Menu Planning

The same discussion is repeated every afternoon: "What do you want for dinner?" "I don't care, what do YOU want for dinner?" repeat, over and over and over. We attempted a weeks worth of menus, but apparently this still required my questioning Curtis too much... so he printed off 5 weeks worth of menus from another blog. We spent some time making it our own and as of week 3, we are doing really great at it. The concept is that I do not HAVE to follow the plan exactly, but if I have no other idea, I can just refer back to 'the list'. After 5 weeks, we repeat. I know this will need some updating for the seasons, but overall, the idea has worked very well. I'm showing what we actually ate below for the first three weeks and our plan for mealas after that. I'll see if Curtis can link to the original list. The original list only gives 5 meals per week, but even I can be creative for two days a week.

Week 1
Sunday: Sausage and Beans
Monday: Navy bean soup with bacon and homemade bread
Tuesday: Baked chicken and potatoes
Wednesday: out--burgers at a friend's house
Thursday: Taco nachos
Friday: Enchiladas (with leftover chicken from Tuesday)
Saturday: Spaghetti and fresh bread

Week 2:
Sunday: Crawfish (80lbs for $20--wow!)
Monday: Chicken Pot Pie (still leftovers from the previous week)
Tuesday: Crawfish Ettuffe
Wednesday: Mexican casserole and homemade tortillas (only because we were out of the normal kind)
Thursday: Crawfish Yvette over pasta
Friday:
Saturday: Meatloaf

80 lbs of crawfish is enough to fill a swimming pool and a large cooler. Good thing we have friends who love to eat!

Week 3:
Sunday: Steak and baked potatoes, corn on the cob(Mother's Day)
Monday: Chicken fried backstrap, mashed potatoes and gravy with lima beans
Tuesday: Lasagna and french bread
Wednesday: Chicken Fingers and oven fries with peas
Thursday:
Friday: out--to the lake house
Saturday: at the lake house

Planned Meals for future weeks
Week 4
taco soup
cashew chicken
chili and fritos
chicken spaghetti
sausage with mac n cheese

Week 5
Crockpot BBQ pork
grilled chicken breasts
burritos
pizza
vegetable soup and bread


The list has given me a shopping target each week, even if I end up making something slightly different, at least it is an idea for the meal. Curtis also responds much better if I give him an option, rather than asking an open question... now wait. I have heard that recommendation before... what was it, OH YES, it is how you pose questions to a two year old so as not to overwhelm them with too many choices. HA!