So far it’s been so easy eating from the pantry that I’m tempted to do it again next month! It doesn’t hurt that last month I was able to freeze half of many of the meals I made, so I have a lot of ready made meals in the freezer. I have even been able to freeze a lot of what I’ve made this month, like last week’s slow cooker chicken tacos. I was able to freeze two more meals just from that!

This week’s meal plan is pretty simple. Andy’s cleansing today, so I’m not making anything special. And he’s not home for dinner much this week, so it’s going to be a pretty low key week for us!

Here’s the meal plan:

Monday: hot dogs

Tuesday: Grilled chicken, risotto, and snap peas

Wednesday: leftovers

Thursday: tacos (using the frozen chicken taco meat mix and I’m going to try making homemade flour tortillas – should be interesting!)

Friday: Spaghetti Lasagna with garlic bread (I used leftover spaghetti from last weekend and layered it with cheese in casserole dishes – we’re having company so it will be an easy meal all the kids will love!)

Saturday: hamburgers and mac and cheese

Sunday: Pesto Pizza (I had planned on making this last week and we ended up having to eat up some leftovers so I postponed it.)

Since I made a freezer inventory a few weeks ago, I’m able to decide on meals from the freezer without standing in front of the open freezer and missing things in back. This week we’re definitely eating a lot out of the freezer!

Monday: leftovers

Tuesday: Slow Cooker Chicken Tacos (I’ll be able to freeze half for next week)

Wednesday: Chicken/Broccoli/Cheese casserole from the freezer

Thursday: leftovers

Friday: Pesto Pizza (our basil is huge so I’m excited to use it!)

Saturday: Slow Cooker Turkey with Squished Potatoes

Sunday: leftovers (Saturday’s turkey breast is huge so there will be tons to eat and freeze!)

I posted earlier in the week my menu plan, which included pizza. Since I hate to spend money on something I can easily  make at home, I almost never buy premade pizza dough. My mom has an awesome recipe for pizza dough that motivates me to make pizza at least once per week! We don’t even miss ordering pizza anymore, and I am so happy to be able to give my family something more healthy for less money.

Mom’s Pizza Dough

3 cups bread flour (I periodically substitute whole wheat flour or go half and half)

1 tbs olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tbs yeast

1 cup warm water

Dissolve yeast in the water and let it sit while you mix the other ingredients. Combine other ingredients (I use my food processor which makes it SO easy) then add the yeast water. Depending on the humidity in the air, you may have to add either a little more water or a little more flour. Mix until it forms a sticky ball, then transfer to an oiled bowl. Let sit for 30 minutes to rise in a warm place.

Roll out, top, bake for 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven, and you have some yummy pizza! Thanks Mom!

Let me preface this by saying that I tend to always make more food than we can eat, so we usually have an abundance of leftovers. This actually plays in my favor since I can always count on a few nights every week not having to cook! And let me tell you, those nights usually fall on a day I really need it!

By doubling recipes and freezing half, along with stocking up on staples at the store recently, I was able to amass quite an impressive freezer/pantry stockpile. Now is when we get creative!

I’m going to focus on dinners only, since Andy and I both have our shakes for breakfast and lunch so there is no need to meal plan for that. Katie is pretty predictable in her breakfast desires (Cheerios, oatmeal or eggs, fruit) and she either gets leftovers for lunch or things like chicken nuggets and whole wheat mac and cheese with veggies. She also loves frozen peas (right from the bag, still frozen!) so every lunch and dinner starts with that.

Monday: Mini Chili Cheese Dogs – I’m going to use some canned chili I got on sale with some hot dogs I have in the freezer and shredded cheddar I got on sale. Since I don’t really enjoy defrosted hot dog buns, I’ll wait until I absolutely have to use those later in the month. Instead, I’m planning to cut the hot dogs up and wrap them in crescent rolls, then smother them in chili and cheese. Should be yummy!

Tuesday: Gumbo – I made slow cooker gumbo today and doubled the recipe, so we had dinner tonight, dinner on Tuesday, and I will have a lot leftover to freeze. I was also able to use some frozen okra I have had in the freezer forever and not known how to use! (I may live in the South but I was raised up north, so I have no idea what to do with okra!) I’ll also make the other half of the frozen garlic bread loaf we ate half of tonight.

Wednesday: Enchiladas and Spicy Black Beans – Last week I made turkey enchiladas and froze half, so all I have to do is make the black beans. This will only work if I remember to put them out to soak on Tuesday night!

Thursday: leftovers – Andy’s not home for dinner that night so it works out well, Katie and I can finish off some leftovers and he doesn’t miss out on anything new and exciting.

Friday: Homemade Pizza – My mom’s pizza killer pizza dough recipe combined with frozen homemade marinara makes for a pretty good pizza. I have a bunch of yummy Mozzarella, Parmesan and Romano cheeses to top it with, plus some basil from our Earth Box. There aren’t usually leftovers from pizza night!

Saturday: Spaghetti with Marinara and Italian Veggies – Since I freeze my marinara in quart zip top bags, I will have enough left over from pizza night to make pasta on Saturday. I have a bag of Italian mix veggies in the freezer I’ve been wanting to use, so I’ll just throw it all together with some garlic bread or rolls, and Voila! Perfect date night dinner with the hubby!

Sunday: leftovers – I always make too much spaghetti.