Is it boring that next week’s menu excites me so much?

When you're packing a 4-month baby around with you everywhere you go, it's necessary to plan things well. It's not my idea of fun to go to the grocery store every other day to pick up food for dinner, so I've been making weekly menus and getting things all in one shebang.

Two interesting points to note: 1) grocery store cashiers are not used to seeing one week's worth of vegetables at a time. They ALWAYS comment. 2) When you go back to basics, start cooking from scratch with fresh ingredients, it costs less! My grocery bills have shrunk by approximately $75-100/week. That's some pretty significant savings. Sure, I'm spending more time in the kitchen, but I am enjoying it, so it is not time wasted. And I am healthier for it. I'm still not convinced on the homemade burrito shells though. Those were some WORK! ;)

Anyways, I sat down last night and planned next week's menu, and I am trying some new recipes. I'm pretty excited! Check it out:

Saturday: wild caught Chinook salmon, rice, steamed broccoli (Sweetman's request, not a new recipe)

Sunday: traditional lasagne (a friend's request – our last dinner with him before he leaves town) – I have to admit, I have never made a traditional lasagne before. I've always made my hippy veggie lasagne. I even bought chorizo sausage to crumble in the sauce. I think it will be nom. Not healthy, but that's ok.

Monday: burritos with fresh salsa. Same salsa recipe I posted a few posts ago. It's good stuff. I'm going to use pre-fab burrito shells this time though.

Tuesday: Pad Thai with pork loin and shrimp

Wednesday – Chicken couscous wraps

Thursday – Thai Curry Port Stew with basmati rice

Friday – Slowcooker herbed spaghetti

Saturday – dunno, probably some manner of fast food (my money's on Quizno's) because we're going to meet our Puppy Mama!

Sunday – slowcooker ham with pineapple salsa

 

Chuncho loves him some ham, so that's a surprise for him. I'm taking a big chance here on all the pork products. My stomache might hate me for it; we'll see. But the Chinese New Year dinner I had at the beginning of the month was largely pork-based, and I experienced no ill-effects from it, so I'm willing to give the other-other white meat another shot.

I know I am extraordinarily lame at becoming so thrilled over something as mundane as a weekly menu, but when the majority of your time is spent with a 5-year old and a 4-month old, you learn to appreciate the small things. Like, the fact that your 4-month old has avoided puking in your mouth, a day with no timeouts, and planning menus filled with nummy nummy food items that will be fun to cook.