Not a Menu Plan Monday, Just a Monday Menu Plan

Ok, so I cruise several blogs that have "Menu Plan Monday". Well, I don't plan on Monday. I don't currently even post on Monday. But, this blog is named My Monday Life for a reason.

So here it is, the first biweekly menu plan master meal list posted to this blog. I have linked the recipes, if they are from another site or already on this one, so just click on the highlighted menu item. I also noted whether they are new (N) for us. I'll let you know how the new ones turn out, and if I end up making any changes to them. If the recipe is one of my own and not already linked, then I'll add a post with it later.

working on the list

January 19- February 2, 2013

sweet 'n sour chicken, steamed rice, eggrolls (N)
broiled pork chops, baked crunchy sweet potatoes, green beans, rolls
pan seared steak, mashed cauliflower, corn on the cob, Texas toast
Santa Fe cream cheese crock pot chicken, tortillas, shredded lettuce, diced tomato (N)
slow cooker cube steak (substituting cut up tenderized round steak), mashed potatoes or cauliflower, veggie of choice, rolls (N)
pizza with toppings of choice
Texas chili, sour cream, shredded cheese, cornbread
bangers & mash, peas & carrots
steak & Irish stout pie (using a chuck steak that I will cut into stew meat and adding veggies to the pie) (N)
St. Louis BBQ pork steak, coleslaw, hot roll (N)
black bean burgers, oven fries, applesauce
country oven-fried steak, mashed potatoes, bacon green beans, rolls (N)
peanut pork stir fry, steamed brown rice, eggrolls
chicken spaghetti (whole wheat noodles), crescent rolls
Philly cheesesteak sloppy joes, oven fries, garden salad
crunchy baked flounder, mac & cheese (whole wheat shells), peas & carrots
cheeseburger soup with hidden veggies, onion bread
pineapple ham steak, brown rice, carrots, Hawaiian bread
Mexican lasagna
eggplant parmesan, garlic bread
German pancakes, fresh fruit
biscuits & gravy
baked French toast (N)
chocolate chip oatmeal squares
egg & cheese English muffins


I don't have a shopping list to share this time around. We are trying out quite a few new recipes in order for me to use up some ingredients that I already have on hand. I specifically searched out the pork steak recipe, cube steak (I'm substituting tenderized round.) recipe, and steak & Irish stout pie (I'm using a chuck steak cut into stew meat.) recipes. Each of these cuts are abundant when you have your meat processed, but are a bit tough and not as flavorful without proper prep and cooking. This means that I don't use then as often as I should in our rotation, and that I find myself only making one or two specific recipes with them.

If you live in the Pikes Peak region of Colorado, the Kroger affiliate near you has cauliflower on sale. I scored it for $1 a pound, so we will be substituting mashed cauliflower for potatoes quite a bit. Eggplants ($1ea- Kroger), roma tomatos (6/$1-Thriftway) and avocados (.50ea-Thriftway) are also on sale. Barilla whole wheat/grain pastas are $1 a pound right now at Kroger, so stock up if you are running low. Safeway has their milk for $2.19 per gallon, so if milk shares or organic is not in your budget, snag this. Its a savings of $1.70 a gallon! Remember, milk freezes well, if you are careful in your defrosting method.

There are also quite a few good coupon match-ups this week. I picked up Prego pasta sauce, Surf laundry detergent, Finish dishwashing powerballs, GM box cereal, and Nature Valley granola bars on good match-ups. If your family uses boxed Helper meals, there are 75c coupons that round up to a $1, making them 3 boxes for $2. We don't use them as a general rule, but I admit to having picked up 3 to have on the shelf. I didn't get any because my family prefers my homemade biscuits, but Grands! biscuits are on sale $1 for the full size 8 biscuit tube. These can match up really nicely with the coupons that have been in the paper the last month and a half or so. Depending on the coupon you have, you can get them as low as 60c a can.

I budget $250 for two weeks ($125 a week) for all of our two weeks worth of groceries and general household needs (toiletries, cleaning, etc). I spent $172.99 today. I will be sending $35 to the school lunch accounts. That will leave me $42 to buy my eggs ($3/18 from the neighbor), pepperoni (from the local butcher), and any other incidentals or snacks out that may come up in the next two weeks.

I also had $32 leftover from the last two weeks. I usually roll leftover money from this part of our budget into my fund for buying bulk items. By defraying the large bulk costs over the year with my leftover funds, then I don't take a big bite in the budget when it comes time to replenish those supplies. It also means that if I stumble on an amazing sale, I can stock up on that item without killing my immediate budget for those two weeks.

Another budgeting thing that we do, when we are raising an animal or plant for our own consumption, I deduct a portion of those expenditures from my biweekly grocery budget. For example, we raised 3 pigs this past Spring. I bought feed for all three, I then deducted 1/3 of that amount from our grocery budget. I also pulled a portion of the water bill, as our water is quite costly here and the pigs were consuming quite a bit. I figure if we're eating it, it should come from the grocery budget! This works because we are not currently operating as a "business" farm. If we decide to take that step, then obviously our budgeting will be different for tax purposes. I won't be intermingling our personal budget with the "business" budget.

I know, I know. You're thinking $125 a week and you guys don't buy your pork or beef! Well as you can see by the paragraph above, we DO buy our meat. I deduct the feed, water, and butcher costs from the grocery budget, it just doesn't happen every single week. Although to be fair, our beef comes from a gift steer, so we only pay the butcher fees.