This Week’s Menu Plan
Breakfasts
Chocolate Chip Pancakes, strawberries
Whole-Wheat Waffles, peaches
Scrambled Eggs, Bagels
Blueberry Ginger Smoothies, Toast
Whole-Wheat Pancakes, fruit
Granola, fruit
Egg McMuffins, fruitLunches
Peanut Butter Banana Wraps
Tossed Salad with Hard-Boiled Eggs, Toasted Bagels
Peanut butter & Homemade Jam Sandwiches, Apple Slices, Peas
Macaroni & Cheese, Fresh Apple Carrot Juice
Beans and Rice with cheese, frozen veggies
Leftovers x 2Snacks
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Muffins
Chocolate Chip Chewy Granola Bars
Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana SmoothiesDinners
Ravioli, Tossed Salad, Fruit Salad
Southwest Roll-ups, Fruit Salad, Chips & Salsa
Taco Chicken Bowls, Fruit Salad
Steak, Brown Rice, Frozen Vegetables, Fruit Salad
Crockpot Barbecue Chicken, Au Gratin Potatoes, Frozen Vegetables, Fruit Salad
Dinner at Party
Dinner at Extended Family’s HouseFreezer Cooking in an Hour
What’s on your menu this week? Share details and/or your link to your menu plan in the comments.
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62 Comments
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Here is our plan this week:
http://www.momsplans.com/2011/08/menu-planning-august-22-2011/
I took inspiration from you and had a little freezer cooking bout yesterday for about 2.5 hours. During that time I put 4 meals in the freezer and prepped all of our meals for the week. Now I just need to pull them out and heat them up every day this week. Can’t wait to see how much smoother it makes our days. Thanks for the inspiration!
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What all did you cook for your freezer cooking Mom’s Plans?
Here is my latest recipe:
http://thirtythreemom.com/2011/08/15/simple-recipe-stuffed-green-peppers/
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Here’s my menu plan for anyone interested in viewing 🙂 http://jandjnewleaf.blogspot.com/2011/08/whats-for-eats-this-week_21.html
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Here’s our weekly menu post:
http://forfreeyatake.blogspot.com/2011/08/weekly-menu-plan-aug21-thru-27.html
The fresh apple carrot juice sounds soooo good!
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I tried to spice mine up a little bit after seeing how creative everyone elses menus are.
http://www.thegrantlife.com/2011/08/menu-monday_22.html
Hope everyone has a great week!
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http://ourfrugalhappylife.blogspot.com/2011/08/menu-plan-821.html
We are having Monterrey Chicken, Cheeseburger Pie, and we had Spaghetti with homemade sauce tonight, plus more. Everything in my menu plan is gluten free – EASY gluten free – nothing hard!
My husband is not GF and I am, but we eat the same meal every night. It can be done! 🙂
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Meredith says:
Time for me to get us back on track. I endeavored to be prepared to go by the menu plan I had all laid out for the last part of July & this month, but adding a fourth person to our family took me by storm and it just didn’t happen! Some nights I managed to pull it together, but not most. 🙁 With no family in town, and a lot of foods we have to stay away from b/c of allergies, we have done take out WAY WAY WAY more than I planned. At least I still have my stockpile – not going anywhere – so I can get back to our menu plan this week and keep chuggin’ along. Thanks Crystal for posting your menu plan every week! You help me keep on keepin’ on. 🙂
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Adding a fourth person to your family is totally cause for giving yourself some grace and slack. Let go of the guilt, my friend! 🙂
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su says:
Any suggestions on what I can use to substitute for the honey in the granola bars and other like recipes?
thx-
Nelia says:
You can use agave syrup or mix 1/2 a cup of brown sugar with 1/2 cup of water in the microwave and heat for 3 min. That is my go to recepie when I’m out of honey!! Hope it helps.
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AmyP says:
Crystal I just wanna know who eats all that food. Because it is obviously not you. 😉
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Since I’m running a 2-3 miles most days, it always amazes me how much I can eat and still be hungry! 🙂
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Debbie says:
Hi Crystal, if you don’t mind my asking what time of day are you able to get your runs in? Are you able to run in your neighborhood or on a trail somewhere? Just curious. Oh also, do you have a running buddy? I’m just so impressed with all that you do. Thanks for sharing yourself with us and being such an inspiration.
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Heather says:
Thats awesome! I wish i could plan out our menus like that. But its just me and the hubs and sometimes we change our moods on what we want to eat.
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Hi Heather – another Heather here 😉
I just wanted to tell you that you can definitely still menu plan even though it’s just you and your husband! It’s been just me and mine for 4 years now and we’ve menu planned through most of it. We don’t always stick to the plan and somedays I decide I want what I planned for Thursday on Tuesday or my husband works late and we grab a pizza.
The biggest benefit of having a plan is that we are able to grocery shop by the plan and that saves us so much at the store. A friend recently told me that she didn’t think she’d see a difference but her and her husband tried it for a month and shaved $90 off their grocery bill! That’s huge!
