With school starting I was already feeling overwhelmed with the thought of having to cook so I decided to come up with a Meal Plan for September. I may actually repeat this each month if it goes well just because I’m lazy, but if I change it up, I’ll let you know! I also decided to add Snacks to the list just to help myself out a bit more. I’m hoping being prepared will help relieve stress for me and the kiddos!
Download September 2010 Meal Plan – PDF
Download September 2010 – MS Word (editable version)
And let’s just get one thing clear, I realize that I have meals scheduled for each day, and some of you may think that I don’t have intentions to slack off and eat out! Let me just assure you that is not the case! I’ll take a dinner out anytime my husband offers!
I also plan to skip a meal and add in a “left overs” day whenever needed, but if you don’t know me yet, at least know this: I am a planner. And my motto is “better to have a plan and not follow it, then have no plan at all”. Plus this will hopefully keep me from standing in front of my pantry at 5:00pm wondering what the heck we’re having for dinner!
Disclaimer: Please don’t judge my meals based on nutrition or originality ;o) Some are nutritious some are not so much, but they are things I think my family will eat and that aren’t too stressful for me to make so I’m printing this baby and calling it good!
I’ll also share some printable recipes as I go, and below are some of the side dishes I thought you may need. Most of the meals are easy and familiar so you’ll be able to make them no problem. I also linked them to blog posts if I have one.
BANANA POPS
3 bananas
6 Popsicle sticks
1/4 cup peanut butter, softened
1/4 cup chopped peanuts or walnuts, granola, crispy rice cereal or sunflower seeds
Peel the bananas. Cut them in half, widthwise, and push a Popsicle stick through the cut end of each half. Spread peanut butter on the bananas, then roll them in the nuts, cereal or seeds. Wrap them in waxed paper and freeze for 3 hours. Makes 6.
Parsley Potatoes:
- 3 russet potatoes (can substitute with red potatoes)
- butter
- 1 T parsley
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp onion salt
Step 1: Fill large sauce pan with water and bring to boil.
Step 2: Wash potatoes thoroughly, then dice into about 1” pieces and place in boiling water. Cook approximately 15 minutes or until tender.
Step 3: Meanwhile, melt approx 4tbs of butter in saute pan on low. Add garlic salt, onion salt and parsley. (Can add more of any ingredient to taste)
Step 4: Stir cooked potatoes into butter mixture until coated well and serve!
Easy Scallop Potatoes
- 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/8-inch thick slices
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- Optional: 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Stick Butter (to grease casserole dish)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for broiling
Directions:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F
Step 2: In a saucepan, heat up the cream with chopped garlic and nutmeg.
Step 3: While cream is heating up, butter a casserole dish. Place a layer of potato in an overlapping pattern and season with salt and pepper. Remove cream from heat, and pour a little over the potatoes. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan. Repeat layers until potatoes are gone.
Step 4: Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes. Sprinkle some more Parmesan and broil until cheese browns, about 5 minutes.
Potato Casserole
- 2 lbs frozen hash browns thawed
- 1 pt sour cream
- 1 can cream of mushroom soup
- 1/2 c chopped onion
- 2 c shredded cheddar cheese
Combine everything except 1/2 c cheese. Pour into greased 9×13 pan. Cover with remaining cheese. Bake 20 min at 350 degrees.
Sweet Potato Casserole
- 3 lb sweet potatoes
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 c. brown sugar
- 1/4 c. melted butter
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 c. brown sugar
- 1/4 c. melted butter
- Optional: 1 c. coarsely chopped pecan
- Cooking Spray
Cook and mash sweet potatoes. Mix in the next 5 ingredients and beat until moist and fluffy. Prepare a 1/2 – 2 qt. casserole dish with cooking spray. (Can refrigerate at this point to save until ready to cook) Sprinkle with pecan halves, brown sugar and drizzle with melted butter. Bake uncovered at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until hot. Serves 8-10.
Hope you find this useful in your planning!
I used to have a 4-week plan that I just followed 13 weeks a year, small deviations of course, but after 4 weeks it really doesn't feel like you're eating the same thing over and over. I had all my shopping delivered and just saved 2-week and 4-week shopping lists on their website.Don't really know why I don't pick that up again, so easy!
I LOVE writing a menu. It makes grocery shopping that much easier and keeps the pre-dinner stress to a minimum. My main issue is always trying to think of meals though!
I keep a notebook for grocery lists, and at the top of the list I write the meals that can be made from that list. So, menu planning takes minutes, and the lists of ingredients are on hand at all times. Flipping through the notebook gives me new and old ideas for meals. If the thought of cooking stresses you, consider starting a meal swap with other families. You make 'x' number of the same dish, and swap it with 'x' number of people who do the same. Then, all you have to do it reheat so many night a week/month instead of cooking. Great way to try new foods, too!
Good idea! I struggle with this as my kids are very picky. I may have to d/l this to see if it will work.
Can't download it but it looks niceThanks
Wow, an entire month! I plan by the week, but this sure would make fixing meals a breeze!
I am thinking on doing this. I do a 2 week menu but I find myself rushing and not doing a good plan on some weeks because I wait until the last minute. I think this will be a good route to try.
I do the same thing! I make a menu for the month so that I'm not spending a lot of time trying to figure out what we're going to be eating each week. It's really saved a lot of time and energy. I also have set days that we have a certain food, such as Sunday is casserole night, Monday is Spaghetti (we love spaghetti) and then on Friday nights I make something that we've never had.
Thanks for sharing your menu! I have done this for 2 weeks at at time for many years, but I am looking forward to giving this a try, replacing some of the recipes with some of our favorites. :-)I see you do Smoothies every day. Do you have more than one recipe? Also, do you make your own granola?Love your website! Thanks for the time and energy you put into it … it's very encouraging & motivating to me!
GLIN: I do smoothies everyday just because we like them. I use a couple different ones, we do strawberry/banana, mango/pineapple or strawberry/raspberry/blueberry or sometimes peach.I make my own granola bars (recipe is in the recipe dropdown at the top of the blog), but haven't made my own granola, don't know why LOL!