Lightening Online

Well I must admit that I never get all that excited about menu planning. I’m not big on having to decide what to have for dinner. Although menu planning does help in that I can get it over and done with for the month in one session. But this month seemed to be worse than usual. Not sure if leaving it until the start of the month had something to do with that (given I *had* to decide at least what to have for dinner last night). I thought having less meat in the freezer to choose from may have made it easier to decide - but perhaps that also made it harder. Or maybe I’m just a little bored with things and need to try something a little different.

Anyway, the plan is now done and I’ve even planned right through to the 1st of next month in the hope that I won’t be in this predicament again (or running out of menu plan before the next months is done).

Do have a couple of new dishes in this months plan so it’ll be interesting to see how they go.

1st Fried Rice
2nd Lentil Patties (new recipe)
3rd Chicken Tortillas
4th Lasagne
5th Pancakes
6th Leftover Lasagne
7th Roast Chicken
8th Chicken Pasta Bake
9th Pumpkin Soup
10th Pizza
11th BBQ lamb chops
12th Quiche
13th Tuna Mornay
14th Roast Lamb
15th Leftover Lamb in Gravy
16th Macaroni Cheese
17th Hot Dogs
18th Sausages
19th Toasted Sandwhiches
20th Fish
21st Corned Beef
22nd Corned Beef Hash
23rd Fried Rice
24th Hamburgers
25th Lamb & Potato Bake
26th Yellow Bread (French Toast)
27th Tuna Patties
28th Beef Rissoles
29th Sausages
30th Rice & Beans (need to look for a recipe for this)
31st Fish & Chips
1st Turkey Rissoles

So there you have it. Typing it out, I’m feeling quite satisfied that there are enough different dishes in there to make it interesting. It’s so easy to get in the rut of cycling the same food items isn’t it.

Most dishes, including things like macaroni cheese, lasagne and tuna mornay I tend to serve with 4-5 different vegetables. Friday nights we’re more likely to have salad as the kids enjoy salad more than they do vegies (and it’s our “fake take away” night). Sunday nights are usually a “scratch” meal so often not so healthy (other than they often include an egg dish so not completely unhealthy either).

We’re currently getting a couple of sheep killed so I have several meals of lamb planned for this month. It’s always the nicest when it’s fresh. With the prices I’m having to pay for vegies at the moment - my cheap lamb may be the only way I’m going to achieve the $100 challenge. Nearly wanted to cry this morning when I read Aldi has carrots for 69c kg while I’m paying $1.89kg! I think you have to take whatever advantages your current location might give you when it comes to battling the ever increasing grocery prices.

Happy Cooking (and eating) everyone!

Here’s a list of what we’re planning on eating this month. There’s a few days missing and I deliberately haven’t included dates this month as we’ll be away for a few days (and thought it best not to publicise the exact dates we’ll be away). The only meat item I need to buy for this plan is 1 meal of fish. I do like to be at least a month ahead in my meat supplies as that way I can just buy meat when it comes up at a good price.

I’ve decided to give up on using the menu planning sheet from www.cindysporch.net as I find it too frustrating having to wait until a few days into the month to do my plan. So I’ve made up a basic table in Word and that’s working quite well. Today I made some changes and it was so much easier to just make the changes on the computer and then print off another copy.

I was just looking at last month’s menu plan. Only 11 changes made for the month. LOL. But that’s okay as it’s meant to be a plan not a straight jacket.

Anyway, here is the list.

Pancakes
Corned Beef
Corned Beef Hash
Pumpkin Soup
Southern Fried Chicken
Sausages in Gravy
Quiche
Tuna Patties
Spaghetti Bolognese
Mince & Lentil Loaf
Macaroni Cheese
Pizza
Turkey Patties
Toasted Sandwiches
Snapper
Beef Pie
Tuna Mornay
Tuna Mornay
Lamb Chops
Pasta Bake
Chicken Kebabs
Fried Rice
Soup
Fish Fillets
Roast

I’ve just finalised our menu plan for June and thought I would post it here. I like to use the monthly menu planning sheet from www.cindysporch.net although she has yet to upload June’s planner to her website.

To be honest I don’t really like menu planning. In fact, I don’t really like having to decide what to make for dinner. The good thing about menu planning is I can get the “pain” all over and done with in one hit. LOL. And most people who menu plan claim it saves them money on their grocery bill.

Now my menu plan is likely to change a few times within the month. It’s not something I adhere to strictly and most months I end the month with a couple of meals that haven’t been used for one reason or another.

Anyway, here it is. Most of the time I just plan the meat portion and we usually have 4-5 in season steamed vegetables with it.

1st Hamburgers
2nd Homemade Pumpkin soup with homemade Soy & Linseed bread
3rd Leftover pumpkin soup and homemade chicken & vegetable pies
4th Tuna Patties
5th Corned Beef
6th Leftover Corned Beef in white sauce
7th Fried Rice
8th Hot Dogs
9th Chops
10th Pancakes
11th Garfish
12th Spaghetti Bolognese
13th Mince & Lentil Loaf (going to try a variation on the lentil loaf I tried a while back)
14th Macaroni Cheese
15th Homemade Pizza
16th Sausages in Gravy
17th Quiche
18th Tuna Mornay
19th Lasagne
20th Leftover lasagne
21st Soup
22nd Southern Fried Chicken
23rd Sausage Rolls
24th Toasties
25th Red Snapper
26th Roast Beef
27th Diced Beef in gravy (using leftovers from roast)
28th Pasta Bake
29th Hamburgers
30th Turkey Patties

The best thing is that I have all of this on hand at the moment. The only thing I actually need to buy is a packet of hamburger rolls. Plus fresh vegies of course. Any meats that are on special in the next 4 weeks I’ll buy to use for next months menu plan.