Menu Planning

Yesterday afternoon I went through my entire house (all three parts of my pantry, my deep freezer, and my refrigerator) and started the process of cleaning out everything I don't plan on using up during our cleanse to clean eating.  Things like mashed potato flakes that I haven't used in at least 6 months if not more, and hamburger helper that I rarely use and know I won't be able to use all of it before I am done with everything else.  I also went through my Pinterest board and wrote in my home binder all of the new recipes I want to try.

These are all my to try recipes... Well, actually they are all the main dish to try recipes, I have a ton of snacks, desserts, and sides that I still need to put in the binder... And if you want to get really technical, these are only the recipes from Pinterest I have a few cookbooks I want to go through too.  However, I am taking baby steps.  The next baby step is my menu plan for next week and the coinciding grocery list.

This is my menu planning calendar, if you look closely you'll see there are things aside from meals written on there, I also note events on the calendar that will change what we are having for dinner.  For example my school schedule is noted, because I go to school at night once or twice a week depending on my course load, I leave at 5 so I'm not there to make dinner.  On these nights I tend to either not make anything and let the boys fend for themselves or make something that is super easy and can be reheated quickly if necessary.  Also noted on the calendar are Little Man's Awana Nights (for those of who don't know Awana is a kind of Bible class for children, Little Man absolutely LOVES going to Awana) because they are around dinner time and meals need to be quick so he can eat and we can get out the door in time for him to be delivered safely to church on time.

This week we are having:

• Pizza Cupcakes (mostly clean, I need to find some recipes for pizza sauce but for the most part I'll be able to continue this once we are officially eating clean)- this is the school night meal
• Broiled Chicken with carrots and red potatoes
• Won Ton Nacho Bites (This is our Awana night)
• Grilled Chicken and Tortellini
• Spaghetti and meatballs with bread and salad
• Steak and baked potatoes with broccoli
• Breakfast for dinner

(I'll link these recipes this week as I make them because all but three of them are new to me.)

I realize that the picture is not super close up, but on my grocery list you can kind of make out some x marks, these are the items I need to buy and will be put into my grocery app that I use if I have any coupons (which is rare, I'm finding that coupons tend not to exist for the items I purchase, which is upsetting)  I also take a note pad with me to the store (you saw this in my home binder video) and have coupons noted on there along with a "what I'm putting in my cart list" because that tends to differ from the grocery list and I like to be able to keep track of my random spending list.

Now that all my planning is done it's off to the store I go.

Rachel