Family Food

In addition to HVAC stuff, I'm also a busy mom and work very hard to find solutions to every day household concerns. In our quarterly newsletter, The Comfort News, we have always shared recipes and money and time saving tips. And I wanted to continue the tradition here on my blog for all our loyal readers. So I hope to pepper the furnace and air conditioning talk with practical info you can use to save time, energy, and money. Because that's what we do at David White Services: we save you energy & money! Why not keep it going in other things you do?


The internet has been an amazing resource for me and I thought I would spend some time regularly on here to share helpful hints on home organization, budgeting, and family fun.


A few months ago I found a blog on a 30 meal plan. I'm new to the blogging world and don't know how it all works but I don't want to claim this idea as my own so I'm giving a shout out to littlenannygoat who has a great blog and posted about this in May 2009. Hopefully this is sufficient credit so she knows that I'm not stealing from her (not that I have any readers anyway since I'm too chicken to tell anyone I'm blogging!)


Anyway, this seemed genius to me as I always seem to go in spurts of cooking and then getting sick of cooking and ordering pizza/junk food/eating out. I'm sure I can't be the only mom out there who just gets SOOOO tired of figuring out a weekly menu, grocery shopping, and cooking. It's not like I don't have a very full life without being a short order cook 3 times a day (plus snacks every 1-2 hours with a three year old!) And with prices the way they are right now, just one week of not knowing what I'm eating every day can make us $100.00 poorer than normal not to mention I gain 2 pounds I then have to lose! Argh!!!!


So having 30 meals that I know my family will eat; then a list which I just circle what we've used up and replace at that week's grocery shopping trips seemed quite smart.  I wrote each Meal and recipes on a big index card which I laminated and bought a holder at Dollar Tree that has a magnet on the back to stick on the fridge.  They all just go in there.  In the morning I pull out the one I'm gonna make that night and stick it on the fridge by itself.  I do any prep work then (I'm a morning person) and when I come home at night it's a no brainer as to what's for dinner.  Even better when it's a crockpot meal or a casserole I can make all the way so dinner is like 90% done before I ever even get home!


Below I have the names of the recipes which we have settled on. I chose these for their kid-friendly nature without being boring for adults, their versatility, cheap, easy to find ingredients, and ease of preparation. I'm not going to include the recipes in today's blog, just the names. But I will post them all within the month. If I'm really on top of it, I'll try to get to it within the next few weeks. And if I ever figure out how to truly blog maybe I can make the names below clickable so it would take you to the entry with the recipe! That would awesome but not currently within my skill set. Here's to the future! And as soon as I get the recipes all on here, I'll publish the grocery list.  It has like 80 items on it, but remember it's for a whole month.


The Meals:

Meal One: Meatloaf Cups, Twice Baked Potato Casserole, Steamed Broccoli

Meal Two: Spinach Calzones, Italian Salad

Meal Three: Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Hamburger Buns, Frozen Potatoes (like wedges or fries)

Meal Four: Chicken Parmesan, Steamed Asparagus, Breadsticks

Meal Five: Hamburgers, Chips, Baked Beans

Meal Six: Fajitas, Spanish Rice

Meal Seven: Pepperoni Pizza Wheels, Lite Caesar Salad

Meal Eight: Breakfast for Dinner

Meal Nine: Oriental Pork Tenderloin, Brown Rice, Chinese Veggies

Meal Ten: Black Bean Quesadillas, 1 Point Mexican Soup

Meal Eleven: Easy, Homemade Pizza

Meal Twelve: Easy Turkey Dinner

Meal Thirteen: Thai Chicken, Brown Rice, Steamed Veggie

Meal Fourteen: Chile Rellenos Casserole, Tortilla Chips

Meal Fifteen: Spaghetti and Meatballs, Steamed Broccoli, Garlic Bread

Meal Sixteen: Chicken Stroganoff, Noodles, Green Beans

Meal Seventeen: General Tso's/Terriyaki Chicken Stirfry

Meal Eighteen: Frozen Eggrolls, Hot and Sour Soup

Meal Nineteen: Tostadas

Meal Twenty: Spinach and Ricotta Shells, Garlic Bread, Salad

Meal Twenty-one: Chili, Corn Chips or Bread

Meal Twenty-two: Fried Rice, Oriental Chicken, Steamed Snap Peas

Meal Twenty-three: Salsa Chicken, Spanish Rice

Meal Twenty-Four: Easy Ravioli Bake, Texas Toast, Steamed Broccoli

Meal Twenty-Five: Philly Cheesesteak, Chips

Meal Twenty-Six: Spice Crusted Chicken Breast, Orange Salsa, Fajita Veggies

Meal Twenty-Seven: BBQ Biscuit Cups, Corn, Frozen Potatoes

Meal Twenty-Eight: Mexican Meatloaf, Baked Sweet Potatoes,

Meal Twenty-Nine: Ham and Cheese Quiche, Applesauce, Bacon

Meal Thirty: Meatball Subs, Green Beans