Meal Planning

I was slow to get this started. I tried several times to sit down and figure out what we would eat each week to try and help the gorcery budget. I don't know what happened this time, if it was the necessity or timing or maybe just the right mix, but so far it has worked. And I love it! I love coming to "that" time of night and not wondering what to make, but rather just pulling out the ingredients, which I know I have because they were on the grocery list, and making dinner. I love that my grocery bill was way less than it has been in ages. I love that I can just throw new recipes on the calendar and for whatever reason it all goes better. This last week we had beef roast, pineapple pork fried rice, barbecue chicken tostadas and ate out a couple times (with others buying). The tostadas weren't that great, but it is nice to throw some new recipes in. This week we have had shepherd's pie (which I made for the first time with lamb and ground beef instead of just groudn beef-yum-o) and ham and yams in cider sauce. Both were great. We have been grocery shopping at Hy Vee on Wednesday for the 10% health market discount, and thus my planning week starts and ends there. On the menu for the coming week we have asian noodles with vegtables and pork; ham and cheese quesadillas; mediterranean roast chicken; bacon, tomato and cheese strata; lemon crumb chicken; and thai chicken with ginger sauce. All those savings at the grocery store let me justify the caribou lattes that we get at every trip;)