The Start of a New Year and meal planning

It is the beginning of 2010 and I am going to be making some changes. We overspent during Christmas as always and to help with the saving of money I will be putting us on a serious budget. Many of my fellow bloggers in the couponing blogosphere are going to be participating in the "Eat up your pantry challenge". I will be joining them. I have inventoried my pantry and have made a meal plan up for the next week. I have also put us on a budget of $40.00 a week for groceries. This will be spent on dairy, egg, bread, produce and some meat.

My week of meals will not be gourmet nor super healthy. I want to try to eat up the things in our pantry and then start fresh with healthier foods.

Typically we all eat cheese toast, oatmeal or cereal for breakfast every morning. I am going to mix things up with apple cinnamon oatmeal pancakes, muffins and banana bread this week. I will be shopping at Sprouts for produce on Wednesday when they have double ad day to get the most bang for my buck.

I bought Oscar Meyer Turkey and Ham lunch meat from Target for $1.79 each so we will mostly be having sandwiches or leftovers from the previous night for lunch. I am also trying to loose 10 lbs so I will be having tuna sandwiches. I used coupons to get lots of the single serving tuna packets for free at Kroger in the past few months. I remember when I lost weight in the past that I enjoyed tuna mixed with a little fat free ranch dressing (I think it tastes better than fat free mayo), cracked pepper and a little bit of diced pickle. I toast it on a Oroweat multi-grain sandwich thin. The whole sandwich is only 200 calories and it is satisfying!

Jan 1st
B- Cereal and Oatmeal
L- Tuna or Turkey Sandwiches, apples and broccoli with dip
D- Steamfresh Asian style Chicken Vegetable Medley with extra vegetables added (water chesnuts and steamed brocolli)

Jan 2nd
B-Quaker Oatmeal Pancake mix made with Applesauce and cinnamon mix-in
L-Tuna or Turkey Sandwiches or Yaki Soba noodles for the kids
D- Ham and Bean Soup with a side of beer bread
(I have the ham and ham stock left over in the freezer from Christmas and we don't drink beer but have plenty of that left over as well)

Jan 3rd
B-Cereal or Oatmeal
L-Leftover ham soup and cheese and crackers
D-Shake and Bake Chicken ($2.75 for a pack of Gold N Plump Chicken at Target with coupon) with Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes and canned peaches

Jan 4th
B-Banana bread (bananas from freezer stash)
L-Sandwiches and fruit again
D- Tuna noodle casserole

Jan 5th
B-Cereal or Oatmeal
L-Leftover Tuna noodle casserole and fruit
D- Pesto pasta and basil vegetable medley
(I made this delicious pesto this fall with mounds of basil I had grown in my garden. I spent an afternoon triple washing the basil, and running my food processor for about 10 batches. I froze it in whatever I could find...Popsicle holders, small Tupperware, ice cube trays. I am allergic to most nuts that are used in pesto. I made my pesto with toasted almonds, basil, olive oil, garlic and added grated Parmesan cheese in the end)

Jan 6th
B-Triple chocolate chunk, whole grain, muffins
L-leftovers or sandwiches, pretzels
D-Phad Thai with rice
(I have a Sun-Bird seasoning packet I got on clearance at Target. I will get the green onion for $0.50 at Sprouts and I have all the other ingredients.)

Jan 7th
B- Grits and Eggs
L-Pizza bites and taquitos (for the kids)
D-Canned soup and grilled cheese
My mom used to make Red Devils for me as a child and I might try that. Campbell's tomato soup with cheese grated into it when hot served over toast. To be eaten with a knife and fork.

In addition to this meal plan I am sure my kids will be snacking on granola bars, apples, bananas, pretzels, popcorn and Popsicles. This is the first week and I hope I can continue as the year progresses!