All through the Christmas holidays, there was one particular pile that continued to be moved around from table to table, dresser to desk, and back to the table again. I am thrilled to announce, though, that the pile is soon to be completely gone as I am nearly done my recent recipe overhaul!

My recipe organization has been a two part process. Yesterday I hinted about one aspect of it that I will share today, which is my favorite meal lists.

Using my lovely ListPlanIt lists (did I mention I love these lists and that there just might be another giveaway coming up soon?), here is what I've done. These are my Beef and Chicken Recipe lists. I know you can't see it really well in this picture, but the left hand column lists the recipe name, the middle column tells me where to find that recipe (my recipe binder, the name of a specific cookbook, or if there isn't really a recipe, rebellious cook that I am), and the right column is for any notes about that particular recipe (variations on it, things to serve it with, whether hubby really loves it, etc.).

The beauty of these lists is that when I need to come up with a recipe including chicken, I don't need to rack my brains to try to remember which chicken recipes I have and like. One quick glance at my handy dandy Chicken page and I can find a recipe that suits my needs, and I know exactly where to find that recipe as well.

Here's another example:

My Soups and Stews list shows off another fun feature I added in. The "C" that is circled to the left of my recipe names denotes a recipe that is crockpot friendly! I've even thought of adding another page of purely crockpot recipes, which would be such a nice reference for my meal planning when I have days coming up that I know will be busy and could use the ease of a ready-made meal at 5:00pm.

So far, here are the lists that I've made for myself:

1. My 21 Meals
2. Main Dishes- Beef (I also use these with moose meat)
3. Main Dishes- Chicken (turkey, too)
4. Soups and Stews
5. Veggie Side Dishes
6. Salads (both meals and sides)
7. Condiments/Dressings/Seasonings
8. Desserts/Treats
9. Breads and Baking
10. still plan to add a Candida/Maker's Diet list, to make it easier each time we do a diet like this
11. also planning to add a "Good Meals for Guests" list

Want to Make Your Own Favorite Recipe Lists?

Though it can be a little bit time consuming, the process is fairly simple (and time consuming or not, you will not regret that you did it!). Here's how I did mine:

• I dumped all the recipe cards out of my recipe binder. Threw out the ones we don't like and never use. Re-sorted all the ones that are actually healthy and tasty into organized piles according to type of recipe.
• Used these recipes and my previous list of favorite recipes (which I made about 1 1/2 years ago) to start compiling my lists.
• Asked hubby many times along the way, "Do you like this recipe? Which do you like better? What are your favorite ___ recipes?" (Because a well-fed man is a happy man!)
• Carefully printed up my lists, making helpful notes to myself along the way

For those who haven't done this before, you will need to do a bit of extra work to get these to completion. If you've never made a list of your favorite recipes before, then you will need to spend some time going through your beloved cookbooks and any recipe binders/card holders that you use, so that you can make a list of everything you love and where to find it.

This was my 3rd time creating lists like these (over the course of about 5 years). Every time it gets easier and faster. The only reason it sat around a lot this Christmas season was because I was struggling to find the time to actually sit down and finish it up in the midst of our activities, and because I wanted it done in a neater and more organized fashion than it had been before.

Once you've made your lists, there are two options for using them. One is to actually put them in your recipe binder and add tabs onto them, making them into binder dividers for the different sections of your binder (if you even use a recipe binder like I do at all, which I'll show later this week).

The other option is to include them under the Meal Planning section of a homemaking binder. Yesterday I re-worked my homemaking binder because I wasn't using it the way that I had previously set it up. Now it is going to function as my Monthly/Weekly/Daily planner, as well as hold my Meal Planning pages, my Blog pages (future blog posts, to-do's, advertising management, etc.), as well as some other household management areas. I'll get to the homemaking binder in a few more weeks, though I will let you know throughout this organization series whenever I do something that is being added to the binder.

I love having these favorite recipe lists with my Meal Planning pages in my homemaking binder, but I'm thinking they would be right at home and very useful in my recipe binder as well, so I think I'm going to photocopy them and then I'll have them for both purposes. Only thing about that method is that if I update one with a new recipe, I need to update the other!

More to come on making your recipes organized and stress-less later this week!

Do you have a special system of organizing your recipes? How do you keep track of your tried-and-true favorites?

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I've been menu planning faithfully for about 3-4 years now. Every once in a while I briefly slip up and go a week or two without proper plans in place. I always, always regret it and wished I had taken the time to plan.

Life has been moving at an even faster pace this year, with the addition of a 3rd baby, a new business, more homeschooling, etc. I needed to figure out some ways to streamline my meal planning even more than before. Here are a few of the things I've been trying out that are really working for me.

