I'm doing all my meal-planning for the whole month of November in advance. I have been failing miserably at staying within our grocery budget, and I want to try & fix that. I only need about 15 big dinners as we always eat leftovers 1 or 2 nights after. Also, I eat leftovers, banana & PB sandwiches, and green smoothies for lunch. Breakfast is usually eggs & toast, cereal or raw oats & coconut milk yogurt. This meal plan also relies on us getting a cheap turkey, as we were able to do last November.
My plan is to take a fixed amount of cash out of the bank each week and spend it on groceries. When it's gone, it's gone. We have plenty of flour for making bread, as well as rice and beans if we get desperate.
OK, here are my meals:
All freezer leftovers need to be eaten (the freezer is overfull)
Crockpot Coconut Chickpea Curry
Lentil Lemon Soup
Crockpot Falafel
Burgers & Fries
Whole Chicken with Rice & Veggies
Veggie Soup with Barley
Green Curry
Chicken Parts (whatever is on sale) with Sweet Potatoes & Apples
Mujadara
Red Lentil Soup
Moroccan Stew
Taco Soup
Whole Turkey, Potatoes & Salad w/Raw Vegan "Caesar" Dressing
Rice & Beans
Foul Modammas
Turkey Sandwiches w/"Caesar" Salad
Turkey Curry
Let me know if you want any of these recipes, though I'm sure I'll share some of them as the months go on.
Anyone else want to share their meal plans?
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13 comments:
Can I ask what this works out to money wise?
I'm not sure. It doesn't factor in produce for the other meals (as you know, we eat a ton of produce), or buying staples such as peanut butter or buckwheat flour (I have the other flours I need). Also, I have some meat frozen already, as well as a huge bag of rice & several types of beans: lentils, pinto, garbanzo, & black beans. But I can tell you at the end of the month :)
I've been learning on how to snack in healthy ways and have increased the amount of water that I drink. And since I don't like the tast of water I've been learning on ways to make it tast good.
So far that's working for me.
I don't have much money to work from and so I buy a lot of veggies and make myself a veggie dish for my lunches with chease as well as cellary with Peanute Butter...on the are occasion I might put Chease Wiz on the cellary.
Usually closer to the end of the week for my lunches I'll buy soup, sandwhiches, and sometimes their dinner meals.
The food in the caf. is pretty cheap and affordable which allows me to do that.
I get off work @ 6pm and so I try not to eat much after 6pm.
I need to learn on how to make healthy dinners that is easy to take with me because I usually end up getting home way too late and often times I'm tempted to go buy something fast food like because I get so hungry by the end of my shift. So, I figure if there is something I can take with me to work that will cut down a lot of the take-out foods.
Since I live alone it's really easy for me to eat out instead of making some home style cooking.
It get's kind of borring just cooking for myself.
Janey, I tried to reply yesterday, but my browser crashed.
Do you have a crockpot?
Planning in advance is super smart!
Here's my meal plan for November:
walnut oatmeal burgers
pancakes and sausage
lentil chili
taco style lentils and rice
salmon feta pasta
veggie pizza
veggie lo mein
black bean soup
dahl
hummus
tuna cakes
1 baked polenta
savory millet pancakes
pumpkin pasta
sweet bean burritos
stroganoff
taco salad
quiche
chicken salad pitas
1 squash soup
Hi there,
I don't actually have a crockpot but it's been something that I've been wanting to look into getting.
It's definitely a worthwhile investment. You can get one for less than $40.
Heather, can I get the recipe for walnut oatmeal burgers?
Here you go! I'm sure you'll want to sub flax for the eggs and rice milk for the dairy milk, but here's the original so you can decide how to sub for yourself. They're really, ridiculously delicious!
walnut oatmeal burgers
burger mixture:
2 c walnut pieces
2 c rolled oats
½ c breadcrumbs
3 eggs, slightly beaten
½ c skim milk
1 onion, chopped fine
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 t sage
1 t salt
1 pinch red pepper flake
a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce
freshly ground black pepper to taste
for cooking burgers:
oil to brown patties
3 c vegetable stock*
1. Grind walnuts in blender and combine with the rest of the burger mixture ingredients. Let the mixture rest in refrigerator for about an hour to let the flavors meld together.
2. Form the mixture into patties. The entire mixture will make 8-12 burgers depending on the size patty formed (ours made 10).
3. Brown patties on both sides in a lightly oiled skillet, then pour the stock into the skillet and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 25 minutes. Serve on buns with all your burger fixings.
* If you are only cooking up half the mixture now and half later, be sure to also half the amount of stock. So use 1 ½ c of stock per half batch.
I know of crockpots I can get for just a little over $20 dollars and since it's a great investment I think I'll do that.
Right after I move into my new place, hopefuly in December I'll get one.
I wish I had one right now cause I've got a nasty cold flu. I haven't been this sick in a long time.
Go figure, last year I worked outside I didn't get this sick and the irony is that for half my shift I work inside.
It must be the circulated air!
Oh well, I am grateful that this cold/flu will soon be over.
I would like the crockpot coconut curry chickpea recipe, please. And, ummmm, what is Mujadara?
Mujadara is lentils & rice with caramelized onions & Lebanese salata on top :)
I haven't made the coconut curry yet, but I'll post the recipe after I do.
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