Simplifying Meal Planning and a Sale!

October 25, 2012 By 1 Comment

Click image for more posts on 31 Days to Simplifying Life

To continue highlighting our sponsors and to share all the deals they are giving Getting Through the Day readers, I want to mention Plan to Eat.  I was reminded again this weekend just how easy Plan to Eat makes my meal planning when I

  1. opened a previously saved weekly menu,
  2. plugged it into the current week just by dragging and dropping,
  3. clicked on the automatically generated shopping list (that also takes into account what I already have on hand),
  4. and went shopping!
It literally takes me less than 20 minutes each week to plan a full week of meals!  In addition to this, because of regular freezer cooking and my Six-Week Meal Rotation, I only had about 10 items to buy and it cost me less than $50 for my family of 6!  I have been using Plan to Eat for a year and a half now and the longer I use it, the easier it gets!

Simple Meal Planning - Plan to Eat

 This service is normally only $39 for the entire year, but the folks at Plan to Eat are offering our readers a 20% discount on a yearly subscription.  AND you can start with a free month-long trial to see how it works for you.  Just use the code gettingthroughtheday and you will get 20% off!!  This code doesn’t expire until January 1, 2013.  This also makes a great affordable Christmas gift and once you have a subscription, gift subscriptions are already 20% off, so with this code,  you get an even better deal!

 

This week, we are going to continue highlighting all of our Sponsors (have you noticed them over there in the sidebar?).  :)  Every one of them is running a sale for Getting Through the Day readers, so don’t miss it!

If you would like to promote your products, services, blog, or organization by becoming one of our Sponsors, check out our Advertising page or send us an email.

Simplifying Bulk Cooking

October 5, 2012 By 8 Comments

Click image for more posts on 31 Days to Simplifying Life

I have come to really enjoy cooking in bulk for my family and for the freezer.  It’s almost to the point where I cannot cook just one batch of something.  I have to make it triple or quadruple.  It really is true that it doesn’t take a lot more time to make a triple recipe than it does a single one.  I’m already measuring and mixing and pouring and cleaning all the dishes.  Adding more in the bowl doesn’t take any more effort, but it sure does fill my freezer where I can just pull it out on a busy day.

However, one thing I have been thinking about are my kitchen tools.  I have been using my simple (but good quality) hand mixer so I have to stand there with it when I mix batter.  I have been using a bread machine to knead dough which is great except I can only do a single or maybe double batch in it at a time.  I found myself making the same recipes the next day just due to my smaller kitchen tools.

And honestly, all the mouths in my house are only going to be consuming more in the upcoming years, not less.  So I’ve been looking into different tools and appliances.  A friend told me about some heavy duty mixers that big bread makers use and when I looked them up, they looked amazing but way too expensive.  That was until I happened upon the exact mixer she told me about on Ebay where someone was just selling their used one.  When I saw it, I quickly had a conversation with my husband about what my maximum bid could be.  I won the auction in the last 30 seconds!  I love the excitement of Ebay!

Magic Mill Kitchen Machine

This thing is so impressive to me (which probably wouldn’t take a lot since I was using a hand mixer).  The day I got it I made 5 loaves of bread in one turn and 7 batches of pizza dough in another.  It was amazing!

I may need a bigger bowl to let all that dough rise!

Love this!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7 batches of pizza dough and it was SO soft and easy to work with!

What have you done to make cooking easier and more efficient?

Menus to Make Back to School a Little Easier

August 8, 2012 By 1 Comment

I can’t wait to dive into these menus from Once a Month Mom.  Here are three different menus from this great resource on freezer cooking and just plain good recipes!  These are not only lists of great recipes.  They also include grocery lists and detailed instructions for getting the most freezer cooking done in the most efficient way.

 This is a full menu to really get yourself prepared for the busyness of August.

Traditional Menu

This is a mini-menu for Back to School that includes 5 lunches and 2 snacks.