1) Creating Organized Lists of Meals

This is my list of 21 meals, downloaded from my ListPlanIt membership. Apparently most cooks/families have about 21 meals that they go back to over and over, so it only makes sense to make a list like this one for easy reference. I tend to cook with a bit more variety than that, so choosing my 21 meals was hard (which would explain why I chose 22), but at least now I have a list of our favorites for easy reference when I'm short on time and creativity!

The other thing I'm doing is something I've done and recommended doing before, but now I'm doing it in a much more organized manner. I will show you pictures tomorrow when I highlight the ways I've been revamping my recipe binder. Basically, I have made themed lists of our favorite meals/recipes, using themes like Meats- Main Dish, Chicken- Main Dish, Vegetarian, Soups/Stews, Salads, Veggies, etc.

What I love about making lists like these is that they provide me with such a quick reference for remembering meals that fit a certain need. Maybe I've already got beef on the menu 3 times in a week and I really need to go with poultry. Maybe we've been eating a lot of meat lately and I feel like we could use some good vegetarian proteins and fiber, or simply some more cost efficient meals. Maybe I've got my main dish selected, but am stuck on a side dish to make with it. Just a quick glance at the appropriate list and I can make a simple choice of a recipe that will work. They're also perfect if you like to do your meal planning with themes, like Monday is beef and Tuesday is soups/salads. More on these lists tomorrow!

2) Monthly Meal Planning

This hasn't always been the way that I prefer to do things, but in recent months it has really worked for me to have an entire month's worth of meals mapped out all at once. It takes a little longer up front, but only a little bit, and then it's completely done!

Here's my monthly plan for January dinners, and next to it my breakfast plan (again, both from ListPlanIt). You can see that I've already crossed things out, moved things around. I tend to do that and I don't think there's anything wrong with it. My meal plan serves me, not the other way around. I keep this up on my fridge and it keeps me right on track.

Though I don't usually, I've also been adding in a breakfast plan this month. We are currently on the Maker's Diet yet again, and I find that the way to survive on special/restrictive diets is to plan, plan, and plan some more. Normally breakfast feels like an easy thing to do, but on this diet, not so much. Having a breakfast plan just adds to the ease in my kitchen that my dinner plan creates. Note that I only did a 2 week plan because our diet will change again in 2 weeks and I ran out of time to come up with more ideas for the change in foods that we are allowed to eat. So next week, I'll sit down and finish up the month's planning.

3) Try a Seasonal Plan

If you don't like the idea of planning everything out for your entire month at once, or you'd really like to focus on eating seasonal foods but without coming up with new ideas constantly, then making a Seasonal Meal Plan might appeal to you.

I did this back in the late spring, when my husband was on a special diet and I was getting ready to have a baby, and I just needed something that really took the pressure off me for meal planning. I used Passionate Homemaking's method to make a list of 3-5 meals for each weekday, based on themes (chicken, vegetarian, Ry's favorites, ethnic, etc.). Then each week I only had to glance at what I had around, choose meals from the list that appealed to me and worked with what I had on hand, then write a short grocery list with the missing items. Sometimes I did it 2 weeks at a time, which was even easier.

For a few other ideas/methods of meal planning (including another method of mine), see my Healthy Homemaking: Meal Planning Primer.

What's working for your menu planning in this season of life? How have you streamlined your process?

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• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
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• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

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I am all about simplicity in the kitchen. If there is a way that I can make my meals work together and save myself time, effort and dishes, I am all over it!

One of my favorite ways to do this lately has been to coordinate the meals within my weekly meal plan. By this, I mean that I try to think of dishes that will work together to create leftovers and/or other elements that will lend themselves to different dishes that same week. The easiest way to accomplish this is to choose a protein type (eg. beef, chicken, fish, vegetarian) and then come up with a combination of meals all using that same protein.

Here are some examples of how I do it:

Beef

Start with a roast in the crockpot and eat it with potatoes, veggies and gravy. The next night the leftover beef turns into fajitas, with added onions, peppers, sour cream and guacamole. A day or two later, the extra gravy/juices from the crockpot are added to the last bits of (now diced) beef with some beef bone broth, carrots, celery, onions, garlic and potatoes and become a delicious crockpot stew.

Chicken

Roast a whole chicken in the crockpot in the morning. That afternoon, remove all chicken from the bones, dice it and put it into meal sized portions. Put the bones back into crockpot for another day, along with water, apple cider vinegar, sea salt, and veggies to make broth. That first night, use some of the chicken along with broth, veggies and your topping of choice to make a savory potpie. The next night that chicken can be tossed with pasta, along with some olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, or whatever strikes your fancy. Later that week, the remaining chicken gets added the lovely bone broth you've made and becomes your favorite type of chicken soup (chicken noodle, chicken rice, gumbo, spicy Thai, etc.).

