School starts Monday!

I created a menu to write my blog posts from, but honestly, sometimes I am not in the mood to write about what is on the menu.  Sometimes I do not feel like writing at all.

I promised my husband that I would not write specifics about my family.  So for the most part this blog has stayed pretty innocuous.  I have thought about writing about the struggles that my family has to maintain balance and sanity.  But for now I will just keep this kind of general.....This weekend I am working on a couple of things:
A. Relaxing, school starts on Monday and I need to be mentally and physically ready.
B.  Getting my ducks in a row.  I have four kids that I need to have on a schedule and things ready for the new school year.

So how do I do that?  Here you go:
First of all, our "chores" have changed because we have less time to get them done.  I have used program after program on my android and my ipad.  I still keep going back and forth to find a great option.  I had been using cozi.com but then I decided that I can't copy and paste an entire list to that.  So I am still working on which program I will use, but for now it will be home routines.  I downloaded this app over six months ago and even though I love my android because it is on me all of the time and I do not use my ipad as much, this is still hands down the best program I have found to manage my lists and my kids list.  I can email them to the kids and I can also get them to copy and paste the entire list in their home routines in just two steps.

Next thing is meal planning.  I have been using Plan To Eat for over a year now.  While I like it, I disliked the fact that I could not import recipes from blogs.  They have worked on it and it is better but still not great in my opinion.  It is time to renew my membership.  $40.00 is a big chunk for me, so I am wondering if I will renew or not.  I am going to do a test trial with Big Oven again.  I downloaded that program a few years ago.  Even though it is not as pretty as plan to eat, it is significantly cheaper.  I am also looking at Allrecipes.  I would really like to have nutritional information.  Big Oven automatically calculates the nutritional information.  Probably the only thing I really don't like about Plan to Eat.  Still thinking about this one.

I have established google calendars for all of the kids.  At the beginning of the week I print out a calendar for each one of them so they know what they have to do each week.  Then I put the information on the large calendar in the kitchen.  We have a wonderful calendar that I purchase each year from More Times Moms.  They have great customer service.  One year they changed where they put the holes for the calendar and I called them, they refunded my purchase price.  This will be the fourth year I have purchased a calendar from them.  I love it!

Ok so that is what I have started so far, I will finish up the laundry this weekend and will be ready to start school on Monday!

Monday Meal Plan E-mealz, my new experiment - First Meal Review and Meal Plan

Well, I gave you a pretty good run down of how I thought e-mealz.com would work for me.  We ended up waiting until everyone was home to make the Orange Ginger Chicken.  It was a huge hit!  Now one of the best things about their program is that the recipes, the menu plan and the grocery list are on only two pages.  Yes there is a lot of pre-packaged foods (for instance the potatoes) but you can always substitute for fresh.  (Just remember the cost will most likely rise).  So for the first night I cooked six chicken breasts (I used both packages).  I had two left over.  I will use those in a salad this week.  But here is the best part, Next time I make this I will be making four packages and putting them in the freezer to marinate.  Everyone ate, even my kid that hates grilled chicken.  I had left over green beans so they will go into a shoepeg casserole at the end of the week.  But I did call the potatoes correctly, I had one small serving left over and my daughter has called those for breakfast.

So my first meal score - A+


Now I have just downloaded the new Kroger shopping list for this week and printed it out with the current Publix meal plan.  Since I had just done a meat run at Sam's, I do not have to buy as much meat for this week.  I did check out the prices on the sheets and found there are somethings that I can get cheaper at Kroger (from the Publix lists) and vice versa.  So I have highlighted what I need from each list and I will venture out today to try my luck.  Overall I am excited about this.  I got the menu plan done and the shopping list completed in about 15 minutes.  Normally it takes me at least an hour.  Now not everything that I have on here if from their list and I am not posting recipes.  I had substitutions because of things I had already purchased and since this is an effort to save money, I am going to use them. :)

I am ready for my week!

Here is the Plan -
Monday - Pork Chops, Mac n Cheese (because I have some in the pantry, not on menu) Beans
Tuesday - Teryaki Burgers, Baked potatoes, Corn
Wednesday - Pot Roast and Vegetables
Thursday - Tortellini Carbona, Salad, Garlic Bread
Friday - Bahamian Tuna, Shoepeg Corn Casserole,  Rolls
Saturday - Steak Salad, Rolls
Sunday - Quiche



Mammadar
As usual find this over at- Orgjunkie.com
This week Menu Plan Monday is being hosted by Finding Joy in My Kitchen

E-mealz, my new experiment

Ok so I am always trying to find new ways to help myself out, save money and do good things for my family.

