Menu Planning Week 2
I am a firm believer in Menu Planning and take time to plan a menu once a week. If I have a really busy few weeks coming up, sometimes I sketch down a plan for 2-3 weeks at a time.
Why I plan a menu:
– To save money
– To eat more healthy and balanced meals
– To avoid frustration and stress
To read more of why I plan a menu, read Menu Planning Week 1.
I’m sharing my menu for this week with you. I would love to hear what you’ll be cooking up for your families too!
Since I have a Mom and 3 sisters, we’re always sharing recipes and sending pictures to each other of what we’re cooking. It’s fun and we inspire each other all the time. So many times one of us will make the same dish that the other one is making.
You know how it is, when you hear that someone’s making Scalloped Potatoes, all of a sudden you start craving it too:). I’m looking forward to reading all of your comments!
By no means do I stick to my menu 100%, but it makes my life SO much easier.
Here’s my Menu for this week.
Sunday: Date Night:). We went out to eat.
Monday:
Russian Chicken Soup With Homemade Noodles
Rice Pilaf (with the addition of garlic, white wine and parsley)
Tuesday:
Leftover Russian Chicken Soup With Homemade Noodles
Mashed Potatoes
Pork Chops With Shallot, Mustard and Cider Sauce
Wednesday:
Leftovers (Mashed Potatoes and Pork Chops)
Pickles
Thursday:
Eggplant Rollatini
Friday:
Rice Pilaf or Orzo With Veggies
Glazed Roasted Carrots
Saturday:
Breakfast: Omelets With tomatoes, cheese, turkey
Risovaya Kasha – Rice Pudding
Dinner: Tushenaya Kartoshka (Braised Potatoes With Pork, I might use chicken)
Sunday:
Breakfast: Banana Walnut Oatmeal
Sandwiches with tea
Dinner: Leftovers
Desserts: I bake 1-2 times per week, usually not more. Most likely I’ll bake something for the weekend.
So that’s what we’ll be eating this week. How about you? What is your menu for this week?
I’m including a link to a website where they have 15 Printable Menu Planners. Some of them are really awesome!
I have a small notebook where I write down my menus and keep it in my purse. Simple, practical and it works for me.
Check it out.
24 Comments
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Vera
Hi Olga,
Just want to say thanks to you for your advice. I wish that I have found your blog years ago. I just recently started meal planning and it saves me so much time and money.
Your recipes are amazing. Everyone praises the food that I make, using your recipes. Keep up your good work and God bless you.
olgak7
Thank you Vera!
When I first got married, I didn’t plan my menu either. Gosh, we threw away so much food, and it seems like I had to go to the grocery store almost everyday! Better late than never. I’m so glad I do it now.
I’m so happy to hear that you’re getting great responses about your cooking:). Thanks for taking the time to write. I really appreciate it.
Elena
Monday: Grilled Chicken rice with veggies meatball soup
Tuesday: Tacos (will add the leftover rice/veggies to beef)and finish the meatball soup
Wednesday: Tuna casserole, garden salad
Thursday: will Roast a chicken, mashed potatoes, broccoli with garlic
Friday: Quesadilla (made from leftover chicken and veggies)
Saturday: Our tradition is to make fun shape pancakes in the morning. Will make a huge pot of borsht, and a pumpernickel bread is a must (I buy it)
Sunday: borsht, sandwiches
It is just me and my little one at home all day. And we don’t eat much. Snack on raw veggies/fruit and eat leftovers from the night before.
I bake couple times a month and special occasions. We try not to have any sweets at home. But we like to have desert family dates once a week.
Tina
Elena… you said that “We try not to have any sweets at home”….HOW, how on earth do you do it? I’m such a sugar eater that cant even live a day without putting the candy or chocolate in my mouth :((
do you have any special tricks?? :)) Thanks!
Elena
I just don’t buy it when I do my grocery shopping. This way I don’t have it at home. If we are craving something sweet we can go out and get an ice cream or a cookie. This way we kill our craving, we control our portion, and we don’t have it at home. If I have it at home I will snack on it all day. If I don’t have it I will snack on something else. (I try not to go shopping hungry; it helps me control what I buy)
It might not work for everyone but it seems to be working for our family.
But looking forward to holiday season! Have lots of yummy recipes I need to try out! 😉
Tina
I definatly need to try it your way. Thanks for sharing 🙂
olgak7
Hi Elena,
Thanks for sharing your menu! It sounds great. I especially love how to use part of what you cooked one day to make something fresh and yummy the next day. That is so smart. By the way, I usually make Chicken Quesadillas too after having Roast chicken the day before:). I don’t bake too often either, if it’s just the two of us at home. We have guests over pretty often, so that’s when I bake the most:). When it’s just Sergi and I, we prefer simple baking, like muffins, coffeecakes, etc. Most of the time Sergi will request Nalistnki for dessert. Cakes and fancy desserts are mostly for guests. It would take us forever to eat a cake by ourselves:).