Fish

Bake a whole salmon, with some lemon slices, butter and dill. Eat it that first night with a side of brown rice and steamed broccoli. A couple nights later you can use some of the leftover salmon and make a spinach and salmon quiche. For lunch the next day, finish off the fish by serving up some salmon melts with raw veggies or a green salad on the side.

Beans

Soak overnight and then cook up a big pot of beans (maybe pinto or black or a combination of 2 favorite types of beans). Simmer the beans with some taco seasoning and use them to top a fresh taco salad or as a filler for soft tacos. Next toss them into the crockpot along with diced tomatoes, other veggies, maybe some ground beef, and seasonings to make a chili served alongside soaked cornbread. Finish them off by making a batch of refried beans, perfect for using in quesadillas or burritos, or to simply eat with rice and veggies.

For a great twist on this idea, check out FishMama's excellent post on cooking once and eating three times!

For more on meal planning, see my previous posts:

Healthy Homemaking: Meal Planning Primer

Healthy and Frugal Meal Planning Help Part 1 and Part 2

How do you make your meals and menu plans work together for easier meals and greater simplicity?

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This week I made a departure from my usual style of menu planning.

Since we've been doing this special diet for my husband (a little over a month now), my repertoire of meals has been rather limited. Doing my menu plans each week has felt a bit discouraging, as I stare once again at my (short) list of the meals that I can make, that we all enjoy. I'm sure those of you who have been on restricted diets for any amount of time know what I'm talking about!

Rather than feel frustrated with it each week, I decided to follow Lindsay's plan of making a seasonal menu plan. It works by giving a theme to each day of the week, and then choosing 3-4 options that fit under that theme. Each meal will be made once a month, or perhaps twice if you only have 3 options on a certain day. I think it will take the brainwork and stump-ed-ness out of my planning (you know, when you sit at the table, tapping your pen and staring
alternatively at your meager meal plan, then out the window, then back
down at the meal plan for way too long)! I spent a while working on this and really digging deep to come up with recipes we could eat, and I'm happy with the results!

Here's how I've set mine up, for the next 3 months or so until we're back to our regular fare:

Monday- Main Dish Salads/Veggie Based

1. Chicken Meal Salad (a really hearty salad with hard boiled eggs, avocado, lots of veggies, etc.)
2. Stir-fry with beef or chicken or turkey, served over brown rice
3. Taco Salad (except that right now we're skipping the tomatoes, sour cream, and he can only have gouda cheese on his)
4. Avocado/Pepper/Black Bean salad (Ry and I adore this light salad, which I've recently been adding a bit of corn and cilantro to as well. The kids, not so much, so I make them rice and beans)

Tuesday- Sandwiches/Soup

1. Lentil Vegetable Soup with bread or biscuits
2. Wrap Sandwiches (homemade tortillas with any mix of protein, veggies, cheese, etc.)
3. Chowder (either this Garden Chowder, with some slight tweaks to make it diet friendly, or my favorite Salmon Broccoli Sweet Potato Chowder, also with a few changes)
4. Bierocks or German Beef and Cabbage Pockets (we just tried this tonight and fell in love! I can't use a bread dough, since it would require yeast or sweetener. Instead, I just used Kimi's Ground Beef and Cabbage Filling slightly altered, and put it inside her dairy-free Biscuit recipe, making them into pockets. By doubling the biscuit recipe and making the filling recipe about 1 1/2 times as large, I was able to make 20 pockets, which made one dinner for tonight and one for my after-baby freezer stash.)

Wednesday- Italian or Ethnic Dishes

1. Cold or hot rice pasta (with chicken or sausage, and any variety of veggies), and either a cashew alfredo sauce, an olive oil based pasta salad dressing, or vegan pesto.
2. Curry or lentil dahl, over rice or served with homemade chapatis (flatbread, similar to tortillas)
3. White Lasagna Casserole (this is a new dish I created last week, in an attempt to use up some lasagna noodles I had. It's made without tomatoes, has a white dairy-free sauce, shredded zucchinni and carrots, plus sausage, and a generous helping of feta cheese. Surprisingly good!)
4. Italian Rice Salad

Thursday- Mexican or Casseroles

1. Sweet Potato Burritos in homemade tortillas (wow, these really are addictive!)
2. Chicken or turkey pot pie, with whatever veggies are seasonal or on hand
3. Chicken or beef fajitas

Friday- Favorites

1. Pizza (using my tortillas as a crust, due to no yeast). I serve Ry's with vegan pesto instead of tomato sauce.
2. Meat main dish (steak, ribs, roast chicken, etc.) with a grain (rice, millet, quinoa) and steamed or raw veggies.
3. Feta burgers (no buns), with sweet potato fries.

Saturday/Sundays- Simple and quick!

