Meal planning and budgeting . . . getting started P.4!!!

[Rosalind]

I am not as diligent as Katy when it comes to planning, but I find that there are certain things you can always make into a complete meal, and make sure I always have those things handy. If I always have canned tomatoes, flour, yeast, milk, dairy starter cultures, some sort of protein in the freezer, packets of frozen veggies, canned fruit, eggs, oatmeal, sugar, seasonings, dry beans, potatoes in the cellar, I can always make something to eat. I tried extensive meal planning once, and it sort of all fell apart when I found some jars hadn't sealed properly, or that DH had eaten all the deer sausage for a snack.

Henry'schickens, I usually cover catfish & crappie with a spice mix of some sort--either lemon peel, dill & thyme or chili powder & cumin or Old Bay, then bake @ 350F with enough butter to generously grease a casserole dish with the lid on.

 

[TipsyDog]

OMG Katy - except for the Fish - you are my long lost sister!!!!

Subscribing and awaiting further info

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Let's get started then!

I have been thinking hard on how to present my way of doing things without making it overwhelming; both to anyone who wants to give it a go, and to myself in hours spent typing.

So let me do this, I¡¦m going to give you the structure of my basic meal plan and the reasoning behind the layout.

You ask yourself:
1. "Does this layout make sense in MY life?¨, and make the changes where it doesn't (for instance you have little kids, and NO ONE likes tuna, you might change Mondays Tuna lunch to PB&J)
2. How many times a year do you want to eat the same dish? My family is happy and comfortable with 4. There are 52 weeks in a year so I need 13 recipes in each category. If that's too many recipes for you to comprehend and you like routine maybe you will say "I can eat the same dish at least 8 times a year¡¨ then you will only need 7 recipes for each category. Or go the other direction . . . if you have questions ASK!
3. Then, I will work on one day of the week at a time with you. I think that will be the easiest form of adjustment for someone wanting change how they do things, allow time for questions and input, and keep my time requirement at a manageable level.

I would really love your input, both positive and negative; as I have been asked before to teach a course in household management and would like to know if what I have to offer is valid.

THIS IS GOING TO BE FUN ISN'T IT????

Here it is:
well, heck the menu wouldn't cut and paste over, so give me a few minutes to type the darn thing out!!!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Quote:
I have a sister in PA ??? How cool!!!

 

[suburbanminifarm]

Leaving a comment so I can find this post later..... I am terrible at meal planning....always end up spending too much at the grocery store and never know what to make since I am veg.(except for if we catch our own fish), kids are just so picky, DH is carnivore... I really want to do better!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

Monday:
Breakfast – Ham and Egg Burritos
Snack – Apples & Almonds
Lunch – Tuna
Cocktail Hour – Cheesy spreads on bread
Dinner – Beans & Rice

Tuesday:
Breakfast – Eggs, Bacon & Toast
Snack – Orange & Peanuts
Lunch – Tacos
Cocktail Hour – vegi snacks
Dinner – Seafood & Red vegetables

Wednesday:
Breakfast – Oatmeal
Snack – Kiwi & pecans
Lunch – Egg salad
Cocktail Hour – meat
Dinner – leftovers & Yellow vegis

Thursday:
Breakfast – Sausage and egg burrito
Snack – Banana & pistachios
Lunch – Meat sandwich
Cocktail Hour – cheese & crackers
Dinner – Pasta & green vegis

Friday:
Breakfast – eggs & chorizo
Snack – ? fruit & cashews
Lunch – Vegi and cheese sandwich
Cocktail Hour – seafood
Dinner – Red meat & potatoes

Saturday:
Breakfast – Cereal for kids, mom and dad are a toss up
Lunch – out
Dinner – Soup and/or Salad

Sunday:
Brunch – Bisckets & gravy & eggs, or omlets, or eggs benedict & juice
Dinner – Chicken & whatever goes with it

I will get back to you later today with the reasoning behind my madness . . . have to go work on chicken coop!