Back-to-School Mini August Menu

 

And this last one is chock full of recipes especially for back to school.   It include 8 breakfasts, 15 lunches, and  8 snacks.

31 Back-to-School Freezer Meals

 

 

Also, don’t forget today is the last day to get 5 great E-books for Back to School for just $2 each!

Back to School Boost for Moms Sale

August 6, 2012 By 1 Comment

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been spending lots of time thinking about the upcoming Fall transition.  I told Michelle this week that I am somewhere between trying not to rush the summer away and being ready for a new routine.  With my oldest entering Kindergarten, this feels like a huge transition being a first-time school mom.  I’ve spent lots of time thinking about school lunches, our new routine, carpool, school uniforms, chore charts, meal planning, and new categories in our budget.

Well, today and tomorrow you can get an E-book bundle that deals with several of those topics and more.  The Back to School Boost for Moms bundle is written by five different bloggers and they combined forces to give us their resources for just $10.

Here’s what it includes:

  1. Create Your Perfect Cleaning Schedule: So You Can Get More Done In Less Time ($5.99) by Christine at I Dream of Clean.
  2. The No Brainer Wardrobe: Get Dressed with More Confidence and Less Fuss ($7.99) by Hayley at The Tiny Twig.
  3. Cupcakes: 12 Months of Hapiness! ($4.99) by Liz at Hoosier Homemade.
  4. Feast in 15: Speed Cooking Weeknight Dinners ($4.99) by Tiffany at Eat At Home.
  5. Tell Your Time: How to Manage Your Schedule So You Can Live Free ($4.99) by Amy Lynn Andrews at Blogging with Amy.

And you can get all that for just $10.  But the sale only lasts until tomorrow.  So, click over to check out the Back to School Boost for Moms bundle.

I’ll have more great resources coming this week to help us all get prepared for the Back-to-School season!

Menu Plan Monday – 7/30

July 30, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Be sure to check out my Spring/Summer Six-Week Meal Rotation if you missed it.  This is sort of the end of our full summer.  Dee goes back to work full-time today.  <sigh>  When he’s home, I tend to take “off” with him.  We stay in our pajamas a little longer, eat breakfast a little later, and have a much looser routine.  However, today it is necessary I rise early and get showered and dressed before they all wake up.  And I need a good plan for our activities this week.

If you want to know more about my freezer cooking plan, you read more about that here.

If you want to know what I use to plan my meals every week, Plan to Eat makes it super easy!

Simple Meal Planning - Plan to Eat

Monday

Breakfast: cereal, fruit

Lunch: pb & j, cheese, apples

Dinner:   Creole Black Beans, rice, cornbread (from the freezer)

Tuesday

Breakfast: cereal, fruit

Lunch: pb & j, cheese, apples

Dinner:  Brown Sugar & Balsamic Pork Chops, rice, green beans

 

Wednesday

Breakfast: cereal, fruit

Lunch: Mini Pizza Meatloaves (from the freezer), broccoli

Dinner: Enchilada Rice (*Dinner Freezer Meal), Cucumbers with Ranch

 

Thursday

Breakfast: granola, fruit

Lunch:  Macaroni & Cheese with Beef (from the freezer), green beans

Dinner: pancakes (*Breakfast Freezer Meal), frittata

 

Friday

Breakfast:  Baked Egg Cups, fruit

Lunch: Ham & Cheese Egg Rolls (*Lunch Freezer Meal), fruit

Dinner: pizza (with dough from the freezer)

 

Saturday

Breakfast: Cinnamon Rolls, (*Breakfast Freezer Meal) fruit

Lunch: soup and sandwiches

Dinner:  out to eat at one of our kid-friendly restaurants

 

Sunday

Breakfast: pancakes (from the freezer) – **in the car on the way to church

Lunch: Leftover pizza

Dinner:  Popcorn Fiesta

 

Check out more great meal plans at orgjunkie.com

How about you?  When does your summer officially end (not to rush it, by any means!!)?

