Meal Planning Part 2

Week 1-2 of Meal Planning

 

Last time I started talking about how I've started planning our meals for the whole month. Now I'm going to share two week's worth of meals, recipes, and a shopping list! I have a good collection of about 12 recipes that are my "go-to's". They are easy, inexpensive, and our family loves them. For February, I planned lots of meals like this because I'm still getting used to mommy-hood. Also, as mentioned in my last post, I cook enough at once so that we can eat that for supper two nights! If you're family doesn't do leftovers, you'll have to add in some extra meals.

 

 

Week 1

Day 1/2: Baked Spaghetti

Day 3/4: Taco Night

Day 5/6: BBQ Chicken and vegetables

 

Week 2

Day 1/2: Chili with cornbread

Day 3/4: Stir Fry

Day 5/6: Taco Night

 

For the 7th day of each week, we either did a special date night at home with steak that we already had in the freezer or ate a freezer meal that I had made before our son arrived! Those have been so nice to have.

 

Shopping list for this round

Cost: Approximately $45 (I shopped at Aldi for the majority of the list)

• 2 lbs. ground turkey (use whatever ground meat you like/that's on sale)
• 1 bag of frozen chicken breasts or chicken breasts in bulk (you wont need it all this time, but will use it for the next half of the month)
• 1 package of smoked sausage
• Spaghetti Noodles
• Jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
• 4 cup package of shredded cheddar cheese or block of cheddar to shred yourself
• Frozen vegetables of your choice (broccoli and green beans are our favorite)
•  2 cans of chili beans
• 1 package of chili seasoning
• Ingredients for cornbread (I have these on hand) or a package of box cornbread mix
• 3 cans of diced tomatoes
• 1 bell pepper
• 2 onions
• 2 packages of taco seasoning
• 1 large jar of your favorite salsa
• Tortillas
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce

Recipes



I apologize for not having pictures. Meal time isn't what it used to be with a newborn! I will try by best to have some next time! :)

 

Baked Spaghetti: Cook noodles and brown 1 lb. ground turkey. Once turkey is completely cooked, stir in jar of spaghetti sauce and a can of diced tomatoes. Make alternating layers of  noodles and meat in a 9 x 13 dish. Top with 1 1/2 cups of cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes! Steam broccoli or have a salad on the side. This meal is also HUGE. So we sometimes eat it for 3 nights and/or have lunches.

 

Taco Night: This is possibly our favorite meal to have! It's so easy! Cook chicken breasts (I usually do 2-3 depending on size) in the slow cooker with 1/2 the jar of salsa, taco seasoning, and black beans for 2 hours or until chicken is done. Take the chicken out and shred with two forks. Put back in the slow cooker and stir together add 1 cup of shredded cheese before serving. Serve on tortillas with your favorite toppings. We sometimes put the mixture inside of a tortilla and grill/cook in a pan for a quesadilla instead!

 

BBQ Chicken: Another family favorite... cook chicken breasts in slow cooker with 1 bottle of BBQ Sauce. Take chicken out and shred. Serve with vegetables and rice or on a bun.

 

Chili: Dice and saute 1/2bell pepper and 1 onion. Brown 1 lb. ground turkey in a soup pot. Add 2 can of diced tomatoes, 2 cans of chili beans (don't drain!), and package of chili seasoning. Let simmer for 30 minutes. This can also be cooked in a slow cooker. Top with cheese and serve with cornbread!

 

Stir Fry: Cut smoked sausage into bit sized pieces. Slice 1/2 bell pepper and 1 onion. Saute sausage, pepper, and onion until the sausage browns. I serve this with brown rice. Sometimes I also add some kidney beans and Cajun seasoning.

 

The shopping list is the BASICS for the suppers. I always have a few things on hand that I can throw together like brown rice and whole wheat pasta, frozen vegetables of all kinds, flour and cornmeal for breads, seasonings and spices. These things help me make meals more flavorful and filling.



Freezer Meals- Part III {Suppers}

This is Part III to my freezer meal plan. In case you missed Part I and Part II, you can read those now!

For all of the supper recipes, I used chicken tenders purchased from Sam's Club. I bought two large trays of chicken, and it was about 15-16 pounds total. I divided that evenly between all the freezer meals. For the suppers, you need gallon sized zip top bags. These meals were made for 2 people, but normally we have leftovers for lunch the following day. If your family is bigger, you may want to add more chicken and more vegetables. And as mentioned before, I used all chicken because I don't plan on eating these every night. If you want to eat your freezer meals every night, you may want to use different proteins. You can substitute pork chops, pork tenderloins, turkey tenderloins, or steak!

Supper Freezer Meals Shopping List

Chicken tenders or  breasts (15-16 pounds)

red pepper flakes

chili powder

paprika

thyme

ground ginger

jar of minced garlic

olive oil

honey

balsamic vinegar

3 cans of orange juice concentrate

large bag of carrots

4-5 bell peppers

green onions

4-5 onions

4-5 limes

soy sauce

peanut butter

dijon mustard

1 large container of chicken or vegetable broth

BBQ sauce (I used 2 bulk sized bottles)

I had a lot of the seasonings on hand, so I didn't have to purchase them. My total cost for the suppers was $75.27 = 3.01 per meal! Also, I used the Once a Month Mom website for my inspiration for some of these recipes. For the suppers, set out all of your gallon size bags, fold the top down, and divide your chicken evenly among them. Then add the ingredients below into each bag...

