Seasonal Menu Plan:::Monique

I finally did it! I put together an entire menu for March, April, and May.

This is what it looks like. I then use my weekly planner and pull off what we would like for the week and then go shopping. I did a special meal for this week since Tuesday is St. Patrick's Day but other then that they all came from this master plan. I'll post more about this tomorrow or Monday.

It does help with the shopping also. I have a good idea when we go to Sam's or Vitamin Cottage how many of something I will need for the next three months. We can't afford to buy everything at once for all three months but the cheaper things I can pick up and then more expensive items (like meat) we decided we would only buy a months worth.

Confessions and Reaffirmation:::Monique

This week was our 15th wedding anniversary.  We ended up going to Casper that day and since our huge tax return was on its way in just a couple of days we splurged.  Actually, I was too lazy to pack a lunch getting ready for my meeting but, hey, it was a good excuse!  So, there is the confession. Now, for the reaffirmation.  Nobody enjoyed our lunch out except for me!  We spent almost a week's worth of groceries for nothing.  DH was not happy with his and the kids barely picked at their meals.  Shaylan did eat her seafood chimichanga but it was an expensive little booger.  So, we have resolved ourselves to taking our lunches with us to Casper.  We also had money left over before DH got paid this week which is a miracle itself.  I think it is because we haven't eaten out at all this year until Wednesday.  We went about 42 days without going  out to eat!  Woo Hoo!  I bet we can refrain from eating out again until we go on vacation next month.  So how is everyone else doing?  

Success:::Monique

We went to Casper today for my husband's post-op doctor appointment.  I knew this was coming up, and since his appointment was at 10:30 a.m. I knew we'd be there for lunch because we had grocery shopping to do as well.  Thanks to Jenn's post, I started thinking about what to take yesterday.  First, I decided to hard boil some eggs.  Then, I asked my husband what else he would add to make packing a lunch better for him.  He suggested adding some fruits and vegetables.  So this morning I cut up some cucumbers, green peppers, and baby carrots.  I also took a few bananas.  This morning I packed everything in my L.L. Bean canvas bag.  Here's the list:

6-7 cloth napkins

knives

spoons

loaf of bread

peanut butter

jelly

container of hard boiled eggs

bananas

granola bars

bag of sliced veggies

I also made everyone some watered down juice in their new water bottles.  Liam got one of these for school and I liked it so much I bought everyone one.  It is nice to make them all at once in the morning and everyone has their water/juice for the day.  

We ended up going to Sam's before we ate so we had a few additions.  The daughter refused to eat peanut butter and eggs so she had some cheese that we had just bought, then all the boys had to have some also.  :)  So we added some cheese to the menu and I also found some semi-natural brownie bites for dessert.

The real test was when we got home.  I asked hubby how lunch was.  He was pleased!  He was even happy we are saving money and was satisfied with the addition of the eggs and vegetables. Yeah!  I'm so happy we are figuring out a way to make this work.  I think it would be even more successful if we would go to Casper on a day other than Friday (meatless for us), and if we bought a cooler.  I would have also added trail mix and cheese sticks if I would have had them on hand.

More on Planning:::Monique

I've been intrigued by a few mothers that use once-a-month shopping.  While right now I only plan by the week, I would love to be organized enough and have the money to go to Colorado and do my shopping once a month at Vitamin Cottage.  I love this place.  I know I can save us money by doing this also.  For instance, I can buy plain old, pesticide-filled apples here at a grocery store for at least $1.50lb.  Sometimes it's almost $3.00lb.  At Vitamin Cottage I can buy ORGANIC apples for .99lb!  I can also save big on the almond milk we buy.  We buy it by the case because we go through it so quickly.  I can save $8-10$ a case when I purchase it at Vitamin Cottage rather than our co-op here in town.  

I'm still pondering this thought though.  I've learned some about once a month shopping from one of my favorite blogs.  I also have heard about seasonal planning, which also intrigues me.  The ideas here is again the long term planning so you don't have to sweat it every week, but also so that you have a rotation of meals that is specific to the season.  For instance, lots of people don't want to eat heavy, hot foods in the summer when it is 100 degrees out.  So things like chili would be in the winter rotation.  Lighter foods would be in the summer rotation, and then you might have special foods for other times of the year such as Christmas and Easter.  I would love to be able to plan out a whole month or season and then just rotate throughout the year.  I would have a master list(s) of meals and then a master shopping list for each of those rotations as well.  I can't seem to make it jump from my head to paper though. :(  Here is an example from another of my favorite blogs.  

