Dinner Archives - Page 5 of 8 - Making Sense Of Cents

Monday Meal Plan

Last Updated: December 7, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 24 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Meal planning is still going good for us! I don’t have to much this week, just bread and milk because I did way too much grocery shopping last week.

Here’s what I plan on making as our main course for each dinner:

Monday – Lemon Chicken – this is pretty much a weekly staple in our house. I’m getting sick of it, but the BF still loves it.
Tuesday – Pizza – I’m really loving making different pizza! BBQ chicken maybe?
Wednesday – Teriyaki Chicken – another staple in our house
Thursday – White Chicken Lasagna or Florentine Lasagna
Friday – Out for dinner
Saturday – Spaghetti – The BF hates spaghetti, but I LOVE it.

What’s on your menu? I’m always looking for ideas!

I’m also hoping to make this!

Update: A lot of you e-mailed me for the directions for the Lemon Chicken! It’s pretty simple. I just make it from the top of my head, but I found a similar recipe here. It’s tasty!

P.S. I have a guest post over at From Shopping to Saving. Check it out!

Meal Plan

Last Updated: March 21, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 15 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I hope everyone is having a great Thursday! The wonderful Aubrey Rose agreed to do a guest post for me, which couldn’t have come at a better time, since I either have food poisoning or the stomach flu. That’s probably too much information knowing that this guest post is about meal planning, so I’ll leave it at that.Hello everyone and Thank you for having me!

A little about myself before we get started :

My name is Aubrey Rose and I blog over at Discovering Adulthood. I am 19 and love budgeting and saving. I know that makes me a little strange! I have two cats, a dog, and a Fiance. I have lived on my own for the better half of two years now. And in case you can’t tell, I am horrible at talking about myself!

Today I am going to tell you a little bit about how we go about meal planning.

My first year living on my own was a challenge. Somehow, with a lot of help from God, and family I managed to make it through though. When the new year started I took a step back and looked at my spending to see where I could cut back. I realized that Loveyy and I spend A LOT of money on eating out. Not always on restaurants either, a lot of it was Subway, McDonalds, or Dunkin Donuts. Its really gross when you think about it. So my resolution for the new year was to reduce eating out to twice a week. That included everything! Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner! I know it is going to be a challenge, but I think we will be better off for it.

The easiest way to make sure we reduced our eating out was to make sure that every week we had a meal plan. That way there could be no last minute “Well, we don’t have anything to eat so lets just go out” excuses. (We used that one a lot last year) We have started grocery shopping a lot more than usual, and this has really helped us out.

Its just Loveyy and I so shopping was difficult at first. We would decide we want tacos – but we don’t need a whole pound of beef. So the other half would usually end up going bad. Then I came up with an idea. Every week I ask Loveyy “What would you like for dinner this week” and usually I get the same unhelpful response of “It doesn’t matter”. Wonderful. So then I sit down and think about what I want for the week. I write a list of about 3 dinner ideas. From there I build. Say one of the meals I have planned is chicken fajitas – okay, so that will take up about half a package of cutlets, now what to do with the other half? I could do either chicken tenders, or grilled chicken salad. (I’ll probably choose tenders) All of a sudden, I have two meals planned off of just one. I hope I’m making sense here.

We eat much healthier now that we eat at home. I don’t like to buy a lot of fatty foods, and I usually try to make sure we have a veggie or salad with dinner.

I know that grocery shopping and “making dinner” every night can seem intimidating when you are first starting out, and used to food being prepared for you every night so here are a couple of tips :

-Don’t be afraid to do “ready made” : Before shopping I look at my work schedule, if I know that I am going to be working late and won’t feel like cooking much, I grab a frozen pizza or one of the frozen dinners. They’re quick, easy and usually make very little mess in the kitchen. The first time I ventured into the frozen dinner isle I was surprised at how many options there were.

-Plan a sandwich night every week : Instead of cooking a big full course dinner every night, plan a night every week where you just do cold cuts on a nice bun. Those with a side salad, or a side of chips can make an awesome dinner. Especially if you buy some Lettuce, Tomatoes, and Onions to go on top!

-Have Family dinner : My family gets together every Sunday at one of the grandparents houses. This mean that every Sunday I don’t have to worry about cooking. Most of us have parents, or grandparents who would be delighted for the company. Just call them up and see if you can come for a visit one night. Now, you are getting a free meal, while enjoying the company of your loved ones.

-Just go out! Of course you are going to be exhausted at the end of the week! Everyone is. You could try planning one night a week, or every other week where you order in Chinese, or where you go out. Its perfectly okay to do in moderation. Just don’t go to crazy. Go in with a plan on how much you can afford, and don’t stray!

Here is a dinner Loveyy and I recently had.

