Meal Plans

A few people have said they get inspiration from my meal plans so I will continue to share them. 

Amanda from The Fundamental Home has been a big inspiration to me and I use her method of planning. She has blog posts explaining her method in detail. Recently she also made a video series with detailed instructions. 

She spends $65 a week for her family of six. But... their family dynamics are not nearly like mine so I haven't been able to spend that little. It has been a tool for me to know how to shop for the best prices though. 

Amanda says to make yourself a menu, like restaurants have, to help you with meal planning. For myself, I've used Google Docs to create lists of many foods we enjoy. Separate documents for salads, breakfasts, main dishes, soups, and etc. Meal planning is a breeze when consulting these lists.

Check the pantry, freezer and fridge to see what your inventory is. Look at the menus to see what you might make with the ingredients you have. If you need any additional items to make these meals, add them to your grocery list. After purchasing these items, look for things on sale. Try to incorporate these into your weekly plan. 

Oh, just go visit Amanda. She explains it very well.

Here is the menu for Jan 9 -13, 2019.

Breakfast	Dinner
Sausage, salsa, fried eggs	Hearty hamburger soup Caesar salad
Baked supper omelet	Beef Roast Mashed potatoes Coleslaw
Pancakes	Tomato soup Hot dogs
------	Tuna salad Quinoa salad
------	Potato bar Lettuce Salad
Scrambled eggs	Chicken chowder Waldorf salad
Re-fried beans Fried eggs	Beans Cornbread Coleslaw

You might notice that about every other meal is a soup dinner. We like soup. Winter is a great time to eat soup. It is also a very frugal option. 

More eggs are coming in from our chickens. So exciting!

A few breakfasts are missing. Thomas & I plan to be gone this coming weekend to a seminar at Penn Valley. The boys will get their own breakfast. Breakfasts will likely include another item such as fruit and/or yogurt besides what is listed.

We'll be gone Friday eve through Sunday noon, Lord willing, so I'll leave some meals ready for the boys (or are they men?). They know how to cook but they don't choose to when I'm gone. 

This past weekend we were gone to a seminar as well. The Marriage Enrichment seminar. Four couples from here went, leaving behind 16 children. 

A basket of goodies we found on our bed at the Marriage Enrichment seminar

I think all but one of the children got together at my sister's house for Sunday lunch. Melvin decided to make a large pan (equivalent to two 9 x 13 pans) of rhubarb crunch to take along. My sister and husband were gone too, so this was a bunch of young people. The oldest was 21 and the youngest 4.

A number of the recipes are linked to the ones I use or something similar. To thicken soup I use cornstarch instead of flour. Pancakes are made with buckwheat flour. Bread for hot dogs and tuna salad is made with spelt flour.

For the potato bar- Bake potatoes. Fry burger and season it with taco seasoning. Make a cheese sauce. Then layer the potato, meat and sauce on your plate and enjoy.

I linked the Caesar salad to the dressing I make.

Have a blessed week, feeding your hungry family.

Menu Plan

Another week of menus. You're welcome.

Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Potato quiche Yogurt	Leftovers	Cheesy chicken (turkey) chowder Lettuce salad
Scrambled eggs & sausage Grits Yogurt	Leftovers	Pork chops Fried cabbage Scalloped potatoes Waldorf salad
Granola Yogurt	Turkey Potatoes/sweet potatoes Salads Dessert	Tomato soup Hot dogs
Cheesy baked supper omelet Fruit salad	Leftovers	Chili soup Veggies and dip
Pancakes Sausage gravy	Leftovers	Chicken patty sandwiches French fries Rhubarb crunch
Apple nut muffins Yogurt	Haystacks Baked apples	Popcorn Apples
Scrambled eggs & sausage Biscuits Tomato gravy	Leftovers	Black bean soup Cornbread Apple crisp

Conversations

I love the way family conversations flow. While eating breakfast, we watched the cat meticulously wash himself right in the middle of the living room, limbs flowing this way and that, tongue first between his toes and then swiping his heels. Matthew says, "I do believe cats are made of liquid." Quoting Calvin (speaking of Hobbes).

Melvin gave the specs of a cheetah. A cheetah weighs only 120 lbs for all his size. He's built light, for speed. Then they discussed how a cheetah raced some fast car. And how it was possible to get a cheetah to race a car. (By having it chase a fake rabbit led away by a motor.)

I asked everyone's opinion of the overnight oats. (Which in reality was barley.) Everyone liked it. Until I asked Thomas. "Meh." Oh dear! He's the one I wish to please most. But this simple breakfast doesn't please him.

