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Monday, October 24, 2011

Budget - with time

This past weekend I enjoyed a visit from my mother-in-law who paid for our groceries so I do not have to sweat over our budget this week for food.  Instead I put my effort into getting a few more bulk items at Costco and spent my weekend prepping food for the upcoming week.  I see this as budgeting time.  If I can budget my time correctly on the weekend to prep foods, then our evening meals will go faster and be on the table ON TIME.
I started with a meal plan that would allow me to consolidate a few steps.  Of course this meal plan didn’t come without consequences, there was an extremely quite period during which the children disappeared to their room and proceeded to empty the entire contents of their dirty laundry and toy bin onto the floor.
There is such joy in making a mess at that age!
Anyway, I also had to plan for the 3 days of being away at Relevant and so menu items are carefully planned to be prepped as much as possible so husband and mother-in-law have less to do.
Menu:
  • Saturday – Chicken Quesadillas w/avocado slices refried beans & rice
  • Sunday – Paprika Jambalaya with Rice
  • Monday – Hamburgers and Healthy Chips
  • Tuesday – Taco Chicken, Rice & Tortilla Chips
  • Wednesday – Chili and Cornbread
  • Thursday – BLT’s w/hot pepper cheese for adults with tomato soup
  • Friday – Spaghetti (sauce already made & frozen)
  • Saturday – Beef Enchillada’s red sauce (pre-make & freeze before leaving for trip)
Prep Time on Weekend:
  • Both Mexican dishes require a seasoned chicken, so I cooked the chicken for both dishes at one time in a taco packet.
  • There are two dishes with ground meat.  I bought a bulk 5.5lbs of ground meat at Costco and browned 4lbs on Sunday, froze in 1lb bags and husband made remaining 1.5lbs into hamburgers.
  • Chopped extra green pepper & onion for chili while chopping both for Jambalaya
I also made a pie because MIL was so kind to buy our groceries and that included my first sugar pumpkin of the season so it seemed only just to leave a pie behind while she watches the kids during my 3 day get-away.
So that’s it!  A budget of time in the weekend will hopefully make our week go smoother and I feel better that I’ve helped prep for meals during my get-away!

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