It is super easy, and super delicious.

Just keep in mind that I cook for two, so if you have more you may want to double the recipe.

Ultimate Nacho Dinner!

You will need :

Note: everything listed below is approximate. I usually cook off the top of my head. And hardly ever follow a recipe. Go with your gut, if you don’t like it to spicy, take out the jalapeno. I love spice!

1 can of chili with beans

½ lb of beef

about a cup of chopped onions

one chopped jalapeno

A bag of Tortilla Chips

Fiest blend shredded cheese

Half a chopped tomato

lettuce

sour cream

Brown your beef in a pan.

While the beef is cooking chop up your onion and jalepeno

Add in the chili

then throw in the onions and the jalapenos.

Heat thoroughly.

Lay down one layer of chips, then scoop the chili on top of it.

Now lat down a second layer of chips.

Scoops some more chili, sprinkle some cheese on top.

Now add lettuce and tomato, and finish with a dollop of sour cream.

And you have yourself an amazing Nacho dinner!

Proof that you don’t have to be a master chef, of cook for an hour to make great dinners.

Now – I love making chili from scratch, but it takes a lot more time, and a little more money, this was is so much easier. I think the whole dinner maybe took me 15 minutes.

Don’t forget to taste as you go!

Thank you for having me.

I hope to see you around my blog.

-Aubrey RoseMy comment: Have you been meal planning? Any tips?

Monday Meal Plan and a recipe

Last Updated: November 19, 2015 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 17 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

This whole meal planning thing is going great. This is my third one now. There are a couple of small things that I need for this week (fruits, vegetables, milk, bread, etc).

Even on the days that I had classes until 10pm, I still managed to make dinner for us. This is definitely an improvement over last semester for us! And a lot of you emailed and commented asking for my Teriyaki Chicken recipe. I plan on posting that soon, no worries!

Here’s what I plan on making as our main course for each dinner:

Monday – Chicken Alfredo
Tuesday – Steak
Wednesday – Orange Chicken
Thursday – Lasagna
Friday – Out for dinner
Saturday – Chili

What’s on your menu? I’m always looking for ideas!

Monday Meal Plan

Last Updated: December 8, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 11 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

This will be my second meal plan ever. My first one (last week) went pretty well. Everything that was on my menu, I made, and it was all very good. It also made it very easy when thinking about what we should eat. Of course it made grocery shopping easier also.

There are a couple of small things that I need for this week (fruits, vegetables, milk, bread, etc).

It will be a little harder for us to make dinner at home soon since my classes start this week and I go until around 10pm at night. But I’m still going to try and cook on those days. Some of you have asked why the BF never really cooks dinner for us, and that’s because he doesn’t get home until after 11pm, and I honestly could not wait for him to get home and make food because I would be starving.

My friend’s mom is also giving me her bread maker, so I plan on attempting that also!

Here’s what I plan on making as our main course for each dinner:

Monday– Teriyaki Chicken
Tuesday– Chicken Enchiladas
Wednesday– Steak
Thursday-Spaghetti and meat sauce
Friday– Out for dinner
Saturday– Fajitas

What’s on your menu? I’m always looking for ideas!

Monday Meal Plan

Last Updated: December 8, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 23 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I’ve never done a meal plan before, but starting today, I will do this every week. This will save me time (because I won’t be deciding what I want to make at the grocery store) and will save me money (because I won’t have as much food spoilage and will be buying things that I actually need).

Also as an FYI, for breakfast and lunch, we just make our own stuff, since he wakes up 10 hours after I do. I tend to just have cereal for breakfast and something boring for lunch. I need to change that still.

I plan on running to the store today really quick to just get a couple of things that I need.

Here’s what I plan on making as our main course for each dinner:

Monday– Spaghetti and meatballs. I was going to make this the other day but ran out of time. I’ve never made meatballs before, so I’m getting my recipe from Thrifty Crafty Girl
Tuesday– Pasta and roasted vegetables (pictures above)
Wednesday– Cheeseburgers
Thursday-Tacos
Friday– Out for dinner
Saturday– Florentine Lasagna

Desserts that I plan on making for us:

Cheesecake
Apple pie

What’s on your menu? I’m always looking for ideas!

Spending, Life, Income and Food Updates… 1/3/2012

Last Updated: June 25, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 18 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

Here are some pictures that I took recently. An awesome French Bulldog thing from Urban Outfitters, food, Christmas, some presents and more food. It’s not fun having a full five day work week this week. And the week is hardly even over, not used to this! Anyways, here are my updates:

Extra Monthly Income: It’s a little depressing that the holidays are over, because now the BF’s job will be slow again. So he won’t be making all of that overtime, but that’s ok! We will think of other ways to bring in extra money.

