Planning a months worth of meals...

Planning meals is something I was not always passionate about. I thought it was pointless because "how do I know what I'll want to ea in 3 weeks?"

I am here to tell you that I have changed!

When I first got married I didn't decide what I would make for dinner until I was already hungry, which mean Josh has been hungry for the last hour. Then I would have to take time to make sure I had all of the ingredients. Then I had to start cooking. We ended up having a lot of our meals at 9:30-10 at night. Woah.

And luckily we lived across the street from a grocery store because I would literally have Josh run (much faster than driving) to the store to get an ingredient I didn't have.

I started to plan out a week of meals so I wouldn't have to go to the store so often because it was getting expensive! I also found that I was wasting a ton of food and it was not good!

When we moved to Utah I took it one step further and started planning out meals for a month! I was so nervous at first. But this is how I managed to do it:

1. I get my notebook and write down the days of the month. Every 1st and 3rd Sunday of the month I get together with extended family for dinner so I write that on those days before I do anything else. Same with any holidays that include dinners ( Thanksgiving, Christmas, 4th of July...)

2. I get every Wednesday off from work and I don't work Saturday or Sunday. I write this next to the dates so I can plan better. On these days I don't have to worry about what time I'll get home from work so I'm able to make my meals that will take a little more time or energy. I also try to put my easiest/quickest meals on Mondays because I know I wont want to spend too much time in the kitchen those days.

3. I get out all of my recipes and last months meal plan. Every time I try a new recipe or change something in an old recipe I have Josh rate it on a scale of 1-10. I write his rating on my recipe so I'm able to look back and see what his favorite meals were. I try not to put all of my "10's" in the same week just as I try to spread out the 6's and 7's. (I usually don't make it again if it's less than a 6 or 7...)

4. If I am trying any new recipes this month I try to highlight it or mark that it's a new recipe so I can make sure to not skip that one! At the start of our marriage I would make the same 10 meals over and over again. Josh finally spoke up and asked me to try something new. So I don't skip those! (Obviously I'm not trying anything new this month...)

Shopping
When I go grocery shopping I try to get all of my non perishable items at the beginning of the month. So that is when I buy my frozen chicken, ground beef, bread... all that jazz. Then each week or every other week (depending on what I'll need) I'll buy the more perishable things like milk, fruit, veggies, etc.
This is what has saved me the most money! I cram as much into my freezer as possible and use the rest up before it goes bad. It has been a great system for me so far! But now I just need to get a deep freezer so I can fit even more!!


I've realized that even though I have meal planned, doesn't mean I need to cook it that night. If I'm not in the mood for Teriyaki chicken, I can make mac n cheese and it's no big deal because I already bought all of the ingredients. I can swap things around and it wont matter! In fact I usually end up sticking to what I planned for the week but making them all in a completely different order. But that's okay! I'm not wasting any food by doing that. And that is pretty awesome!
I am able to make healthier meals for us because it is all getting planned out ahead of time.
And we are not wasting food! Josh and I are able to take leftovers as lunch the next day. This also saves tons of money because we aren't going out and buying lunch while at work or school.


What do you do to meal plan or meal prep?? Although I love the system that I have created, I would love your feedback and tips!

Audrey Jo

Smoothie prep Wednesday?

So Josh and I (mostly me) are kind of obsessed with these green smoothies.

When we go to the gym in the morning before work and school its easy to make them for breakfast. But if we don't wake up early...I just want to stay in bed for as long as I possibly can while still being at work in time!

Today I decided to prep my smoothies ahead of time! And I think this is going to be one of my greatest ideas! 

They are really the easiest smoothies ever. Here is the wonderfully simple recipe:

2 handfuls of spinach

2 handfuls of frozen fruit

1 frozen banana

Orange juice and water (I don't really measure this. So I have no idea how much I put in it.)

About 1 Tbsp of honey

And that's it!

So to help prep all I did was portion the spinach, frozen fruit, and the banana in little baggies. So now all I have to do is take it out of the freezer and add the liquids to it!

Is it weird that I'm actually excited to wake up tomorrow just to make this?

Audrey Jo

No dessert until you finish your veggies!

"No dessert until you finish your veggies!"
This has always been something I have wanted to say! Only...I thought I would be saying to my kids. No my husband.

Vegetables are not a usual thing in our home. We just don't love them! (And when I say we I mostly mean me.)
Veggies just aren't the first thing on my mind when I think about what I'm going to make with my dinner.
But tonight. That changed!

I know...I know...it is not the most exciting dinner (although it was very delicious).

