January 2010 Menu Plan

Can you believe it's a new year already? Christmas has come and gone so quickly, I'm not even sure it happened. If I didn't have a tiny helicopter buzzing around my head shooting actual missiles at me, I would be inclined to think it hadn't.

I've started thinking about New Year's resolutions. I have never really made any in the past, so this is a new thing this year. I have a couple goals in mind, and while they seem at first glance to be simple, I know it's going to be an uphill battle.

#1 - Get a handle on my housekeeping. Or lack thereof. I am TERRIBLE at it. My house ALWAYS looks like a tornado ripped through it. It has probably been months since I vacuumed the stairs. I have the Fly Lady on tap and I think I am truly ready to let her help me this time.

#2 - Stay the hockey sticks out of Wal-Mart. I can't leave that place without spending two hundred dollars. My goal is one trip per month. Get all household supplies and non-perishable groceries in one trip.

So instead of planning my suppers weekly, I need to plan for the month. Tina does it this way, and I ended up using hers as a template. This turned out to be a little harder than I thought it would, mostly because I kept getting side-tracked. I have a program on my computer that organizes recipes. The problem is that I have recipes scattered over three different computers and/or email accounts.

I will never go paperless. It is beyond my ability. I have to have a hard copy of whatever I am studying in front of me. I simply detest scrolling through computer files. So I bought a photo album (from Wal-Mart) to put a print out of all my favorite recipes. Today, I made sure I had all my recipes in the program and then I printed them on 4 x 6 cards to put in my new cookbook. Even though I have yet to decide on my perfect organizing system, this is so much better. There are recipes I loved that I forgot I had.

Anyway, to make a short story long, I spent about three hours this afternoon making out my January menu plan.

But it is done!

Now I need to make out a grocery list...

January Suppers

Grandma's Goulash & Salad & Fruit

Beef Noodle Bowl

Upside Down Pizza & Salad

PW's Chicken Strips & Potato Salad

Hamburger Cups & Salad

Roast Beef & Carrots & Potatoes (SC)

Tuna Salad & Chips

PW's Tomato Cream Pasta & Salad

Beef Stew

Tacos

Sticky Asian Chicken & Rice & Veggies

Bacon Wrapped Corndogs & Green Beans

Tortellini and Sausage Soup & Bread (SC)

Spagetti Tacos & Salad

Pizza

Pumpkin Soup

Baked Teriyaki Chicken & Rice & Veggies

Chicken Lickin with Noodles (SC)

Ham Salad & Chips

Meatball Bake & Corn

Honey-Soy Salmon & Veggies

Sloppy Burgers

Chili

Sweet and Sour Chicken with Rice (SC)

Chicken and Dumplings (SC)

Pancakes

Meatloaf & Potatoes & Corn

Pizza Burgers

Baked Chicken & Potatoes & Green Beans

Chicken and Noodles

Meatball Stone Soup

Snacks and Desserts

Vanilla Pudding

Caramel Chip Bars

Cheesecake

Triple Chocolate Mess

Chocolate Chip Cheeseball

Note: SC stands for Slow Cooker. I don't have nearly enough of those.