Menu Plan April 27 - May 3

Wow.  We didn't eat out at all last week!  I can't remember the last time we went a whole week without eating out.  Just goes to show that a budget and a menu plan can be powerful tools when you really work them.

Actually, we stuck to the menu plan 100%.  I was home sick one day and REALLY wanted to make chicken strips and Tater Tots instead of stuffed peppers, but we didn't have any chicken strips.  The pepper filling was already made (I'd made more than double last time and froze the extra), so it actually only took me a few minutes to throw together, not much more time than the alternative would have taken.

Our other "victory" last week was taking leftovers in lunches.  I actually ended up eating leftovers all week, with two meals of white beans and sausage, one of kielbasa and cabbage, and two of leftover pepper filling (no peppers - I just put the filling in a small casserole dish, topped it with some cheese, and baked it alongside the peppers).  Hubby ate kielbasa and cabbage one day and taco salad another day.  So we only used three of the frozen dinners we keep on hand for lunches.  That saved us about $18 right there, since in the past the leftovers would more than likely have gone in the garbage after sitting in the fridge for a week or three.

Yesterday, I declared a much needed day at home.  We're all fighting colds and I am tired and cranky and just need to recharge.  I decided as long as I wasn't going anywhere, I might as well pull the free turkey I got at Thanksgiving out of the fridge and roast it.  I think that's the first time I've ever roasted a whole turkey.  It took more than an hour longer than I thought it would to get done, so we weren't able to have it for dinner, but I put it in the fridge and we'll eat it tonight.  Then I'll pull the rest apart and package it up into meal-size portions.  I got a new vacuum sealer yesterday (my old one has been broken for months), so I can put it in the freezer and know it won't succumb to freezer burn too quickly.

So here's what our menu looked like for yesterday and the coming week:

• Saturday:  Frozen skillet meal, salad (as soon as I realized the turkey wasn't going to be done, I knew I needed something QUICK to fix!). 
• Sunday:  Roast turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans
• Monday:  Broccoli cheese soup, homemade crescent rolls, salad
• Tuesday:  Bulgogi
• Wednesday:  Canadian bacon (instead of ham) and pasta bake
• Thursday:  Turkey Tetrazzini
• Friday:  Creamed Tuna on Biscuits (my four-year-old makes AWESOME biscuits)
• Saturday:  Dinner out (I'm going to my nephew's school play, so hubby and my girl are on their own, which likely means Taco Bell for them and I'm not sure what for me).  

Have a great week! And remember to visit Menu Plan Monday for more meal ideas than you can imagine!