Anyway, don’t be discouraged since it’s just the two of you – if you’re interested in planning, you should give it a try! 🙂
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Rachel says:
We also only have the two of us and I find menu planning very helpful. We make sure we are rotating out things starting to get old in our cabinets but leave it open to change our minds.
It is a great starting place for grocery shopping and making sure we use leftovers (since our meals are often more than just two of us can eat, it helps us remember to eat the leftovers).
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Like the other ladies have said, I’m in the same position. It’s just my husband and me and I menu plan! I actually plan one month at a time. I am not able to just come up with something every afternoon for dinner, so it helps me to have it written down. Sometimes I move things around, but at least I have a general idea!
I encourage you to give it a shot for a month and see if you can find a way to make it work for you!
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I have our “Back to School Meal Plan” scheduled to post on my blog on Friday, but here are a few dinner highlights.
Balsamic Glazed Boneless Pork Chops, Wild Rice, Spinach Cantaloupe Salad
Eggplant Marinara, Garlic Bread
Bone-In Chicken Breast, Grilled Zucchini & Squash Potato Salad, Fruit
Mahi-Mahi Fish Tacos with Homemade SalsaCrystal, I noticed that you are having granola this week. I have tried several versions over the years as I LOVE granola and it’s way too expensive to buy premade. Here is a link to my favorite recipe…it is tasty and easy to make. Great as a gift too!
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I’m always up for trying new granola recipes, if you’d like to share your recipe with us sometime 🙂
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I just finished making (and eating) Avocado Bacon Burgers with a Jalapeno-Feta Sauce and Garlic Parmesan Potatoes. Tomorrow night is Battered Fish Tacos with Avocado Crema, and Crock Pot Black Beans.
The rest of the menu is here: http://www.savemoneylivejoyfully.com/2011/08/menu-for-week-august-21-27-2011.html
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Yum ! What is that dish in the picture on your post? It looks delish! A couple new recipes this week-Tuscan Lemon Chicken and Chicken Fried Pork Chops in our house. It’s back to the school routine for us!
http://myfavoritefinds.blogspot.com/2011/08/menu-plan-week-of-august-21.html
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Krista says:
The menu looks great! I’ve wanted to try those granola bars for a while. I look forward to reading your review.
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Chrys says:
Me too. As yummy as they were when I made them, they could never be called granola bars (maybe granola bark, lol)
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I have a list of new recipes I’ll be making this week. I just posted a bunch more at my website, under What’s Cookin’. There you will find over 200 FREE tried and true recipes, each kid tested and family approved first! http://www.jennifervandahm.com
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No, I’m just typing up my menus right now as that seems to be the easiest. I just copy and paste from this blog post, print, and hang on the refrigerator.
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I try to input my menu plan into excel, so I can “rate” each meal after we eat it. I also add any recipe notes, and what I can do to make each meal better. I have 5 years of menu plans on excel, and it helps when I’ve hit a planning rut–I just look at old plans and see what meals our family liked 🙂
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You’re inspiring–and way more organized than me! I avoid spreadsheets whenever possible. My husband, on the other hand, creates them for fun! 🙂
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Love of Spreadsheets are my ONLY claim to organizational skills…just ask my extremely neat and tidy mother who spent her Saturday helping me organize our new classroom area (formerly the dining room). She says I obviously took after my father, not her 😉
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Doretta says:
Since I’m seeing chocolate chips in those Peanut Butter Banana Wraps, I’m assuming that nutrition isn’t the top priority in this snack. 😉 So may I suggest adding mini marshmallows?! (I skip the honey then.) My children really enjoy these with a tall glass of ice cold milk.
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Autumn says:
Is that a homemade chicken pizza in the photo? Is that one of your previous recipes as well or something new I missed?
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That’s homemade chicken pizza. Homemade crust, spaghetti sauce, diced chicken, and cheese.
We sometimes substitute salsa for the spaghetti sauce (just depends upon what I have on hand!)
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Amy B says:
When I make BBQ crock pot chicken for one meal, I use the leftovers later in the week to make BBQ Chicken Pizza. I caramelize onions and throw them on the pizza with some sauce and cheese. Yummy!
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Casey says:
With veggies from the garden PLENTIFUL recently, I’ve been making all sorts of soup and freezing most of it. Zucchini Tomato Soup, Curried Squash Soup, Broccoli Cheddar (Broccoli from Aldi, not garden, but still…) Plus we made some homemade salsa-first attempt was honestly not great, but have some ideas to tweek it for next time.
I started canning this year for the first time and have successfully canned both green beans and peaches thus far. More peaches ripening right now, plan to can them on Wednesday.
My freezer is getting FULL, so need to start canning more and freezing less. Have yet to can soup, but very eager to try. Frightens me a little as there are so many rules (guidelines really) about what NOT to include when canning: rice, noodles, flour, milk products, beans (unless you soak them first.) Canning is intimidating, but I am determined!
