My idea with this series is to post at least an outline of what our menu will look like each week. I'm hoping this keeps me on target and keeps me accountable for what I'm consuming (and preparing for my family to consume). I highly suggest a menu, at least a simplified version, like what I have below. My menu is mostly filled out. Not completely, but it's there. Some meals may be completely written out, while others are not. I used to stress over elaborate meal plans and every 'squinch' of food being written down, but I don't have time for that kind of attention, so I'm not going to do it. This is what I have.
Menu making goals:
- Stay within weekly budget.
- Easy to prepare
- Include daily: 1-2 fruits and 3-4 veggies.
Some weeks it's harder to incorporate fruits and veggies into the budget than others, but it's necessary. Prices are not atrocious right now because it's summer. Makes me wish I had time to get my garden back in working order. That's another topic, and one that will wait until next year most likely.
Breakfast
|
Lunch
|
Dinner
|
Snack(s)
|
|
Monday
|
Honey Nut
Cheerios,
1% milk |
Leftovers
& Chips
(Pizza Rolls) |
Chicken
Tenders,
Mashed Potatoes (instant Baby Reds),
Side Salad
|
Brownie
Frozen Yogurt (TCBY Strawberry) |
Tuesday
|
Honey Nut Cheerios,
1% milk |
Leftovers & Chips
(Pizza Rolls) |
Pork Steak (thin, seasoned and pan-grilled in
olive oil),
Yeast Roll,
Side Salad
|
Banana
Frozen Yogurt (TCBY Strawberry)
|
Wednesday
|
Honey Nut
Cheerios,
1% milk |
Turkey
Sandwich or Wrap (Whole Grain White or Multigrain Wrap)
With lettuce
and tomato
|
*Out*
|
*Out*
|
Thursday
|
Scrambled Egg with Green Pepper
|
Mac-n-Cheese (whole grain noodles) w/Hot Dogs
|
Pork Steak (thin, seasoned and pan-grilled in
olive oil),
Side Salad
|
Banana
|
Friday
|
Scrambled Egg
with Green Pepper
|
Mac-n-Cheese (whole grain noodles) w/Hot Dogs
|
Chicken
Frozen
Veggies
Homemade Bread |
Banana
Homemade Popcorn |
Saturday
|
*Kids’ Camp*
|
*Kids’ Camp*
|
*Kids’ Camp*
|
*Kids’ Camp*
|
Sunday
|
Pancakes,
Scrambled Egg |
--
|
Chicken
Frozen
Veggies
Yeast Roll
|
Homemade
Popcorn
|
Many may want to shout at my lunch for yesterday and today. Pizza Rolls?!? How in the world is that on your diet? I laugh at that thought. See bullet point 1. We had other kids over for dinner on Sunday and we got Pizza Rolls to feed them. Apparently my kids don't like the Three Meat ones, so there was a bunch of those left. Do you know how much Pizza Rolls cost? Yeah, I'm not throwing those suckers away. So, I'm eating them over the course of a couple days. Reheated and adding a small amount of chips (also leftovers) to complete my middle of the day meal.
I usually get turkey hot dogs and that is what we have with our mac-n-cheese (an all-time favorite with my girls). I didn't this week, so I'm making sure to watch my sodium everywhere else, too. (More on sodium in a later post.) I don't think anything else is blatantly awful.
Easy ways I make our meals healthier:
- Choose whole grain or multi-grain foods whenever possible.
- Choose fresh or frozen veggies.
- Buy small packages of fruit for Pat's lunch. I refrigerate them and then pop one in his lunch box every day.
- When possible, make an extra serving of the evening meal and immediately set it aside for Pat's lunch the next day. This keeps him from eating canned foods much of the time.
The idea with this blog is accountability. Food and exercise are the primary areas where I need accountability. We eat much healthier now, but it's good to have a direction, and then we're less likely to splurge on a pizza when I'm too scattered to think about what to cook. I'll report back to you next week on how well this week went.
What are you planning for this week's meals? Share in the comments below.
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