Spring/Summer Six-Week Meal Rotation

July 23, 2012 By 1 Comment

After lots of posts last week going through different recipes I’ve tried here, here, and here, today I’m going to give you my whole Six-Week Meal Rotation for Spring/Summer.

This may initially look like a lot to plan, but if you look a little closer, you’ll see:

  • a few repeating breakfasts
  • a few repeating lunches
  • certain days of the week where the meals don’t change (Monday & Tuesday lunches, Thursday & Friday dinners, and all meals on Sundays)
  • 18 different dinner recipes

With all that in hand, I alternated the repeating breakfasts and lunches, balanced out the weeks with what meats to buy/cook, added in sides, and it was done.  I went into a little more detail in my post about setting up my Fall/Winter Meal Rotation

*If you want to modify my spreadsheet to make your own plan, just click File, then Make a Copy.  Then you can change it however you want and save it in your account.  (If you don’t already have a Google account, now is a great time to get one!)

Another easy way to access these and other menus is to join Plan to Eat.  I just realized another great feature of this super time-saving tool.  When you become friends with someone on Plan to Eat (*hint, hint, send me your email or Plan to Eat username and I’ll send you a friend invite*), you, not only gain access to all their shared recipes, but also to all of their menus.  You can just select someone’s menu and plug it in to your planner, then edit it as you like.  I can now plan a week’s worth of breakfasts, lunches, and dinners with a coordinating shopping list that reflects when I actually have on hand in about 15 minutes every week.  Using Plan to Eat and saving my weekly menus saves me hours each week.

Ok, enough about that.  Anybody else out there plan some kind of weekly meal rotation?  Please share a link if you have it.  We all need ideas to get out of our own cooking rut.

Menu Plan Monday – 7/23

July 23, 2012 By 4 Comments

Make sure to come back tomorrow to see my new Six-Week Meal Rotation.  I know I’ve said it before, but it literally takes me about 15 minutes to plan a full week’s worth of meals with a shopping list with this six-week plan.

If you want to know more about my freezer cooking plan, you read more about that here.

If you want to know what I use to plan my meals every week, Plan to Eat makes it super easy!

Simple Meal Planning - Plan to Eat

Monday

Breakfast: cereal, fruit

Lunch: pb & j, cheese, apples

Dinner:   Sloppy Joes, potatoes of some sort, peas

Tuesday

Breakfast: waffles (from the freezer), fruit

Lunch: pb & j, cheese, apples

Dinner: Slow Cooker Chicken Cordon Bleu, broccoli

 

Wednesday

Breakfast: waffles (from the freezer), fruit

Lunch: Chicken & Corn Quesadillas (with homemade tortillas), fruit

Dinner: fajitas, rice, black beans

 

Thursday

Breakfast: granola, fruit

Lunch:  Macaroni & Cheese with Beef (*Lunch Freezer Meal), green beans

Dinner: pancakes (*Breakfast Freezer Meal), frittata

 

Friday

Breakfast:  Baked Oatmeal (*Breakfast Freezer Meal), fruit

Lunch: Ham & Cheese Egg Rolls (*Lunch Freezer Meal), fruit

Dinner: pizza (with dough from the freezer)

 

Saturday

Breakfast: Cinnamon Rolls, (*Breakfast Freezer Meal) fruit

Lunch: Leftover pizza

Dinner:  out to eat at one of our kid-friendly restaurants

 

Sunday

Breakfast: pancakes (from the freezer) – **in the car on the way to church

Lunch: soup and sandwiches

Dinner:  Popcorn Fiesta

 

Check out more great meal plans at orgjunkie.com

Are you trying any new recipes this week?  Share the recipe or link!

