Meal Plan week #1 of the Grocery Challenge

Here's how I do my meal plans.  I do not assign a meal to a specific day because as all Mom's know thing's happen and I may not have the time to make that particular meal or the day might come and whatever I had planned just doesn't sound good anymore.  So instead I make a list of 7 meals I know I have all the ingredients to make and keep that list on my fridge.  I used to write it on my grocery list and of course after I went grocery shopping the list hit the trash and so did my meal plan.  If it's not written down where I can see and find it, I will inevitably forget it.

1. Beef Stew- 3 weeks ago I made a beef roast and froze the leftover meat to use for this meal.
2. Sloppy Joes & potato wedges- 2 weeks ago I bought 4lbs of ground beef 2 store in my freezer and pull out as needed weekly
3. Sauerkraut with Smoked sausage (stored in my freezer after buying it with coupons for $0.57each) & mashed potatoes
4.  Breakfast-I love breakfast for dinner & I never write down exactly what I'm going to make because it all depends on what tickles my fancy that evening.  It can be as simple as pancakes or as fancy (ok not really fancy) as casserole or quiche
5.  Baked Chicken with Kraft Fresh Take breading & steamed broccoli & pineapple chunks
6.  Spaghetti with garlic bread
7.  Leftovers

I always have at least 1 day reserved for leftovers, 1 day reserved for breakfast for dinner, and 1 day without any meat (this saves my freezer stock of meat and makes it last a little longer)

So meal #1 for the week is Sloppy Joes.
I love sloppy joes and I saw a Pioneer Woman recipe for them from scratch, instead of good ol' Manwich, and my oh my they were scrumptious.  Of course in true Lisa fashion I didn't have all the ingredients her recipe called for so I somewhat created my own.

 

Sloppy Joes

1lb Ground Beef

1/2 onion chopped

1/2 green pepper chopped

1/2 red pepper chopped

1 1/2t chili powder

6 dashes worcestershire sauce (don't know if that's how you spell it but you know what I'm talking about)

1c ketchup

3T mustard

1 1/2T brown sugar

salt and pepper to taste

 

brown the ground beef, drain.  Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for about 30 minutes.  I like mine a little chunky, if you want yours a little less just make sure you dice your peppers and onions really fine.  Use whatever peppers you have on hand.  I buy mine in the clearance section at my grocery store, bring them home and freeze them.  That way I always have bell peppers available and they aren't added to my weekly grocery list at their most expensive price.

 

Potato Wedges

Potatoes (as many as you need)

salt/pepper to taste

1 pkg onion soup mix

olive oil

 

wash and cut your potatoes into wedges.  Put them in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil.  season with salt and pepper, and sprinkle onion soup mix over top.  Now mix it all together,  Spread the potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake at 400 until soft (about 30 minutes).

 

You can use any seasonings you want.  I've used Mrs. Dash, good ol' salt and pepper, garlic & italian seasoning, etc.

 

What's great about these potato wedges is you can make extras and freeze them after they cool from baking.  Just put them in a freezer bag and on a night you want a quick side dish pull them out, put them on a baking sheet at bake at 400 for about 20 minutes or until heated through.

 

Quick and Easy, my favorite kind of meal