Monday Menu Plan: 6/4-6/10

Howdy folks. Long time no see. Did you miss me? I totally missed you.

With all the packing, moving, unpacking and trying to figure out how to maintain the fragile balance of harmony in our new home (aka trying to return my kids to their normally scheduled programming of minimal meltdowns), l totally fell off the blogging wagon this past month. Oh and also, I haven’t been able to stick to a menu plan for the life of me during all of this and have blown my grocery budget every week.

AAAAAH THE CHAOS!!! (insert maniacal laughter, hair pulling and running in circles here) It’s been craziness, I tell you. I blame it on the cereal.

Now I’m ready to iron out the wrinkles and get back into a groove of quasi-normalcy, starting with my return to the ever-reliable menu plan. Baby steps.

New Kitchen Love: I totally heart my new kitchen. Notice all that sunlight, openness and counter space. Ohhhh the counter space! (There’s even MORE counter space that you can’t even see from this angle. It’s madness.)

Breakfasts: quick oats, eggs & toast, fresh fruit, homemade yogurt

Lunches: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, leftovers, fresh fruit and veggies

Snacks: fresh fruit and veggies, veggie straws, yogurt, applesauce, popcorn, banana muffins

Dinner:

Monday

• roasted chicken
• sweet potatoes with butter and cinnamon
• green beans

Tuesday

• broccoli cheddar quiche
• spinach side salad

Wednesday

• dinner at my dad’s (I think?)

Thursday

• grilled cheese sandwiches
• tomato soup

Friday

• baked beans over toast
• spinach side salad

Saturday

• tuna salad on english muffins
• fresh veggies

Sunday 

• cheddar black bean quesadillas
• marinated tomatoes
• mango slices

What’s on your menu plan this week? Share in the comments section below! If you blog your own menu plan, leave a link so we can check it out. And if you want information on how to plan a weekly menu, click HERE.

Monday Menu Plan: 4/23-4/29

We’re moving this weekend. Between me getting sick with a case of whoknowswhat (I’d guess a mutant cold/flu hybrid) and trying to pack while the kids are home and my husband is at work, this week is a whirlwind of crazy. My menu plan is equally crazy, as I try to use up what we have in the fridge so I don’t have to haul it with us. The only grocery shopping I did this week was a loaf of bread and some cereal.

Let’s talk about the cereal. I never ever buy cereal, unless I’m too sick to make meals, getting ready to move, or having a moment of crazy – all three of which happen to fit the bill this week. I’m not anti-cereal, I just happen to think that oatmeal or eggs offer us more nutritious whole food for our money. While I don’t shop organically and can’t afford to frolic through the aisles of our local Whole Foods Market, I try to make the best decisions for feeding my family on our budget. Part of the decision for me includes avoiding many processed foods and the bucketfuls of added sugar my kids consume with cereal (which subsequently results in epic meltdowns or scraping bodies off the ceiling of our apartment). I know that from-scratch cooking isn’t exactly everyone’s bag, but I don’t have an excuse not to take the extra five minutes each morning to scramble an egg or simmer oats on the stove. This week though, I barely have the time to sit and type out this blog post… so cereal it is!

PS- Just to make it clear, this really isn’t any kind of cereal-hater post. If you’re an on-the-go person with no time to make breakfast or just prefer the taste or convenience of cereal or whatever, I can dig it.  I feel the need to fully disclose the fact that, were it not for being so conscious of what I shovel into my children’s bellies and where our hard earned dollars are going, I’d probably be gorging an entire box of Lucky Charms each morning for breakfast. No joke. I lurve me some cereal.

What do you usually eat for breakfast? Share with us in the comments section below!

Breakfasts: quick oats, eggs & toast, fresh fruit, cereal

Lunches: curried chickpea salad sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, leftovers, fresh fruit and veggies

Snacks: fresh fruit and veggies, animal crackers, spinach & fruit smoothies, homemade cookies

Dinner:

Monday

• black bean baked taquitos and corn for the kids
• chinese takeout for Mike and I

Tuesday

• turkey burgers
• tomato & cucumber salad
• broccoli salad

Wednesday

• roasted chicken
• quinoa
• whatever veggies are in the fridge

Thursday

• pasta with butter and parmesan
• whatever veggies are in the fridge

Friday

• takeout?

Saturday

• dinner at my dad’s

Sunday 

• dinner at my dad’s

What’s on your menu plan this week? Share in the comments section below! If you blog your own menu plan, leave a link so we can check it out. And if you want information on how to plan a weekly menu, click HERE.