I was looking at new blogs on the web and I found one that I just LOVE.  It is Zenhabits.  Now that led me to reading back stories which led me to e-mealz.com.  Now I have looked at another blog I love $5 dinners.  But lets be honest.  She couldn't feed my family on $5.00 a meal.  I have two teenagers and two tweens and my husband and myself.  While I love the concept I just knew it wouldn't work for us.  But she does do a meal plan that she posts each week with a grocery list and it is FREE!  I love her ideas so please go check it out.  

So back to e-mealz.......  It is a pay service for a very reasonable price.  It is only 15.00 for three months for each meal plan that is only $1.25 a week for each plan but I am not sure this is going to work either.....

I signed up the other night and I signed up for the Kroger and the Publix 4-6 editions.  Now we have six people in our family, and I have a Kroger that is very close but I do like to go to Publix.  They have been sending me $5.00 off coupons each week for two months and I just love the fresh sushi and their egg salad.  So as a treat I like to go there at least once a month.

So these ladies at E-mealz are going to feed my family dinner for an entire week for under $100.00.....well lets see.

Since I started in the middle of the week I decided to pick one meal to feed my family of four tonight (two of them are with my ex).  I picked one meal and decided to see just how that would pan out at the store.

I picked Orange Ginger Chicken.  Now I will not give you the recipe but I will tell you what is in it.

They suggested 1.5 lbs of boneless chicken breasts they are on sale at Kroger this week for 1.99 a pound.  They were 4.34 and 4.94 a package.  One package of chicken will feed my family of four (that is three breasts) so I can't just use 3.00 worth of chicken.  Last week they were not on sale so I always get extra when they are one sale to keep.

Next item was minced fresh ginger one small piece, they said it should have cost me .50, the smallest piece they had was .85.

It listed 1 tub prepared mashed potatoes as a side, first off my Kroger didn't have the brand they suggested but they did have the Kroger one on sale but not for the same price.  Now generally I buy the powdered Idaho potatoes or make it from scratch but this time I thought, I will just play along.  No dice, the tub is so small, even though it says five servings, it will not do here, so I had to buy two.  Lastly they said green beans, which were on sale as well.

Ok so here is the tricky part......staples, this meal plan does not include the price of staples........

Staples for this meal:

Orange Juice (which is NOT a staple in my house, I never buy it)

Garlic (which is a staple but at 4.00 every time you buy it.....it should count)

Rice Vinegar and Sesame Oil(which I happen to have because my mother visited last month and told me to buy it)

Soy Sauce (Ok I buy that in bulk)

So here is your break down:

Item                         E-mealz price                         My price

Chicken                        3.00                                        4.34

Ginger                            .50                                        .85

Mashed Potatoes            1.49                                       5.00 (two tubs 2.50 each)

Beans                            1.20                                       1.20

Orange Juice                      0                                       1.99

Garlic                                 0                                       3.99

                                   ----------------------------------------------

                                     $6.19                                   $17.37

Hmmmm, this is not looking so good for me.  But I am going to try it for a whole week.  Now understand my family situation is different, we have different kids on different nights, but there are so many blended families out there that it should be a norm at this point.  

I love their concept, I like their menus (my family will never eat the fish but hey...), so I am going to challenge myself to stick to their menu next week (I will do 50% at Kroger and 50% at Publix) and we will see how it turns out.  I am excited to try it. :)

Mammadar

Monday - Menu Plan Monday

I thought I would try a new way to post my menu.  When I try to post it from the program I use plantoeat.com it gives me all kinds of errors.  Please let me know how you like this.  You should be able to get to the links from this calendar.

Whew.....what is today?

I had a big meeting first thing Monday, I had tried to do my menu planning on Sunday, and I had a good start until my husband and I talked and we decided to chuck what we have and have something different. At the beginning of the week we had one birthday, one of the other parents was sick over the weekend so we had extra kids we weren't counting on. It was just one of those time periods when a menu plan was probably key. We had a difficult week at work, I had two educational meetings for one of the kids and doctor appointments, just life's craziness showing it's ugly head. The sad part about it is that I can't even remember what we ate this week. One good thing that came out of my lack of planning was I got to take my ladies out to dinner last night. I am not really a spontanious person, but my husband suggested I take them out. They were shocked to say the least. It was nice. Tomorrow we are going to have a nice Easter dinner since we will not all be together on Sunday.

Happy Easter everyone. I will see you Monday with a new meal plan!

Monday - Menu Plan Monday

Drum roll please.....just kidding.  You are not going to believe this.  I didn't cook at all this past week.  So the entire plan was scrapped.  Our kids were out of town and my hubby decided that we would take it easy this week.

