Menu Plan Monday {24}

I am thoroughly enjoying the weather finally warming up; instead of soups, casseroles and crock pot, we're indulging in more salads, sandwiches, wraps, and lighter fare.  I've been eating a lot of cottage cheese and fresh grape tomatoes for lunch. Though it's hard to get away from some of my daughter's favorites, like Baked Macaroni & Cheese...

Do you menu plan? I got away from it for a while, I actually seemed to have more food waste when I was menu planning, because leftovers weren't getting eaten fast enough. Have you ever had this problem? When I did take care of the leftovers I had some fresh food that was intended for that evening that was sometimes wasted. I'm going to start menu planning again, but I think I'll take a slightly different approach to it. I'll be planning 3-4 meals a week without a set day assigned to them. The meals that aren't planned for will be filled in with leftovers and pantry fillers.  A fish meal, a vegetarian meal, and one or two meat meals should more than cover my small family of three.  Really, I'm cooking for two plus a little extra for a toddler, she doesn't even come close to eating a full serving of anything.

Typical pantry fillers would be beans and rice, soup and sandwiches, pasta and homemade marinara, homemade pizza with whatever leftover meat and veggies are in the fridge.

I'll be making one breakfast item each weekend to supplement a selection of cereal, yogurt and fruit.

Lunches are usually leftovers, sandwiches, soup or cottage cheese and fruits and veggies.

Breakfast Item: Apple Muffins

Planned Dinners:
Lime Garlic Chicken
Ham and Baked Macaroni and Cheese
Haddock Fillets
Black Bean Burritos

Find more menu plans and ideas at orgjunkie.com