try this one — YUM!!
http://desertculinary.blogspot.com/2005/06/hamburger-buns.html
UGH, so I made a meal plan..I did a whole month…I just did my shopping trip…like literally just got home. It was not an outrageous amount of money 170.xx but omg…it was really frustrating shopping off a list!!! I got almost done and realized Oh I Forgot This…And This…And This…just things I missed on my list that I had to go back for. I never realized how hard it would be to use a list…and I even categorized!
oh…and what is savory???
(I’m a little frazzled right now lol)
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