Meal Planning

We have been back in Nepal for almost 4 months now. These past 4 months have been so busy and every week I have told myself that I need to sit down and create a weekly/monthly meal plan/schedule because if you are anything like me, each morning you are trying to figure out what you have in the fridge and what you can get at the market in order to create a good dinner for your family. Living like this (especially in Nepal and other countries where there is no option for fast food or delivery or microwave meals or frozen pizza, etc) is stressful and time consuming.

So, I finally did it!!!!

I finally sat down and planned out dinners for the next three weeks. Everything we make here has to be made from scratch (thankfully we can get canned spaghetti sauce, canned beans, and have now even started getting a few frozen items such as french fries and tater tots and things like that most of the time) so these menu ideas are all things that can be made without many imported items. Also, a complete grocery list is not included here. Here in Nepal we have a few grocery stores where I do the bulk of my shopping and then we have small markets/shops that sell fresh vegetables, fruits, flour, sugar, butter, bread, salt, etc. everywhere. So my market lists are not grocery lists...they are simply a list of what I need from my local market each day. If you don't live near a market you could total up the vegetables you need each week and just buy them in one day and use them all week but because my little market is just 100 meters from my house I like to buy them each day.

So far (these past 2 days) having this planned out has made life so much simpler. It is one less thing I have to think about each day and it is so good to know that I have what I need in my fridge (except for my market items) for at least a weeks worth of meals...that means no last minute running to the grocery store and that means less time and less spending money on little things I find here and there. I would love to hear what you do each week for meal planning. I would love some meal ideas and always love to hear ways to make life easier.

September 2009
Monday 7: BLT and Tater Tots

From Market:
Lettuce
Tomatoes

Tuesday 8: Pot Roast (Buffalo or Beef) with Carrots, mashed potatoes and green beans

From Market:
3 Carrots
1 kg potatoes
300 g green beans (use some of these vegetables for Thursday’s pot pie for K and G)

Wednesday 9: Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup

From Market:
2 large tomatoes, tomato soup packets

Thursday 10: Chicken Panini’s with Spinach, Tomatoes and homemade honey mustard and Baked french fries
(use extra chicken and make pot pie cubes to freeze for K&G)

From Market:
2 large tomatoes, spinach, fresh bread


Friday 11: Pineapple Pizza
w/carrot and cucumber sticks

From Market:
1 carrot, 1 cucumber, 1 onion, flour


Monday 14: Chicken Burritos and Mexican rice

From Market:
2 green peppers, 2 onions, flour

Tuesday 15: Shepherd’s Pie

From Market:
2 tomatoes, 2 carrots, 200 g green beans, 1 onion, 1 garlic, 1 kg potatoes
(use extra potatoes to make mashed ones for K and G)

Wednesday 16: Chicken Noodle Soup and Biscuits

From Market:
2 Carrots, 2 onions, 1 Garlic, flour

Thursday 17: Banana Pancakes and Eggs

From Market:
6 Bananas, flour and eggs

Friday 18: Pineapple or Veg and Olive Stromboli with raw carrots and cucumbers

From Market:
2 Carrots, 2 Cucumbers, vegetables for pizza

Monday 21: Chicken Fingers with mashed potatoes and green beans

From Market:
1 kg large potatoes (use some for Tuesday night), 200 g green beans

Tuesday 22: Chili and Baked Potatoes

From Market:
½ kg tomatoes, 1 onion, 1 garlic

Wednesday 23: Pancakes or Cinnamon Toast with Eggs

From Market:
Eggs, bread

Thursday 24: Spaghetti with meat sauce and Garlic Bread

From Market:
1/2 kg tomatoes, Bread

Friday 25: Chicken Panini’s with Spinach, Tomatoes and homemade honey mustard and baked french fries

From Market:
2 large tomatoes, spinach, fresh bread