I loved what one reader emailed recently in regard to the menu plans I share:
I just wanted to say I have learned so much in the last fews months from your website. I grew up in a home where if it wasn’t instant, it wasn’t food. Therefore, when I got married and started a family I knew how to cook nothing besides frozen food and instant mashed potatoes. My husband left about 5 years ago and it’s just been me and my now 8 year old daughter. Money is tight and since I started following your meal plans and cooking real food, my grocery bill has been cut in half!
I love it when people share that they have switched from processed food to real food – and I love it even more when they share that this practice has saved them money! Feel free to follow my menu plan all you want. It just might save you some money!
Sunday, February 24
Easy breakfast casserole, oranges
Alfredo sauce with pasta, steamed broccoli and carrots, tossed salad
Chili cookoff at church
Monday, February 25
Banana bread, scrambled eggs, applesauce
Chicken noodle soup, carrots, kiwi
One dish meat and potato casserole, peas
Tuesday, February 26
Flaky cream cheese pastry, apples
Homemade corndogs, fruit salad
Pizza casserole, tossed salad
Wednesday, February 27
Cinnamon swirl bread, scrambled eggs, clementines
Hamburger cream cheese dip, tortilla chips, apples
Crock pot barbecue chicken breasts, green beans, tossed salad
Thursday, February 28
Coconut flour muffins, kiwi
Pizza boats, tossed salad, fruit
Rice and veggie stir fry with chicken, broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms
Friday, March 1
Giant breakfast cookies, apples
Baked potatoes with various toppings, peas
Quick mix pancakes, scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, fruit
Saturday, March 2
Chocolate chocolate chips muffins, bananas
Leftovers
Bbq brisket, tossed salad, cream cheese corn, green beans
Haha! Our church is having a chili cookoff and barn dance tonight too!
Love the e-mail! We have been getting serious in the last month or two about getting all processed foods/ chemicals out of our house and we have found the same thing – we are spending less and eating more healthy – YAY! Thank you so much for all the great info/recipes – we are really enjoying them.
What do you use for the cream cheese…store bought (what brand)or homemade?
I usually use regular store bought (Philadelphia is my fav), but I have made it before too: https://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com/make-your-own-yogurt-and-cream-cheese
A little off topic here – regarding the cheddar cheese you use for many of your casseroles… I see you get the kind from Azure Standard. Based on your link, I think you get it in block form, and shred it yourself? We’ve started doing this, but I can’t shred/grate much (we use the food processor) before it starts to “gum” up the machine – getting too warm I assume. How do you grate/shred yours? Hopefully in bulk?!
I just grate it by hand. I’ve never had success with using a food processor for this purpose. I kept killing my food processors!
My goodness. So do you do this as needed (ie a recipe calls for 1 cup of grated cheese), and you just do it right then? No way to do it in bulk to handle several recipes at once? Does a box grater really work that fast, or does it just take time and you factor that in?
It depends. Sometimes I grate a few pounds at a time (or rather, have my boys help me grate a few pounds at a time). Othertimes, I grate as needed. Really, I find that this is a perfect job to have a boy do alongside me while I cook the rest of the meal. :)