Melvin said he recently heard the advice that when a man gets married he should always take a second helping of the food. I confirmed that this is indeed the way I measured my success with a dish when we were first married. If Thomas sat back after one helping and looked bored I knew I shouldn't make that again.

"I am going to have to wait till I get to heaven to eat rice and cabbage," I remarked. They wanted to know what I'm talking about? It was a food the Laotian refugees ate when they lived with my family, and as a child I really liked it. 

I've tried a few times to serve it to my family but never with success. I described it- cooked cabbage, seasoned with bacon, soy sauce and brown sugar, served over rice.

Matthew said, "I would like it!" The others wondered how he can say that. He said there's no food he doesn't like since he's grown up. This opened a whole new can of worms. Do some people never grow up? 

This is one thing I am continually grateful for is uncomplaining eaters who will eat... soup! (Most of the men in our church complain about soup.) Well, if there's any meal that is frugal it is soup. 

One mother made a remark to me at a fellowship meal that my children are probably partial to my cooking at a meal like that. (This is how most of the church children are. "Where is the food Mom made?") I said, "No, I cook simply enough that they are only glad to eat other things at church functions."

Now don't get me wrong. I enjoy making "good food". But we don't have exotic dishes or only certain foods because they are picky eaters. It just doesn't work that way at our house. We try a variety of cuisines and new recipes. So there is nothing to fear at a church dinner.

Today is a snow day. (Except it's an ice day.) We were discussing yesterday how homeschoolers never get snow days. Christopher didn't even know what a "snow day" is. 

The boys usually go to school for music class on Wednesday so Melvin said, "We DO get a snow day today, even if we're homeschoolers!" (Because the ice keeps them from going to school for music class.)

It is actually a snow day for the schools, too. The ice continues to build up on all the surfaces, making white beauty out of the brown landscape. Melvin took some pictures for me. He was out taking care of the animals and came in saying, "There are some nice pictures out there!"

He said he was standing there photographing this standing clump of grass when it suddenly decided it had had enough and gave up the fight. Down it went. Maybe it was embarrassed at being photographed?

Today I am thankful for...
...the beauty in nature.
...books to read.
...soup!

Fall Bounty & Beauty

Our friends in Delray recently blessed us with apples, tomatoes and peppers. We picked them with their help.

 The tomatoes were turned into canned chunks, salsa, juice and soup with the help of my mother. 

 The tomatoes and peppers are so large and beautiful. Planted in wood chips as Back to Eden suggests.

 Watermelon crop from our garden. Obviously there are potatoes in the pail. The boys keep bringing me a bucket at a time as needed. About once a week. So nice to have food from the garden!

 The peppers (from our garden) were useful in making salsa. We also put halves in the freezer for four or five meals of stuffed peppers.

The onion crop has been a blessing. It is fast disappearing.

 A day's labor- tomato juice and applesauce. A friend taught me to cook tomatoes and then use the blender to make juice. I think she runs the final product through a sieve but I just put it in the jars, seeds and all, for a thicker juice. I make soup the same way.

 The Crepe Myrtle was filled with blooms this year.

 And this bush that I haven't yet figured out. A type of hydrangea possibly?

Have you had a bounteous summer/fall?

Do you expect a hard winter? 

It is sometimes difficult to just enjoy all these good things when people in other parts of the world are suffering from hurricanes, wars, earthquakes and fire.

Weekly menu

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Monday	Yogurt & Fruit Scrambled eggs	Southwestern Turkey Soup Veggies & dip	Beef Roast Sweet potatoes Green beans
Tuesday	Yogurt & Fruit Fried eggs & Grits	Leftovers	Chili soup Cornbread Waldorf salad
Wednesday	Yogurt & Fruit Egg Scramble	Vegetable soup Cheese & pickles	Short Ribs Cauliflower “Mac n Cheese” Lettuce salad
Thursday	Yogurt & Fruit Re-fried beans Fried eggs	Leftovers	Lentil stew Apple nut muffins
Friday	Yogurt & Fruit Omelet Roll	Fish soup Apples Potato chips	Haystacks
Saturday	Yogurt & Fruit Get your own	Leftovers	Chicken veggie roast Applesauce
Sunday	Yogurt & Fruit Hard-boiled eggs Granola	BBQ Chicken  Baked beans Coleslaw	Chip dip This or this Apples

Click on any link to find that recipe. The BBQ Chicken recipe is for crock pot chicken. I blend the onion and spices with pineapple juice and pour it over leg quarters and bake it. 

Once again, it IS possible to enjoy good food on a low grain no sugar diet. Try it! If it's not against the law and can't hurt anyone, why not? You might be surprised at how good you feel! :)

What is your favorite meal? 

What do you consider a comfort food?