My first list of meals from last week included our absolute favorite main dishes. This week I’m adding a few meals that we like to splurge on once in a while:

1. Taco Cheese Dip
2. Breakfast for Dinner (eggs, potatoes, pancakes, homemade muffins, waffles, any combination of breakfasty foods)
3. Big Chef Salad with veggies (uncooked sweet corn and raw carrots) and different meats (turkey or chicken, salami or pepperoni), shredded cheese, and fruit like raisins, craisins, pineapple bits, mandarin orange slices, apple chunks. Basically a mish-mash of an antipasto tray mixed into salad greens.
4. Hot Dogs (I have a weakness, but I try to keep it in check and at least buy the quality hot dogs)
5. Orange Chicken

We don’t really worry about too much variety in side dishes, we’ve got our favorites and stick to them:

• Carrots
• Mashed potatoes
• Rice
• A Simple Walk’s Simple Pull-Apart Rolls
• Potato Cheese Casserole
• Rice-a-Roni
• Corn on the cob
• Baked potatoes
• Green salad
• Tater tots
• Guacamole with chips
• Fruit cocktail
• Peaches
• Pears
• Pineapple
• Watermelon

Having our favorites lists written down really helps to make up our menu plans. Much easier than wracking my memory every week or looking back over months and months of menu plans. At least once a week I like to try a completely new recipe or a new version of something I already make just to shake things up. Sometimes I’ll find a turkey breast or spiral ham on sale or get a coupon and I surprise the family with a big deal instead of whatever mac-and-cheese with hot dogs night we had planned.

Now, I’ve been menu-planning for just about a year now and have really enjoyed it (even though I have often forgotten to post our menus online). I do a week-by-week, Monday through Sunday plan. Depending on our available funds when I’m planning out the week, sometimes I make a list and shop for everything I need to make the meals I chose, and sometimes (when we’re broke) I plan meals around what’s already in our pantry/freezer/fridge. So far, my “fly by the seat of my pants” menu-planning method has been working for us, but since we just recently switched from two incomes to one, and from a 3-person household to a 5-person (and by next spring, 6-person), what I hope to get from Toni’s Menu Planning 101 series is to go from a weekly menu plan to a monthly plan and learn how to make our planning more frugal by stretching our meat with more vegetables and meatless meals.

After a week of thinking and polling my household, here are my family’s 15 favorite meals:

1. Chicken Noodle Soup
2. Chicken Pot Pie
3. Beef Stew
4. Enchiladas (most of us prefer plain cheese variety)
5. Tacos
6. Pot Roast
7. Grilled Italian Chicken
8. Pasta with Red Sauce (doesn’t matter what shape of pasta or what meat in the sauce)
9. Grilled Hamburgers
10. Pizza
11. Smothered Chicken
12. Shake & Bake Pork Chops
13. Baked Ziti
14. Pork Roast
15. Monterey Chicken with Bacon and Cheese topping

Now what Toni?