Menu Planning

Good morning! Lately, it seems that I'm crazy busy. Between meeting friends for walks and hauling kids around and grocery shopping and everything else, I don't feel like I've gotten much accomplished. My house shows it, too. We had unexpected guests for dinner last night and it was fun, but my bedroom door was securely closed and that room was not part of the tour. :) We all do that, right? I certainly hope I'm not the only one that throws the mess into another room so that it APPEARS that I'm an awesome housekeeper and that my house is company ready in 20 minutes or less. lol! But, nights like last night are why I LOVE menu planning. I had most of the stuff in the house for a nice meal and just had to pick up a few veggies for the salsa and salad. I made Corn and Black Bean Salsa, grilled steaks, sauteed mushrooms and onions in plenty of butter, and made custom salads for all four adults and even TJ asked for a salad. The adults had romaine, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, green onions, Parmesan, sunflower nuts, and/or bacon bits. One even added cottage cheese to his. (I think it's a little weird, but he swears it's good....I'm not sure I'm curious enough to try it, though.) So, anyway, back to the menu planning. Everything was here. It was so nice to have a meal that I could fancy up a bit to be fit for company.

I know not everyone does menu planning and those who do, all do it differently, but I'll tell you what works for me. I use a purse sized calendar planner. You know the kind. JCPenney's gives them away in the salon at Christmas time, banks have given them out. I got mine as a package deal with my yearly appointment planner. I know I shop on Tuesday afternoons, so I plan Tuesday through Monday each week unless there's a reason I know I'm going to go to town a different day, then I can plan accordingly. I also only plan our evening meals. I make sure that there is cereal, eggs and sausage/bacon, flour, etc in the house so we can make breakfasts. Tim loves to make pancakes on the weekends and I make our own syrup (it's just a simple syrup of 1 part water to 2 parts sugar with a little maple flavoring). The little ones and I are the only ones home for lunch and we have sandwiches or leftovers depending on what's here. Sometimes I'll make corn dogs or chicken nuggets if I have them. Weekend lunches are cardboard pizzas or leftovers. Every Sunday I ask what everyone wants for the next week and try to plan accordingly.

So, that's how I do it. It's nice that I can look back at the past weeks and see what we ate and get ideas that way and to not repeat things to often, too.

Here's our menu for the next week:

Tator tot hotdish
Pheasant casserole
Venison steaks with salad
Hamburgers
Grilled Italian Chicken Breasts

That gets us to Monday and Sunday we'll plan for the next week. I also plan to have things in the house for unexpected meals. There's always the fixings for pizza in the house, I have baking supplies so I can make bread or buns or cakes, etc.

So, that's what's on my mind today. Our weather is turning warmer so I'm trying to remember all the warmer weather, lighter foods that I make and getting the heavier, comfort foods out. Happy Thursday!