On the menu

Yesterday I arrived back home after visiting my Mom for a few days.  4 days of not being home = much catching up to do!  Although, I have to give a shout out to my incredibly good lookin' man because I came home with all laundry folded and put away - AND a clean kitchen sink!  WOO HOO!  What a MAN :) (That's right ladies - a REAL MAN cleans!!) So much nicer to not have to deal with all THAT before I start dealing with normal Monday/post-pay check stuff!!  Thanks babe - I'm a lucky girl to have you :)

A few things to share about this weeks meal planning.  First - the sales this week were not great.  Last shopping trip, lots of bargains - this week - no can do.  It ran me 281.00 which is about 30.00 higher than I like to spend.  To add to that, I needed to send a package out to my college girl which cost me another 20.00 meaning I am at budget for the next 2 weeks.  That's not good considering we have several needed days of eating out (Special Olympics state finals, trip to Chicago to pick up our girl, Marty and Jon are attending Hunters Safety next weekend, and we'd like to take Elyse and her roomie out for Mexican when they come home).  It totals about 5 meals out which, if eating at fast food, means about 60-80 for the three of us and another 70.00 or so for Mexican out w/ everyone.   That's going to need to come from somewhere so I'll need to take a look at the budget and figure out where I can squeeze that from.

I moved some things forward from the last time - meals we didn't end up eating.  I was hoping that would save us some cash flow - but nope, it didn't.  Not this time.  One item to note - I try to do the majority of my shopping at Kroger.  It's the closest to me, the least expensive closest to me - AND every 1.00 I spend, I get a reward point.  100 reward points = .10 off per gallon of gas.  This week I spent 281.00 so that means 281 reward points which will mean .20 off per gallon of gas on my next fill up.  That's worth it when your filling a blazer!

And finally - the list.  I'll come back in here tonight and add the links to the recipes.  Hope this will give you some ideas for your next shopping trip!

Breakfast (normally just cereal, oatmeal or eggs - but Elyse is bringing her roomie home from college and she said she misses home cooked meals - so I'm going all out!)
Amish Casserole
Clone of a Cinnabon Cinnamon Roles (THE BEST EVER!!)

Lunch
Leftover chili
BLT'S & chips
Salad Bar (this is a great idea - I chop up everything I can think of you might find on a salad bar:  onions, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, bacon bits, sunflower seeds, beets, cukes, peppers, cranraisins, croutons - you name it, I throw it on there.  Then I lay it all out on the counter and everyone gets to grab their own items to create their own salads.  We do this A LOT for lunch in the summer especially.  When finished, I put every item back in the fridge in little containers and everyone can make their own salad at any time!) & leftovers

Dinner
Barbecued Beef
Spaghetti/Garlic Bread/Salad
Chicken Enchiladas
Baked Teriyaki Chicken
Chili
Lasagna
Leftovers

Snacks
Dump Cake
Apple Crisp
Popcorn
Oreo Cookies
Apple Butter & Pumpkin Bread
Snickerdoodles
Biscuits & Strawberries
Banana Pudding