Meal Planning - September Madness

A friend told me she's just not motivated to do any meal planning right now. Boy, I sure am.
My life is CHAOS right now (and not the happy fun kind). I feel like a chicken with it's head cut-off. I need some help -- and this will help. It may not help me get my head screwed on straight, but it's one less thing I have to think about while I'm headless.

Dinners for the month:

• M - crock pot meal once a week (pork chops, pork roast, pork stew - it was on sale)
• T - casserole once a week - 3 lasagnas (one spinach) (frozen) / 2 shepherd's pie casseroles (frozen)
• W / F - meatless twice a week (2 fish, 2 pizza, tuna & noodles, tomato soup / potato soup & grilled cheese/ tuna or egg salad sandwiches)
• Th - leftovers (or stir fry with left-over meat)
• S - mexican once a week (burriotos, quesadillas, taco & taco salad)
• Sun - once a month of each day (one Sun. = crockpot / one Sun = lasagna, etc.)

Lunches (weekday) for the month:

• M / W - sandwiches (2 hotdogs, 2 bologna, 2 chicken salad, 2 egg salad)
• T / F - Raemen Noodles (it's the kids' request - blech)
• Th - hot meal (2 SOS, 2 nachos)
• S - hearty sandwiches (2 sloppy joes, 1 hamburgers, 1 chicken salad)

Breakfast for the month:

• M - Muffins (frozen)
• T - Cold/hot Cereal
• W - Buscuits w/bkfst meat
• Th - hot meal (2 pancakes, 2 french toast)
• F - cold/hot cereal
• S - egg breakfast
• Sun (we usually end up fasting until after Mass)

Sides, snacks & sweets :

• Sides - (2 per dinner, 1 per lunch, 1 per breakfast - these are listed in MEALS not necessarily packages. After I decide how many of which sides, I convert them to how I buy them. For example a side for a meal may consist of 1/4 jar of applesauce so I buy 1 jar for each 4 meals needed - when I have a 5th side, I buy 2 jars until I'm up to 8 meals needing applesauce) a side may consist of 1 pkg of frozen veggies, 1/2 pkg of potato chips or 1/2 large container of cottage cheese as my family's tastes dictate.

10 fresh fruit (for our family it's 10 meals with fresh fruit as a side and I figure 3 apples cut-up or .75 per meal), 4 applesauce, 2 canned peaches, 4 Salad, 2 cottage cheese, 4 carrots & dip, 2 fried potato, 2 mashed potato, 1 onion rings, 4 buscuits, 4 garlic or butter bread, 20 Frozen veggies, 10 potato chips

• Snacks - I try to buy enough that I think is reasonable for the month. I think 4 evenings a week of snacks is reasonable. Once the "good" snacks are gone, they are gone and there are ALWAYS carrot sticks, peaches & butter bread available.

4 chips & salsa, 1 spinach dip & chips, 1 guacamole dip & chips, 6 nuts, 4 potato chips, a left-over side or a left-over sweet

• Sweets - I shoot for 4 sweets a week. I ...ummm...LOVE sweets!

4 homemade cookies (choc chips, oatmeal, sugar, snickerdoodle), 4 brownies, 4 cup cakes, 4 icecream and ...ok, I'll throw in 2 homemade donuts and 2 sweet rolls...oh and an extra icecream

This month I ended up $447 for the month once I made my list, subtracted what we already had in the pantry or freezer, bought bread at the discount bread store, shopped at Aldi's and ended at Wal-mart. We'll eat up the fresh items first (salad, fresh fruits) and end with canned peaches, applesauce & frozen veggies. At the end of the month I may have to be creative the last week (cinamon/sugar bread or left-over soup) if I didn't figure well, but after having a few "creative weeks" where I have to make due with what we have, I'm confident that I can do it. This doesn't include cleaners, bathroom items or diapers, but does include napkins, paper plates, & paper towels.