January-February Meal Plan

We are stuck in a rut.  I am in a cooking funk where I feel burnt out on cooking anything and the last few months our meal plans have been so similar (my fault) that I am not interested in cooking any of the things that I have planned.  My husband pointed out the other day that he was tired of the same meals that we had been having for months on end.  I was determined that our January-February meal plan was going to be different and contain some new foods or meals that we have never tried before. 

 

My husband has been ‘shopping’ for new recipes on Pinterest lately and I am always looking on Pinterest for new food to try, so we have a plethora of options to choose from.  After looking through our boards I found a list of recipes that I am pretty excited to try.  Some are basics with different ingredients and same are meals that I would have never even looked at twice before.   

 

As a reminder, I do my monthly shopping trips during the middle of the month, so the items that I bought this weekend will last through the last part of January and the first half of February. 

 

My first step when I meal plan is to actually figure out how many dinners we will be eating and needing to cook for.  I normally subtract a few from the total for eating out or eating leftovers, and this time I planned less because I know that we will be out of town for at least one day.  I also purposely planned fewer meals because I know that several times during the month we will need quick meals like sandwiches or something in our freezer.  I planned for 20 meals this month and 11 of them will be new meals that we have never made before.   I will post recipes for the new meals.  I don’t assign a certain day to a certain menu, but I do plan certain dinners towards the beginning of the month when I have certain produce or in a certain order, like I know that we will have chili after we make pinto beans, because we use the leftover pinto beans in the chili.    

 

1.       Cheesey Tater Tot Casserole

2.       Baked Mexican Stuffed Shells

3.       Pizza Casserole

4.       Chicken Pot Pie

5.       Quinoa Chili

6.       Slow Cooker Red Beans and Rice

7.       Baked Gnocci with tomato, bacon and cheese

8.       Creamy spinach and sausage pasta

9.       Baked Ravioli

10.   Tortellini bake

11.   Lasagna – double for freezer

12.   Chicken fried rice

13.   Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and veg

14.   Broccoli cheese rice

15.   Grilled chicken and steak, pasta side dish, veg

16.   Stuffed pepper casserole

17.   Pinto beans and cornbread

18.   Chili

19.   Pulled pork, rice side dish, veg

20.   Jalapeno popper chicken, pasta side dish, veg

 

After I decide what meals that I am going to make for the month, I go back to the recipes and write down everything that I need to make those recipes.  Even if I think that we have the ingredient in the cabinet, I still write it down.  The last thing that I want to have to do is run to the store by surprise on a week night to grab an ingredient that I thought I had but didn’t.  Once I have the list of all of the ingredients, I go to my cabinets, freezer and refrigerator and decide what items I actually need.  This is where I decide if I can make substitutions, like if I know that I have black beans that are going to expire, can I substitute those for pinto beans in a certain recipe, etc.  This is also where I would write down the staple items that I need to buy like cereal, eggs, milk, bread, cooking spray, etc. 

 

Because I shop mainly at one store, this is where I go back for the final time and organize my list by location in the store.  I know that certain items are on certain aisles in any Aldi, so I group those items together.  It is a regular occurrence for me to forget a pen when I grocery shop and so being able to quickly tick items off of the list is much easier when they are in order.   

 

 

This weekend I bought the bulk of our monthly groceries at Aldi and spent $175.68.  This month we were actually well stocked already with foods that the kids are interested in eating for lunches, like lunch meat, chicken nuggets, waffles, etc., so I didn’t have to buy much of that.  I still have three items to buy at a different grocery store that will be purchased separately and then our weekly milk trips.   






 

Aldi
1/19/2014
Item	Quantity	Price (each)	Price
Milk	5	$2.29	$11.45
White Onions	3lbs	$1.69	$1.69
Red Onions	3lbs	$1.79	$1.79
Potatoes	10lbs	$2.99	$2.99
Spaghetti sauce	4	$1.19	$4.76
Frozen chicken breasts	5lbs	$6.49	$6.49
Ground Beef 90/10 2.5lbs	2	$8.73	$17.46
Tater tots	1	$1.89	$1.89
Colby Jack cheese 1lb	6	$1.79	$10.74
Mozzarella 1lb	4	$1.79	$7.16
Monterrey Jack 1lb	1	$1.79	$1.79
Spaghetti rings	3	$0.59	$1.77
Canola spray	3	$1.39	$4.17
Rice side dish	2	$0.79	$1.58
Jiffy cornbread mix	2	$0.52	$1.04
Frozen egg rolls	1	$2.49	$2.49
Pasta side dish	2	$0.79	$1.58
Ricotta	2	$1.79	$3.58
Nutrigrain bars	2	$1.89	$3.78
Bacon	1	$6.29	$6.29
Ranch dressing	2	$1.39	$2.78
Cheddar 1lb	2	$1.79	$3.58
Cream of chicken soup	4	$0.59	$2.36
Peanut butter	1	$3.49	$3.49
Kielbasa	2	$2.29	$4.58
Frozen ravioli	1	$3.99	$3.99
Elbow macaroni noodles	1	$1.49	$1.49
Diced tomatoes & green chiles	1	$0.59	$0.59
Tomato sauce	3	$0.25	$0.75
Tomato paste	1	$0.39	$0.39
Diced Tomatoes	3	$0.59	$1.77
Cream cheese	2	$1.29	$2.58
Lasagna noodles	2	$1.49	$2.98
Rice	3lbs	$1.59	$1.59
Green bell peppers	1	$1.39	$1.39
Jalapenos	2lbs	$0.89	$0.89
Diced green chiles	3	$0.69	$2.07
Mustard	1	$0.89	$0.89
Avocado	2	$0.49	$0.98
Turkey pepperoni	1	$2.79	$2.79
American cheese slices	1	$1.99	$1.99
Frozen peas	1	$0.95	$0.95
Ketchup	1	$1.49	$1.49
Kidney beans	2	$0.59	$1.18
Black beans	2	$0.59	$1.18
Corn - can	3	$0.49	$1.47
green beans - can	3	$0.49	$1.47
Celery	1	$1.19	$1.19
Cottage cheese	1	$2.29	$2.29
Butter	2	$2.29	$4.58
Belvita	3	$2.49	$7.47
Sour cream	2	$0.49	$0.98
Eggs -dozen	3	$1.39	$4.17
Spinach	1	$1.79	$1.79
limes	2	$0.10	$0.20
Chicken broth - box	2	$1.49	$2.98
Refrigerated pie crusts	1	$1.89	$1.89
Grape tomatoes	1	$1.99	$1.99
			$175.68