Ulog 37: Weekly Menu Planning Has Begun

Menu Planning Begins

Lately I've been addicted to YouTube videos, reading online blog articles about menu planning; whether to be more organized, prepared or for money saving reasons. And this past week I decided to act on my desire to implement menu planning into my homesteading schedule. I figured with winter here now and not being able to be out in my gardens and greenhouses was the perfect time to start this new task.

I had more time to devote to doing this and hopefully working out the kinks as I go, so when spring and summer are back I'll have it all figured out and it'll be an easy addition to my lifestyle.

I mainly wanted to start menu planning; as I said for the three reasons above and next I'll explain why.

Why I Want To Menu Plan

• Be more organized - I have always been a person who needs a list in her daily life for structure and to keep on task, so I'm not exactly sure as to why I waited this long in life to begin this venture of menu planning. I have lists, sticky notes and charts all over the homestead so this one fits right in to my scheme of things.
• Be prepared - this can fall under an umbrella statement of the above mentioned reason, but I feel it needs its own category on the list. By being prepared and planning ahead I can always have dinner ready to go; even when I am not feeling well and we still have to eat. See when I make dinner, I always make enough for five or six servings. Even though there are only two of us in this home, I plan to have the leftovers for the following day's lunches; the one I pack for Mr Golden D and myself. Plus it never hurts to have a little more available in case we are extra hungry for dinner that night.
• Money saving - we are still on our quest to save as much as we can for the large down payment (or hopefully pay in cash) for our forever property. We have set a goal of 5-10 years from 2017; so we have 3-8 years left to save every last stinking penny. By menu planning I can plan ahead, have all the items needed for a recipe in the pantry or freezer and not have to make extra trips to the store. Cause we ALL know those extra trips for on or two items turns into three overloaded bags of groceries we buy on a whim. I will be making most of the weekly menu plans from what I have on hand; avoiding those last second trips. If I don't have a certain ingredient needed for a recipe, then I'll either substitute or improvise, perhaps even figuring out a completely different meal.

So tonight is Tuesday, and from the written out menu plan picture above, it's spaghetti night. I have my homemade marinara sauce and crushed tomatoes I canned earlier this year ready, as well as some organic veggie pasta (made from tomatoes) and the venison Italian sausage is in the oven cooking as I write. Nothing extra had to be purchased to make this meal. I had everything on hand and ready to go.

Last night was smoked kielbasa, sliced onions, yellow potatoes and sauerkraut cooked to perfection in the crockpot.

I already have two-pounds of venison burger in the refrigerator thawing out for tomorrow's venison meatballs.

The pulled pork for Thursday is extra from a previous dinner I made two weeks ago and froze. I'll be thawing that out tomorrow.

The ring bologna was a special purchase I made at Aldi's two weeks ago and I'll be frying that up with some green onions and peppers and making some pasta salad up as a side dish.

And finally, Friday, the ribs are from the cow we had butchered in September. I had two more small packages of short ribs to use up and this will be a good day for a crock pot dinner as we're expecting rain changing over to snow and a wintry mix that day.

The only item I had to purchase this week for dinner was the Brioche buns for the pulled pork dinner on Thursday. They were cheap enough as I got them from the grocery store's reduced bakery rack. I'm not worried about them becoming hard as I always toast the buns on the griddle for such a savory (and juicy) meal like pulled pork; helps to sop up the excess moisture and seasoning.

I've already started planning next week's menu planning schedule too. I will get a break two days as it's the holiday and we're going to my brother's new house one day and a cousin's place the other day. I know we'll be bringing home some ham and leftovers; so that takes care of Wednesday's meals too. Plus I've added some ham, potato and beans stew/soup for Friday. _I love that kind of stoup! So hearty and filling!

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