31 Days of Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner

Homemade Hamburger Buns Recipe 

I just did my monthly meal plan and a facebook friend asked me to share it.  In an attempt to not have to buy groceries this month I went through and inventoried everything I had in the house.  I did not inventory the flours, baking supplies, spices etc as those are staples and I usually always have those in my pantry.

Canning

Here is the list of what I had on hand and the quantities to work with in random order.  Well actually it is order of small freezer to garage pantry to large freezer but only I would know that.
Pepperoni
Mozarella
Bacon 3- half packages (I cut these in half and we only eat a half at a time)
Pasta Sauce-7 meals worth
Rice- Brown
Beans- Red, Pinto, White, Black
Lentils
Tortillas
Pasta- 6 packages
Tomato soup- 1
Hamburger- 15 (these are small little frozen rounds, 1 is a less meat meal and 2 is a large meat meal)
Cken breasts- 3
Rabbit- 1 whole
Chicken- 6 whole
Salmon- 4 meals worth
Oats
Applesauce and apple butter
Pears and pear butter and pear sauce
Frozen- strawberries, grn beans, corn, chicken broth 1, ham broth 1

My Go To Break Recipe for Loaf, Rolls, or Cinnamon Rolls

Breakfasts 

These will be the same 7 meals on a weekly rotation.  Sides will be whatever fruit, etc happens to be there.  I can all summer long so there is a lot of pear sauce, apple sauce, canned pears, and frozen fruits for smoothies, etc.

Oatmeal and Pears
Scrambled Eggs with toast
Pancakes and applesauce
Smoothies and Toast
Cream of Wheat or Oatmeal
Eggs and biscuits (eggs will be either flat eggs, scrambled, or omelets)
Leftover Pancakes (I make a quadruple batch and freeze the leftovers)

Carmel Pecan Sticky Rolls Recipe

Lunch

These will also be the same 7 meals on a weekly rotation.  Side will be vegis and dip, hummus.  Also I only make these if there are no dinner leftovers!

Sandwiches- PBJ, PBH, egg salad, tuna, whatever we have that week.
Potatoes with ranch, cheese, toppings
Sandwiches
Noodles (with butter and garlic, or with meatless sauce)
Leftover Day- This is all the leftovers in the fridge
Sandwiches
Leftover Soup or Chili- If I make a large pot once a week there will be lunch for all 6 of us as well

Pressure Canned Pinto Beans

Dinner 

I write out my dinners on a blank monthly calendar I printed off in word.  I fill my meals in making sure to note what days we are out late, Joe is not home, or we are out all morning/afternoon so I can use the crock pot.  I also do not pick a specific way to cook some items so that I can choose depening on what we feel like when the day comes.  For example a whole chicken will just say "whole chicken" and day of I may choose to crock pot it, bbq it, or roast it in the oven.  Sides for dinner are decided when that day depending on what I have on hand.  If I plan it right all breads, rolls, buns, etc will be made day before or that morning.  Meatless meals are marked with an *

Week 1
Grilled Cheese Sandwiches and Soup*
Whole Chicken
Pasta
Taco Pie
Black Bean Chili*
Salmon

Week 2
Bean Burgers*
White Bean Soup (made with Ham stock from the freezer)
Pizza
Chicken Pot Pie (in place of crust I put dumplings on top)
Sloppy Joes
Spicy Rice and Beans*
Crock Pot Red Beans and Rice*

Week 3
Tacos
Chili and Cornbread
Chili on Potatoes
Pasta
Taco Pie
Chili Casserole
Salmon

Week 4
Whole Chicken
Chicken and Rice Soup
Pasta
Chicken Pot Pie
Waffles and Bacon
Black Beans and Rice*
Lentil Sloppy Joes*

Week 5
Lentil Soup with bacon
Breakfast Burritos*
Polenta and Spicy Beans*
Pasta

Want to see another meal planning post?  Check out "A Month of Meals"

Home Management Binder

As promised here is more about the home management binder we use. I love using this binder. It adds a bit of sanity to our ever crazy and un-scheduled days. We are constantly going from one project or topic to another. The flow of our days is ever changing and having a few lists of what should be accomplished each day really helps me to actually get it done. As much as our days change so does our binder. It is a work in progress and one that I think will never actually be completed. As the kids grow so do our needs and wants. I would eventually love for this to one day be the central binder that everyone uses. But for now I am content to be the main user with a few helpers now and then.

