Menu Plan Monday ~ June 23

Surely it can’t have been over three months since I did one of these?  Seriously?

After last month’s disasterous attempt at quasi-OAMC, I’m back to regular ol’ weekly menu planning.  My brain needs a rest.  The week after Miss Moo and I got sick, our family left to visit relatives for a few days and there was above average food wastage when I cleaned the fridge on our return (chalk one up to horribly poor planning).  This is one of the areas I need to focus on most and something I’ll be keeping in mind in the following few weeks.  This week’s menu is basic, everyday, family-favourite meals we all love.  I need to ease back into this menu planning gig folks, LOL.

A few considerations this week:

• I’ve given up assigning a meal to a particular day as we almost always swap them around anyway.
• Talented Hubby is on afternoon shift so he won’t be around for the evening meal.  Therefore the meals need to be both easy to prepare and kid-approved because honestly, dinner-time stress? I could totally give that up, thankyouverymuch.
• The meals also need to be portable - I’ll portion off TH’s meal and freeze it so he can take it to work the next day.  Everything on this list fits that bill, with the exception of the salad items (what can I say? I could send a separate salad for him, but he wouldn’t eat it - he’s a man!)
• We have heeeeeeeeeaps of eggs to use up, bought rather presumptuously right before the failed OAMC attempt.  I have, like, less than a week to use up four dozen eggs.

For The Table 

1.   Lasagna (wedges, salad)
2.   Frittata (salad)
3.   Soup & Sandwiches (Tomato & Vegetable, toasted ham and cheese)
4.   Beef Casserole
5.   Chicken Stirfry (hokkein noodles)
6.   Homemade Pizza (homemade dippas with ranch dressing, salad)
7.   Roast Chicken (roasted potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, broccoli, gravy)

So how to get back to reaping the rewards of freezer cooking without the massive drama that is OAMC in all its various forms?  Here’s one of my favourite links ever - Lynn Nelson’s Busy Cook’s Pyramid.  Loads of great suggestions but one of the easiest and ‘biggest bang for your buck’ tips is Level 1.  I was really rather impressed with this method when I first heard about it.  Hence…

For The Freezer (triple batch)

Vegie Cottage Rolls (these are more ’snackish’ rather than ‘mealish’ but oh-so-yum! I’m adding some extra chopped vegetables to this basic mix)

(and as a bonus, we’ll have leftover soup, casserole and pizza for lunches.  And the lasagna does us for two family meals so I’ve automatically thrown an extra full meal in the freezer with no extra effort)

For The Munchies (I use these for the kids’ lunchboxes during the week as well as general snacking)

Apple Muffins (double batch)
Homemade Crackers (going to try this for the first time - might morph into homemade grissini or bread twisty things yet)
Fudge Brownies (double batch)
Scones with Jam and Cream (I have oodles of cream to use up :)  I’ll serve this up for afternoon tea on Saturday, I think)

For more Menu Plan Monday fun, pop over to Laura’s place :)

Cheers,
Lizzie