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

ok then method behind the madness . . .

Dinners:

are based on meat every other night with meals featuring no or little meat in between. this is just what I feel is a healthy balance.
I don't always have yellow veggis on Wednesday and red vegis on Tuesday but use this as a guideline to remember 1. to serve vegis 2. to serve a healthy variety of vegis and 3. it gives me a great opportunity to try new recipes.
I serve beans on Monday because that is my busiest day of the week. Sunday night is always my slowest, so it's easy to assemble the ingredients then and throw them in the pot on Monday AM.

As I have said before, I make sure we have seafood for dinner once a week because I think it is healthy, I serve a vairety of pink, and white fleshed fish along with shell fish. I think fishing is a healthy outdoor activity that lends it self to young families while teaching a level of self sufficiency. Also I love deep sea fishing in Cabo (no kids

)and can't wait until I can fit in an annual trip to Alaska for our Salmon, Halibut and Crab needs.

Also as I said before, I think it is very important to schedule in one night a week for leftovers. If we don't have any or enough one week that is when I cook pork or rabbit. this is simply because I am not a huge fan of pork and I think we get enough of it in our house at breakfast. I love rabbit but is is scarce here (to buy) next year or the year after I will add them to my little farm. The prior weeks leftovers that are reheated and not finished on Wed night go to the chickens the next day - this keeps the fridge clean

IMHO red meat once a week is enough. My husband thought he would die from this restiction to his usual diet, he didn't, and now loves the variety. We like to go out once a week when we can swing it, and that's usually on a Friday so it's fun to "go out for a Steak", I also entertain at my house A LOT and Friday night tends to be around the grill with friends in the summer - and that just calls for burgers, steaks and tri tips.

Sat. is salad in the spring and summer because that's the day I go to the farmers market and it's so nice to bring home fresh picked vegis for a huge dinner salad. Very refreshing. Fall and winter are home made soup and bread - I have time during the day to make the bread and the kids LOVE coming in out of the cold to those smells, also if they have friends over that's a meal that is easily extended for more.

Sunday is of course chicken dinner and everyone must be at the table no exceptions. It's a good family tradition and a good way to get them back into the house on the first school night of the week. I had hoped that as they got older they would return on Sundays to mom's house for the traditional dinner with their kids . . . so far this isn't working so well with the ones that are grown, but I am hoping as they get older and their lives more settled they will pick it back up.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

"It's all fun and games untill someone gets yogurt in their beak-hole!" --My DD

ROTFLMAO!!!!

 

[the simple life]

I just started to organize a meal plan myself.

I started to plan and stock up on staples more over the past year so this would be easier to do.
I only food shop once a month anyway but this last time I ended up going two months because I didn't need anything and that is saying how far I have come on my stocking up and planning because I have 7 kids and a husband to feed.
I don't like popping in and out of the market because I end up buying something I didn't really need to get, I mean we will use it but could have not had it and never missed it.

In my quest to become more self sufficient I realized that I also am saving money and time and the biggest thing is we are eating much better as well.
I now buy a side of beef at a time, excellent grass fed beef and I raise my own chickens for meat.
I have the hens for eggs.
I have have a good size vegetable garden and I actually just planted 4 more apple trees today and I have 15 more fruit trees and berry bushes coming in the spring.
We met a fisherman and he told us to meet him on the docks in the mornings to buy the fish right off the boat before the restaraunts show up to buy. Fresh local fish!
Its amazing what you can make at home and save money, I make my own yogurt and granola now and that saves me a surprising amount of money and its so easy to do.
My goal is to buy as little as I have to in the grocery stores and to stock up on the sale items when I do, but I will never go back to store bought meat or fish ever.

I wish I had done this years ago, but better late than never.

 

[breezy]

Miss katylady
Thank you so much for starting this and for sharing your system. I think whoever takes a class on anything from you is going to learn lots. I love your approach and organizational skills and appreciate you sharing with us.