1. Leftovers!
2. Sausages (fried with apples/peppers, or with a grain dish and salad, or with corn on the cob)
3. Any sort of tortilla sandwich, quesadilla, wrap, etc. Whatever's in the fridge!
4. Salmon Cakes (from Nourishing Traditions) or Fish Coconut Curry, with rice or other grain and a veggie
5. Macaroni and Cheese (brown rice pasta, hemp milk, and gouda, Ry's main cheese indulgence these days!)

Ta-da! No stress meal planning! I'm so relieved that I did this as part of my personal retreat this weekend (which was wonderful, by the way).

It's Menu Plan Monday over at Organizing Junkie!

Have you ever tried making a seaonal menu plan like this? How did it work for you? If not, how do you organize your meal planning?

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It seems we tend to just go in cycles around here. A couple of times a year, one of us ends up on a particular diet to continue to work on health concerns, avoid food sensitivities, etc. This summer is no exception!

Several weeks ago, we had an appointment for my husband to have a blood analysis done by a hematologist (who functions similarly to a naturopath, but is certified in hematology instead). It was a fascinating appointment! They took two blood samples, one live and one dry. They put these into a microscope and put the images up on a screen. We were able to see his actual blood cells and the overall condition of his blood.

The basis of these analysis is that rather than beginning with your symptoms, they begin by looking at the condition of your blood, which tells them a lot about your overall health. We actually didn't tell them anything about my husband's current health or history, but instead they begin to analyze and tell us what symptoms they imagined that he would be experiencing. We were astounded that they were about 90-95% bang on correct! They examine the shape and size of the cells, whether they are clumping together or overlapping, whether there are fat globules in the blood (indicating that the liver is not breaking down fat as it should be), the electrolyte balance, whether there is a Candida/yeast imbalance, etc.

What impressed me the most is that their conclusions were very similar to what I would have said were some of his major health concerns and areas of weakness. The angle they are coming from is completely opposite of mine (they begin with the blood health and work towards the symptoms, whereas I start with symptoms and work towards probable causes), and yet there was a whole lot of corroboration and confirmation. Phew! This really relieved me that we are on the right track and that their suggestions were good ones!

So... we've begun a new and oh-so-fun diet!

For the next 4 months (which is how long it takes for blood cells to fully regenerate themselves), Ryan is restricted from:

• All yeast, fungus (mushrooms), vinegars, etc.
• Caffeine, any tea or coffee (except herbal tea is ok)
• ALL sugars (this includes honey, molasses, even dried fruits! Stevia is allowed.)
• Most fruit, although he is allowed to alternate certain fruits a couple of times a week
• All processed foods and chemicals in foods (this one isn't difficult as we basically already do this)
• Any foods that particularly irritate the digestive tract (onions, garlic, radishes, tomatoes, etc.) because this is an area of difficulty for him
• No dairy, except a few specific types of cheese and some butter, but only on alternating days and no more than twice a week
• Pink/red fish (salmon, etc.) and beef can only be had twice a week max, and only when he has not had other foods in his rotation (ie. no cheese or butter, no fruit, etc.)

He is also taking some supplements that are geared towards improving his digestion, his liver function and improving his absorption of nutrients. Despite the fact that he eats a nutrient rich diet, poor digestion was causing him to be deficient in many nutrients, which was evidenced by some imperfections and flaws with the shape, size and function of his red blood cells.

One thing we are praising God for in the midst of this is that his white blood cells, only 2 years after going through cancer and chemotherapy treatments, were very strong and doing their job well! They saw no indication of anything pre-cancerous in his blood, nor were they concerned about his immunity. God is good!

So what are we eating these days?

Ummm, vegetables? LOL!

It's not quite that bad. For breakfast, he can have my homemade sourdough bread, almond butter, some whole grain hot cereals, hemp milk, the very occasional smoothie (depending on which fruits I use), freshly juiced apple and veggie juices, eggs, and some cheese depending on the day.

My guidelines for lunch and dinners are:

• Beef 2x a week (his maximum), fish 1x a week (alternating white fish one week, red/pink the next), and chicken or turkey or vegetarian protein (beans, legumes) the rest of the time
• Lots of veggies! Lately we've been eating asparagus, green salads, peas, bell peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, celery, etc.
• Grains like brown or wild rice, millet, quinoa. Some corn. Slices of sourdough rye/kamut bread. Brown rice pasta is also allowed, so we had cold pasta salad the other night, and I am trying to think of dairy and tomato free hot pasta sauces (ideas welcome!)
• Flavorings are mostly dried or fresh herbs, lemon/lime juice (only 2x a week), and salt and pepper.
• For oils and fats, it is mostly extra virgin olive oil and cold-pressed coconut oil. Butter is only allowed 2x per week, so we save that for his toast.
• A few other particulars, or foods that can only be in rotation- avocados (which he adores), sweet potatoes or yams, etc.