The front of the binder. Its just a 3 inch white binder from Costco. I buy these in bulk. We go through a lot of binders.


Inside front cover are the weekly menu's I tried out a few months back. I like them but prefer the monthly plan better. I may try to combine the two when I get a bit of time.

This zippered holder has pens and wet erase markers. It should also hold my scissors and a calculator. If anything goes missing in this house its scissors and calculators. Hey kids give me back my stuff!!

First page is a contact sheet. Ours needs updated as I noticed Joe's old work cell number on there. I found this sheet here. You could easily create your own or find another to fit your needs online. I have found that typing printable before what I am searching for usually brings up many different choices.

A monthly calendar. Look how wide open the month is. As I look at it I can fill in 3 different weekends all ready. Must get on that. lol

At one point I decided I wanted a daily schedule. A loose version of our day. Yeah that never was filled out. I don't even know how to begin to plan our days. 4 kids, 1 mom, 3 meals, and lots of interests that lead us down many paths. We tend to take what the day brings us. But meals yes those can be put on this sheet, those are consistent. I do feed the kids, every day even.

Look it even has half hour increments. I am just laughing at myself here. This will most likely be taken out unless I can find another use for it.

Well someone other than me must use the book. This looks like a note of the three year old kind. Must say 6:07 am wake up mom, 6:10 am yell at mom to change me, 6:11 am whine that I want to do it all by myself, 6:15 collapse on couch in exhaustion because mom just does not get that the pink diaper is not okay she must go find the long lost green diaper.

This is the first page of the household chores section. You can click on the pictures to see them bigger. First page is daily chores. On a good day (and I mean really good day) I get most of this done but not always. I'm a Stay At Home Mom not a Stay At Home Maid. The kids help out with clean up time twice a day and I ask them to pick up after themselves but its a work in progress. I'm guessing I will not be picking up their underwear at 18. Right?

Each day of the week I have weekly chores and focus cleaning that I would like to get done. Again these things may or may not get done depending on the day and what we have going on. Each day is given a room or two rooms. As you can see I have things that are done each week in these rooms. I also have (on the right side) the focus cleaning. These are larger chores that I only do one of each week for that room. So you can see that on week one on Monday I would wash the blinds in the bedrooms. The focus cleaning chores help the larger cleaning stay maintained. These are also excellent paying chores. :) As I complete chores I cross them off with a wet erase marker and leave it there until the following week. This way I can come back to it later (See the weekend) or make sure I get that item the following week.

Monday

Tuesday's list. This one has two rooms so I color coded the room names and the chores that correspond with those rooms. It looks like a lot of things to do but if I stay caught up on everything it really is not. It has just been done the week before, or 4 weeks before for the larger cleaning jobs, so it really is just maintenance after the initial 4 weeks at the beginning. It feels like it takes forever at the start but once you go through one cycle you notice a difference.

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday and Sunday are light days. No focus cleaning at all. Sometimes I will catch up on things missed during the week. These two days are also the only days I have a car during the week so I have to get any shopping and errands done these days.

A stain removal guide. You can find a lot of these online. I liked this one but find that I need another one with other kinds of items on it. I'm not drinking a lot of red wine during the day and the kids well they are not either. I like this but its not in a chart form.

This is in there just because it was neat. I can't find it anywhere but here.

Next up is the meal planning section. This consists of a pocket with all of the old meal plan calendars and a pocket with the blank calendars. I print out a few months worth every so often.

Coupons is next. I have three coupon sections. Food coupons, household coupons, and restaurant coupons.

