Menu planning Week 2

Last week's return to menu planning worked out fairly well for me.  I didn't end up doing everything I had planned for the week and even switched a couple days around but all in all I am pleased with how the week went.  This week is a bit of a challenge because of events in the evenings that make it difficult to prepare or eat together but I have a plan and now I just need to figure out how to make it happen.  I was able to head to the grocery store today with a list and a coupon for 3 euros off when my total was at least 60 euros.  I kept track as I went through the store and was able to stay pretty close to 60 euros.  If I had strictly kept to the list I might have been even closer but I came back from vacation in August to a completely empty fridge and almost empty pantry so little by little (one bite at a time) I am trying to restock the pantry so I can have the ingredients for a few meals on hand in case I am a day or two delayed in hitting the grocery store.

I got the idea as I made my Master Meal List last week to gradually work on making a grocery list of ingredients needed for each of the meals.  I know I don't have the time to sit down and do it all in one sitting so today I thought "How about if I just do the meals for this week and then do the others as I put them on the menu plan for a week?"  Sounded like a plan to me so I grabbed some index cards and wrote out the ingredients list for each of the week's meals.  I have a cute recipe box that my hubby gave me that I haven't been using yet so I can store the cards in it as I write them up and then as I plan those meals in the future all I need to do is grab those cards and quickly write out my shopping list.  It worked well this week ... we'll see if it helps out in the weeks and months to come.  I am committed to spending some time and effort at the beginning of each week to try and make our school days go a little smoother, especially now that we have kids in 3 different schools.

Here is this week's plan for the main meal of the day.  Head on over to Laura's to see what others are planning on their menus for the week.

Monday:  Baked Burritos with toppings (lettuce, tomato, sour cream)

Tuesday:  Chicken and Dumplings  -- one of our family's all time favorites (check back tomorrow for this recipe)

Wednesday:  Sweet and Sour Pork over rice

Thursday:  Crock pot corn chowder, Baked potatoes, salad  (This one is a new recipe for us.)

Friday:  Homemade pizza or pepperoni rolls

Saturday:  Leftovers or sandwiches

Sunday:  ??