I’m enjoying more homemade foods and less store bought. Cook often and enjoy it. Always creating new recipes and/or tweaking old ones-that’s what makes cooking fun. 🙂
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Ours can be found here: http://theartoffrugality.com/2011/08/22/weekly-meal-menu-2/
I am trying to keep in simple since this week is very busy for us.
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I really like your Freezer Cooking In An Hour Post-anything that makes life simpler is a good thing, right?
Here’s our $100 Budget Weekly Menu (feeding six including 3 teens): http://thepeacefulmom.com/2011/08/19/100-budget-weekly-menu-81911/
Here is my daughter’s Simple Gluten Free Menu:
http://thepeacefulmom.com/2011/08/21/simple-gluten-free-weekly-menu-82111-2/ -
Andrea says:
Are your lunches things you send with kids to school? Just wondering how mac and cheese would work in a lunch box.
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Heather says:
My menu plan – go to Crystal’s house. Crystal – your meals sound tasty! 🙂 (and thanks for sharing the recipes and pictures – I have tried a few and am planning on trying quite a few more once the cooler weather arrives)
Oh and lots of good nutritional choices to help you with your running!
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Hey Ladies! Here is my menu plan, make ahead action plan, and sample grocery list. The menu plan is 1300-1500 calories because I am still in weight loss mode.
I am also having breakfast sandwiches. Actually I made and froze 27 of them over the weekend. I put a quick easy tutorial on my blogging on making and freezing breakfast sandwiches. Perfect for busy back to school mornings.
Have a great day everyone!
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I am making easy, quick foods from my garden, with a special splurge of peanut butter chocolate chip cookies this week.
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I’m going to have to try the egg mcmuffin recipe. My goal has been to stay away from McDonald’s (2 1/2 weeks now and counting) for breakfast so I’m looking for good breakfast foods I can eat in the car on my way to work.
Thanks for posting, here is my menu plan for the week.
http://wonderwomanimnot.blogspot.com/2011/08/menu-planning.html
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Here’s our mostly vegetarian menu plan, although I haven’t had time to type up and link the recipes for this week, there are prior weeks menu’s on the page as well if you want some inspiration. Lots of using what’s on hand and in the pantry this week, not a lot of grocery shopping (except a stockpile trip to Target yesterday which can be found on the “Weekly Grocery Shop” tab!)
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ashley turner says:
I see you used your freezer pizza dough 🙂 I also made some but I am curious do you let it thaw in the plastic or remove it and place it in a bowl ?
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I love the link you included for McMuffins! I actually have those on our menu this week too and never thought to cook the eggs in a muffin pan. What a fabulous idea.
A fellow homeschool mom gave me two eggplants last week and I cooked up eggplant Parmesan for the first time yesterday. It was really good! We’ve also got Italian Zucchini Pie on the menu and homemade eggrolls. My menu plan is here: http://www.simplifylivelove.com/2011/08/menu-freezer-cooking-plan-822.html
And the Italian Zucchini Pie recipe is here: http://www.simplifylivelove.com/2011/08/italian-zucchini-pie.html
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Julie M says:
Made the crockpot Taco Chicken last night. Very good and super easy. We added some cubed fresh avocado to the top.
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analisa says:
I am so inspired by you all the time! Can’t wait for your book. Thanks for all that you do. I did some freezer cooking today and decided to make cheeseburger cups, have you ever made them? You take canned biscuits and put them in the bottom of muffin cups and make a cup out of them, mix ketchup and mustard together with some ground beef, spoon it in the cups and top with cheese. They came out delicious and freeze well too. Im sure the stuff in it can be substituted for healthier ingredients. Just thought I would share:)
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Hey Crystal! Thanks for the link love! Let me know how the breakfast sandwiches turn out.
Cheers,
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Becky says:
We only plan out dinners. This week, we’re having spinach quiche, Santa fe quesadillas, buffalo chicken pudgie pies, turkey burgers,, Parmesan chicken, homemade pizza and chef salads.
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Lara says:
Ok.. so I’ve tried 2 different homemade fruit leather.. neither have worked. If yours turns out… please let me know… I’d love to make my own.. and it’s just not working!!!
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I have a question. I have a family of 6 living in a small two bedroom apartment. I try to freezer cook the best I can but have a small fridge. Needless to say, the freezer is pretty tiny. I’d like to freezer cook for a 2 week time period. Any suggestions on making things fit in there? I know I can use freezer bags for some stuff, but what about casseroles? And snacks & breads, such as pretzels, muffins, bagels. Those can get pretty lumpy. Any advice is sincerely appreciated. Thanks!
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Here is my plan for the week.
http://couponkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/08/weekly-menu-august-21-27-2011.htmlI do this every week as guide for family/friends/acquaintances who want a week of healthy dinners but don’t know how to do it!
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Catherine says:
Do you plan your menu with what you have purchased using coupons that same week?
Cori 
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