Due to all of the extra income, we were able to save around $7,000 in December. I threw a bigger payment towards my debt as well. I plan on doing an updated net worth update post soon, stay updated! I think I’ve only done one of those since I started this blog, the numbers just kind of scare me, so much debt!

Volunteer work: Volunteering starts on January 7th. I have training for 3 days in a row I think. This will be interesting and something new for me. I’m excited, but I’m a little nervous. I’ve only ever had two jobs (including the one that I have now) in my whole life, so I’m nervous for meeting new people and screwing things up.

Budget Cutting: We cut out budget by a little, but it’s the little things that add up 🙂

We got our car insurance renewal papers, insurance went down $11 per month! Not a ton, but our insurance is super low already.
We’ve kept the heat lower than what we usually do (around 72 degrees) and have saved a significant amount over last year. It also helps that it has been super nice out this past week (around 60 degrees). I can’t remember what our last heat bill was, but it was around $60 or $70 I think. Last year at this time, it was around $150, which is amazing!

Food: I actually cooked a decent amount last week. It was pretty nice! The food was good (of course, since I’m cooking it! ha). I want to start menu planning soon also. Not sure though, usually I’m not in the mood for something that I thought about earlier, I’m weird like that.

Be sure to check out Jenn @ Bliss to Bean’s giveaway! This will definitely help me with my cooking if I won.

Shopping: We definitely came in under our Christmas budget, and all of our other budgets for the month. Did some last minute shopping on New Years Eve, and found really great prices on a lot of things. We were very happy about this. Tons of toys were half off and of course all of the Christmas stuff was too, which was nice since one of our Christmas dinners was on New Years Day.

However, I’m a little ashamed to say how much we spent, as our Christmas budget is very high. If this gives you any idea, the BF got two pretty nice guns for his present (which is sorta mixed in with his birthday present as well, since his birthday is a month away). Anyways, we used the month of December as our excuse to splurge a little more, as we both tend to have way higher incomes in this month.

$100 Ticket: Still need to pay this. I think I have a couple more days to pay it. I plan on paying it today online.

Vacation planning: We haven’t really thought about this a ton. Hopefully soon. We’re thinking Puerto Rico again. We get really cheap plane tickets (as talked about here), so we can pretty much plan until the last very last second. Our budget is probably going to be around $1,000 for the vacation (food, hotel, airfare, miscellaneous). Since we usually book things so late, there are usually great deals everywhere, so it’s a win win.

We want passports though for our vacation after this first one. Hopefully soon we will get on that.

Buying my own Domain: This is a big question that I have right now. How much does this usually cost? Is there a preferred provider for this?

How’s everything going for you?

Pinterest Food Inspirations and let me know if you want my coupon stash

Last Updated: December 8, 2014 BY Michelle Schroeder-Gardner - 27 Comments

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through my links, at no cost to you. Please read my disclosure for more info.

I’ve been guilty of making the same thing a lot lately. The BF even asked last night when we could eat something new. That’s how bad our boring food nights have been lately. I’ve been lazy and also just haven’t really cared a ton lately. I should care though! This goes in line with my boring food lunch post that I had yesterday. I want to make it a goal of mine to make at least 2 brand new meals a week for us, but that’s hard.

Anyways, here’s what I plan on making someday in the near future (pictures are numbered from left to right):

I love quiche! I can actually make this kind of decent, but sometimes it doesn’t taste as good as other times.
I’m horrible at making pizza (it always turns out really floppy? Not sure why), but I LOVE BBQ chicken pizza. It is so good. I would love it if I could ake this at home.
This potato corn chowder looks delicious! I’ve never tried making something like this before.
Roasted vegetable enchiladas! Looks good and easy.
I actually hardly ever make fettuccine alfredo, need to make it more!

What meals have you been wanting to try and make? Or have you tried anything new?

I bought a crock pot last week! Haven’t used it yet though. Hopefully soon!

My cutting skills aren’t the greatest, sorry guys 🙁

This is my coupon pile. I finally got around to cutting the coupons out of my newspapers from the past month. I tried taking out the ones that are expired, but if there are any left, then I’m sorry about that. I obviously don’t really coupon anymore, and it’s a waste. I’ve just been throwing away past coupons, but this time I’ll just mail them to one of you.

I haven’t really had time to use them, so does anyone want them?

Just leave a comment here and I’ll email you for your address, or just email me with your address, whatever is fine! Sorry guys, I didn’t think anyone would want them, but Amanda and Mommy Saves ALOT already said they wanted them. Try entering my necklace giveaway though and maybe you’ll get something for free!

I’m going to mail them out after work TODAY (Wednesday) so let me know soon!

Thanks!

P.S. Check out this giveaway hosted by My life as Liz Taylor! It’s great!