The Rules

The Rules

1.      Eat your leftovers.  Why throw away your hard earned money.  Make one day a week leftover day or take leftovers the next day for lunch. 

2.      Vary your meals.  Change between poultry, beef, pork, fish and vegetarian meals.  Avoid placing similar ethnic foods (pizza & spaghetti) on adjacent days.

3.      Double your recipe.  If you have a deep freezer, double your recipe so clean up time is cut in half.  You also have extra meals that can be used for next month already prepared! 

4.      Have fun.  Enjoy breakfast for dinner (Brinner).  A kid’s choice night and just be prepared for PB & J.  Plan 1 or 2 nights to eat out.

5.      Incorporate fresh fruits and veggies.  Most of the meals will have vegetables but it is always nice to have lettuce on hand for a salad or fruits for snacks or dessert.

6.      Plan and prepare.  Plan your month and shopping trip.  Right now I am planning a week in advance and hope to work up to a month in advance.  Prepare your meals and placing ingredients in freezer bags.

I’ve planned for the remaining month of August and we are looking forward to how this will work for our family.  I will be shopping and preparing the meals for the week on Sundays.  My plan is to be able to shop once a month for the majority of the items and have everything prepared ahead of time. 

Next week the kids start school and I want to be prepared for the change to our schedule.  A week after the kids start I go back to school.  I am taking four classes this semester.  Two are online and two are in the evenings.  The even classes are hard on my family.  As soon as my husband gets home from work I have to head out the door to school.  I like to have a nice dinner ready instead of everyone fending for themselves. 

The meals will be broken down into three categories:

FNC – Freezer meals with no cooking.  Generally these will be slow-cooker meals where all of the ingredients will be placed in a labeled, freezer bag.

FPC – Freezer meals with pre-cooking.  These meals will require part of the meal cooked prior to being placed in a labeled, freezer bag.

CC – Chop, Chop.  Quick, cook meals made that day.  These may have some prep work but primarily made that day.

My last birthday my MIL and SIL gave me a new Crock-Pot that is amazing.  It’s easy to use and has a nice touch screen.  I love how the lid seals for transporting.  They also gave me a carrying case so I can take warm meals to family and friend gatherings.  This will be my main cooking utensil.