Laptop lunches

Ok...I may have found some new and exciting ideas for yummy heathly lunches for the kids.

New favorite foodie website :-) http://lunchboxlimbo.blogspot.com/

And really really considering ordering from: http://www.laptoplunches.com/

Seems like such a cool way to make eating heathly lunches fun for the kids!!

Menu plan

Here's this weeks menu plan -

Friday - Fish Tacos - SO good!  I changed it up a little...I grilled the fish, and added mango to the avocado!
Saturday - Hot Dogs/Applesauce/Chips (Daddy cooked :-) )
Sunday - BBQ chicken thighs (crockpot)/Baked Macaroni & Cheese/Zucchini
Monday - Mini-Meatloaves/Baked Macaroni
Tuesday - Southwest Chili (with ground turkey)/Rice
Wednesday - leftovers
Thursday - Date night
Friday - Spaghetti & meat sauce

Buzz buzz buzz

I've been a busy bee this weekend, but so excited about all my accomplishments.

I went shopping this week with a focus on buying enough ground beef and chicken to last for the next few weeks. I shopped at Costco & Publix, but ended up with the best deal at Publix.

I bought 4 packages of chicken on sale for $2.49 a pound (better than the costco price) for a total of $15.95.

I also picked up four packages of ground beef for $1.99/lb (also cheaper than costco) for a total of $9.50.

Total cost: $25.45
Total savings: $18.63

This is what I did on Saturday while the kids were asleep:

I got out three freezer bags, filled them with the following:

1. Added OJ, Honey, Salt, Pepper & EVOO with chicken breast cut into strips.
2. Added Greek vinagrette salad dressing, EVOO, Salt, Pepper & halved chicken breasts.
3. Added BBQ sauce, EVOO, Salt, Pepper & halved chicken breasts.

The other 2 packages of chicken (almost 5 pds) went on the grill with some adobo seasoning, chicken grill seasoning & pepper. I seperated these into three baggies and popped them in the freezer.

I browned all the ground beef and separated into 3 freezer bags, with one package browned and put in the crock-pot to make chili.

So all in all I spent about 1 1/2 hours (while the kids took their naps) and prepared 10 meals!!

:-)

While I was on a roll, I also measured enough flour, sugar, etc. for a batch of pumpkin bread and a batch of muffins. I just put all the dry ingredients in ziplocks so when the mood strikes, all I have to do is add the wet ingredients.

I'm so excited about my prep - it's going to make cooking over the next few weeks so much easier!

In the fridge defrosting tonight: 1 package ground beef, and one package of BBQ chicken. For dinner tonight: Chili w/ yellow rice (yum)...leftovers got put in the freezer for another night (make that 11 meals).

The rest of the weekend has been spent enjoying our family time, and the beautiful fall weather.

Off to relax now...

Menu plan for 10/2

This weeks menu plan:

Sun - Ceaser Salad (didn't make last week)
Mon - Spagetti w/ meat sauce, veggies & crescent rolls
Tues - Leftovers (from pot roast on Sat, etc)
Wed - Tomato Soup/Grilled Cheese
Fri - Tacos
Sat - Crockpot Chili w/ yellow rice

Publix this week - Spent $127.43 / SAVED $82.78! :-) Love those buy one get one deals!

Meal Planning

I've decided to follow this schedule for meal planning - I like variety, and keeping to a schedule like this makes meal planning easier for me.

Sunday - Meatless
Monday - Italian
Tuesday - Salad
Wednesday - American
Thursday - Eat Out- Date Night
Friday - Mexican
Saturday - Crockpot

Here's this week's meal plan:

Sunday - (not meatless :-)) Chicken Thighs / Rice / Broccoli Slaw
Monday - Chicken Fettucinni w/ Broccoli & Bread
Tuesday - Ceasar Salad w/ crescent rolls
Wednesday - Tomato Soup & Grilled Cheese
Friday - Taco Bake
Saturday - Bottom Round Roast - recipe still to be found

Grocery savings & Meal planning

Lately I've been immersing myself in reading about saving $ with coupons. I have set up Google Reader with several really good blogs that point to printable coupons, online deals each week, etc.

This is my first "real" week of couponing, since it has taken me a couple weeks to accumulate enough coupons to make a difference.

I ended up saving $22.10 and spending $105.46 on this weeks groceries (including diapers) which is really good for us. But I know I can do better!

This weeks good deals:
Honey Bunches of Oats - Buy 1 get 1 free + $2.00 off coupon = 2 boxes of cereal for $2
Sorrento Cheese Sticks - $2.00 coupon attached to package + $1 coupon = cheesesticks for $0.99
Huggies diapers - $3.00 off Publix Coupon + 1.50 off manufactorers = $15.49

I also saw that Bottom Round Roast was on sale, so that will be our crockpot dinner for the week!

Been too long!

Ok, so it's been too long since my last post. I'll try to do better this week. The truth is, for a week or so I wasn't journaling at all, and was feeling pretty guilty. I expected to go to my WW meeting and get a good kick in the rear...

but I lost 2.6 instead! :-) woohoo!

so I'm trying to be better about journaling (which is the keeping track of points and writing things down). Only doing marginally better this week. But I am still trying to make good choices for meals and snacks, since I pretty much know how much and what I can eat.

Here's the meal plan for this week:

Sunday - on saturday I made my yummy Tamale Bean Pie so Sunday after church I wouldn't have to cook...Brett really likes this one (the recipe was in an earlier post).
Monday - Taco Night (lean ground beef), I had a taco salad instead of having the extra points from the tortillas
Tuesday - BBQ Chicken thighs, Baked Potato and Broccoli
Wednesday - Frozen pizza night because I had a hair appointment
Thursday - Date Night! Brett and I will eat out
Friday - old faithful... Chicken Cesar salad

All these meals are the really easy ones. I'd like to start getting more creative, but working and two kids makes it a little hard!

Dinners this week

I have been planning dinners ahead of time when making my grocery list for a while. I find it is really helpful and makes the dinner decision a lot easier throughout the week. Since I started WW, I'm trying to also pre-plan (roughly) what I'll make for breakfast and lunch as well.

Here's the list of dinners for this week (I didn't end up including the recipe from the last post, but I'll try that soon!)

Ziti w/ mushrooms and Black Olives
Hot Dogs (low fat for me), with Baked Beans and Applesauce
Pizza night (frozen organic pizza's that we like, the brand is Amy's Organic)
Chicken Cesar Salads (with hard boiled eggs, tomatos, parmesan cheese and light dressing)
Teriyaki Burgers (made with lean grd beef), Baked Fries and Broccoli
Stuffed Zuccini with corn-on-the-cob, salad and bread
Black Bean Quesadillas

Most of these dinners were picked because they are quick and easy. I'm working three consecutive days this week, and wanted to make sure dinner would be fast!

For lunch today I made a veggie salad and topped it with canned salmon (tuna style). I mix the salmon with fat free (ff) mayo. It's really yummy and has lots of good Omega 3 fats. I had grapes and pretzels too...for a total of 8 points.