Here is my tentative meal plan for dinners next week:
Monday: Chicken Pot Pie using this millet dumpling topping (substituting hemp milk for the dairy)
Tuesday: Steak, millet (cooked in broth to give it more flavor), steamed cauliflower
Wednesday: Lentil/vegetable soup with green salad
Thursday: Tortilla sandwiches (with preservative free deli chicken slices)
Friday: Some type of hot (brown rice) pasta with sausages (still thinking of a sauce), plus green salad
Saturday: Vegetable stir-fry with beef over brown rice
Sunday: Pizza on homemade tortillas (these make a great, easy pizza "crust"), using a vegan pesto sauce, and one of the cheeses which he is allowed to have (feta or gouda)

A few things that I would love some suggestions for: general meal ideas for dinners, 100% stevia sweetened desserts, pasta sauces (dairy and tomato free) and salad dressings that don't include vinegar, lemon or lime juice, tomato, avocado or sweeteners (I know, I know, easy, right?).

Honestly, I'm not too stressed about this. We've done sooo many special diets over the years that this isn't really anything new. The kids and I can still eat some of our more regular foods in the daytime when Daddy isn't home. It's not seeming to be too taxing on the budget so far, with some careful planning. The only time that will be difficult is the initial weeks after baby arrives, because some of the foods I've already put away include no-no items, and we will also be receiving meals from our church members, whom I don't expect to be able to fully follow these guidelines! However, that will be a short season and we will make do, I'm sure!

Part of Menu Plan Mondays, hosted by Organizing Junkie.

Have you done any diets similar to this? Any meal/recipe suggestions for me? 

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
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• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
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• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

More from Keeper of the Home

• A Seasonal Menu Plan | Keeper of the Home
• Menu Plan Monday- March 3 | Keeper of the Home
• Making the Maker’s Diet work | Keeper of the Home
• Eczema: Solving the Underlying Causes, Part 1 | Keeper of the Home

Breakfasts:

Oatmeal (raw milk, honey, cinnamon) x2
Waffles with homemade blueberry syrup
Toast and eggs
Sprouted English muffins and smoothies
Homemade soaked granola (I'm going to try out a recipe I was given, combining it somewhat with this recipe) with yogurt and berries

Dinners:

Cream of Broccoli/Cauliflower Cheese Soup
Chicken Sausages, millet, random veggies (depending on what's left!)
Macaroni and Cheese (with brown rice pasta, raw milk and raw cheese), carrot sticks
Spicy Meatloaf (Nourishing Traditions), brown rice, salad (brought by friends who are coming over)
Spaghetti squash with tomato sauce
Butternut Squash Soup with sourdough bread

Menu Plan Mondays are hosted by Organizing Junkie.

Has anyone else continued to eat mostly from their pantry and freezer this month? How has it gone for you? Did you save money? Do you feel like you still ate well?

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
• Moukisac: Your 6 in 1 shopping bag system; compact, stylish, versatile and practical, of course! Made by Canadian mom.
• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
• ListPlanIt: Lists to put your world in order
• Vintage Remedies: Get healthy, naturally
• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

More from Keeper of the Home

• Menu Plan Monday- November 17 | Keeper of the Home
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• Menu Plan Monday- June 16 | Keeper of the Home
• Menu Plan Monday- March 24 | Keeper of the Home

Image by jspatchwork

Baby Step 8- Meal Planning Primer

What this baby step is all about:

To make a meal plan of your dinners for the next week (if you already do this, you could try planning breakfasts or lunches if you don't already).

Why this step is important:

I think that most women, if asked about cooking dinner for their family, would say that they wanted to be able to make affordable and healthy meals that are delicious, simple and as quick to prepare as possible.

I find that meal planning is one of the major tools that I use in order to align my cooking with those very same wishes (because no, I don't like spending hours on dinner, and yes, I'm super frugal and want it to be as nutritious as possible!).

Meal planning helps me to be purposeful about what my family is eating. I am able to be more intentional about meeting my family's nutritional needs by including a wide variety of foods and by seeing where I can improve our menus.

It helps me to keep costs low, by reducing waste, planning ahead, taking advantage of sales and seasonal deals, etc.

It saves me time and effort - I don't have to start wracking my brain in the middle of the afternoon for what I could possibly make for dinner. Knowing what I am making ahead of time allows me to prepare by taking the meat out of the deep freeze, soaking my grains or beans the day before, making sure I have all of the ingredients, etc.

How to get started with this step:

There are probably as many variations on meal planning as there are homemaking blogs, but allow me to share with you some basics of meal planning, as well as my particular method.

Image by Hillbraith

Make a plan before you go shopping. The idea is to have a fairly firm list, so that you will be less tempted to buy extras at the store, and so that you will know that you are coming home with the right ingredients to make actual meals (and not have to make an emergency run to the store mid-week).

