Soon friends.

Very soon.

The way that I have Menu Plan Monday set up will be a changin’. If not next week, then the following.

I am about to bring you some brand new awesomeness…that involves a meal plan that you can use that week, using old archived recipes. And there will be another super cool, amazing, hot off the presses feature that I have to keep secret…until…

(hopefully next week!)

In the meantime, I leave you with what might be the final edition of this set up for Menu Plan Monday…

Monday - Beef, Mushroom and Barley Soup

Tuesday – Chicken and Spaghetti Squash Medley

Wednesday – Slow Cooker Spicy Chili (use leftovers for Friday night’s pizza)

Thursday – Spaghetti (using other half of ground beef package from chili)

Friday – Grilled Taco Pizza

Saturday – Breakfast for Dinner

Sunday - Zucchini-Sausage Cornbread

I will post the recipes each night after I make the meal. If you see a meal you are interested in, please check back for the recipe later in the week!

Current Monthly Meal Plan can be found here! Need help with your weekly meal planning and grocery shopping…check out all the printable resources!

Thanks to Andrea at Savings Lifestyle and Marcy at Stretching a Buck for posting the best deals and coupon matchups at my stores each week! All the BEST menu plans can be found every week at OrgJunkie.com!

It’s Soup Week around here.  I planned a soup week at the beginning of October thinking it would be nice and cool outside.  Thinking I’d be ready for a warm bowl of soup or stew every night this week.

Well.  It was 77 degrees today…and is supposed to be in the 60s and 70s for the rest of the week. Not quite soup weather…but I’m sticking with the plan anyways!!!

Also, this is going to be a Pantry Challenge Week…more on that in tomorrow’s shopping trip post. The plan is to just spend $20 (maybe $25) at the grocery store and do all the rest of my shopping from the pantry and freezer.

Monday - Black Bean and Salsa Soup (Becky invited us over for a soup fest and pie tasting party. Can’t wait!)

Tuesday – Dinner at Church – Bringing Side Dish

Wednesday – Lynn’s Panera CopyCat Soups

Thursday – Pasta…probably spaghetti (I’m running 10 miles on Saturday…carbo load!)

Friday – Taco Soup, using Taco Meat from the freezer and homemade taco seasoning

Saturday – Sandwiches or Leftovers

Sunday - Chili

Current Monthly Meal Plan can be found here! Need help with your weekly meal planning and grocery shopping…check out all the printable resources!

Thanks to Andrea at Savings Lifestyle and Marcy at Stretching a Buck for posting the best deals and coupon matchups at my stores each week! All the BEST menu plans can be found every week at OrgJunkie.com!

My Dad is visiting for a few days…so I’m not exactly sure what we’ll be having for dinner…but I have no doubt that he’ll treat us to his specialty…grilled steaks. Mmmm.

(I was hoping to do a Pantry Challenge Week this week…but we’ll hold off on that until next week.)

Monday - Dad’s Grilling Steaks!

Tuesday – Out for dinner?!

Wednesday – I’ll be in Wisconsin with the baby, big boys are on their own!

Thursday – Chili or Soup

Friday – Spaghetti with Spinach Meatballs

Saturday – Pasta with Bolognese Sauce

Sunday - Leftovers or Soup

I will post the recipes each night after I make the meal. If you see a meal you are interested in, please check back for the recipe later in the week!

Current Monthly Meal Plan can be found here! Need help with your weekly meal planning and grocery shopping…check out all the printable resources!

Thanks to Andrea at Savings Lifestyle and Marcy at Stretching a Buck for posting the best deals and coupon matchups at my stores each week! All the BEST menu plans can be found every week at OrgJunkie.com!

It’s Saturday night and I find myself meal planning for this week.  I typically don’t do any meal planning until Sunday evening after I’ve had a chance to look through the grocery circulars, clip coupons from the paper.  But this week is just different.

While Sundays have always been a quiet, day of rest (if that’s possible with 3 boys running around) for our family, I often find myself taking advantage of quiet moments to clip coupons or meal plan.  But that only distracts me and takes my mind away from my family and our time together.  So…I’m going to make an attempt to spend those few minutes each week on Saturdays now…to save Sunday for resting.

This week is Vintage Recipe Week.  I have already chosen the meals that I plan to make from my grandmother’s Tested Recipes Cookbook (above) from 1940.

