Menu planning

Figured I'd get back to the food posts since I'm finally back to planning my meals. Every Sunday or Monday I get out my recipe books or pile of "want to try" recipes and plan the menu for the next week or two. I try to find recipes that use similar odd ingredients. By odd I mean things I don't always have on hand or use (parsley, red onions, etc.). That way I can use them up and not waste them. So here goes:

Monday
Breakfast: Eggs and tomatos, cheese
Lunch: Stuffed shells
Dinner: Spaghetti and lamb chops. (I will make enough spaghetti to freeze some for lunches). Mandarin Orange salad for dessert.
Snacks for the week: Yogurt and fruit. Peanut and Jam Squares.

Tuesday
Breakfast: Cereal
Lunch: Sweet potato and chicken soup.
Dinner: Keema, dahl, okra.

Wednesday
Breakfast: Boiled egg. Fruit.
Lunch: Ratatouille.
Dinner: Chicken panang. LD will have leftover soup from yesterday or leftover stuffed shells if he won't eat it.

Thursday
Breakfast: Fruit kabobs with yoghurt dipping sauce.
Lunch: out for lunch
Dinner: Chicken rolls. Tres Leches Cupcakes for dessert.

Friday
Breakfast: Fried eggs and potatos. Fruit.
Lunch: Out of the garden pancakes.
Dinner: Salmon, asparagus, rice.

Weekend: I don't plan the weekend. We usually eat leftovers from the freezer. This weekend it will probably be dalcha one day and tomatar ka salan the other day. Weekend breakfasts are much like weekday ones. Lunches on weekends are usually out or simple.


I always have the same things on hands usually and often make extra for the freezer. Dry goods like beans, lentils, pasta, etc. I also have much of what I need in the freezer. But since we just moved and I gave everything away, I'm starting from scratch so my groceries will be more than normal and will cost more too (I haven't forgotten about the "how do you feed a family of 3 for $200 a month" question...will get to it soon).

I'm going to post my menu plans for a couple months to show what i do and will calculate what i spend on groceries in a month. So far I've shopped once here and it was $100 for the basics. After shopping I'll post what I got and what I spent.