Anyone else married to a late night snacker?

As I sit here this morning, I am waffling back and forth between trying to calm my anger, and trying not to laugh. I was just planning to upload the meal plan for the week, and had opened the fridge to discover that 1) the leftover pasta from last night that I had planned for my lunch today was gone, and 2) the meatballs I made for tonight's dinner are nearly gone.

One little night. So much damage. Guess I'll be reworking tonight's dinner :)

Menu plan Week of 5/2

Between the meals on the grill, and the meals on the smoker, I'm excited to use the MPM grill logo for the first time this year! I kept the meal plan pretty well last week, except for today. Didn't feel like dealing with pizza, so we did brats. I have tonight's menu, along with the rest of the week, below. Monday through Sunday's meals feed a family of 4 and come in at $30.

Sunday-
Grilled brats in buns w/ cheese $3.75
beans $1.50
apple slices .50
$5.25

Monday-
spaghetti w/ turkey meatballs- $3.75
salad .75
green beans .40
$4.90

Tuesday-
grilled pork chops $3.50
cheesy broccoli rice $1.00
bread & butter .50
$5.00

Wednesday- Cinco de Mayo
bean and cheese nachos $1.75
super sweet corn .50
guacamole $1.00 (thank you .39 avocados at Aldi!)
pineapple $1.00
$4.25

Thursday-
ham .00 (free w/ a gift certificate to Honey Baked Ham store)
au gratin potatoes $1.00
salad .75
$1.75

Friday-
grilled chicken $2.00
rotini w/ alfredo sauce .75
broccoli .50
$3.25

Saturday-
brisket $5.00
sweet potatoes .75
bread and butter .50
$6.25

Sunday-
smoked pork butt $3.00
buns .50
fries .50
corn .50
$4.50

Week's Total- $29.90

Cool freebie from $5 Dinners

Erin, the $5 Dinner Mom over at $5 Dinners, has a cool freebie for you to make your meal planning a little easier! I find that if have a plan, I stick to it, and it makes it easier to take things out of the freezer, etc. This saves time, money and frustration! Head over here to get your free meal planning template...thanks, Erin! This is awesome!!

How to make things go faster at meal times...

As I've mentioned before, hubby and I have the family roles all shuffled up. He stays home with the boys, while I work full time. He does much of the housecleaning, laundry and organizing. But he doesn't dust, he doesn't "girlify" stuff, and he doesn't cook or grocery shop.

Yes, he grills. Yes, he CAN cook. He tells me if I tell him what to cook, how to make it and what to get, he'll do it. Might as well do it myself. As for shopping- I've blogged about his shopping trips before. Just better to keep him off of that duty when I can. :)

I don't mind doing the cooking and shopping, as I love to cook, and I love to see the boys get excited about foods I make. Since my job sometimes requires a 12 hour day, though, I've had to get creative. When weeks got hectic, we used to just grab takeout or run through a drive through. Not healthy or economical. Now that we've decided to keep a tight budget, I've had to find ways to produce quick food here that suits my requirements. I'm really getting less and less into processed foods. We have them, but we try to keep them to a minimum.

So I've really started getting into make ahead meals. Some women do Once a Month Cooking. That's a really big commitment for me--I might not want to eat those foods at the end of the month ;). But I do prep a lot of the next week's meals in advance, and when I can, I make extras for other meals.

Take, for example, the chicken enchiladas I made for the freezer. I have the enchiladas individually wrapped in wax paper. In the same gallon bag, I've also place a bag of the sauce that you pour over the enchiladas, and a bag of grated cheese for the top.

And look- even written directions for hubby LOL.

I also like to do side dishes, like twice baked potatoes, and other things that take a while to prepare.
These carrots are in a butter/sherry sauce, with parsley---all we'll need to do is pop them in a microwave container and heat them up at dinner. MUCH faster than trying to make them from scratch that night. And cheaper, too. I can buy a 2lb. bag of carrots for $1, and make 4 meals worth. Not too shabby.

Meal planning and thinking things out ahead just a little can save you a LOT of time and money in the long run. No more fast food (unless you are craving it LOL).

Meal Plan Week of March 30th

Another easy week, using meals and precooked meats from the freezer---saves a lot of time during the week. I did move a couple of meals around last week, so I moved the Taco Bake to this week. My cost for dinners this week comes out to around $25.

3/30 Monday

Breakfast for dinner

Ham egg and cheese pancake sandwiches $1.50

Pinapple slices .65

Tater tots .75

$2.90

3/31 Tuesday

ribs (from the freezer)5.00

corn .40

salad 1.00

$6.40

4/1 Wednesday

spaghetti and meatballs (whole grain pasta .50, meatballs $1.50, sauce .00) $2.00

green beans .45

$2.45

4/2 Thursday

bbq pork quesadillas $1.75

salad $1.00

beans $1.00

$3.75

4/3 Friday

baked potato bar assorted toppings $3.00

chili, cheese, cheesy broccoli, ham, sour cream, salsa

salad $1.00

$4.00

4/4 Saturday

brown sugar chicken $2.00

brown rice .50

broccoli .50

$3.00

4/5 Sunday

Taco Bake $2.25

Corn .40

$2.65

Menu Plan Week of 2/16

Well, this past week was interesting. I totally blew up the last half of the week--I think since I was hormonal I was craving completely different things that what I had planned! The nice thing about stockpiling and meal planning, though, is that it seems to be a lot easier to turn on a dime, and I have more options that are easy to fix. The freezer meals I've been keeping help with that as well. I seem to be back on track now, and will be incorporating some of the unused meals into the next two weeks. Here's what it looks like this week:

2/16 Monday
pork lettuce wraps $2.00
fresh pineapple 1.00
$3.00

2/17 Tuesday
chili mac $1.50
corn .90
$2.40

2/18 Wednesday
bacon chicken skillet $3.25
lemon-dill broccoli .50
roasted potatoes .50
$4.25

2/19 Thursday
fry bread tacos $3.00
mixed fruit .75
$3.75

2/20 Friday
chicken alfredo pasta bows w/ mixed veggies $3.50
salad $1.00
$4.50

2/21 Saturday
steak and potato skillet $2.45

(sirloin strips $1.50, sliced potatoes .40, onions .15, garlic pepper, worcestershire, cheese .40)
green beans .40

$2.85

2/22 Sunday
crockpot sticky chicken $2.00
cheesy broccoli 1.00
glazed carrots .60

$3.60

Grand total for the week is $24.35

Head over to OrgJunkie for Menu Plan Monday, where you'll see hundreds of meal plans all of varieties, influences, budgets, and dietary restrictions. It is really a great place to go for ideas!