Look at your calendar as you are planning- you'll want to know if there's a night when dinner needs to be really fast because of evening plans, or if you've been invited over to a friend's house (or vice versa, are having company over!), or if there's a special occasion, such as a family birthday.

Know that your menu plan does not have to rule you. Though I make a plan religiously each week, it almost inevitably gets switched up at some point during the week. I'm not in the mood for a particular dish, or it's been a hectic day and I'd rather make the simple dish planned for Thursday and switch the more time-intensive meal I had planned for that night, or I made far too much of a dish and we just need to ditch the plan and polish off some leftovers. Life happens, and the menu plan is there to serve you, not the other way around.

As for how I do my meal planning in particular, here are the steps that I follow:

1.    Take a quick inventory and put first things first. I glance in the fridge, pantry and freezer to jot down some of the things I have that I need to use up, especially any produce, dairy or meat that is at risk of spoiling.

2.    Sit down with my planner and look at my week.  I like to get a basic idea of any nights that we'll be out, or having guests, etc. This gives me an idea of the types of meals that I need to be thinking about.

3.    Use my favorite meal list. This is one of the best things I have done for my meal planning. I made my first list almost 3 years ago, and just updated it a few months ago. It is an extensive list of our favorite meals and specific recipes, organized into sections such as Red Meat, Chicken, Vegetarian and Fish Main Dishes, Soups and Stews, Salads, Veggie Side Dishes, Grain Sides (includes rice, bread, biscuits, etc.), as well as a list of our regular and favorite breakfasts. I also had my husband rate the meals, on a scale of 1-10, so I know which are his favorites (and the ones that he's not so into). This helps me to serve him and keep him in mind as I plan.

4.    Have a basic schedule for each week. This is a skeleton plan that I use for helping me to select my recipes. Mondays are chicken, Tuesday vegetarian, Wednesdays red meat, Thursdays fish, Fridays Ryan's favorites, Saturdays quick and easy, Sundays crockpot or make ahead meals. I love how this simplifies the choosing process and helps me to just slot in meals, as I find a chicken dish for Monday (off my handy dandy list, of course).

5.    Use a 2 week rotation. This may be an aspect of my planning where I differ a bit from others. Here's how it works... the first week, I don't have a lot of food in the house, so I plan whatever I feel like planning, make my shopping list, and go to the store.

While there, I will make substitutions if I need to (if I discover that there is no asparagus available, or that the price of peppers is ludicrous), but generally, I will buy what's on my list. However, I also look around for deals on items that are seasonal, on sale, discounted items (that are near expiry, perhaps). I also buy more than I need for week 1 (ie. if I need 3 carrots, I'll buy a whole bag). The end result is that I come home with enough food for two weeks.

Week 1, I stick to my pre-planned menu, but Week 2, I have a different strategy. As I go to plan my meals for that second week, I will take a careful inventory of what I have left and what needs to be used up, and I will choose my meals based on what I have. Although I occasionally need to do a very small, supplemental shopping trip, my goal that week is to avoid the store if at all possible!

This does several things: it helps me to maximize my grocery shopping money (by being able to stock up on deals), it helps me to carefully use up everything that I buy so that I am not wasting food, and it encourages me to be creative and to try out some new recipes as I seek to use the sometimes-random foods that I have remaining (it's not usually too random, but some weeks... it keeps me on my toes!).

Online Resources:

The Nourishing Gourmet- Meal Planning 101 series

Organizing Junkie- Why and How I Meal Plan, and details about her Menu Planning Monday carnival, where hundreds of bloggers share their weekly meal plans and great recipes!

My own posts on meal planning, Part 1 and Part 2

Taken from the eBook Healthy Homemaking: One Step at a Time.

Are you a meal planner? What are some of the ways that you make meal planning work for you? Share your method and tips with us!

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**The Tuesday edition!

We're into our third week of the challenge now, and I'm amazed at how easy this has been!

I did go produce shopping again yesterday, and would have spent less than $30 except that I was a softie and picked up a treat for my daughter and some discounted (but gorgeous!) Easter Lilies for myself. Even still, it was just under $34, and I intend to not go shopping again until May 1.

One thing that has been particularly sweet about this challenge is that I have actually had to do a fair bit of entertaining and hosting guests in our home, providing snacks for different events, etc. and with the exception of one time (I needed to provide a punch for a shower and we don't normally buy juice or most other beverages), I've been able to figure something out from what I had. It's been a good lesson for me that more often than I think, I can pull together something suitable to serve to guests, without having to go out and spend the extra money.

In the past two weeks, we've served stromboli and broccoli, pancakes and blueberry syrup, nachos and cheese, smoothies, popcorn, coffee cake, cheesy chicken tortilla wraps, breakfast wraps, spinach dip with organic tortilla chips, fresh veggies and orange slices, a large roast beef dinner (with most of the trimmings), and even a peach/blackberry/raspberry buckle!

