Menu Plan January 4 - 8

A new year, a new week, back on track. Now, to figure out what to eat... We were supposed to have one meal of leftover lasagna from dinner with my family tonight, but of course silly me went and left it at my brother's house! Aargh!

Monday: Cranberry pork chops
Tuesday: leftovers (we have some chicken and noodles, and some chili, left from last week)
Wednesday: Tuna casserole
Thursday: chicken and stuffing
Friday: Corned beef hash

Don't forget to go to orgjunkie.com for more great menu ideas!

Just a random thought - one of my big challenges every day is that, because of our work schedules (hubby works 5:00 - 1:30, I work 2:00 - 6:00), dinner has to be made in the morning before I go to work, and then either cooked in the crock pot. This means that I don't have the opportunity to use a lot of convenience foods (there are some boxes of Helper that have been in my pantry over a year now!). But I was thinking the other day, that it's actually a good thing - we're probably getting a lot less salt and preservatives than we would if I was still cooking with things from boxes. Now, don't get me wrong, I still use my fair share of canned soups and beans and such, but overall we use so much less than we did when I worked full time and was getting home at 5:30 and rushing to get dinner on the table.

One of my resolutions is to stay within my grocery budget (well, my budget overall, but groceries are my biggest downfall), so this year I'll be exploring ways that I can make my own "convenience foods", like stuffing mix, cream of whatever soup, etc. I have had recipes for all that stuff for years, I've just never experimented with it. Can't think of a better time than now!