*New feature* - Menu Plan Monday!

Here's a new feature I would like to start here at CentsibleSavings. I know that many of you probably plan weekly menus and you might even participate in Menu Plan Monday at orgjunkie.com. I will be honest, I usually just plan my menu in my head because I have a lot on hand in my stockpile, and I am a "eat what I feel like that day" person. But I NEED to get into the habit of actually planning a menu and using up some forgotten things in my stockpile and I can keep myself accountable by sharing it with you!

Here's a few explanations of our menu: I will only post dinner meals for now. Our family consists of just my husband and I for now and we both work so breakfasts and lunches will be food we just keep on hand or leftovers. Here's typically what we do for breakfasts: for him - oatmeal, grits, granola bar, yogurt, etc. and for me - I eat breakfast at work - toast, bagel, yogurt, fruit, etc. Then for lunches we are usually at work so my husband takes leftovers from supper the day before (I also keep on hand cans of hearty soup or a prepared meal for days just in case there are no leftovers but 4 out of 5 days he will eat leftovers) and I have fruit salad, crackers and cheese or peanut butter, or a sandwich. Also because of our work and church schedule our meals are somewhat unusual on a few days: Wednesdays we usually don't have time to eat in between work and church so we try to eat a bigger lunch and will just snack when we get home from church, Fridays we are both home late and will eat a lighter meal, and on Sundays we will eat our bigger meal for lunch.

So here is what we will have for dinner this week:

Monday -
grilled turkey tenderloin, grilled corn on the cob, mashed potatoes
(My husband and I both do a lot of grilling during the summer - so you will see a lot of grilled food for the next few months.)

dessert - Fresh Fruit Pizza (I picked blueberries last week, got strawberries for $.99 at Aldi's, and have cream cheese and sugar cookie dough in the refrigerator that need to be used so this will be good! I adapt the recipe I linked above by adding a few teaspoons of powdered sugar to the cream cheese and I only make 1 "pizza" with the cookie dough on my large Pampered Chef Pizza stone. You can use any fruit you want but I always try to include strawberries and kiwi as they are especially good with this recipe.)

Tuesday - our day off
breakfast - homemade, hot from the oven,blueberry muffins for breakfast with my fresh blueberries I picked last week - yummy, can't wait!

dinner - grilled chicken salad and toasted french bread. I cut chicken breasts into strips and marinate in Italian dressing. Then I (or my husband!) grill them on the grill and serve over a bed of greens, tomatoes, cheese, and bacon. Perfect for a hot summer day!

Wednesday -
leftovers or snacks (see explanation above)

Thursday -
dinner at a friend's house so no dinner to plan for tonight :)

Friday - BLT sandwiches, chips

Saturday -
we are heading out of town as soon as my husband gets off work so we will probably grab fast food on this day.

Sunday -
we will be out of town so will eat out for this meal with David's family

So there you go - our somewhat unique menu plan. How about you? Do you menu plan and what is on your menu this week? As I am fairly new at this, I would love to hear how you plan your menus and any suggestions and ideas you have for me. I hope to share recipes with you in future menu posts and I would love to read some of your favorite recipes.