Honey Glazed Chicken (5 meals)

To be served with rice or on pasta

Chicken

2 tsp. red pepper flake

2 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. paprika

1 garlic clove

1/2 honey

4 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp. chicken broth

3 chopped carrots

Peanut Chicken (4 meals)

To be served with rice

Chicken

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 bell pepper, chopped

3/4 c. chicken broth

3 tbsp. peanut butter

1/2 tsp. lime zest

2 tbsp. lime juice

2 tbsp. soy sauce

1 tbsp. ginger

4 cloves garlic, chopped

BBQ Chicken (6 meals)

To be served with rice or on buns, after it is done cooking, shred the chicken

Chicken

1/2 onion, chopped

BBQ sauce, enough to cover chicken

Orange Chicken (4 meals)

To be served with rice

Chicken

3 large carrots, chopped

2 bell peppers, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tsp. ginger

6-8 oz. of orange juice concentrate

2 green onions

Balsamic Chicken (6 meals)

To be served with pasta

Chicken

1/2 c. balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp. dijon mustard

1 tbsp. fresh thyme

1/4 c. olive oil

...After adding all the ingredients to the bags, zip the top up and use your hands to massage the ingredients into the meat and mix them all together. It's important that all the components are mixed well. Depending on your ingredients, you may notice that you need a little more liquid to cover the meat. If that happens, mix in a little extra broth or extra ingredients. Label each bag with the type of meal it is. Lay flat (to maximize freezer space) to freeze.

To cook your meal, simply take your meal from the freezer and add all the contents to your slow cooker. Cook for 2-3 hours on high. Cook some easy rice, pasta, or extra vegetables to enjoy with your meal. These meals were relatively easy to put together and took about 2 hours! And they are delicious! It is definitely worth our money to have these stocked in the freezer. We don't go out anymore, except on date night, and these are the perfect meals to enjoy on nights that I am just exhausted!

Pulled Pork

I've recently been introduced to Pinterest. It's a really fun website where you can pin things you like to different boards. Most of the time, I'm looking at recipes! I love so many of the ideas that I come across. Recently, I came across one for a pulled pork recipe. The recipe sounded delicious and I wanted to try it. However, it was pretty fatty (because of the pork butt) and I wanted to make it my own. You can read the original recipe here.

I substituted a pork tenderloin which is a very healthy cut of meat. I also substituted a diet Cheerwine to make it distinctively Southern. It turned out to be really delicious! Here is my own healthy twist on this recipe.

What you need to make this recipe:

1 can of Diet Cheerwine

2 tbsp. Lawry's Seasoning

1 bottle of your favorite BBQ Sauce

1 Pork Tenderloin

1. Remove the tenderloin from package and pat dry. Cover with the Lawry's seasoning.

2. Put the seasoned tenderloin, can of soda, and the bottle of BBQ sauce in your slow cooker.

3. Cook on high for 2 hours.

 4. Remove tenderloin from slow cooker and use two forks to shred pork.

5. Serve over rice or on a bun! Enjoy!

Not only is this recipe really delicious and healthy, this meal is also so easy since its made in a crock pot. It was definitely a hit in our house!

Crockpot Lasagna

I love a good a slow cooker recipe. It is so nice to be able to throw everything in a pot, let it cook for a few hours, and then enjoy supper! I've always made a lot of soups and desserts in the crockpot, but I was looking to make something different. A few years ago, a friend of mine said that she cooked spaghetti in her slow cooker, so I got the idea to make lasagna in the crockpot. It turned out very well and since then, I think I've mastered it and made it about as healthy (and economical) as lasagna can get (minus whole-wheat noodles- can't find lasagna ones ANYWHERE!).

What you'll need:

1.25 lbs. lean (Italian, if you can find it) ground turkey

1 box of oven-ready lasagna noodles

1 jar of your favorite tomato sauce

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese made with 2%

1 15 oz. container of part-skim ricotta cheese

1 c. of shredded Parmesan cheese

1 tbsp. Italian seasoning

Salt and Pepper

This recipe will serve 5-6 people.

1. Begin by browning meat over medium-high heat in a pan on the stove. While that is cooking, in a medium bowl, mix together the ricotta, 1 1/4 c. mozzarella, 1/2 c. Parmesan cheese, 2 tsp. of Italian seasoning, and a dash of salt and pepper.

2. Once turkey is done cooking, drain away extra liquid. Add in the jar of tomato sauce, reserving about 1/3 c. for the top of the lasagna. Stir together.

3. Get your crockpot and bowl of cheese near the stove for easy assembly. Start by spraying your crockpot with non-stick cooking spray. Add in a tiny amount of the meat and sauce mixture to the bottom, just enough to keep the noodles from burning.

4. Begin adding the layers. Start with the noodles. Break the lasagna noodles so that they fit as well as possible in the bottom. The next layer is the meat. Add meat and spread out. Then follow with the ricotta mixture and a sprinkle of the Italian seasoning. You want to keep your layers relatively thin so that the lasagna doesn't fall apart when you put it on a plate.

5. After the cheese, start again with the noodles. Continue with this until you've created 3 full layers. The 3 full layers should hold all of your meat and sauce mixture and all of the ricotta mixture.

6. Top the last layer with one last layer of noodles. Then add the reserved tomato sauce, the rest of mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, and one last sprinkle of italian seasoning (in that order) to make a cheesy topping.

7. Cook on high for 1 1/2-2 hours or on low for 3-4 hours.

Cooking in the crockpot always helps me de-stress and relax. I stood in the kitchen for only  about 15 minutes making this meal. I hope that you enjoy a night of (almost) no cooking and this lasagna!