Friday, December 30, 2011

Meal Planning Ideas for the New Year-Overview




One of my goals for the new year is to eat out less. One of the reasons we are doing this is to cut our expenses. When we totaled up what we've spent in eating out...even though it's been really fun and we've had a great time with friends, we were astounded. We've decided that this is not the best use of our funds and in fact, is really not good for our family in many ways.

So...I've been enlisting the help of my family to come up with menu planning ideas for our meals. I figured if they helped me come up with ideas they would have to eat the meals! Here are some of the ideas we came up with:

Breakfast:

Fruit
Toast
Cereal
Sausage Biscuits
Yogurt
Poptarts

Lunch:

Egg Salad
Chicken Salad
Ramon Noodles
BLT's Sandwiches
Pimento Cheese Sandwiches
PBJs
Ham Sandwiches
Turkey Sandwiches
Turkey Roll-ups on flour tortilla
Leftovers
Vienna Sausages (I barfed a little)
Mac N Cheese

Dinner:

Spaghetti
Lasagna
Chili
HB Helper
Roast
Pizza Rolls (Homemade)
Hot Dogs
Potato Soup
Link Sausage
Pigs in a Blanket
Nachos
Tacos
Cornbread Casserole
Hamburgers
BBQ
BBQ Chicken
Steak
Breakfast (we call this Brinner...breakfast for dinner)
Salisbury Steak
Chicken Nuggets
Frito Chili Pie
Turkey Roast
Chicken and Rice
Chicken Fried Rice
Corn Dogs
Beef Tips
Chicken Spaghetti
Grilled Cheese
Manwich
Hot Ham and Cheese
Ultimate Sandwich
Jambalaya
Enchiladas

I'll be adding fruits and veggies and sides to these meals, but this is a great starting point and will save me gobs of time planning the grocery list each week. Getting my family to chime in on their preferences helps me be able to prepare meals that everyone will enjoy....(except for the vienna sausage....that's going to mysteriously disappear from the list:)). I'm sure I missed some great idea for a meal so feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what your family likes to eat! Maybe I'll add it to my list!

Here's a free meal planning download that might be a help as you plan your 2012 meals

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