One of the biggest sacrifices of staying at home is cutting back on going out to eat BIG TIME! However, I can't just feed the family chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and PB&J sandwiches all the time. (even though my family would love that sort of menu)
One idea I found from a blogger is a recipe binder . I ran with this idea and gathered recipes from various magazines, recipes from my mother, Pinterest, and other websites.
A common thing I often find when reading other blogs or speaking with other large families is menu planning. This idea sounds like a winner and am going to give it a shot. I started out with a template that I printed that has a column for: Breakfast, Lunch Dinner, and Snacks
Another column for the days of the week. However, at this point I'm only interested in dinners right now. The first step was I looked at my binder and picked anything that first striked me interesting and then looked at the ingrediants to see if I had any on hand and what ingredients would have to be purchased. Then next to the ingredients on my list ,I placed a price I thought it would cost. Next I calculated the total cost to see what I was looking at spending. My total cost is $50.00 which include my backup meals for weekend.
Here is my list for the most of the week: *
Monday: Cashew Chicken Casserole
Tuesday: Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo
Wednesday: Easy Mac & Cheese Chicken Veggie Casserole
Thursday: Enchiladas
Friday:?
Weekend:?
*I don't have anything beyond Thursday because the weekends are tricky with the blended schedule of our kids. I do have back up meals and I will post what happens with Fri-Sun.
On Mondays my son plays football, Tuesday my daughter is taking a makeup gymnastic class, Wednesday, my daughter goes to gymnastic class and right after that is a parade that my two boys are in. Thursdays my other son plays football.
A big reason why I picked casseroles, is I plan on preparing them before our planned activities and then cook them when we get home.
One idea I found from a blogger is a recipe binder . I ran with this idea and gathered recipes from various magazines, recipes from my mother, Pinterest, and other websites.
A common thing I often find when reading other blogs or speaking with other large families is menu planning. This idea sounds like a winner and am going to give it a shot. I started out with a template that I printed that has a column for: Breakfast, Lunch Dinner, and Snacks
Another column for the days of the week. However, at this point I'm only interested in dinners right now. The first step was I looked at my binder and picked anything that first striked me interesting and then looked at the ingrediants to see if I had any on hand and what ingredients would have to be purchased. Then next to the ingredients on my list ,I placed a price I thought it would cost. Next I calculated the total cost to see what I was looking at spending. My total cost is $50.00 which include my backup meals for weekend.
Here is my list for the most of the week: *
Monday: Cashew Chicken Casserole
Tuesday: Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo
Wednesday: Easy Mac & Cheese Chicken Veggie Casserole
Thursday: Enchiladas
Friday:?
Weekend:?
*I don't have anything beyond Thursday because the weekends are tricky with the blended schedule of our kids. I do have back up meals and I will post what happens with Fri-Sun.
On Mondays my son plays football, Tuesday my daughter is taking a makeup gymnastic class, Wednesday, my daughter goes to gymnastic class and right after that is a parade that my two boys are in. Thursdays my other son plays football.
A big reason why I picked casseroles, is I plan on preparing them before our planned activities and then cook them when we get home.