Here they are…Posts with recipes and our thoughts on the meal coming this week and next…

Monday - Chicken Croquettes

Tuesday – Baked Chicken with Swedish Tea Rolls

Wednesday – Smothered Pork Chops

Thursday – Breakfast for Dinner – German Coffee Cake with Scrambled Eggs

Friday – Ship Wreck Casserole

Saturday – Dinner on the Town

Sunday - Preschool Picnic

I will post the recipes each night after I make the meal. If you see a meal you are interested in, please check back for the recipe later in the week!

Current Monthly Meal Plan can be found here!  Need help with your weekly meal planning and grocery shopping…check out all the printable resources!

Thanks to Andrea at Savings Lifestyle and Marcy at Stretching a Buck for posting the best deals and coupon matchups at my stores each week!  All the BEST menu plans can be found every week at OrgJunkie.com!

It’s time to make a small (hopefully large) dent into what we’ve got in the pantry.  I’m hoping to clear some space for the holiday stockpiling that will soon be upon us!  (Remember, Thanksgiving is the “most couponable” holiday…so get ready to clip extra coupons and really save!)

Le Plan…

Monday - Slow Cooker Coconut Chicken

Tuesday – Janet’s Pasta with Bolognese

Wednesday – Chicken Enchilada Chili

Thursday – Jamie’s Cajun Meatball Stew

Friday – Chorizo and Black Bean Soup

Saturday – Grill (if it’s warm enough!)

Sunday - Church Meeting and Dinner Out

I will post the recipes each night after I make the meal. If you see a meal you are interested in, please check back for the recipe later in the week!

Current Monthly Meal Plan can be found here! Need help with your weekly meal planning and grocery shopping…check out all the printable resources!

Thanks to Andrea at Savings Lifestyle and Marcy at Stretching a Buck for posting the best deals and coupon matchups at my stores each week! All the BEST menu plans can be found every week at OrgJunkie.com!

Yes. Yes. I’m going back to New York this week.  I’ll be sharing more about what I was up to last week in New York in a Commit To Fit series that will run every Friday in October (and will include some super cool giveaways too!)

This trip is totally unrelated…and they both just happen to fall a week apart from each other.  I’ll be in New York for 3 days, will come home for a day and then will take Tyler up to a special clinic in Detroit that knows more about his feeding issue and will be able to get us on a plan to get him successfully drinking from a bottle or cup.

So I’ve called in the troops.  My sister will be traveling with Tyler and I to New York and she’ll get to hang out with Tyler when I need “kid-free” time…mostly, when I’ll be in front of cameras! Or meeting with my publicity team.

*pinch* *pinch* (Still can’t believe all that is happening!)

That being said, it’s another busy week.  On the homefront, Nana is in charge of the menu. And I have no idea what she has in store.

(If you’d like , you can follow my New York escapades on Twitter! I’ll be tweeting away while I’m gone!)

___________________________________________________________________

Current Monthly Meal Plan can be found here! Need help with your weekly meal planning and grocery shopping…check out all the printable resources!

Thanks to Andrea at Savings Lifestyle and Marcy at Stretching a Buck for posting the best deals and coupon matchups at my stores each week! All the BEST menu plans can be found every week at OrgJunkie.com!

Yep…I’ll be in NYC two nights this week. (More details on that adventure tomorrow.)

Which means that I’ll be cooking/am cooking/have cooked 3 meals at once. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday dinners…all at once!

Monday - Slow Cooker Taco Soup – I’ll start this in the morning, then it will be ready for Steve and the guys when he gets home. Tyler and I will be hopping over to New York Monday night.

Tuesday – Salsa and Black Bean Chicken, using homemade salsa – I made up this casserole and will have the sitter put it into the oven on Tuesday…so that it’s piping hot and ready for Steve and the guys to eat on Tuesday night. Tyler and I will be hopping back home on Tuesday night.

Wednesday – Pork Roast with Apples and Pears – This is a lovely fall-ish dish…and perfect for all the apples and pears sales as of late!

Thursday – Honey Dijon Tilapia in the Slow Cooker – Thanks to Steph for the idea!

Friday – Spaghetti or Pasta – Yours Truly will be running 6 miles on Saturday morning.

