Menu Plan For Oct 23-Nov 6

I quickly came to realize that feeding a family of 7 requires some planning.  When we just had 3 children at 5:00 I would ask myself, "so what am I making for dinner?"   If I couldn't come up with an answer, we went out to dinner or my husband picked up fast food.  Not the best way to go about things but it's what I did for years.

Now I plan out a week or two in advance and try to do two big shopping days twice a month purchasing food like produce (or stuff I've forgotten) in between.

In planning my menu I shop first in my freezer and pantry.  It is easy for me to forget what I have and I end up buying something we don't need.  I also want to use up the meats in the freezer first so that we don't end up having to throw out a bunch that has freezer burn. 

I start my menus on Saturday because I do my grocery shopping on Friday.  The dinner days that are missing are my sons' days to plan and make dinner.  I still need to ask them before tomorrow what they want to make.  They are not very creative in their planning and we sometimes end up having hot dogs twice in a week.  At least we buy better hot dogs now.

I don't always stick to the menu especially for snacks and lunch. During the week I might find recipes that I want to try or I may not feel like fixing something elaborate but it gives me a guideline to follow.

Here is my menu plan and to do list for the next two weeks. 

photo acknowledgement

Menu

	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Breakfast	Banana Pancakes	Bacon and Eggs	Cinnamon Rolls	Poptarts	Green Smoothies & Boiled Eggs	Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins	Berry Breakfast Ice Cream
Lunch	Pizza and Fruit	Pb&j’s and Ants on a Log	Tuna Melts and Carrots with Dip	Just Babies:  Chicken and Green Beans	Pb&j’s and Ants on a Log	Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup	XXXXXXXXX
Dinner	JD:	Chicken Enchiladas, Chips, and Salsa	Spinach Meatballs and Buttered Noodles	Holden:	Eli:	Chicken Enchiladas, Chips, and Salsa	Pizza
Snack	Fruit and Cheese	Ice Cream	Pumpkin/ Pecan Bars	Buckwheat Carrot/Raisin Muffins	Pumpkin/ Pecan Bars	Trail Mix	XXXXXXXXX

	Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Breakfast	Apple Pancakes	Bacon and Eggs	Cinnamon Rolls	Poptarts	Green Smoothies & Boiled Eggs	Chocolate Peanut Butter Muffins	Berry Breakfast Ice Cream
Lunch	Pizza and Fruit	Pb&j’s and Ants on a Log	Tuna Melts and Carrots with Dip	Just Babies:  Chicken and Green Beans	Pb&j’s and Ants on a Log	Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup	XXXXXXXXX
Dinner	JD:	Salmon Puffs, Sweet Potato Fries	Braised Ribs, Salad, Garlic Toast	Holden:	Eli:	Salmon Puffs and Green Smoothies	Pizza
Snack	Fruit and Cheese	Pumpkin Seeds	Apples with Peanut Butter	Buckwheat Carrot/Raisin Muffins	Pumpkin Seeds	Trail Mix	XXXXXXXXX

And all the things I have to do to make the menu happen:

To Do List 10/23/10

Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
Soak For Pumpkin/ Pecan Bars, Soak For Poptarts	Make Poptarts	Soak For Choc/Pnt Btr Muffins	Boil Eggs, Bake Choc/Pnt Btr Muffins, Soak Nuts For Trail Mix (Leave Some For Bkfst Friday)	Make Trail Mix		Soak Pancakes
Saturday	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday
	Make Pumpkin Seeds, Take Out Ribs