Here's what we're eating this week:

Breakfasts

Zucchini Bread
Eggs and toast
French Toast
Baked Oatmeal (x2)
Yogurt, peaches and homemade raw granola
Lots of smoothies!

Lunches

Mostly leftovers, sandwiches, frresh fruits and veggies, smoothies, cleaning out odds and ends

Dinners

Annie's Shells and Noodles with Sauteed Mushrooms (this was the treat I bought my daughter, since it was on discount at the produce store. We had a crazy day, so I switched my menu plan around and went simple)
Beef Stroganoff and fresh, sauteed asparagus (I'm using leftover beef from the roast we ate for Easter)
Lentil-Rice Casserole, baked spaghetti squash and steamed cauliflower
Millet Vegetable Cobbler with added chicken
Either Samosas (bumped from last week) or Butter Chickpea Curry over rice (depends on my mood and energy level
Minestrone soup with homemade biscuits

Find more great menu plans at Menu Plan Monday!

What types of things have you served to guests when you thought you didn't really have anything to serve? Have you been amazed, as I have, at how a little creativity can work wonders and your guests would never have known the difference? How are your own challenges going, for those are keeping their shopping minimal along with me?

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
• Moukisac: Your 6 in 1 shopping bag system; compact, stylish, versatile and practical, of course! Made by Canadian mom.
• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
• ListPlanIt: Lists to put your world in order
• Vintage Remedies: Get healthy, naturally
• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

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• Menu Plan Monday- April 27 | Keeper of the Home

Welcome to my second week of "Eating from the pantry and freezer"! Despite a few changes in my plans for last week, we ate well with only a minimal grocery shop (just to get fresh produce for the next couple of weeks), and mostly just food from the stash in my pantry and freezer.

Even with an unplanned weekend guest, I was able to pull together some nice meals. I created a wild rice and chicken casserole, which I will have to share the recipe for soon, as we all thought it turned out great! I was afraid I wouldn't be able to make a suitable, impromptu lunch on Saturday (I didn't want to serve our guest leftovers, as we usually eat), but I managed to come up with a hearty tray of nachos and cheese instead, with red peppers and tomatoes on top and some leftover meatloaf on the side. For dinner that night I made my planned stromboli, and paired it with steamed broccoli, for a very yummy meal.

This week threw a couple of wrenches into my previous plans, as I clued in that it is Passover and Easter Sunday. We've never celebrated a Passover/Seder meal, but I am thinking that it would be something really neat to try. Read the post that inspired me, and another post with some great info for those interested in having a Passover dinner.

So, here is the menu plan I've come up with:

Breakfasts

• Oatmeal x2
• Raspberry-banana muffins (supposed to be cranberry, but I used mine up to float in a punch last week
• Toast and eggs
• Breakfast wraps (scrambled egg, cheese, tomato, potato)
• Coffee cake (leftovers from a snack I'm making)
• Cinnamon Rolls (Easter morning)
• Plus fruit smoothies or green smoothies most mornings

Dinners

• Beef Stir Fry over brown rice
• Spaghetti squash with sauce (bumped from last week)
• Samosas (chicken) with yogurt-cucumber sauce
• Passover Dinner- Jewish Chicken Soup, with some Egg and Onion Matza, plus I'm trying to figure out what to do for bitter herbs and Haroset (without going grocery shopping!)
• Chicken Salad sandwiches with fresh sprouts
• Baked potatoes with broccoli and cheese sauce
• Easter Dinner- Roast Beef, scalloped poatoes, honey glazed carrots, corn, yorkshire puddings and gravy, plus some apple/berry crisp for dessert

How is everyone else faring with their menus while eating from the pantry and freezer, especially with a special meal like Easter dinner coming up? Have any of you celebrated a Christian Passover meal, and do you have any ideas for me as far as bitter herbs or a dessert?

Meun Plan Mondays are hosted by Organizing Junkie!

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
• Moukisac: Your 6 in 1 shopping bag system; compact, stylish, versatile and practical, of course! Made by Canadian mom.
• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
• ListPlanIt: Lists to put your world in order
• Vintage Remedies: Get healthy, naturally
• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

More from Keeper of the Home

• Week 1 Plan- “Eating From the Pantry and Freezer” Month | Keeper of the Home
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• Menu Plan Monday- April 27 | Keeper of the Home

As promised, here is a rundown on what I'm doing for this first week of working with what I've already got!

