Our Green Shoes: September Menu

September Menu

This is the first month I’ve done it this way, so I'm sure there will be some editing to future months.

I first went over all our schedules (mine, hubs, and girls) then planned

out a type of dinner that would work best each night.

Monday: Simple (something I could make and Shaun could take to school)
*Hubs takes 4yr old to gymnastics this night and then goes straight to class*

Tuesday: Crockpot
*We are both gone all day and get home right before dinner*

Wednesday: Lite
*I go to Zumba this night, so I want to eat something super lite when I get
home*

Thursday: Pre-made
*We are both gone all day, so I’d like to have something previously made and
frozen that we can just toss in the oven*

Friday: Husband's choice
*He is home before I get off work, so he gets to decide and make dinner*

Saturday: Out or leftovers
*We usually are out and about this day, so we get to decide to eat out or
leftovers* (We don’t eat out more then twice a month and usually use some
kind of coupon.)

Sunday: -
*I don’t plan anything because we go to in-laws a lot this day or we are
starving because we get out of church at 2 and then aren’t hungry for dinner*

Next I got out a calendar and planned different meals for the days of the
week that we’d be home. There were a few days that we had special events
or knew we’d be gone that night, so I didn’t plan meals for those. So when I
got done I had; for example, 4 Monday meals, 5 Tuesday, 3 Wednesday…and I
also planned special things like desserts for after family night. I also wanted to start making breakfast on Sunday mornings, so I planned those out
as well.

Mondays:
Corn & Zucchini Quesadillas
BBQ Chicken Ranch Wraps
Bean & Cheese Burritos
BBQ Chicken Salad

Tuesdays:
BBQ Chicken Crockpot meal
Potato Soup
Chicken Fajitas
Enchilada Soup

Wednesdays:
Homemade Pizzas
Spaghetti Squash w/marinara sauce
Stack Dinners

Thursdays:
Enchiladas
Pasta Bake (which was awful!)
Sweet & Sour Chicken & Rice
Taco Soup

Fridays:
Red Beans & Rice
Pork, veggie, & fruit
Hamburger Spins

Sunday Breakfasts:
Pancake Bites
Cinnamon Rolls & Fruit
Crepes

Family Night Desserts:
Baked Churros
Brownies
Arroz con leche

After that I went through all the recipes and made a list of ingredients I would
need. I wrote out all the ingredients and then went through my kitchen and
crossed off the stuff I already had. I finished up my list adding breakfast
stuff to the list (cereal, oatmeal…) and lunch stuff and then the usual (bread,
milk, eggs, fruit) and I planned a store trip when my hubby could watch our
youngest and went to the store! I picked up most things for the entire month. We made a few extra trips for fruit & veggies and then I didn't plan well for my daughter's bday, so I had to get stuff for that. Total for the month we spent $266 for our family of four.

This may sound like it took a long time, but the planning was like maybe 2
hours on a Sunday afternoon. (recipes of things I hadn’t previously made I got
from pinterest, so those were all in one place and easy to look up) And I made sure I went to the store on a separate day, so I wasn’t too overwhelmed or exhausted.

Here are pictures of our meals: