March Meals {Week of March 19/12}

Cooking.
Meal planning.
Budgeting.
Bleh!

Well, I think I have found my groove!

We using our bread maker almost every week, there is always the right ingredients in the cupboard and the kitchen is organized!

I am always trying to find ways to save money on food. First I thought I would do some research and see if anyone suggests how much I should be spending in the first place.  I have figured out two numbers.

1. Your weekly budget should be $3-$5 per person, per day.
2. You should expect to spend 11%-14% of your take home, families income.

What does that look like? (Yearly income) × .11 ÷ 52 = weekly food budget.

Right now we are spending about 11.5% and I think it would be awesome if I could manage 10%.
Now I just need to figure out how to do that!

I have slowly but surely figured out a few things.

1. No Frills will price match. This was the first week I tried this. I felt a little disorganized - I grabbed the wrong name brand of frozen corn, forgot to get grapes... but I know it will go better next time.
2. Make food from scratch.  This one is tough.  I remember working a 9 hour shift in Oakville and the 3 hour commute - there is no way I would have been able to make everything from scratch.  Now, I have a lot more opportunities.  I only work about 15 hours outside of the house and about 4 hours at home. Red is sleeping through the night.  I have a bread maker (even though it is technically my husbands!)
3. Buy in bulk.  I had to hyper-organize the kitchen to make this work.  I needed to have the room to store all that extra food. 
4. Buy when things are on sale (even if it isn't needed yet).  I don't seem to get a big benefit from this one. I am trying to eat clean so I don't food that is full of preservatives; that has a long shelf life.  Right now, this only seems to apply to my husbands shampoo, toothpaste, deodorant and toilet paper.
5. Cooking meals once a month and freezing them.  I have just discovered this amazing site that gives you detailed instructions on how to do this.  I just got all the ingredients for the March menu today.  Including our extra snacks, meats and dairy purchases I spent $175. I am hoping this will last us 2 weeks - with a little left over for milk and such in the second week.  Instead of using this menu as the site suggests (spreading out all the meals for the months), I am going to cram it all in for two weeks.
6. Participate in a Freezer exchange group. If you are on Facebook, there is fan page that explains the whole idea.

So, what's on the menu?

Breakfast:

• Apple Spice Oatmeal
• Peanut Butter and Banana Oatmeal
• Pumpkin and Nut Oatmeal
• Strawberry Rhubarb Muffins *
• Pumpkin Biscuits *
• Fruit Smoothies

Lunch:

• Mini Vegetarian Meatloaves *
• Broccoli Cheddar Biscuit Muffins *

Snacks:

• Mini Zucchini Muffins
• Pizza Dippers
• Rice Cakes
• Roasted Chickpeas
• Popcorn

Dinners:

• Salmon Frittata and Salad (2 meals)
• Veggie Pizza and Salad
• Zucchini/Meat Burgers, Spaghetti Squash and Broccoli *
• Asparagus and Mushroom Quesadillas *
• Broccoli Cheese Stromboli *
• Spinach Meatballs and Pasta *
• Chickpea patties and Veggies *
• Greek-Style Quinoa Burgers with Pitas and Veggies *

* www.onceamonthmom.com

Here's hoping this works!

Leftover Soup

For a long time, now, I have been trying to get organized with a meal plan.  Last year I found this book called More Time Mom's Family Meals.  It has 6 weeks of meals with a shopping list for each week.  This worked for a while but it just didn't fit out family's needs.  I'm a vegetarian (the rest of the family eats both kinds of meals), and most of the meals have meat in them and I am not that good at translating the recipes into meat-free. 

Since finding that book, I have decided to eat more "clean" diet.  No refined sugar, very little processed/pre-packaged foods and no artificial preservatives.  On top of that, my husband is making HUGE changes to his eating habits and for the next little while we need to avoid pasta (as the main dish), casseroles and heavy sauces.  Quite simply the perfectly organized meal plan I want to create has a whole lot of random restrictions!

So, for now, I am going to try to break down what I want to accomplish and work on each goal separately:

1. Use every leftover.

2. Double 1 meal every 2 weeks so it can be frozen for a later date.

3. Start a "Freezer Meal Exchange" group.

4. Come up with a meal plan every week, for 6 weeks.

5. Create a ready made shopping list for each of the 6 weeks.

Task #1 (and #4)

Freezer soup.

One of my friends showed me how she adds leftovers to a container that is left in the freezer.  I thought that was a great idea but at the time I was intimidated by cooking so the idea was stored away.  Now, I think I am ready to do it - I mean it can't be any worse then it is right now! If the soup turns out gross then it gets thrown out - just the same as all those leftovers getting thrown out now...

On the menu this week:

• Moroccan Chickpea Stew with couscous {recipe from a good friend}
• Broccoli, whole roasted chicken/pan fried tofu with salt and pepper, carrots, butternut squash and potato
• Orange marinated salmon, mixed salad (with homemade dressing), rice {recipe: More Time Mom's}
• Beef/tofu stir fry with peppers and rice noddles {recipe: More Time Mom's}
• Asparagus and cheese quiche with whole wheat pie crust and salad{pie crust recipe}

As for the soup...

I feel like I still need a plan so I started with some veggie broth and added the leftover carrots, broccoli and chicken.  I will add either some leftover rice or rice noodles (depending how the stir fry is made). I usually just make veggie puree soups but this one will be more like a chicken noodle with chunks of veggies. Not sure if that is enough for 2 3/4 servings of soup but we will see!

p.s. Just in case you are curious: I don't eat chicken but I try to have a serving of fish twice a month. This will be the first time, in a long time, that I have had meat in my soup...