This week, everyone is back so we will be eating at home this week.  On Monday we will be going to celebrate our oldest daughters birthday.

Monday:  Out to Dinner

Tuesday:  Tater Tot Casserole

Wedneday:  Eric Ripert's Carbonara / Salad

Thursday Paprika Chicken with Sour Cream Sauce

Friday:  Crockpot Blue Cheese and Steak Roll Ups / baked potato

Saturday:  Tuna Noodle Casserole

Sunday:  Shepherd's Pie

Breakfast Selections this week:
Cinamon Rolls
Baked Peanut Butter Oatmeal
Asparagus, Candian Bacon and Cheese Fritata
Morning Rise and Dine Cups

Please visit all of these wonderful recipes.  Many are directing you to new blogs for you to enjoy. 
Run over to Orgjunkie.com for other great meal plans!

Monday - Meal Plan Monday - April 4, 2011

This is spring break week.  Every week it is hard to plan in this house since one day you will have six people, the next day, two people and the following day, four people.  We have shared custody with both of our ex's so dinner planning and portions gets to be interesting.  This week we have no children in the house.  It is just the two of us.  So this week I have only one favorite (because my husband has requested it), otherwise I have taken to the net and I am going to try new things.  I am not posting a breakfast menu because generally my husband and I do not eat.  We are trying to go with fruit and yogurt and maybe a light muffin.

Monday - Herb-Roasted Eggplant with Tomatoes and Feta

Tuesday - Lady and Sons' Chicken in Wine Sauce / Green Bean Casserole

Wednesday - Crockpot Blue Cheese and Steak Roll Ups / Baked Potato

Thursday - Chicken and Spinach Pasta Bake

Friday - Sausage - Sweet Potato Bake (this one I am not sure of, my husband does not care for fruit and meat but I am going to try it) From Fix it and Forget it Lightly

I am not posting a plan for Saturday and Sunday because I might just take my husband out, who knows!

Monday - Menu Plan Monday

First of all I have to review some of the new recipes I made last week:
Pepperoni Pizza Pot Pie - It was so easy and they all loved it.  Next time I will make it with Ham and Pineapple and make another one with Chicken and Alfredo.  It was a big hit!

French Fried Onion Chicken - Kids loved it, hubby thought it was ok.  I used too many bread crumbs (I increased the recipe by 1/2 but the bread crumbs by 1, whoops), everyone loved the Shoepeg Corn.  It was gone in seconds.

Here is the plan for this week:

Breakfast:
French Toast Sticks
Hot or Cold Cereal
Muffins/Smoothies
Waffles with Fresh Fruit


Monday: Lasagna, Salad and Texas Toast

Tuesday: Impossibly Easy BTL Pie

Wednesday: Crock Pot Beef and Peppers (You can purchase this from Mega Menu-Mailer Recipe 5 — Assembly GuidelinesVolume 1 at savingdinner.com)

Thursday: Paprika Chicken with Sour Cream Sauce

Friday:  Emerilized Salisbury Steak with Mushroom Gravy and Roast Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Saturday:  Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Dinner

Sunday:  Tuna Noodle Casserole

Thursday - Site of the Week

Last week I shared my favorite site. It is the one that started this ADHD mom on the road to clutter recovery. I will let you know when I am cured....lol
This week I want to share a relatively new find that has really helped me. Flylady has always talked about menu planning, she has partnered with LeAnn Ely from Saving Dinner and they have been trying to help us plan. I bought a couple of books and had tons of recipes books but I just want to jazzed up about some of these receipes. For my birthday I got an ipad. (It is mostly for work but it helps me in so many ways I can't even tell you). I discovered pod casts. Oh my! There is so much information out there you can just go on overload. I was trying to plan meals for my family and I came across a podcast called Meal Makeover Moms. I find if I can't sleep I can listen to a podcast and just kind of drift off. This episode caught my attention and I couldn't just fall asleep. It was episode 99, and it featured Laura from Orgjunkie.com. She had Meal Plan Monday. But what I thought was so great about her Meal Plan Monday was that she let you link to all of these other blogs with their menu plan. Each week over 200 people post their menu plans for the week. Well I was in heaven, I was seeing what other families would plan. The biggest hurdle I have always had was getting side items to go with my meals. I loved how everyone shared. It made my menu planning so much easier.

Her site is not just about meal planning. And I have to say it is one of my favorite blogs. She gives great tips and she has a new book out. I have downloaded the preview on my kindle but I haven't had time to read the entire book so I haven't downloaded the rest. She has products that she sells that are all aimed at helping you get your life organized. She just revamped her site and it looks great. If you need some organizational help, please go visit her.