Menus for November

I have already figured out the menu for the month of November. To menu plan you need to know what you have on hand. I took inventory of my cupboards, canned goods, and freezer. I don't plan for when the kids are gone and on Fridays we don't eat meat. It only took about 5 minutes to plan. After I was done my youngest rated the menu. She sure is a picky eater. Most of it got the thumbs down. Her brother told her she has to eat what she's served. He doesn't like roast beef but eats it. Besides he knows after roast beef is stir fry which he loves.
I love menu planning. Makes it easier to decide what to have for dinner. Makes grocery shopping easier. And I stick to the budget.

1 stir fry brown rice

3 chilli bread or buns

7 rice lentils cucumber salad

8 spagetti garlic bread

10 cabbage casserole macaroni salad

11 fish potatoes veggies macaroni salad

12 sausage sidekicks  veggies

13 ham scalloped potatoes veggies pie

14 quiche

15 meatloaf potatoes veggies

17 shake n bake rice veggies

21 chili bread or buns

22 kd hot dogs

24 turkey dinner ( American thanksgiving)

25 tuna casserole or salmon patties

26 turkey stir fry brown rice

27 roast beef roast potatoes veggies lettuce salad

28 turkey spagetti

29 turkey casserole veggies

Dec 1 stir fry brown rice

If I feel like it I make dessert. Breakfast is usually cereal, toast or bagel for the kids. Often on the weekend it's pancakes.  I usually have oatmeal, granola or an omelette. Lunches are sent to the school. Kids usually take some baked good, sandwich, juice box, water bottle, fruit, cut up veggies. I do have pudding and yogurt for them sometimes. Granola bars or nutrigrain bars sometimes. If I'm hungry at lunch I eat whatever. I bake almost every other day often muffins or breads with my sourdough. Sometimes I even make bread with it.

Menu planning

At the beginning of October I planned the whole menu for the month of October. This has been a great idea. I took stock of what I had in my kitchen and I am able to plan my grocery shopping in advanced. I have budgeted 100 a week for food and now I have created lists on what to buy each trip to the grocery store. I printed off a calendar and filled it out so the kids know what were having each night. They think it's cool. I find it so much easier, saves me time and I am spending less at the grocery store. With it being fall fruits and vegetables are still really cheap. In a month or two the prices will go up again. My Mom and I had a garden and we canned and froze the stuff. That will also help over the winter. I am saving up bread bags and clips to put homemade bread into them. I got out my containers for muffins and cookies for snacks for the kids.
The rest of the weeks and next weeks menu looks like this.

13 thursday turkey spagetti

14 friday salmon patties vegetables noodles

15 sat cabbage casserole defrost I made it and froze it ahead of time. Will just defrost and reheat in the oven with cheese on top

16 sunday ham scallop potatoes lemon meringue pie

17 monday quiche macaroni salad

18 tuesday  shake n bake vegetables salad

20 thursday lentils rice salad

breakfast varies by what the kids want, lunches are hit and miss but I plan on making hamburger buns with cheese and weiners for happy faces (gotta indulge in favourites once in a while), and quesidilla (yes I probably spelled it wrong) we also eat only fish on fridays. I also only planned for the nights the kids are here. On the nights they're gone I have just whatever or go over to my moms.

my grocery bill will be doable this month!

It's time consuming to plan the menu but worth it in the end.