March Meal Plans

It's another month and I've been working on both putting together our monthly meal plan and sticking to our first month of Dave Ramsey style monthly budget.  To be able to do best as I could, I made sure to do a serious inventory check of all we already have in stock, especially stuff that's been hiding in the back of the fridge freezer and deep freezer.  We also have our quarter of a cow meat arriving today (yay!)

This year has been going fairly smoothly with meal planning and I always contribute some of that to my frequent use of our crockpots.  yes, I have to slow cookers because that's how big of a fan I am, hah.  Sometimes we use it twice a week!  It is a big relief to me come dinnertime to know that most of the meal is already done and it's just a matter of throwing together a side and tossing it onto plates.

Logistically speaking, I'm the queen of the kitchen (grocery shopping, cooking, and usually cleaning up) because I'm the one that's here (#sahmprobs) and also, I know what everyone likes and won't eat (or at least will complain about it) so I bear the dinner load (and breakfast and lunch loads - HAH).  

But, thanks to an awesome suggestion from my friend Haley (hi!), Brandon and I have been working on a 'Daddy dinner' days.  In the past, I have tried to just leave it wide open like - 'yo, B, you're on dinner duty next wednesday' but then next Wednesday rolls around and because of both of us we realize too late that neither of us really has a plan about it.  But, after talking to Haley about what she does, we've started flagging some days of the week as that the plan is as it is, it's just that Daddy is making the meal.  Seems like a duh, but somehow wasn't for me and so thank you Haley for sharing the tip!  We've done it twice last month and it's been a real treat for me to be able to use that dinner-making time for something else (shower? one-on-one time with a kid?) 

Here's what the Studers have on March's mealplan schedule.  What do you have a'cookin' over at your place this month?

3/1-3/4
T: YUM chicken sandwiches/wraps
W: Loaded Potato Soup and Homemade Bread
R:  Taco Pasta
F: Baked cheese Ravioli 

3/7-3/11
M: chicken & zucchini casserole
T: restaurant-style steaks
W: 'please make me' meatballs
R: fried rice (daddy dinner)
F: crispy shrimp pasta alfredo

3/13-3/18
M: chicken & gnocchi soup
T: Enchiladas (with my mom - 100 small things task #26!)
W: slow cooker three packet roast
R (St Patrick's Day!): chicken, stuffing, and broccoli casserole (daddy dinner), Lucky Charms treats
F: meatless spaghetti, salad, & garlic toast

3/21-3/25
M: slow cooker cream cheese taquitos
T: smoked kielbasa alfredo bake (not as spicy as last time!)
W: slow cooker BBQ pork chops
R: chicken & wild rice soup
F (Violet's half birthday!): pierogie lasagna, chocolate chip cookie cake

3/28-3/31
M: Coconut chicken tenders
T: crockpot beef and broccoli over rice
W: chili over mac&cheese (daddy dinner)
R: burgers on the grill!