Welcome to another great week of meal planning. I’m changing the plan a little this week. When I posted my April Menu Plan, I had planned on sharing Make Ahead Meals for this week, but after thinking it through, I thought it would be fun to let my readers cook along with me. I love the concept of getting lots of meals ready ahead, but quite honestly, my family doesn’t like meals from the freezer all that well, and I usually don’t have money in the budget to buy groceries for a whole month. Although I do menu plan for the whole month, just because it’s much easier to get the entire month done at one time. It also makes it easy for times like this, when I need to switch the meal plan around.
So, here’s the plan…today I’m posting the meal plan and grocery list. Sometime during the week, you can buy your groceries, then on Saturday evening, I will post the Meal Prep Day plan for Monday. Then on Monday, you can follow along with me right here and on Twitter, as we prepare and cook a whole weeks worth of meals.
Why am I preparing and cooking these make ahead meals? First of all, my schedule has really gotten crazy with running to baseball and track practice, and games, Doug is working lots more right now, which also limits his time to help with running, and my yard is screaming for attention too.
And second, Jane from the wildly popular blog, Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms, sent me her cookbook, Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms, I was just dieing to try some of the meals. And even better! She has one of her cookbooks for one of my lucky readers!
Here is what we will be preparing…
- Baked Chicken Chimichangas
- Cheesy Pasta, Ham and Peas
- Mini Meatloaves and Mashed Potato Casserole
- Chicken Tortellini Tetrazzini
- Sloppy Joes and Macaroni & Cheese
- Teriyaki Chicken
- Spaghetti and Meatballs
To shorten up this post, I decided to put the recipes on the Budget Friendly Meal page, head on over there to grab the recipes. I will be posting them throughout the week.
*Update* All the recipes are on the Budget Friendly Meal page now.
Grocery List for Make Ahead Meals: (I included regular ingredients, below are pantry items, spices, milk, eggs, etc.)
- Chicken Breast, skinless, boneless – 3 lbs. or 8-10 skinless, boneless Chicken Thighs and 1 1/2 lbs. chicken breast
- 1 Whole Chicken for roasting
- Hamburger or Ground Beef – 5 1/2 lbs.
- 6-8 Italian Sausages
- Ham, cooked – enough for 4 cups cubed
- Elbow Macaroni – 6 cups
- Tortellini – 20 oz.
- Mexican Cheese – 2 cups
- American Cheese – 1 1/4 cups
- Sharp Cheddar Cheese – 1 1/4 cups
- Parmesan Cheese – 1 2/3 cups
- Cream Cheese – 8 oz.
- Light Cream – 1 cup
- Cheeze Whiz Original Cheese Dip – 1/2 cup
- French Onion Dip – 1 cup
- Salsa, thick & chunky – 1/2 cup
- Flour Tortillas – 8 (8 inch)
- Celery
- Onions
- Green Pepper – 2 medium or 1 large
- Barbecue Sauce – 1/2 cup
- Tomato Sauce – 16 oz.
- Tomato Paste – 2 x 12 oz cans
- Tomatoes, ground peeled, 2 x 28 oz cans
- Chicken Broth – 1 cup
- Instant Mashed Potato Flakes – 3 cups
- Italian Bread Crumbs – 1 cup
- Hamburger Buns
- Orange Juice – 1/4 cup
- Frozen peas – 3 cups
Other pantry items that you will need…
- Oil
- Salt
- Pepper
- Ground Cumin
- Cayenne Red Pepper
- Dried Oregano
- Flour
- Garlic cloves
- Dried Minced Onion
- Ketchup
- Eggs
- Brown Sugar
- Dry Mustard
- Worcestershire sauce
- Vinegar
- Sugar
- Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (optional)
- Cornstarch
- Soy Sauce
- Garlic Powder
- Ground Ginger
- Chicken Bouillon Powder
- Butter
- Milk
You will need to choose side dishes, if you wish. I will probably serve Mexican Rice, White Rice, and Salad.
I suppose you are wondering about the Coffee Cake photo at the top? The recipe is also in Jane’s book, I will share it will you later in the week.
This plan is for next week, here is what we are having this week…
Monday ~ BBQ Meatballs, Salad
Tuesday ~ Fried Egg Sandwiches or Homemade McGriddles, Fruit Smoothies
Wednesday ~ Chicken N’ Noodles, Mashed Potatoes, Corn
Thursday ~ Mostacolli, Parmesan Knots, Salad
Friday ~ Chicken Mexican Soup
Saturday ~ Stuffed Baked Potatoes and Chicken Wings
Sunday ~ Grill Out
So, how do you get your hands on one of these wonderful cookbooks? You can head over to Amazon or Barnes and Noble and buy one right away. Or you can enter my giveaway and hopefully, win it!
***Giveaway Closed***
Giveaway Guidelines:
Please leave a seperate comment for each entry.
- Leave a comment telling me what your favorite Make-Ahead Meal is.
- Become a subscriber of Hoosier Homemade, leave a comment.(5 entries)
- Become a subscriber of Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms, leave a comment.
- Follow me on Twitter, and leave me a comment with your Twitter ID, if you already follow me, just leave me a comment.
- Follow Jane on Twitter, leave a comment with your Twitter ID.
- Tweet about the giveaway including @HoosierHomemade and @janedoironin in the tweet and a link to the giveaway post. Leave a comment.
- Follow Jane on Facebook
- Grab the Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms and display it on your blog.
