Meal Planning

­­My husband and I spent the month of October tracking all of our expenses (using mint.com) and were SHOCKED by the amount of money we had spent on food and alcohol.  It didn't help that we did a mini vacation to Sonoma/Napa California, but none the less we spent way too much!

As a way to save unnecessary calories and necessary dollars, we are attempting our hand at meal planning.  I am actually super excited about this because it will give me a chance to cook (which you know I love) and actually plan ahead to make sure we have everything we need and that I can spend time early in the week prepping so day of I can come home from work and get going! 

For the meal plan I set-up the theme and listed the ingredients I needed to order.  For all of the below (plus breakfast, drinks, herbs, snacks and more) I spent $133 and am hoping (other than the small trip to the store for the things Fresh Direct didn't have in stock and our Sunday meal) this should get us through the week.

I am also going to make 1 meal ahead to be eaten as leftovers/lunch/whenever.  I don't know if I will do this every week, but wanted to test it out!   

As I develop new recipes I will be sure to share them with you, what do you think about our first week's meal plan? 

Meal Plan | week of 11.12.12

Monday: Breakfast for Dinner

•   Eggs
•  Turkey Bacon
•  Pancakes (Bisquick)·   

Tuesday: Work event 

Wednesday: Chicken Tacos

• Salsa Chicken in the crockpot
• Lettuce
• Tomatoes
• Jack Cheese 
•  Beans
• Rice
• Tortillas (homemade)

Thursday: Work Event 

Friday: Whole Wheat Pasta with Chicken Sausage, broccoli

•  Whole Wheat Pasa
• Broccoli
• Chicken Sausage 
• Grated Parmesan   

Saturday: Dinner with Jessica/Danny

Sunday: Salmon with Lemon/Dill, brown rice and asparagus (I am buying these ingredients day of)

• Salmon
• Lemons
• Dill
• Asparagus

Make Ahead: Spaghetti Pie

• Crushed Tomatoes 
• Onion
• Carrot
• Ground Chicken