Sunday, January 19, 2014

My Two-Week Menu Plan

I shared this with my friends who are doing my No-Spend January Challenge with me and I decided to share it here as well. As a matter of fact, I think I'll start doing this all the time. [Impulsive decision maker!] I used to post my menu plans on my recipe blog and I have no idea why I quit.

A couple of things:
I plan/shop for two weeks of meals at a time, mainly because I DO NOT like to grocery shop and it's just as easy to plan/buy for two weeks as it is for one. I also do it that way because we get paid every two weeks and it helps me budget better.

I don't assign a meal to a specific night. I just know I have all the ingredients on hand for 13-14 meals and choose a meal each day based on our family activities and the time I have for prep.

We do have leftovers from this meal plan, but that is basically what John and I eat for lunch every day. I rarely have enough for a full meal later in the week. 

I try to eat gluten-free so I typically adjust my portion to accommodate my needs. Example: I will bake a plain chicken breast for myself alongside breaded chicken for my family. 

I have a whole series on Meal Planning in my archives. Here is Part I, Part II, and Part III.

The Plan!
 1. Chicken Tacos/Burritos. I cook 2lbs of chicken breasts in the crock pot with 1/2 bottle of Lawry's Mesquite marinade, then shred and use in flour tortillas. Add black beans, cilantro-lime rice, and other taco toppings. I personally skip the flour tortilla and make mine a chicken-taco-salad.
 2. Snack Night: Buffalo chicken dip, queso, veggies w/ranch. This is what we're having tonight while we watch football!
 3. Broccoli cheese soup 
 4Mexican chicken and "rice". I made this last night. It's one of our favorites. So good and super low carb. I use rotisserie chicken to save time and prep.
 5. Pot roast with mashed potatoes and a green salad or veggie.
 6. Breakfast Casserole. I love this recipe because everyone eats it without complaining. I round it out with biscuits or some sort of bread.
 7. Skillet penne with spinach, sausage, sun-dried tomatoes and feta w/ green salad
 8. Emeril's Tuna Melts
 9. Stuffed green pepper soup
10. Chicken Imperial, green beans and cheesy quinoa bites
11. Meatloaf with mashed potatoes (my husband's request). I use a recipe from an old church cookbook but I don't have it posted anywhere. Will remedy that soon!
12. Pork and black bean chili w/rice or quinoa
13.Taco salad
14. PIZZA!!! [My family will be celebrating the end of my no-spend challenge with takeout pizza. I will be away on a girls' trip so pizza is an easy dinner for my husband to manage!]

3 comments:

Deena said...

YEAH! I've really missed the menu post. I still refer to your recipe blog and make a number of your recipes that are now printed in my recipe box.

Stephanie said...

I love menu plans - I say do it! : ) I'm going to try your mexican chicken with the lawry's marinade. I make that a lot myself, but typically just dump whatever salsa is in the fridge over it and call it good.

sara said...

Definitely going to try several of these!! I try to do 2 weeks at a time but always end up having to go back to the grocery store so I went back to a week at a time. thanks for the new recipes!