But the point is...when I sat down at the beginning of the month I actually thought about what veggies I would make with these meals.

It's a work in progress. But I am proud of myself for this! 

I usually just sneak spinach into my smoothies in the morning...

If you have any tips on how to make veggies yummy please send them my way!! Josh and I would both really appreciate it:)

P.S. Josh totally did finish his green beans just so he could have cookies tonight.

Audrey Jo

Monday's Meal: Teriyaki Chicken!

So I have this delicious crock pot teriyaki chicken recipe. Although it is delicious, it isn't my favorite to make because I feel like it is so much work! There is a lot of prep for it...which means I have to wake up early to do that before I go to work. (Sometimes I get crock pot meals ready and have Josh put it all in the crock pot when he gets home from school.)

But lucky for me I found a new Teriyaki chicken recipe that is seriously the easiest thing ever! It seriously takes like 10 minutes. Both times that I have made this I have just been waiting for the rice to finish so we could eat!

All it takes is:

Chicken breast (I cut mine into strips so it cooks faster!)

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp honey

3 garlic cloves-minced

1 tsp chopped ginger

And to cook it you basically just mix everything together (I let the chicken sit in the mixture for a couple minutes before pouring it into the pan) and stir it all around until the chicken is cooked completely and the sauce turns into a thick glaze.

And of course...serve it with some rice! And if you want it to look pretty you can add green onions and sesame seeds! (I'm boring so I don't.)

There ya go! The easiest Teriyaki Chicken ever! You're welcome :)

Happy Monday!

Audrey Jo

Goals for 2016

I have never been too into making goals for the year. I think this is because I always forget about them or want to change them...or whatever other excuse I have at the moment.

So I decided to write them down. And if people are reading them it makes me more accountable to reach them, right? Sure!

Here goes nothing!

1. Exercise at least twice a week. This sounds like the easiest goal ever. But it has been so hard for me, especially in these freezing cold winter months! I also want to get back into running

2. Be a better homemaker. I want to be more adventurous with my cooking and actually clean up the dishes after dinner. I want to clean up a little before I go to bed, it really isn't that hard but my bed is just so much more appealing!

3. No more soda! Unless I have a stomach ache! Sprite is my go-to when I have a stomach ache that won't go away. I'm not ready to let go of that quite yet! This means no more Sodalicious runs at work...

4. Learn how to use my Canon Rebel. I am obsessed with this camera and I have only had it for a week! I just want to learn tricks to make it even more fun to use!

There ya have it! My goals for this year!

Do you have any goals?

Audrey Jo

Monday Meals

So I have always tried to plan out my meals for the week or hopefully a couple weeks in advance to reduce trips to the grocery store and to save money.
Let's be honest. It doesn't always happen though I am getting a whole lot better!

I use to just write them down on a sticky note to remind myself what I had planned. But sometimes the sticky note gets lost...or Josh doesn't feel like eating what I had planned for that night.

When we moved up here to beautiful Provo, Utah my mom had given us a gift card to Tai Pan Trading Co. to start decorating our new home with! Definitely in my top 10 favorite stores! I brought Josh along with me because sometimes he has an opinion on that kind of stuff. He spotted this giant menu chalkboard and fell in love with it. So I let him buy it for us! And it has been so amazing! Every Sunday night I clean off the board and write what I have planned for the upcoming week. This helps because he can see and anticipate what I'll be making for the week. It makes me a whole lot more accountable for dinners! It also  would be pretty hard to lose it if it's hanging on the wall in our kitchen!

SO! This is the menu for this week!

Yeah, yeah, I know I spelled burrito wrong. I was just waay too lazy to redo it.

Remember a few posts back when I talked all about how I love simple things? Well I feel like this week is the perfect representation of that. I mean think about it:

I pre-make my dough and just freeze it so all I have to do is pull it out of the freezing in the AM

Breakfast burritos? Eggs. Cheese. Sausage. Bacon. Tortilla. Salsa. DONE.

As long as I keep using store bought Alfredo sauce this meal will continue to be simple.

I have the best stroganoff recipe that seriously only takes like 10 minutes. I love it.

Chicken Cordon Bleu may sound fancy...but that's because you don't know that I crock pot it. 

Okay so my stuffed shells recipe isn't so simple. But it's delicious. So who cares.

Every other week my extended family gets together for Sunday dinner. So I don't have to cook:)

Told you it's simple!

So tonight I am planning on putting a little bit of sauce, a lot of cheese, some pepperoni, and some bacon on my pizza. What do you put on yours??

xoxo

Audrey Jo