Meal Planning Stresses Me Out!!!

***Warning Long Post Ahead***

 

That's right, meal planning STRESSES me out.  And not just a little bit, but a lot bit!  I have been reassured by a couple of different people that once I get the hang of it, it does get better.  Let's hope this holds true.

I have been trying to get this done for what, about a month?  But I just couldn't wrap my head around it.  I spent hours and I mean hours on Pinterest looking for the perfect menu/meal planner and grocery shopping list.  And then the perfect way to store them, and use them and blah, blah, blah.  I think that's where part of my stress came from because I wanted it to be so organized.  The other half came from just deciding how I was going to attack it.  One person I spoke with had 2 different methods of attack, 1)  Plan your meals around the weekly grocery store ads and coupons or 2)  Plan around different recipes or favorite recipes.  I decided on planning around different recipes because I'm starting my new week on a Monday and our local ads don't come out until Wednesday. 

So, after all of that searching and stressing and deciding, I FINALLY came up with a meal plan this afternoon.  Now, I'm not going to lie, it took me probably about 2 hours to figure out.  I'm not only doing dinners, but I'm doing lunches also.  I decided to use this printable grocery list and this printable menu planner and put them on the fridge.  I went to Wal-Mart and picked up a couple of cheap clipboards and some magnets and easy peasy!  Done!  I think I might add some ribbon on the "clip" and call it quits.  I put the menu in a sheet protector to keep it from curling up, but didn't do that with the list in case I decide to add to it.

So, what am I having for dinner you ask?  Monday I'm having left overs from tonight, Sloppy Joes (I'll post the recipe below), Tuesday is left over BBQ Beer Chicken that I had frozen from the last time I made it.  Wednesday is Piglets In a Blanket (crescent rolls and little smokies) and Thursday is Tortilla Black Bean Casserole.  I went pretty plain on Friday with an egg salad sandwich, something nice and easy.  For Saturday and Sunday I decided to break out the slow cooker (shocking, I know) and make Slow Cooker Lasagna and Sweet & Sour Chicken.  With making 3 different "big" recipes, I should have plenty for leftovers for the following week and the freezer with any luck.  I'm hoping to try to make a couple of bigger recipes a week so I can get my freezer stocked up to make this whole thing easier.  But hey, you have to start somewhere, right?!  Now, how about that Sloppy Joe recipe:

After 4 hours in the slow cooker.

Slow Cooker Sloppy Joes

1 lb ground turkey

minced onion (as little or as much as you like)

1 green pepper, chopped

1 can condensed tomato soup

1/2 cup ketchup

3 Tbsp mustard

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1 Tbsp BBQ sauce

1/8 tsp garlic salt

pepper to taste

Brown the turkey, minced onion and green pepper.  Spray slow cooker with cooking spray and place browned turkey in the bottom.  In a mixing bowl, combine soup, ketchup, mustard, brown sugar, BBQ sauce, garlic salt and pepper.  Whisk ingredients together until the brown sugar is dissolved.  Pour mixture into slow cooker and mix with turkey.  Cover and cook on low for 4 hours, stirring after 2 hours if you're around.  If you're not, it's not a big deal.  Serve over hamburger buns. 

In our family, we serve ours open-faced.

So, there you have it.  An extremely long post, a couple of printables (is that even a word?!) and a recipe.  Not too shabby for a Saturday!  By no means does this make me an expert on menu planning, but this is how I started and maybe it will help you, also.  Have a great rest of the weekend!

Until next time!