Menu Plan Monday 6/2

Time for another Menu Plan Monday. I don't know why this is difficult for me. Actually, coming up with a menu isn't difficult. It's coming up with something that I want to hold onto for later use. So, I'm releasing myself from the stress. lol Instead, I've come up with a basic formula of sorts and although I'll keep several weeks for something to fall back on, I'm going to instead simply keep a list of meals that we enjoy on index cards with the shopping list. When planning time comes I can just whip out the stack, sort out my meals, and make my shopping list. I'm still shopping on sale as much as I can, but some weeks - like this week - I'm going to focus on using what I have in the pantry. The shopping trip became more about filling in missing dry goods and grabbing up some fresh fruits and dairy.

My basic Meal Plan "formula" - 3 to 4 meatless meals a week; eggs 3 times a week for breakfast; at least one breakfast, and at least two dinners a week will be grain-based; if the main dish isn't veggie-heavy then we'll have a salad; fruit served at dinner at least three times a week; meat meals are "stretched" - in other words, if it calls for a pound of ground beef we'll use 1/3 pound ground buffalo. (The exception is in meatloaf or meatball type things, and these will still be stretched with additional grains and veggies though the ration will change.)

I just wrote some long blurbs about our shopping habits for the last few weeks, but I decided that it needed to be in a post all of it's very own so that we could get to the list. After all, this isn't "grocery shopping Monday." :)

On to the menu plan for the week:

Monday:
B - scrambled eggs with veggies
L - leftovers
D - oat/veggie burgers with mushroom gravy and roasted potatoes, fruit

Tuesday:
B - oatmeal/cottage cheese pancakes
L - burgers in a pita or over a salad, etc (leftovers remix!)
D - Chicken quesadilla and Mexican Soup

Wednesday:
B - Matzo Brie
L - soup, salad, Greek tortilla pizza (spinach, FF feta)
D - Salad Nicoise, fruit on the side

Thursday:
B - muffins and smoothies
L - peanut butter/fruit/honey roll ups with a veggie salad
D - Stuffed peppers (heavy grain mix with beef), salad

Friday:
B - baked apple oatmeal
L - grain, bean, and veggie stuffed pita sandwiches (left over remix!)
D - "Jayne's pasta" (pasta that my wonderful sister-friend makes - EVOO, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, caramelized onion, garlic, etc. - meatless), salad, challah, fruit

Saturday:
B - free for all
L - Oneg (meal after service)
D - DH's choice - meat on the grill

Sunday:
B - challah french toast and turkey bacon
L - left overs
D - DH's choice - meat on the grill