After this there is some blank paper for note writing and list making. I want to add a section for the kids paying chores. We all talked and they are going to start getting paid once a month. Currently we write it on the marker board and try to remember to go to the bank or dig through the change jar. This way it will become part of our monthly budget and they will get something kind of like a paycheck. It will be cash but as they do chores they can write them down and at the end of the month we will add it up together. Another section I am adding is a budget section. We currently use the envelope system and need a place for those as well as the budget we write out every paycheck.

So there you have it. I hope you are excited about making yourself a home management binder. I would love to see pictures of your binders and links to the items you have chosen to put in them. Feel free to leave them below in the comments section.

A Month of Meals

We started meal planning years ago. Starting slowly with weekly planning and then shopping accordingly. Buying what we needed to make what we wanted to eat. It did not take long to figure out that this was a very expensive way to meal plan. We ended up with food going bad in the fridge and freezer. I would often forget what we had in the pantry and we were always buying new things to make the meals.

Along came the wonderful inventory. Not a new idea but new to us. About two years ago we started taking a monthly inventory. Some months we are great at it and some we just eyeball what we have. We take an inventory of the pantry, the fridge, and the freezer. Some people keep a running inventory list and cross things off as they use it but I found that too hard with little ones. Seems my list was always disappearing from its ever so convenient spot on the fridge. So monthly it became.

Once we have our inventory I look at the list and write down what meat we have for meals. This months list looked like this:

Ground Turkey 1

Pork Chops 5 lunches

Ground Beef 9

Turkey 1

Beef 4 dinner 1 lunch

Drumsticks 6

What do the numbers mean? In the case of ground beef it means 9 pieces. We buy in bulk and freeze it pre portioned. One portion is enough for a meal where beef is not the centerpiece (like tacos) and two portions a meal where it is the centerpiece (like Southwest Skillet Pie). Drumsticks are also pre packaged so I have 6 packages. Other meats are usually 1 dinners worth.

After this list is done I look at what I have in my pantry that I can combine to make meals with. The list now looks like this:

Ground Turkey Burgers

Tacos

Hamburgers

Pasta x2

French Dip

SW Skillet Pie

Sloppy Joes

Turkey

Turkey Sandwiches

Vegetable Soup (making broth from the turkey)

I then get onto my computer and print out a monthly calendar. I tried using a calendar in a sheet protector with a wet erase marker once and by the end of week one my entire meal calendar was smudged and wiped off! Its hard enough to make a months worth of meals but to do it twice! Back to paper and pen we went.

Next I look at the calendar and take note of what days Joe is home late, days we have something planned that will make dinner late, and days that Joe is available to cook things I do not like to cook. This month it so happens that Joe and the two older kids are gone from the 11th to the 16th at the fair. So these days I only need meals for me, a three year old, and a 17 month old. So I added some easy meals to the list:

Pasta

Oatmeal and toast (the three year olds favorite thing to eat)

Chicken Strips

Pancakes

Baked Potatoes with beans and cheese

As I come up with meals I write them into the calendar square for that date. Meals that require a lot of prep or things I can't do when the kids are hanging on my legs (like fry chicken!) are put to the weekends, easy meals are added to the days mentioned above, other meals are added to the rest of the days. As I come up with meals I ask the kids what they want for dinner this month that way they feel included in the meal planning. I usually hear "Pancakes!!" and "I don't care." I tried right?

I have food that I buy every month or two in bulk so I know as I plan meals these things will be in my pantry. Some of these things are:

All kinds of beans

Rice

Chicken breasts

Tomato Sauce and Diced Tomatoes

Perishable staples of course. Milk, fruit, vegis, dairy products.