Saturday – Grill or Leftovers

Sunday - Birthday Dinner – Out on the Town

I will post the recipes each night after I make the meal. If you see a meal you are interested in, please check back for the recipe in the next week or two!

Current Monthly Meal Plan can be found here! Need help with your weekly meal planning and grocery shopping…check out all the printable resources!

Thanks to Andrea at Mommy Snacks and Marcy at Stretching a Buck for posting the best deals and coupon matchups at my stores each week!  All the BEST menu plans can be found every week at OrgJunkie.com!

That’s it. I’ve had it with cold cereal.

(Not really.)

It’s just time to have other things for breakfast.  I made a double batch of Blueberry Lemon Pancakes for breakfast before church yesterday, so the extras will be served on Monday or Tuesday.  Plus we have lots of bagels, pancakes and muffins in the freezer.  And, plenty of frozen fruit that we can use to make smoothies.  Toss in some farm fresh eggs, salsa and some produce I’ll get at the store this week…and I think we’re good to go with this week’s No Cold Cereal Challenge!

Ooh. ooh.

And I’ve got some leftover mushrooms from this weekend’s Everyday Chef Challenge experimenting…I’m thinking some kind of  frittata!?!

As for dinner…We’ll be loading up on pasta on Thursday and Friday.  In part because Steve is running the Air Force Marathon on Saturday. And I’m doing my first “long” (short if you ask Steve!) run for my half marathon training.  Bring on the Carbs!

Monday - Spicy Lentil Soup

Tuesday – Pork Roast in the Slow Cooker

Wednesday – Grilled Chicken…And we’ll be batch grilling because there’s a sale this week!

Thursday – Pasta Load

Friday – Pasta Load

Saturday -

Sunday - Grill

I will post the recipes each night after I make the meal. If you see a meal you are interested in, please check back for the recipe…I’ll get it posted later this week or next!

Current Monthly Meal Plan can be found here! Need help with your weekly meal planning and grocery shopping…check out all the printable resources!

Thanks to Andrea at Mommy Snacks and Marcy at Stretching a Buck for posting the best deals and coupon matchups at my stores each week! All the BEST menu plans can be found every week at OrgJunkie.com!

I’ve been doing Menu Plan Monday’s for over 2 years now…and I still can’t believe how much I NEED them in my life!  Having a plan is KEY, not only to saving money…but saving your sanity as well!!!

Monday - Grilling Something! Green Chili Burgers, maybe?!

Tuesday – Rigatoni with Italian Sausage and Red Peppers from the Garden (Warning…this will be a $7-ish dinner!)

Wednesday – Avocado Chicken Tacos

Thursday – Grilled Chicken with Spinach Tomato Saute

Friday – Blueberry Lemon Pancakes with Eggs

Saturday – Tuna Sandwiches or Leftovers

Sunday - If it’s cool, we’ll have soup…if it’s warm, we’ll grill!

I will post the recipes each night after I make the meal. If you see a meal you are interested in, please check back for the recipe later in the week!

Current Monthly Meal Plan can be found here! Need help with your weekly meal planning and grocery shopping…check out all the printable resources!

Thanks to Andrea at Mommy Snacks and Marcy at Stretching a Buck for posting the best deals and coupon matchups at my stores each week!

All the BEST menu plans can be found every week at OrgJunkie.com!

A very clever meal planning idea from Stacie…that I couldn’t not share with you!

I’m always looking for ways to improve my menu planning!  I’ve tried so many different approaches (calendars, binders, computer programs, etc.), but I’ve never quite found the perfect match for me.  When I ran across a few ideas about making a magnetic menu planner for the refrigerator, I LOVED them!

After a little tweaking, I came up with two versions:

• a scrapbook version (the prettiest, but it takes more time),
• a recycled version (very frugal and easy).

I love having my magnetic menu for several reasons:

• I can plan my menu monthly or weekly.
• My favorite meal ideas are right in front of me, so I don’t get stuck in a rut and make the same ones every week!
• It is easy to swap out one dinner for another (no pen marks all over the calendar when I need to make a change)!

Visit me at The Amazing Mess for complete details and directions!

Stacie is a mom of three little girls, wife to her college sweetheart, former elementary teacher, and mess-maker extraordinaire! She blogs about craft projects, cooking, and other enrichment activities for preschoolers at The Amazing Mess.