September Meal Planning

Well, it looks like we are going to try this "No Spending September" challenge for September 4-30. I went into heavy-duty organization mode because I realized I needed to figure out what I have and what I will need to get us through the month without buying anything and without going out to eat. This is going to be hard. Specifically, we have one day every two weeks that is going to be hairy: school, karate, girl scouts, dance, and finally home at 6:45. This day is going to have to be a well-planned crockpot day.

There are also two nights when I won't be at home. Going to have to set it up for success for DH so that he can slap something together easily (I am thinking pre-packaged by me or store-bought frozen lasagna or something).

At any rate, here is the list of dinners I came up with. Some of these have not been tested on my family yet, so I only planned for making them once. If they are a hit, I will plan to make them again in the future.

• Homemade Pizza (2 nights)
• Spaghetti (3 nights)
• Chili and cornbread
• Mexican Chicken with rice (Slow cooker meal from The Gracious Pantry)
• Burritos/Nachos (2 nights - meatless)
• Cheesy Ham and Potato Casserole (Slow cooker meal from The Crockin' Girls)
• Pork Chops, sweet potatoes, and rice or vegetable (2 nights)
• Breakfast for dinner: Pancakes and fruit or eggs and bacon (2 nights)
• Turkey Legs and Sweet Potatoes (Slow cooker meal from The Crockin' Girls)
• Slow Cooker Beef Curry over Rice (Slow cooker meal from The Skinny Ms.)
• Scalloped Potatoes and Ham (freezer crockpot meal)
• Macaroni and Cheese with Broccoli and Turkey Ham
• Cowboy Casserole
• Poppyseed Chicken with Rice and other vegetable
• Chicken Tortilla Soup in Slow Cooker
• Jambalaya in Slow Cooker
• Frozen Lasagna (2 nights - Trader Joe's Roasted Vegetable Lasagna is so good!)
• Chicken Tikka Masala (premade sauce in jar) over brown rice and broccoli; Chicken nuggets and french fries for the kids.
• Meatball Sandwiches

I tried for as much variety as possible while still trying to utilize some similar staple ingredients (i.e. chicken breasts, shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, rice, etc). I also tried to do quite a few crockpot meals so that I didn't have to do alot of prep. One of the meals is something I can assemble and put in the freezer, and then I just throw it in the crockpot in the morning and let it cook all day from frozen! Super easy.

Some of these meals are clean eating, and some are most decidedly not. But they are all made at home with all the ingredients I already have, plus some. I will end up with quite an extensive shopping list, but it will last us all month.

I also have quite a list of things for lunches and breakfast too. And don't forget snacks.

I will most likely be making about 3-4 trips to stores to get everything. I will end up at Costco, Vons, and Trader Joe's, and then maybe Walmart. I would like to try to use some coupons, but I am not sure what I will have available for the items I want to purchase.

What I really need to do now is make little strips of paper with the meals written on them. That way I can sit with the kids on Sundays and plan out our meals for the week. If I can make it through this month, I may do monthly meal planning every month!

Hope this helps you...Good luck!
--Katie