Six-Week Meal Rotation Recipe Reveal, Part 3

July 19, 2012 By 2 Comments

I’m sharing new recipes this week that I’ve tried lately that are going into my new Six-Week Meal Rotation (which is coming in its entirety on Tuesday).  We’ve had several really good new dinner recipes lately.  And while I haven’t done a great job capturing them in pictures, here are a few you should definitely check out.

Baked Chicken and Artichoke Penne with Sundried Tomatoes from Once a Month Mom

This was really good and flavorful. We all loved it.

Other recipes you should check out:

Mini Pizza Meatloaves from Once a Month Mom – These were really easy and fast to make and I currently have 3 1/2 dozen of them in my freezer.  :)

Mexican Stuffed Shells from The Girl Who Ate Everything – Again, another really great tasting dish.  And all my kids loved it and didn’t complain about it being “too spicy”.  I found this recipe from Once a Month Mom’s Mini Menu for July.

Barbecue Meatballs from Lynn’s Kitchen Adventures - Easy, Frugal, Delicious – Those are the words I would attach to everything I’ve tried of Lynn’s.  And these meatballs were no exception!

What are your favorite sources for delicious recipes?

Click to see other recipes in Part 1 and Part 2 of this week.

Six-Week Meal Rotation Recipe Reveal, Part 2

July 18, 2012 By 2 Comments

Like I mentioned yesterday, I finally finished my Six-Week Meal Rotation for Spring/Summer.  This week, I am sharing different recipes that will make an appearance in my Six-Week Meal Rotation (that I am going to reveal in its entirety next Tuesday).  Today’s recipe is a breakfast recipe from Money Saving Mom.  I love breakfast food and have been wanting to make homemade cinnamon rolls for a while now.  And ever since starting to grind my own flour, I have really wanted to use my yummy flour in these.

Cinnamon Rolls

This was so easy with a bread machine, but I’m sure they would turn out the same with kneading the dough yourself. They rose beautifully.

This picture doesn’t really do it justice (because I am not much of a photographer), but these were just. so. good.

The recipe makes 2 pans and we froze one.  They turned out just as good the next week.  Although, I am seeing with the growing rate of eating that my kids are doing, it won’t be long before we’ll need more than one pan for one sitting.

Have you made homemade cinnamon rolls before?

Six-Week Meal Rotation Recipe Reveal, Part 1

July 17, 2012 By 5 Comments

I’ve finally finished my Spring/Summer Six-Week Meal Rotation (halfway through the Summer!!) and I want to share with you some of the great recipes I’ve found, tried, and loved.  I started a Six-Week Meal Rotation in the Fall and shared mine for that season and how you can set one up for yourself.  I cannot tell you how much time this saves me.  It does take some time to set it up in the beginning, but after that, I literally plan a week’s worth of meals including breakfasts, lunches, and dinners with a coordinating shopping list in about 15-20 minutes each week.  (And because of the beauty of Plan to Eat, that shopping list reflects what I already have on hand and what I actually need.)

Simple Meal Planning - Plan to Eat

Ummmm, have you tried it yet? They offer a free 30-day, free trial. :)

So, everyday this week I’m going to share a new recipe that we’ve tried and loved.  I’ve now plugged it into my Six-Week Meal Rotation (which I will reveal next Tuesday), so we’ll be enjoying it a couple times over the next couple months.  Today’s recipe is a lunch recipe from Dashing Dish.  I love her recipes and they are always delicious and healthy (and she always includes Weight Watchers points with each recipe).

Cauliflower Pizza Bites

I LOVE the idea of using cauliflower for “dough” in recipes. Such a great way to get in lots of nutrition.

Add all the yummy ingredients for the “dough”.

Divide the “dough” into the muffin tin. I used a standard muffin tin instead of a mini one. That part was fine. However, I neglected using the foil muffin cups she recommends and those are needed. I think they would help to hold them together better.

The finished product! They were super yummy and the kids ate a LOT of them.

Have you used cauliflower this way in a recipe before?

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
«Older Posts