Spices

Tortillas

My meal calendar now has 32 meals on it. One for today which is the last day of July. Here they are in order from beginning of the calendar to end:

Salmon

French Dip

Turkey

Turkey Sandwiches

Enchilada (vegi)

Vegetable Bean soup

Pizza on the grill

Beef Kabobs

Ground Turkey Burgers

Drumsticks

Chicken Salad

Pasta

Oatmeal

Chicken Strips

Pancakes

Potatoes with beans and cheese

Pasta

SW Skillet Pie

Waffles

Vegetable Lentil soup

Pizza on the grill

Chicken Kabobs

Hamburgers

Drumsticks

Chicken and bean burritos

Chickpea Stew with rice

Pancakes

Vegetable Chili over potatoes

Tacos

Beef Roast with roasted garden vegis

Buttermilk Fried Chicken

Sloppy Joes

This is a larger than normal meat month as we had a bit of beef in the freezer I wanted to get rid of. We are blueberry picking soon and need the freezer space. :) We try and do half meat and half vegetarian meals. Looks like this month is 10 no meat meals. For sides we use what is in the freezer, pantry, or garden and when needed I buy one or two bags of bulk frozen vegis at the beginning of the month. I also buy brown rice and other grains when needed in bulk. Baking supplies are also bought in bulk as needed: flours, sugar, etc.

Lunches and breakfast have no plan on the calendar. We have a few things that we eat regularly and just rotate between them. Joe usually takes his lunch and we either cook more of something or make plans out of extra stuff in the freezer specifically for him.

Our breakfasts look something like this:
Yogurt and toast
Oatmeal
Cereal, fruit, sometimes toast
Pancakes
Waffles
Eggs and toast, eggs in toast, eggs in every way you can imagine
Breakfast burritos or breakfast pizzas
Smoothies and toast

Lunches look something like this:
PB and J or PB and honey
Burritos, nachos, tacos
Leftover day (kids love this one)
Noodles with parm cheese
PB and banana wraps or some other wrap
Mini pizzas- Usually made with whatever I have on hand. Tortillas, muffins, french bread.
Large snack plate with crackers, a protein, and some fruit/vegis and dip.

We sometimes have dessert after lunch rather than dinner so that the sugar can get worn off. Lately its been frozen berries mixed in a food processor to make Granita (ice crystals) and mixed with real whipping cream. Sometimes its cookies or whatever.

Grocery Shopping {May Update}

I did not make it to my plan of shopping loss leaders at Safeway or Fred Meyer this week. We made our menu (shopping first from the pantry) and I did not need much. I decided as the list was only about 15 items, most of which there is no significant difference between stores, to just shop at Trader Joes. We like their yogurt and it is cheaper and better than any of the other stores. I can get organic produce there as well. Nothing I was buying was on sale at the other stores so I was not going to waste my time or the gas going from store to store.

Our menu this (current) week:

Sunday: Hamburgers and sweet potato fries
Monday: Leek and Potato Soup with bread
Tuesday: Turkey meatloaf (we had leftover soup instead as both Joe and I were sick)
Wednesday: Mom's Night Out (MNO) tonight for me and Joe will be cooking something for him and the kids. :)
Thursday: Vegetable and Black Bean Soup
Friday: Southwest Skillet Pie
Saturday: Whole Chicken

Every item has leftovers for Joe to take for lunch the next day. Or as it has worked out the kids to eat since Joe is sick enough to stay home the past two days.

Leftover Ham

Ham dinner on Sunday means many ham meals are to come. By the end of the week we should be sick of ham! Though we have been considering finding a ham on sale since Easter is over to freeze and do this again in about 6 months. I'm picky about my hams so this may or may not happen. Regular glazed hams just will not do!

Our menu is so far looking like this and may changed depending on the amount of ham we have left after each.

Monday Lentil soup with ham (freeze leftovers for lunches)
Tuesday White bean soup with ham (freeze leftovers for lunches)
Wednesday Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches
Thursday Ham and Eggs
Friday Ham PotPie (not so sure about this one but Joe says it sounds good)
Saturday if any left Baked Potatoes with ham

The actual days we eat these items may change as the week progresses. We will also get a few ham breakfasts out of the ham. First one was this morning. Ham with sliced potatoes, fruit, and twisty cinnamon bread made from a tiny little bit of dough I had left in the fridge.