neverhomemaker: Our Week's Meal Plan

Do you have a favorite cookbook? I do. Well, I actually have several. I'm a big fan of the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. It's where I learned how to make anything from bagels to ciabatta to English muffins. Lately, I'm digging the Fit-It and Forget-It Vegetarian Cookbook. The recipes are really easy to make, and you can easily search by ingredient to find the ones that will use up what you have in the fridge and pantry.

Anyway, I thought I'd share my meal plan for the week. We started getting our CSA recently, so there will be a great injection of fresh, local produce into our lives. Sometimes I don't know what to do with all of it! But that's part of the fun.

I go back and forth on the going-out-to-eat line in our budget. On one hand, it's an obvious thing to cut out to save money. On the other, going to restaurants is fun. You get to try new things. How I feel about it right now -- today -- is that I'd like to save it for special events. As a result, I've been spending a bit more on our weekly groceries so I can make satisfying meals Monday through Sunday.

Meals:

MONDAY

Roasted asparagus with BBQ tofu (from the book) sandwiches

TUESDAY

Beans + Greens (from the book) and yogurt biscuits.

WEDNESDAY

Veggie burgers with kohlrabi slaw and baked sweet potato fries.

THURSDAY

Summer Risotto (from the book) with eggs + sauteed Swiss chard on the side.

FRIDAY

Homemade grilled pizza topped with whatever veggies we're in the mood for.

SATURDAY

Coconut yellow curry tofu + veggies with 5-minute naan.

SUNDAY

Sloppy lentil Joes with side California Salad (from the book).

Frugal tip:

I have been buying supplemental veggies in the freezer section. I sometimes even get the fancy stuff, like bags of cauliflower rice or marinated mushrooms. (And, yes, I have to go to Wegmans for this a lot of the time. Aldi doesn't have the same cool stuff you'd find at Trader Joe's. You lucky people with Trader Joe's!) While the price point may not seem smart compared to fresh in some instances, I find we actually save money having ingredients on hand that cook up fast versus submitting to takeout.