Monthly Meal Plan

Well, I fell off the wagon. I would like to think that I have been trying to get back on since the beginning of February. But I will be honest, I just gave up on it. Which is a shame as I did really well all of January. Alas we have fallen back into our old habits of eating. But this month I am making a change and not just running beside the wagon, I am full on jumping back on!

I decided I needed a whole month to look at! That way I just had to sit down once in a month and figure out what we would eat instead of 4 times. I'm hoping this method will help! The calendar is quite as cute as my meal tablet was, but I can always dress it up later. There are some new recipes on the calendar, but maybe not as many as before. I'll work on that as I go!

I've started out with great intentions. On May 1st I had a sick kiddo and couldn't get to the grocery store until after supper to get the weeks groceries. So we just did whatever you can find in the fridge that day for supper. Yesterday though I did follow the plan. I promise Ranch Pork Chops was written on the calendar before the 1st!

Of course the kiddos complained that there was "stuff" on the meat. Any sauce or seasoning actually on the meat is a no go for all of them! However they will dip any type of meat in "special sauce", which is just ketchup and brown sugar. I've decided if it gets them to eat meat they can have at it!

Here's to hoping I can keep up with this menu! I know if I do it will help save my sanity this summer. I will probably start looking into having groceries delivered for the summer so I am not traipsing 3 kids through the store! 

Meal Plan Week 5

This week I'm switching things up a bit.

I decided to do the e-meals again. So this week is a mix of some meals from that and a few others. I started by getting the low carb plan from Walmart. In the past they used to plan the meals around the weekly ad to help save money. However it doesn't appear to be that way anymore. 

Like I have said before, I haven't made a bad meal from their menus. However I should also say that I have never actually made all the meals in a week before. I typically pick through what I think my kids might eat and what looks good to me. I know that if I won't eat it, my kids definitely aren't going to! Some of the meals this week looked good, but I wondered if there was a better plan for our family. I am always intrigued by the family friendly plan, but whenever I look at the sample menu it doesn't ever look like food my family would like. So next I looked at the quick and healthy plan and that looked really good. The beauty of e-meals is that you can swap your plans when you want. It use to be that you could only swap 1 or 2 times during your subscription, but I don't think that is the case now.

They also have the choice of family plan (feed up to 6) or 2 person plan. When the kids were little, I use to do the 2 person plan and that was more than enough food for all of us. I upped to the family plan this time. When my boys want to eat, they can eat and that's only going to get to be more and more. If I find that it is just too much food, I will switch down to the 2 person plan again.

So this week is a mix of 2 meal plans and a few others thrown in. With e-meals the grocery list is already made for you! Bonus! So all I have to do is go through and figure out what I need to buy. Each meal has a number so it's easy to cross out the items for the meals that I am not going to make. Or if I'm only making a meal or two from the list I highlight the items I need. On each list on the side is the pantry list. Items that are common to have on hand. Most of the time I have all of these items, but occasionally I don't have something, so it's always good to double check it!

This is not a sponsored post, I just wanted to share something that I find helpful to use!

Here's my referral link in case you want to give it a try too!

http://emeals.com/invite/christina-spieker

Our Kitten Turns 4!

I am finally getting Miss Belle's party posted. She is cat obsessed and so it was an obvious choice to do a kitten party for her. Her birthday is right after Christmas so we tend to do a party at the beginning of January. This year she invited 5 little friends from school. Five little girls is SO much easier and quieter than pretty much any number of boys! It was a very relaxing party!

I typically love to go all out with a theme for a party. This year I had to scale that back a bit. With playing single parent for the month, there was only so much I could do. But I think it turned out great and Belle had a great time!

I found a cute invite on etsy. The shop name is PinkInkCreations. I would love to design these myself for my kids parties, but I typically run out of time and just have to order one.

However I did make the decorations! Lets start with the front door when the guests walked it. I put together a yarn ball wreath in the party colors. This wasn't hard to make but a little time consuming. I didn't follow a tutorial for it, I just did what I thought looked good. The 4 was green from my sons birthday a few years ago. I have an issue with getting rid of things that could be used again at some point. Because of that I had it on had and just had to give it a fresh coat of pink paint. I love how it turned out.

Once inside, quests were greeted with a chalk board sign. It instructed them to take a pair of ears and a tail (I crafted both of these items). It also told them to draw on their whiskers. (Which I now see I misspelled! Way to go me!) For the whiskers I just had a black face paint crayon.

I had to take a few photos of Isabella showing of her tail, ears and whiskers!

For activities, I had coloring sheets to do while we waited for all the guests. I had a several cat nip mice toys that I hid around the house and I had the girls crawl around like cats to find all the mice. We also had a pinata. Walmart didn't have a cat one so we settled on a Trolls Poppy one instead. It threw off the decor a bit, but Belle love it! The girls blew through the games quickly and so they enjoyed just playing with Belle's toys for a good portion for the party.

For food, we had a pink kitten cake. The best part of this cake was that it was rainbow tie dye inside, per the request of a certain 4 year old. I regret to say I didn't take a photo of the cake once it was cut. I also had goldfish crackers that you scooped up with a fish net (don't worry I bought a brand new one!) and swedish fish. I went easy for drinks and just did juice bags. 

  

For added decor I also yarn wrapped the letters to say MEOW and set them by the food. For party favors, each girl when home with a kitten that they adopted complete with an adoption certificate that I print from a site I found off of Pinterest. However I can't seem to link it, because it is now saying not found.