- The Giveaway will be open until Wednesday, April 21st, 10 p.m. CST, the winner will be notified and have 48 hrs to claim their prize.
- And one last entry, just to make it an even 10! Leave a link with your favorite meal post
Psss…Don’t forget to leave your questions for the What’s New Cupcake authors, cupcake video series starting soon!
This post linked to:
-Dinnertime Dilemmas hosted by Tatertots & Jello
~Menu Plan Monday hosted by I’m An Organizing Junkie
~Mindful Meals hosted by Chive Talkin’
Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of the Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms cookbook. I will write a review on Wednesday, April 21st. The photo of the book cover belongs to Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms blog, I edited the photo for my post.
We’ve just started with freezer meals. We like lasagna and similar dishes (manicotti, stuffed shells, etc.). But our new favorite is chiles rellenos casserole.
Thanks for the chance to win!
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I’m a veteran make ahead meals cook! One of my favorites is tortellini lasagne.
.-= Cindy´s last blog ..16 is the Number of the Day =-.
Great looking meal plan! I like doing up ziti for a make ahead dish.
.-= Sherry´s last blog ..Menu Plan Monday April 12th – 18th =-.
I subscribe to your feed.
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Just followed on Twitter – SweetsLady.
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I just followed Jane – SweetsLady.
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I also added her as a friend on Facebook.
.-= Sherry´s last blog ..Menu Plan Monday April 12th – 18th =-.
I am a total novice with make-ahead meals but I do make up a big batch of cheese and spinach stuffed shells and portion them out into bags for the freezer, I also just made Money Saving Mom’s Butterhorn rolls and froze up a bunch of them!!
My family.. (ok my 10 year old son and I) don’t really like “freezer” meals.. But soon I am going to buy a pasta machine.. I would like to make my own frozen pizza and pasta’s.. Anything simple and easy we can just throw in the oven.. I really don’t like “cooking” in my microwave.. but with a 10 year old I have to find things he can make on his own if he has too..
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I subscribe via e-mail (1)
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I subscribe via e-mail (3)
I subscribe via e-mail (4)
I subscribe via e-mail (5)
I subscribe by rss & I just love your blog!
I just love the recipe I’m new to the site and look forward to tring all these i have a family of 7 to feed thank you for all your hard work putting these togother for every one
Spicy Corn chowder! Yum!
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I subscribe to your blog on google (1)
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I subscribed to your blog (2)
.-= Niki´s last blog ..Chicken pita w/ avocado tzatziki and my 100th post!!! =-.
I subscribe to your blog (3)
.-= Niki´s last blog ..Chicken pita w/ avocado tzatziki and my 100th post!!! =-.
I subscribe to your blog (4)
.-= Niki´s last blog ..Chicken pita w/ avocado tzatziki and my 100th post!!! =-.
I subscribed to the blog (5)
.-= Niki´s last blog ..Chicken pita w/ avocado tzatziki and my 100th post!!! =-.
I subscribe to Make-Ahead Meals
.-= Niki´s last blog ..Chicken pita w/ avocado tzatziki and my 100th post!!! =-.
I am a fan of Jane on FB!
.-= Niki´s last blog ..Chicken pita w/ avocado tzatziki and my 100th post!!! =-.
These mini-chicken pot pies are delicious! I love them and have made them a couple times since Jane posted them in Feb! Yum!
http://makeaheadmealsforbusymoms.blogspot.com/2010/02/make-ahead-mini-chicken-pot-pies.html
.-= Niki´s last blog ..Chicken pita w/ avocado tzatziki and my 100th post!!! =-.
My favorite meal would be the Tuna Noodle Casserole. YUMMY!
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I subscribe to Hoosier Homemade via google reader. #1
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I subscribe to Hoosier Homemade via google reader. #2
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I subscribe to Hoosier Homemade via google reader. #3
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I subscribe to Hoosier Homemade via google reader. #4
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I subscribe to Hoosier Homemade via google reader. #5
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I subscribe to Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms blog
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I follow you on twitter. Screenname emk808
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I follow Jane on twitter. Screenname emk808
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I tweeted about this giveaway: http://twitter.com/emk808/status/12111190462
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I follow Jane on facebook.
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I have the Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms button on my blog.
I love the Parmesan Chicken Bake!
I am subscriber of Hoosier Homemade!
I am subscriber of Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms!
And I already have Make-Ahead Meals for Busy Moms button on my blog! Thanks for this great opportunity to win!
I make baked ziti!
I follow you on twitter (@jencrutch) & would love to win. Thanks.
.-= Jen´s last blog ..Giveaway $10 Bed, Bath & Beyond Gift Card =-.
It seemsthat all of our meals are Make Aheads. It’s a rare day when I fix a meal that’s only for that night. Typically I make a kicked-up roast chicken, meat and prep veggies for tacos, prep the stuff for quesadillas, make a casserole, etc. and then it lasts us 3-4 nights. Somewhere in the middle, just to change it up, we’ll grill something or eat out.
I subscribe to Make-Ahead Meals
I have the Make-Ahead Meals button on my blog
I like to make Pasta meals at our house. I am subscribing to your blog. I love to bake for my family and as a busy mom I’m always looking for shortcuts.
Carey
I follow you on Twitter @Trinity_66
@Trinity_66 tweeted the giveaway
We make and freeze big batches of chicken vegetable soup. Yum!