Life with sonja

I have been a meal planner for many years.  First I started meal planning with my daycare where I created a 6 week rotation menue.  This was very helpful and I recommend it to everyone that does daycare.  It takes a guess work out of everyday meal prep and saves you money.  This worked out so well for me that I decided to Meal/Menue plan for my family life.  I decided I was going to plan all the meals not just dinners.  I also decided that I was going to plan out my dinners monthly.  This step I don’t always do but I like it when I do do it.

So how do I Meal Plan?  First things first, there are few things to consider.  Things like:

• Your families schedule
• Your schedule
• Special occasions
• What is in your freezer

I try to include few new recipes every month and also include the staples every month.  Some of my staples are:

• Turkey or Beef Spaghetti
• Chicken Burritos
• Chicken Stir fry
• Turkey or Beef Chile
• Chicken and Beef Stew
• Home Made Pizza
• Roast Chicken
• Roast Pork
• Pot roast
• Fish (Salmon or Cod) – at least once a week
• Soup
• Butter Chicken
• Thai Chicken Curry

I am also always on a hunt for great slow cooker recipes to include in my menue especially on those busy days.

Once I have picked out my meals for the month or a week if you are doing weekly planning, I look at my schedule and see if we are doing any entertaining, going out for dinner or traveling on weekends.  Once I know my schedule I assign  dinner to each day.

For my weekly Planing I plan out my breakfasts first.  Here are some of my staples

• Veggie Omelet
• Greek yogurt with fruit and granola
• Egg sandwich with Canadian bacon and english muffin
• Smoothie
• Oatmeal
• Eggs
• Waffles or Pancakes

I wake up early so I usually have enough time to make breakfast for my family.

When it comes to my lunches and my kids lunches I try to use up the leftovers as much as I can.  I always make more for dinner so I can use the leftovers.  In case I don’t have enough or we had fish (not too nice the next day) here are some of the other food I use in my weekly lunches

• Home made pizza pocket (I always have these in my freezer)
• Sandwiches with meat
• Wraps with meat
• Grilled Cheese
• Soups for the freezer (I always have soups in my freezer that I freeze after I make them)
• Salads with meat or hardboiled egg

I also have a five after schools snacks that I always use.  These are:

• salsa, guac and corn tortilla chips
• apples and peanut/almond butter
• banana nut butter sandwiches
• veggies and hummus
• cheese and dried sausage and pickles

For my weekly Menue plan I use at this time the Recollections Menue and Recipe Planner.

I also have a sticky sheet in my pantry where I write out my weekly breakfast and dinner so my family can see it.  It works like a dry erase board so every week I erase and start new.

Once my weekly meal plan is ready I make a grocery list and I do an inventory of my fridge,  freezers and pantry so I know exactly what I need.

Is this perfect? No but it does work for me and limits food waste and number of times we eat out.

Hope you find this helpfull

Happy Reading