Meal Planning and Trying Out New Recipes!

Last week I went to pick up my "monthly prescription" from CVS and while I was waiting I saw the below Cooking Light Magazine. The thing that particularly stood out to me on the cover was "Slow Cooking Made Easy".

Lately it has become more difficult to have dinner ready by the time my husband gets home {my goal that sometimes happens, sometimes doesn't} because Ilah is at my feet. While although I open up the tupperware cupboard and let her have at it, those plastic lids and bowls only keep her occupied for so long. Sooner rather than later those plastic pices are no longer playful distractions as soon enough she is reaching up for things on the kitchen counters {she is that tall now that she can reach right on up and now get things}, pulling at my pant leg, rearranging the kitchen mats {and pulling up the non-slip grips underneath}, fussing for "something", and being my shadow as I reach in and out of the refrigerator for ingredients. It seems that it takes twice as long to make a meal now. So it's time to utilize my slow cooker more!

I bought the above March issue of Cooking Light Magazine after thumbing through and noticing MANY delicious recipes, and while although my full intension was to solely hone in on the slow cooker recipes, the pages that I dog-eared the most were not the slow cooker ones. I couldn't help it...after seeing the dishes I had to flag them and add them to my meal planner to make them.

From the Cooking Light Magazine, this is what I made for dinner on Friday night...and it was DELICIOUS. It's "Caramel Pork with radish-Squash Slaw" - but I used Chicken instead, and made grilled carrots.

Get recipe here

Last week while I was planning out my menus for the next several weeks, I pulled many recipes from these new magazines to try out...

I also am making many dishes out of this book as well....

I probably have twenty-five to thirty recipes flagged in this book alone! Since I cook mostly Chicken, I scooped up this book {$4.99, Homegoods} when I saw it! I found it online for just $2.50 + shipping {go here}. It's full of recipes for Soups and Appetizers, Light Bites, Main Courses and Entertaining.

So technically this isn't a "meal planner" but rather a date book that I turned into my meal planner and it's perfect!....



Last week I sat down and planned out FOUR weeks worth of meals based on two grocery shopping trips.....

Below are the meals written out in my "meal planner". I'm not a stickler for following it to a "t". So if we feel like eating something other than what's written out for that day, I will just swap meals. Also, many of these meals call for some of the same ingredients which allows for day-ahead preparation of the following days meal, or a side item as a leftover the next days meal. And in some cases there may be enough leftover for dinner the next night, in which case I won't have to cook what's been planned on that day.

Mon: Rotisserie Chicken w/Wild Rice & Corn
Tues: Beef Chili & Cornbread
Wed: Leftovers
Thurs: Caramel Chicken, Rice & Peas and Grilled Carrots
Fri: Leftovers
Sat: Angel Hair and Bruschetta
Sun: Taco Night! w/Spanish Rice & Beans

Mon: Shrimp Pad Tai
Tues: Asian Glazed Chicken w/Rice & String Beans
Wed: Turkey Burgers, Sweet Potatoes {for him}, Corn {for me}, and Salad
Thurs: Cajun Chicken, Sweet Potatoes, Dirty Rice {yes, that's what it's called! Ha!}
Fri: Terriyaki Chicken Stirfry w/Brown Rice
Sat: Brisket w/Parmesean Potatoes & Corn
Sun: Baked Chicken Tenders, Okra, Black-Eyed Peas & Rice

Mon: Slow Cooker Jumbalaya
Tues: Pasta Florentine w/Turkey & Spinach, Salad & Garlic Bread
Wed: Leftovers
Thurs: BBQ Chicken, Stuffing, Corn
Fri: Plum Meatballs w/Marinara Sauce and Grilled Mixed Veggies
Sat: Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Sun: Grilled Salmon w/Wild Rice & Sweet Potatoes

Mon: Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Tues: Leftovers
Wed: Baked Chicken, Potatoes & Carrots
Thurs: Homemade Pizza
Fri: Burboun Chicken over Rice
Sat: Dinner Out
Sun: Make a meal from whatever you have on hand! Maybe I will do Steak Fajitas or my mom's Steak Picado!

Everything that is made for dinner is my husband's lunch the next day, unless he decides to go out with some co-workers.

Everything is prepared fresh, from scratch...except the corn and beans ; )

Do I always do a 4 week meal plan? No. But I tend to generate a lot of mental meals after I done my INTENTIONAL grocery shopping {intentional meaning I don't buy things on a whim - I view the grocery store ad, see what's on sale, and match up coupons to the sales items for even more of a savings; and sometimes I just want to make a certain dish and need special ingredients which also makes my grocery store visit intentional}...then I take the time to go through my refrigerator/freezer/pantry with a pencil and pad in hand {and also refer to my magazine pages that I have flagged}, and that's how I plan out my meals.

If you don't have anything at the moment to write down your meal planning in, you can always just print these free downloadable Monthly Menu Planner sheets. You can go here to see my original post!

Perhaps you would like a Weekly Menu Plan rather than a monthly one...just visit the link above!

Over the years I have gotten many recipes off of AllRecipes. Their site has always been great but they have enhanced it to make it even better. I just love this new tool now on their site...


If you would rather a site that does the meal planning for you, AllRecipes can do it for a small fee, sending the weekly menu, the recipes, and the ingredients to your inbox {I'm sure there are some sites that don't charge a fee to get weekly menus}....

I love this free newly added tool that allows you to input ingredients that you have on hand and it brings up recipes for you to make based on them!....


There are so many different ways to meal plan - which is a great method to saving money! Do you meal plan? What's your method?

P.S. - For those of you who looked at my four week meal plan wide-eyed, you can read this past post on how I came to appreciate cooking!