Adventures in Meal Planning...A Reflection on the Experiment

So here we are. It's the end of the month and that means and end to my 30 day Adventure in Meal Planning. I have been sharing a week by week evaluation, but what is my final take on the experiment?

Adventures in Meal Planning ~ Week 3

Here we are at the third week in my adventures in meal planning this month. As I mentioned last week, this has actually been a surprisingly easy thing to add to my daily routine!

So let's get into how this week played out!

Sunday...family dinner at my inlaws house as usual!

Monday ...I tried a new lemony chicken pasta recipe I had been saving. I absolutely loved how fresh and light it was---but other than the chicken itself, the boys gave it a big fat no. Which left me with a massive pile of noodles to eat....LOL

Tuesday...I took the noodles from the day before and the piece of chicken I had left and we went to my mom's house. We combined my chicken with hers, and then dumped my noodles into a pot of marinara sauce. *poof* upcycled dinner! The boys HAPPILY ate THIS dinner. We served it with green beans and bread.

Adventures in Menu Planning ~ Week 2

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Week two of my 30 days of Adventures in Meal Planning and it's time for an update. Okay--so now we are more than half way in and I can confess something...

This experiment is going GREAT!

Seriously. I am just shocked at how low key this is! I thought it was going to be a big hairy ordeal and I would regret embarking on this experiment. But it has been so simple! I think the simplicity comes from the types of recipes I picked, and that I didn't micromanage breakfast and lunch. With keeping my focus on dinner, it has allowed me "freedom". So here is how this week's menu went...

Adventures in Meal Planning ~ Week 1

Tada! It is officially the end of my first week of Adventures in Meal Planning as part of my four week trial period. If you have only just found me, you will probably need to go back read my first post (Adventures in...Meal Planning?D) to get an idea for the reason of this new experience. But anyways, here we are three days in. Thus far, things have been going well. But hey. It IS only one week in. (snort)

Here is recap of how the week went...
Monday night as planned, we did have the hamburgers--just that my mother-in-law made them and served them at her house.

Tuesday morning, I had pancakes on the docket for breakfast, and I am happy to say that we did enjoy Back to School Pancakes! I even remembered to set out the chicken for the Italian Chicken and Rice dinner I had on my menu for that night. We ended up serving this dish with sauteed squash and garlic toast. The recipe for the Italian Chicken was pretty good--but needed more seasonings the next time I make it. It was very reminiscent of Parmesan Chicken--but with a bed of rice instead of noodles.

Wednesday night Hamburger Stroganoff was planned, but I was called by my in-laws and asked to come join them for dinner again--they were trying out a new deep fryer. So that meal I had planned is pushed back to enjoy a day next week.

Thursday night was an open meal--and I got in the mood for soup! So I whipped up a batch of our favorite Vegetable Beef Barley soup, which gave us enough for several meals in the future. Yum!

Friday, I had already changed the menu from Chicken and Noodles to a requested Fried Chicken dinner. We were honoring my dad and husband that night--they shared a birthday earlier this week on the 5th. So since they have requested one of my specialties, I just swapped the menu chicken for chicken. I expect to move the Chicken and Noodles night to a night next week.

And tonight, we enjoyed a get together with church brethren for our annual fall spaghetti feed.

So as you can see everything worked out pretty much as I hoped! It wasn't much different from a normal week except I actually knew several days in advance what I was going to eat. I didn't buy anything extra for our meals this week, though I did borrow rice from my mother-in-law.

I do have a lot of leftovers. Which I think I'm going to freeze for future meals! So this may work out fantastic for me in future nights when I don't feel like making even what I have planned.

So that's the report on my first week. We will see how week #2 goes considering we will be 100% back into a full school schedule--which definitely affects what we eat during the week.

Fresh From the Kitchen: Adventures in...Meal Planning?

I love. And I mean LOVE to cook. I would say that up to 90% of our weekly meals involve me cooking something. But, I don't menu plan. Nope. We just end up eating the same favorites it seems week after week...and honestly NO ONE COMPLAINS.

But I feel like I could be doing more. Because I have so many meals that I LOVE to eat, but only fix them like once a month--maybe! But to be more varied in our weekly meals would require...planning. And...I don't do menu planning. Like ever.

BUT...

What if I tried?
What if I blogged about my adventures in meal planning?
Surely there are other people out there--stuck in a rut, but intimidated by all the fancy schmancy meal planning stuff who might enjoy reading about my own adventures?

I am a type B person. I actually LOVE flying by the seat of my pants and doing things last minute. I just do. And I do it well. (probably TOO well) BUT. I think that maybe I COULD pull of planning meals in advance, as long as I kept it from getting too complicated.

So, without further ado. Let me announce that starting THIS WEEK, I will be preparing to dive into meal planning for a ONE MONTH trial.
I will give it a go for 30 days.
Planning out a month of meals.
And then I will check in every week to let you know how it goes to keep myself accountable.

I must admit.
I'm nervous.
But I'm curious to know if I really COULD in fact do it.
I've always assumed I couldn't, knowing how much I hate being THAT organized. LOL

But you know, I was inspired by the menu planning portion in my newest and amazing recently acquired cookbook Everyday Cooking because HER monthly menu, includes CHEAT DAYS!! She added in pizza night, take out, even open spots for leftovers! It wasn't totally micromanaged to every meal for every day of the month with a new meal. And I thought to myself, "now THIS woman...she must be more my style." So I am going to give HER style of menu planning a try. I just restocked my supplies in the fridge and pantry with all my normal on hand ingredients. And that is my goal. I want to cook EXCLUSIVELY from things I ALWAYS have on hand. Real food. As much from scratch as possible. Keeping it as simple as possible.

So, are you ready to join me on this adventure?
Do you think I will be able to do it?!

Let's go!

ps. Make sure you follow me on my Farm Fresh Adventures Facebook page, because I think this new series will be perfect for videos!