iamthird

Left over tonight for us too!!! I have to make room to go to the market tomorrow! Nice to see I am not the only one...

MsJojo

I'm reading this at 6.30 a.m so all I can think of is YAY! its Saturday. Coffee and pancakes :-)
We're vegetarian and I'm so stuck in a rut. Tonight though its spaghetti with courgettes, aubergine, garlic and pecorino sort of mushed up as a sauce xx

patientlywaitin

I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets caught in these ruts. I like the idea of preplanned meals, I don't have a menu plotted or anything but I find it helps to make grocery shopping and cooking a lot easier if I have an idea of what I'm going to make. We don't have a lot of left overs here. I'm getting pretty good at not over cooking for 6, I still make enough to feed an army some days but I've become a fan of freezing. It's so much easier to just walk in the kitchen on a (busy, lazy, hectic) day and be like there ya go! Tada There are days I just don't feel like cooking and then I turn to the all mighty Sammie! Meats and cheeses for the adults/eldest 2, pbj for the youngest 2.

I find my best tasting meals seem to happen when I don't have everything I need to make my go to's... It's funny when you walk into the kitchen and start throwing things together hoping it turns out well, then have your kids tell you how amazing it is. My 4yr old "your the best cook ever mommy!" Of course that's after he's done telling me he won't eat, he's moving to grama's...

I'll have to check out these sites this weekend. It's gona be a hectic one!

lizatola

I'm always in a meal rut because of my son's tennis schedule. Practices run from 4:30 until 7 and they are 40 minutes from home. I usually don't get home until 8 PM so we try to eat healthy from soup and sandwich places.

When I cook, I cook as balanced as I have the energy for but I'm getting burnt out of the same old stuff. We're at a tournament for this whole weekend so we'll eat out at an Italian place tonight and then tomorrow night we'll probably have jambalaya since I have sausage and shrimp in the fridge that need to be used.

I did make homemade chicken stock earlier in the week and then made chicken soup from it. My family is not big on casserole type stuff but I wish they would be, because it's easy leftovers for me.

MissFixit

well, i am a huge cook, but we ordered pizza and salad last night.

boxin- i have a recipe for venision stroganoff you might like. i live in SC and there are lots of deer hunters here.

HealingWillCome

I hear you Grits! I recently (finally) started making weekly meal plans, including snack planning, and I can't believe how much money I'm saving (at least $50 a week, usually more). Seriously love it. I put together our meal plan on the weekend, do my grocery shopping for the whole week on Sunday, and life in the kitchen for the rest of the week is seriously a breeze. No more stopping at the store after work, cruising the aisles, wondering what I'm going to make for dinner. I have free lunch (leftovers) during the week, we have easy after school or late night snacks, we're eating healthier. Last week we had a white bean and chicken chili, pulled pork sandwiches, a creamy bacon ranch pasta salad, and a vegetable lasagna. I'm sitting down in a minute to plan next week. Can't wait to check out your eatathomecooks.com link, Grits. Thank you for sharing it!

grandma12

My husband is a huge meat and potatoes man, ugh how much chicken fried steak can a person make. So tonight is a easy casserole, with hambuger, ground sausage, rice and vegies, then pour lipton soup over top. Very kid friendly.

NWGRITS

This girl does all the work for you. The grocery lists are there and divided by section (produce, canned goods, meat, dairy, etc). When I sub out a meal, I just cross out everything in the list that corresponds to the color of that particular meal (it's all color coded). You can choose from a traditional pot & pan plan, or the all-crockpot plan. I usually do the crockpot plan or a hybrid of both. I stay home five days a week, but I have a chronic illness and a baby to tend to while the big kids are in school. The crockpot frees me up for housework and play time with no guilt.

We ended up getting some late Christmas gift cards so leftover night got pushed to tonight. But it went from "I'll just turn this chicken and pork into quesadillas and fajitas" to King Ranch Chicken enchiladas (homemade sauce from the freezer), Seasoned Salt Pork fajitas, homemade Mexican rice, homemade refried beans from the freezer, and homemade guacamole, since I had two avocados about to kick the bucket. So much for easy leftovers, but it was damn good. I make everything from scratch (including tortillas) if I can.

patientlywaitin

Home made tortillas are the best. My kids love to help to! Ever want to put a spin on it try pupusas. Idk if that's spelled right, same concept as the tortilla just stuffed with meats, cheese or beans. My fav are the cheese dipped in tomatoe sauce if you can call it that. Almost like a watery tomatoe soup.

HealingWillCome

I checked out the site. So, I'm not sure if I want to dive in and pay for the meal plan at this point, but it sounds like a great plan for a reasonable cost. Thanks for sharing how you use it. I might try a 3-month to start. I will let you know!

I cook from scratch, too. A) because it's healthy, B) because it's cheaper, but mostly C) because food tastes so much better that way. Oh, and I'll throw in a D) because I want my girls to know how to cook.

NWGRITS

I was hesitant to pay at first, so I did one of the sample weekly plans as a trial. We actually eat what's in the plans (for the most part. I sub out one meal a week, depending on the menu.), so getting the three-month subscription made sense. What I pay for that is far less than what it costs for eating out or running to the store for "just a couple things for dinner" a few times a month. What I've gotten back in my sanity alone has been worth it. I do try to use fresh ingredients in place of canned when possible, but I'm not going to stress myself out over it.