Anyway, maybe by writing about this it will help me make that jump!

We Did It:::Monique

When I signed up for this and decided to make it a New Year's goal of mine to not eat out, I knew that our trips to Casper were going to be an issue.  We go there sometimes once a week for doctor appointments, meetings, shopping, etc.  We have tried to cut down the trips to only once or twice a month because the price of gas was so high last year.  We are doing better, but sometimes we just like to get out of town.  We also do bulk shopping at Sam's Club (no Costco here!).  Well, our first trip to Casper this year came Saturday.  When DH got home Friday night and we talked about going to Casper, I asked him if we could take a lunch. He said yes.  Saturday when we got up I packed a loaf of bread, peanut butter, jelly, chips, snack bars, pretzels, water, knife, spoon, and cloth napkins.  We ate in the parking lot at Sam's Club.  I made everyone a sandwich and we had small picnic in the car.  No one but DH complained.  

If I'm going to keep everyone on board with this, I think I'm going to have to come up with some other ideas.  So what is everyone doing when they have to make a trip to a different town or are out and about for the day?  

It is usually a minimum of $30 when we eat out at a fast food restaurant.  So, I'm so glad I saved us that on Saturday.  If we make two trips to Casper a month, that is $60 or more we'll save!

Buffalo and Barley:::Monique

Today, I made one of my family's favorite meals.  It's easy, cheap, and often what we eat on Tuesdays since I'm not home that night to cook for my family.  I lead Weight Watcher meetings every Tuesday night, so if it isn't cooked before 4:30 when I leave, the solution used to be going out to eat.  My DH would usually call for take-out pizza.  When the pizzas started costing $40 we decided we really needed to do something different, especially since it was once a week.  We decided that Tuesdays would be crock pot night.  So for probably a year now, I've been putting something in the crock pot or planned something that DH can cook. I've been in a dilemma, though, since around Thanksgiving because I found out that my made-in-China crock pot may be leaching lead into our food.  The big crock pot was thrown away (it was broken anyway) and I've just been cooking things on low in the oven or on the stove.  For Christmas, my DH bought me the cooking item I've been drooling over since Thanksgiving. It's made in the USA so I'm very proud of it!  

Are you ready for the recipe now?  It's simple and I usually don't measure anything.  Choose some vegetables.  I use celery, carrots, and onions.  Instead of using beef stew meat, I use buffalo.  Tonight I cut up a 5 or 6 carrots and one whole stalk of celery.  Then I tossed in a cup or two of barley.

I usually just add all the raw ingredients and some beef broth or bouillon in the crock pot but since I was using my new "baby," I put some canola oil in the dutch oven and then browned the meat, added the vegetables and then added around 8-10 cups of water, the barley and then my bouillon and spices.  This is what it looked like at that point.

Here are the spices and bouillon I used.  You could use whatever appeals to your family.  Yes, I did use the fresh rosemary tonight.  I haven't used it since we planted it earlier last spring.

Then, because my family really likes their carbs, I made a loaf of bread that my family hasn't had in a long time but really likes.
And finally, the finished product!  Everyone ate and the four year old even thanked me several times for making a delicious meal.
One final note, my DH and I had a lunch date today that included going out to eat.  However, it was just us and the baby and we used Christmas money from my mom.  Does that count?  

Failing to Plan:::Monique

Okay, I will post, but not about tonight's Ham and Beans.  My MIL made them and, alas, I did not take a picture.  They were pretty good and she also made huge dumplings to go with them.  I don't eat ham (clogs the intestines, but no, I'm not Jewish) but the beans were pretty good.  I'm not quite sure what happened to the cornbread, but it fell apart when I took it out of the pan.   It tasted good though.  I didn't bake that either.  ;)  

I have actually been trying not to eat out since this summer.  The biggest thing I've found to help in this department is planning our meals.  I have planned for a long time.  I used to plan biweekly because that's how often DH gets paid.  I would just make a list of meals and we would shop for them and then eat them in random order as to our tastes and likes for the day.  Then I came upon The Organizing Junkie.  Have you seen this blog?   She does Menu Plan Monday.  I decided to try it.  It couldn't make that big of a difference, planning weekly, could it?  Oh boy, was I wrong.  I use this form from www.TheHomeSchoolMom.com.  I plan breakfast, lunch, dinner, and tea (aka afternoon snack).