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.