Such a fun party with great friends!

Meal Plan Week 4

I'm on week 4 and I am still going strong with my meal plans and sticking to them! 

A few things I have noticed since starting this. We tend to have less garbage at the end of the week (or beginning. Garbage day is Tuesday.) I'm not really sure why. The only thing I can come up with is that there is no fast food garbage any more (or very little) and well that takes up space! Also I am doing loads more dishes. This stinks but I know its for the best, so I'm sucking it up!

In the past I have gotten a subscription to E-meals and we have loved the recipes we have actually made. I don't think I have made a bad one. I'm seriously contemplating doing this again. Along with cooking and baking at home, I find that I am gaining weight. Boo!! I don't know if its because I feel the need to have lots of stuff on the table every night instead of a main meal and veggie or fruit. So I was looking at the low carb meal plan. I also think my kids might eat better if it wasn't casseroles and meat smothered in sauce.

Now my only concern with doing this, is that it's all new recipes. I love new recipes, but sometimes (okay, most of the time) it's easier to just put together something that you already know how to do. So I fear that I will get away from making the meals and resort to fast food again!

On the plus side the menu plan is prepped for as well as the grocery list. So that part is a breeze and if I choose a store in town (walmart) the plan the weeks meals around sales at that store. So win win on the spend less resolution!

If you are thinking about trying e-meals too click here for my referral link.

But for now, here is my meal plan for this week.

Meal Plan Week 3

A day late, but it's getting posted, so that is a win! We had company in town this past weekend so the meals on Saturday and Sunday were a little mixed around. I was still able to stick to schedule pretty well though! I really am loving having a plan for supper everyday. It's also helping with my spend less, save more resolution. Much less eating out and wasted food. Bonus I have awesome food for lunches with having left overs!

My kids on the other hand are not probably liking this as much as I am. They are all huge supporters of fast food and choosing what they get to eat. Having to sit at the table and be told this is supper, if you don't eat it you don't get a snack before bed, has been a harsh reality for them. I have been doing amazing at holding my ground against the whining though!

Here is this weeks menu. I decided I better put pizza for one night. I think my kids were going through withdrawal. I'm surprised Papa Johns hasn't called to make sure our family is okay since we haven't ordered in weeks!

Meal Plan Week 2

The first week of 2017 is over and I am happy to report that I kept up with my meal plan everyday except one. I ended up not making Saturday's meal, but it was only because we were invited to a dear friends house for supper.

Here is this weeks meal plan. We are trying one new meal I found on pinterest and I let Belle choose a new dessert to make. She wanted cake, but I talked her into cupcakes. We still have cake left over from her kitty party. More on that to come this week!

I was able to purchase all the additional groceries I needed last week when all three were in school, so that was a win! And I think I only threw a few additional items in the cart!

On a side note, I have been to Target 2 times this last week and I have walked past the dollar section both times with nothing added to my cart! That really is no easy task! Especially when they are putting out all the cute valentines things!! I love to decorate for the holidays!

Wish me luck on a second week of meals!

New Year, New Things to Attempt

A new year is upon us, a clean slate! Today is the day for resolutions right. I make some every year and some I stick to halfheartedly and others are abandoned within days/weeks of the new year. I won't say that this year will be different and I will stick with them for the full year, but it's worth a shot right!  All I can do is try!

One of my biggest resolutions this year is having a plan for meals. I have been terrible about cooking the last few months (full year maybe). Because of this my kids have survived on Mac and Cheese, PB&J sandwiches and whatever is found in the fridge that evening. There's been an occasional meal maybe once a week, twice if we're lucky. But this year I plan to change that. I plan to write up a weekly meal plan. I ordered a Meal Planner notepad from Shutterfly. I got it when it was one of their sales and for $7, hopefully the cuteness can keep me on track! With a plan I feel it will be easier to actually produce a meal for the table. And grocery shopping once a week. For this week I ordered the groceries online. It's cold here and the kids are all home for Christmas break and it was by far easier. I struggle every time doing this. There is always something I need that I can't find in the online catalog of food and once it arrives it seems I am always disappointed in something that came. I'm picky about fruit and meat and just need to pick it out myself! But alas for this week it was for the best and we will make due!

I also want to start cooking more because I have a cupboard (and some counter space) full of cookbooks and printed out recipes. These either need to start getting used or need to go away. So we will be trying some new recipes this year. Hopefully 1 a week. This week I stuck with tried and true recipes (except for the dessert the first day. I hope to make 1 dessert a week. I LOVE to bake! So this one is new.), we'll branch out more next week! I hope to post my meal plan here every week in hopes that it will keep me on track and I will be held to it! If you have any excellent recipes your family loves please share them!

That leads me to my next resolution. CLEAN out this house. We just have too much stuff here and I've decided it makes me crabby. I'm much happier when I can see the floor and the counter. So I hope to go through every closet and corner in this house over the course of the year and purge. Some things will be saved for a garage sale in the spring, some will be thrown and the rest will be donated! I really can't wait!

Along with the less clutter resolution is the spend less, save more! Now you may wonder what that has to do with less clutter, but let me tell you that Target dollar spot sucks me in every time and although I have gotten some very useful items there, most of the time it is stuff that we don't need and it just adds to the junk!

So here's to an amazing, clean and delicious new year!