Beth asked me what kind of things I have stockpiled in my freezer and pantry right now. Glad you asked! Here's a basic list of the inventory I created last week:

• Canned goods from last fall (tons of tomatoes and 1 can of peaches)
• Frozen shredded zucchini and canned pumpkin puree, also from the garden
• Baking supplies- kamut, oats, rye, barley, cornmeal, buckwheat, etc. and cocoa, yeast, sucanat, raw honey, spices, etc.
• Frozen Ezekiel sprouted grain English muffins
• Frozen organic milk, to make yogurt and kefir
• Organic butter and pastured butter in the freezer, and one package of frozen cream cheese
• Lots of dry beans and such- chickpeas, black beans, white beans, red and green lentils, some kidney beans
• brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, millet, and also a nice big bag of organic popcorn
• a 5 lb bag of brown rice noodles
• some dates and organic raisins, and also some soaked/dried walnuts
• sprout seeds, brewer's yeast, pumpkin seeds that we soaked and dried
• large bag of organic corn chips
• tin of olive oil, plus 1/2 gallon coconut oil
• tons of frozen berries- blueberries, raspberries, as well as frozen peach slices, ripe bananas and a bit of blackberries and cranberries
• frozen organic corn, plus some butternut squash and red peppers that I diced and froze last summer
• about 8 large spaghetti squash from our garden (anyone want one???)
• 2 whole chickens and 2 beef roasts
• several packages of ground beef, chicken and turkey
• a bit of beef sausage, plus some organic liver, and about 6-7 packs of grass-fed beef steaks (which are too tough eaten alone, but work really nicely in the crockpot, in stews, etc.)
• lots of beef broth and a bit of chicken broth
• a bit of fresh veggies- onions, few carrots, celery, couple tomatoes, green cabbage

What do you think? Time to clear things out a bit or what? I love being well-stocked, but it also seems like a good time to work through some of what we have before summer arrives again (and with it, garden produce and fruit galore!), and before I manage to save up the rest of the needed money for my next big purchase of grass-fed beef.

Armed with this inventory, I created a long list of potential meal ideas, allowing for the addition of fresh produce, milk and eggs, in addition to what we already have. From that list of meal ideas, I made a 4 week menu plan for breakfasts and dinners (we tend to eat leftovers and other odds and ends for lunch).

Here is the first week's menu plan:

Breakfasts
Baked Oatmeal x 2
Zucchini Bread
French Toast
Toast and eggs
Yogurt with granola, berries, nuts, etc.
Plus lots of green smoothies and other fruit smoothies

Dinners
Cheesy Turkey Sausage Stromboli (mine will use beef sausage) with raw veggies and dip
Beef Stew, green salad and bread (I'll toss some of the cabbage into this as well)
Spaghetti Squash with sauce (probably some kind of marinara, though I haven't decided)
Chicken and Wild Rice Casserole, with a side veggie (I plan to challenge myself and create this recipe- hope it's good!)
Taco Salad (using kidney and black beans instead of meat)
Sweet and Sour Lentils, with a salad (possibly coleslaw?) and bread

I've left one spot open each week for both breakfast and dinner, because I find we often have enough leftovers to make up one dinner each week, depending on what I've been cooking. For breakfasts, sometimes we like to just make what suits our fancy one morning (common choices are pancakes or sprouted English Muffin egg and cheese sandwiches).

In addition to these meals, I'll also be roasting a chicken, which I will promptly turn into 4 packages of shredded chicken (3 for the freezer, one for the wild rice casserole), and then a batch of chicken broth for soup recipes in the upcoming weeks. Plus, I'll be baking 3 more loaves of sourdough bread, using this recipe. I tried it once and was quite happy with how simple it was. We all enjoyed it, though agreed that it might need 10 more minutes of baking time, and maybe just a bit more kamut and a bit less rye flour. Otherwise, so far so good!

This morning, I hit my beloved produce market and spent a whopping $31 for two weeks. I also bought some cheese in Washington this weekend ($11), because it's yummy and much cheaper than here. Other than a bit of money I had to spend on punch supplies for a wedding shower I'm hosting, that is all that I intend to spend until April 15, aside from my standard milk and eggs. Yay!

Anyone want to share what they're making from their pantry and freezer?

Menu Plan Mondays are hosted by Organizing Junkie!

Our Sponsors:

• It Starts at Home: Are we Discipling or Outsourcing the faith of our children? Read It Starts at Home! Then, just nurture them together.
• Moukisac: Your 6 in 1 shopping bag system; compact, stylish, versatile and practical, of course! Made by Canadian mom.
• hope ink: Custom inspirational art for your home
• ListPlanIt: Lists to put your world in order
• Vintage Remedies: Get healthy, naturally
• Just Bumming Around: When only the best cloth diapers (at great prices) will do. FuzziBunz packages on SALE!

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• Week 3 Plan- “Eating From the Pantry and Freezer” | Keeper of the Home
• “Eating From the Pantry and Freezer” Month | Keeper of the Home
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