The Week's Meals, Reluctantly

Am I alone in sometimes longing for the pre-marriage and childless days of yore, being able to get away with cereal and ice cream for dinner nearly every night just because I could and it was easy?

Jacob still will go through phases where that's all he feels like eating--and I can't blame the man. After working with food all day, I'm not sure I could stomach (literally) the smell of another item by the time I got home. It does put a hamper on my meal planning, though. It is NO FUN to go through all the pain of meal preparation, cooking, and clean up just to be the only one to really eat it. Yasmeen always eats what I have, but considering that her stomach is the size of her fist, and some days she is far more ornery about what she'll put in her mouth than others, she doesn't really quite count.

And, yet, she does...because if she didn't need to eat that nutritious fist size of food I would be joining Jacob in the cereal glutton.

We've been eating out ALL summer-and we live in a small little town with very few food options, so it's not like we've even been enthusiastically eating out. We've just been far too lazy. But, it is really eating a hole in our pockets, doing absolutely nothing whatsoever that is kind to my waistline, cementing some pretty awful eating habits in the little one, and we've been subjected to some pretty questionable quality control, if you know what I mean....sooooooo, the binge is over. And I'm back at this. Ugh.

It's difficult to think of easy meals that aren't terribly time consuming or expensive and are kid AND hubby friendly.

Monday: Slowcooker pulled pork with Kaiser buns and KFC coleslaw and fruit or veggie side

Tuesday: Fish tacos (thank you Jenny)

Wednesday:These Waffles of Insane Greatness (found at Annie's Eats). I have everything on hand except for the cornstarch, which I really should have in my cupboard anyway. I'll serve with fruit (likely strawberries and blackberries) and maybe Jacob will grace us with his perfect scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese and a side of grits. Yumm.

Thursday: This Greek Panzanella salad with a cut of beef, probably tri tip or filet mignon

Friday: Maybe shrimp ceviche, but if I'm feeling too lazy I'm not above a run to Costco for $1.50 pizza and frozen yogurt. Just sayin'....

Saturday/Sunday: I dislike planning for weekends as we often are out and about or at the in-laws. So we'll eat what and where the wind takes us.

The Goal: Spend $10 or Less

In an attempt to save as much money on meals as possible this coming week, I've made my shopping list and menu plan early. Weekly ads come out on Wednesdays, which makes it easy to get things done on the weekend. This week my goal is to spend <$10 to complete weeknight dinners and <$5 to complete lunches. (Lunch is only eaten by Alex, Nathan and myself since Josh and Chris eat at school.)

Here we go:

Monday
Lunch: Chicken quesadillas. Chicken is $6/bag (about 24 pieces per bag and I'll probably use about 5 for this meal) and I already have diced fire-roasted chiles, cheese and tortillas. This meal is <$5.
Dinner: Spaghetti, salad and french bread. I already have spaghetti noodles, salad is about $2 (bagged) and I have a coupon for free french bread. This meal is <$5

Tuesday:
Lunch: Tuna sandwiches. I'll have to buy some tuna, which is on sale for $1/can this week and we'll probably use at least 3 cans. Also celery ($1) and mayonnaise ($3). This meal is about $7.
Dinner: Fish tacos. Tilapia is on sale ($4/lb), salsa ($1), avocado (2/$1), coleslaw (bagged, $2). This meal will be about $10.

Wednesday:
Lunch: Roast beef sandwiches. Roast beef from Trader Joe's is $5/package for about 10 slices. This meal is <$5.
Dinner: Chicken tenders and twice baked potatoes. potatoes are $.88/5 lb bag this week and green onions $1. This meal is <$10.

Thursday:
Lunch: Roast beef or pb&j sandwiches.
Dinner: Chili and cornbread. I already have all the ingredients for this meal in the pantry.

Friday:
Lunch: Leftover chili and cornbread.
Dinner: My day off! $5 Friday at Von's. I might buy a second meal to use for Saturday.

Saturday:
Lunch: The extra $5 meal I got from Von's. Josh has a soccer game that morning.
Dinner: I'll let Alex decide!

Sunday:
Lunch: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, some kind of veggie. Ground beef is about $3/lb. The veggie won't cost more than $2. This meal will be about $5.
Dinner: Leftovers/fend for yourselves.

Other foods:
strawberries ($3)
bananas ($3)
bottled water ($3)

Another Week You Gotta Eat

I am so tired of planning and making dinner now that school and soccer have started. I'm also bored with the regular meals we've been having. I wish I could just order out every single day.

So I'm making a dinner plan because I should and not because I'm excited about it:

Monday: Omelettes. The boys have decided that cheese omelettes are delicious and they must eat them as often as possible. Luckily they are super easy to make.
Tuesday: Some kind of soup. Chicken tortilla, broccoli cheddar or something else.
Wednesday: Some kind of salad. Taco, maybe?
Thursday: Barbecue chicken. Oven baked.
Friday: I'm taking the day off and it's $5 Friday's from Von's. Roasted chicken, salad and rolls.

Though dinner might be boring, I'm excited to try this delicious and easy recipe for mini cheesecakes from Bakerella. There's actually a lot of things I'd like to try on this website. But only the really easy stuff.

Back At It? I think...

So it is very definitely the middle of the week-and I very definitely have not cooked one meal yet. But no time like the present to start, right?

My motto for the time being is keep it simple sister! So tonight, we will have sloppy joes and a salad, mainly because they are easy, cheap, good, and the little one likes them so she'll actually eat some red meat. Tomorrow, we will do taco salads.

Friday we are in the city with Gramme, so we'll probably do clam chowder. Saturday will probably be family date night out and Sunday we'll likely go to the in-laws.