Menu Plan Monday 1/18 - 1/24

My family has a lot going on this week. School clubs, Girl Scouts, my birthday (!!!), cup stacking tournament, a visit from my mother, and a trip to Atlanta all happen this week. I'll be making liberal use of my Crock Pot!

Because this week promises to be hectic, I'm not assigning meals to certain days for this menu plan. I'll figure it out as I go along. Here's the list of meals and snacks I have planned for this week. Come back each day for recipes and pictures!

Breakfasts:

bagels (onion, cinnamon, and plain)
bacon and onion quiche
90 minute cinnamon rolls
apple-cherry crumble
cinnamon-nut bread
oatmeal-cherry-pecan muffins

Lunches:

Brown Rice and Black Bean Burgers on homemade buns
Bean and Cheese Quesadillas

Chicken and Dumplings
Leftovers

Dinners:

Honey-Mustard Chicken with Salad and Couscous
Tamales
Vegetable Pot Pie
Egg Rolls and Sizzling Rice Soup
Split Pea Soup
Sweet Chicken in the Crock Pot, Peas, and Rice
Stuffed Cabbage

Snacks and Desserts:

Buffalo Chicken Dip with Tortilla Chips
Strawberry Strudel
White Cake with Lemon-Blueberry Filling (my birthday cake!)

Menu planning takes me about an hour each week, and saves me time and money each day. By knowing what meals I've planned, I know which ingredients to make off-limits to family munching. A quick glance at my menu plan at night tells me everything I need to know in order to be prepared for the next day. Stuffed cabbage tomorrow night? Okay. I know I need to move a pound of ground beef to the fridge before I go to bed. Menu planing takes the "What's for dinner?" wonder out of my day.

Menu planning saves money because it all but eliminates extra trips to the store. If you know what you're cooking and serving for the whole week, you can get everything you need in one trip. You can cut out the trips to the drive through because you forgot to thaw the chicken.

If you'd like to save some time and money, why not try a menu plan of your own? For inspiration, visit I'm an Organizing Junkie. There, you'll find links to hundreds of other people's menu plans.