Menu Plan Monday ~ October 22

I'm so excited this week. I'm embarking on a new sort of menu project (LOL - no surprise really!) In preparation for the e-book on budgeting and cheap meals I plan on launching in November, I'm writing and road-testing a LOT of recipes, experimenting with ingredients, and generally making a lot of mess and fun in the kitchen.

So for the next little while, my main focus on menu planning will revolve around this basic premise. "How can I get the best 'bang' for my grocery buck?" Sometimes this will mean forgoing our usual "If It's Monday...." menu plan in favour of a couple more meals revolving around eggs, pasta or potatoes. Other times it will mean seriously examining my grocery purchases, and not just blindly writing up a meal list for the week, making my grocery list from that, and then just buying what I need to make the meals. That sounds like the way it should be, right? In most cases that's a safe way to do it, but for me, especially with the "If It's Monday..." menu plan philosophy, I'm plugging in meals into their 'right' slots (pasta on Monday, chicken on Tuesday...) no matter what is on sale that week. Not the smartest way to do it, even if it is a 'no brainer' :) I guess that's one of the downfalls of having an Eight Week Menu Plan - you're not taking into account what will go on sale that week. Sure, some things will pop up on sale in fairly predictable cycles and you can maybe anticipate those to project a menu a few weeks in advance. But you'll probably need to be a die hard Price Book fanatic to make that work consistently, and let's be honest, that's a bridge to cross on another day! LOL.

Ordinarily, I plan the menu, check the store ads (in case I could stock up on meat or other things that I knew I'd use further along in the 8 weeks - my method did, therefore, have some redeeming qualities, LOL) and then make a grocery list. But this week, I actually paid attention to the grocery stores' catalogues BEFORE planning my menu, LOL. Remember, the focus is on cheap meals, planned leftovers, and making things from scratch as often as possible.

And, as I'll be including plenty of desserts and baking recipes in the e-book, I need to re-road test all of my old standbys. I may not necessarily make a dessert each night (we've never had one nightly before, at most maybe once a week, and we're certainly not looking to make this a regular gig) but I'll list one for each night anyhow. Given that my list for the ebook now contains over 80 recipes, I'd better get cracking!

Monday
Dinner ~ Roast Chicken (baked potatoes, vegies, gravy - **Carcass used for homemade stock, and leftover shredded chicken saved for the soup later in the week **)
Dessert ~ Easy Apple Pie

Tuesday
Dinner ~ Fettuccine Alfredo (Dip Sticks with two dressings to dip, salad)
Dessert ~ Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding

Wednesday
Dinner ~ Crockpot Corned Beef (deluxe potato salad, coleslaw - ** Extra corned beef saved for the sandwiches that go with the soup, and for the Frittata later in the week **)
Dessert ~ Soft Pretzels (Cinnamon & Chocolate!)

Thursday
Dinner ~ Soup & Sandwiches (Chicken & Corn Soup made from homemade stock and leftover chicken, and toasted corned beef and cheese sandwiches)
Dessert ~ Fruit Cobbler

Friday
Dinner ~ Frittata (using leftover corned beef instead of my usual bacon, and vegies on hand, plus salad)
Dessert ~ Bread & Butter Pudding

Saturday
Dinner ~ Fridge & Freezer Fare (we should have leftover Frittata, Chicken & Corn Soup, extra Corned Beef for simple sandwiches, and perhaps even some single-serves of the desserts!)
Dessert ~ Banana Cake with Orange Icing (this will probably be made specifically for school lunches next week and frozen rather than eaten on the night)

Sunday
Dinner ~ Homemade Pizza (there'll be heaps of leftovers for lunch the next day)
Dessert ~ Homemade Vanilla Icecream (I've always wanted to try this)

Yesterday I also came up with a new recipe for Nutty Oatmeal Cookies which went down very well with the kids, LOL.

Knock on I'm An Organizing Junkie's door for more Menu Plan Monday participants :)

Happy cooking all!

Cheers,
Lizzie