Monday, March 2, 2015

Falling off the wagon

That is a funny saying isn't it- "falling off the wagon"? It sounds quite painful to me. Well, I have fallen off of the wagon but not in regards to drinking (which is what the phrase originally meant). I am actually not a drinker at all. The wagon that I have fallen off of is my budgeting and organizational wagon. The holidays kind of steamrolled over me and I just have not had the determination to get back up on the wagon until now. And let me just tell you it was a true labor to do this. Once I get back in the habit of doing it again life will be fine but I really struggled to focus on it. 

So I began by checking the inventory in my little kitchen and then I checked out Pinterest for some new recipes. I am not good at creating my own recipes but I sure can follow a recipe with the best of 'em! After all that business I set out to make my menu and grocery list. I find it easier to do it at the same time but everyone will have their own method. The menu I came up with for this week is as follows:

Breakfast- everyone chooses what they want each day.
Oatmeal
Cereal
Smoothies
Breakfast burritos

Lunch
Turkey roll-ups & chips
Salad
leftovers (this will be eaten most days)

Dinner
Spaghetti
Baked ziti
Black bean & rice quesadillas
Chicken mozzarella pasta with sun-dried tomatoes
Creamy vegetable soup
Chili and cornbread

Snacks
Cheese cubes
Fruit cups
Peanuts
Raisins
Hummus
Carrots

Now I already had quite a bit of stuff on hand so my trip to Aldi was quick and I spent $86 which included a few extras that were not on my list. But that's OK because I know I can use them later on. For example, they had their loaves of whole wheat bread on sale for $.79 each which is half price! So I bought 4 loaves because, well, it's bread.

Once I got home and situated I started my meal prep. I have found that buying blocks of cheese, cutting and portioning it up not only saves money but is super easy to grab for my lunches in the mornings. So i set out cutting up 4 blocks of cheese and putting it into individual snack size baggies. Then I worked on the breakfast burritos. This was a new recipe for me but I gave it a whirl. The true test is when the boy eats them and let's me know how they are! Once the burritos where finished and in the freezer I started working on the creamy vegetable soup for dinner. Again, this was my first attempt at this recipe and I am not enjoying it but the boy is. I made a large pot of it so I think it will get divided up and frozen for later meals too. I really need to invest in a chest freezer.

Now it is time to get my beans soaking for the chili and quesadillas later this week. Have a great week friends! Feel free to leave me a comment too.