Dinner Menus and Recipes**This is a work in progress and NOT complete! If there is something listed that doesn't seem clear or if there is a recipe you would like that is not included here, please email me at irishones7@juno.com*** This is listed in the "____ on Monday, ____ on Tuesday" format to help give ideas only. I don't even follow this myself and Sunday is not listed since that is almost always a "roast day" here, although not in the summer. I also don't always do the meals as a whole. Sometimes we are just not in the mood for a certain side dish or dessert so I adapt and make something else. This is a basic list of the foods that my family likes the most. It evolved from 3 x 5 cards that I had used to list meals that I knew my family would eat. I started out with 2 weeks' worth, 14 meals. It has taken several years to get this many together but now that we have more variety everyone is a bit happier. You CAN do this for yourself! First make a list of things that you KNOW your family will eat and come up with a handful of meals. Start with main dishes only and you'll find that you think of other meals and sides/ desserts as you go. There are no vegetarian based meals unless you count the pasta dishes because my husband is simply an Irish meat-and-potatoes type. A couple shopping tips that help me to keep costs down : 1) Make a list! This is where this whole list of menus came from. I find that if I figure out what we will eat and make a list to stick to that my bill is lower. 2) Make another list! I know, some of you just aren't list makers but this one has really helped me; I go through my cupboards and refrigerator/freezer and make a list of everything I have (not spices, etc) and take a look at that first before I make my shopping list. This has saved me from buying multiples because I wasn't sure if I had the item on hand or not. I am also sometimes able to make full meal plans from what I already have on hand and buy less for that week because of it. 3) Be flexible! For instance, if I make my list up and get to the store to find that one thing is on sale or just far cheaper that week than another then I try to adapt and plans change a bit. I do try to keep the main dishes the same and make sure that I check the ads FIRST so I know what is on sale or not. 4) Check the "dented cans" section. Many times I have checked here to find items that were completely fine (and not dented at all!) but were there because the store was phasing them out. I've gotten many things from beans to Holiday coffees and candies etc. in this section at a mere fraction of the price, most often as little as 10% of the original. If I don't use the item that week because it wasn't "planned" it simply goes onto the "have-on-hand" list the next week and usually gets used then. There is so much more information for lowering food costs and there are websites galore. One that I particularly like is www.hillbillyhousewife.com. I also do most of my food shopping at Aldi www.aldi.com. NO they are not a store that carries off brands or junk! There are a few things I don't purchase there but most of it is VERY comparable to the big brands and so much cheaper. If you have one nearby, please check them out! Buy one or two things and give it a try, I bet you won't be disappointed. Beef-Monday 2) Hot Roast Beef and Cheese Sub 3) Hamburgers in Gravy 4) Cheeseburger 5) Tacos 6) Poor Man's Steak
7) Bulgogi or Korean BBQ Beef
8) Pasties 9) Creamed Chipped Beef on Toast 10) Steak Sandwich 11) Beef and Broccoli with Garlic
Sauce 12) Sloppy Joes 13) Chili Cheese Burgers 14)
Ramen Noodles and Ground Beef or Meatballs 15) Chicago Pizza Burger 16) No Bean Chili and
Fritos Chicken-Tuesday 17) Fried chicken 18) Chicken with rice 19) Chicken fried rice 20) Roast chicken 21) Chicken stew 22) Chicken soup (This is our favorite for those times when money is
very tight.) 23) Anne's Chicken Quesadillas
25) Sliced turkey and gravy 26) Chicken Parmesan sandwich (frozen chicken
patties-marinara-mozzarella) 27) Anne's Chicken Tortilla Soup
28) Chicken Patty Sandwich 29) BBQ Chicken 30) Chicken nuggets 31) Crunchy Turkey Slices 32) Chicken and Stuffing Bake 33) Chicken and Noodles 34) Chicken Spaghetti 35) Chicken Sandwich Ring
36) Devonshire Sandwiches
Pasta-Wednesday 38) Macaroni and cheese with hot dogs 39) Spaghetti 40) Ravioli 41) Noodle Frittata 42) Pasta Salad
43) Three Cheese Tortellini with ham cubes, alfredo sauce and
peas Pork-Thursday 43) BLT's 44) Corndogs 45) Hot ham and cheese sub 46) Chili cheese dogs 47) Bagel Dogs 48) Moo Shu pork 49) Ham Steaks 50) Pork Chops and Gravy 51) Kielbasa in Beer 52) Scottish Eggs 53) Pork Tenderloin Roast 54) Kielbasa stir fry 55) Au Gratin Potatoes and Ham
(crockpot)
56) Ham Loaf 58) Sausage Rolls 59) Crescent roll dogs Fish-Friday 60) Fish sticks 61) Tuna and Crackers
62) Classic Fried Catfish
63) Ming Dynasty Tuna Casserole
Misc.-Saturday 64) Grilled cheese 65) Pizza Bagels 66) Hoagies 67) Stromboli 68) Muffuletta 69) Quesadillas 70) Appetizer Night 71) Salads |
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New on Family.com Fried Rice |
Recent Favorite Tostones with Chorizo, Cilantro and Lime |