Elena
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Making a new dish with leftovers works great for my boys, they don’t notice that they are eating leftovers. Happy Children =Happy Mom.
My husband and kids have a sweet tooth. I am more of a chip and dip person. Lol But we are working hard on eating healthy and sticking to a budget.
Thanks for sharing your recipes! I have added a lot of them to my recipe binder.
Oksana Mitityuk
Hi Olga, Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to post recipes and awesome tips. I am really loving you site! I just got married 3 months ago and cooking was one of the things I was sooo worried about, but I found your site right before and it is AMAZING!! My hubby loves my cooking 😀 Thank you so much! And thank you for the tips and meal planning they are helping to save us money!! I am thankful to God that He brought your site to me. God bless you and your family!!
olgak7
Awww… Thank you, Oksana! I’m so glad you are enjoying the site. I was worried about the cooking when I first got married, too. Even though I had been cooking since I was a little girl and for a relatively big family, it’s not the same as when you’re the responsible one. If I don’t cook, we won’t eat:). Unless we go out to eat or eat precooked meals. I wasn’t going to let that happen, so I started to experiment! I loved to cook, though, so it was a lot of fun and I sure learned a lot.
Natasha
Monday – had guests over so we had Baked Salmon, Velveted chicken stir fry with Rice, Vanilla cupcakes with chocolate hazelnut frosting for dessert.
Tuesday – leftovers
Wednesday – Chicken sandwiches for lunch, Mushroom soup for dinner.
Thursday – Macaroni with carrots, celery, and chicken. Tomato salad.
Friday – Leftovers, or fried potatoes with some vegetables.
Saturday – Pierogies (or is it varenniki?) with onions and mushroom sauce.
Sunday – BBQ Ribs, Mashed Potatoes, Garlicky Yellow Beans. “Korzinki” for dessert.
olgak7
Hi Natasha!
Everything on you menu looks delicious! I’m sure your guests really enjoyed their meal. Salmon is one of my top choices when we have guests over. Most people like it. Chicken is a great choice too.
Alla
MOnday- Huli Huli Chicken & Rice Pilaf. Salad Vinigrette
Tuesday- Your Tomato Meatball Soup and your garlic bread 🙂
Wednesday- Shrimp Pasta with tomato/cream sauce, Caeser Salad
Thursday-Galic/mustard broiled salmon w/ potatoes
Friday- Crock Pot drip beef sandwiches (Pioneer woman website)
Saturday- Vareniki (I buy them from a lady at church who makes them homemade and sells them 🙂
Sunday- we always go out to eat after church as a family.
olgak7
Hi Alla,
Thanks for sharing another great menu. I’m so glad you tried the Tomato Meatball Soup with Garlic Bread. It’s one of my husband’s favorites:). Last time I made garlic bread, I roasted a whole bunch of garlic and made up a large amount of the garlic butter spread and portioned it out and froze it. Next time we want to make Garlic Bread, we just unthaw it, spread it on the bread and in the oven it goes:).
P.S. The Shrimp Pasta sounds amazing!
Yelena
Sun – pork pilaf (plov) and sorrel soup
Mon – chicken soup ( bulion) and leftovers of plov
Tues – chicken soup and fried potatoes with baked tilapia french style
Wed – borsh and kotleti with barley
Thur – rassol’nik soup and tefteli
Fri – tomato salad and pelimeni
Sat – will go out to eat
olgak7
Hi Yelena,
Thanks for joining the club, LOL. It’s awesome reading and getting inspired by all these creative options and ideas.
I was just talking to my aunt about Rassolnik and that made me crave it. After seeing it on your menu, I’ll definitely have to make it soon.
Natalie S
Thanks for sharing this! I really need to start menu planning! I know that will save us money and wasted food… I stay home with a 4 year old, 2 year old and a newborn so planning ahead would really be good for me 🙂 I would LOVE to have your recipe for the homemade russian chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles. My boys love to eat soup so I make soup once a week sometime twice a week.
olgak7
Hi Natalie,
It helps me get inspired by seeing what other people are cooking, so I thought it would be fun for all of us to share what we’re feeding our families. You must be a busy Mommy, with two little ones:). I’ll be posting the recipe of the Chicken Noodle Soup soon. (I don’t usually like to post pictures of something that I won’t be sharing. It’s kind of not fair to tease people like that:). Sometimes it takes me a while to post something, but this time I have it almost ready to publish.
Prerna@The Mom Writes
Hi Olga, thank you SO much for linking to my website.. Am glad you liked the roundup of free printable menu planners! Happy to have found your site and look forward to staying in touch.
olgak7
Hi Prerna! That was an awesome collection! There is a menu plan for just about everyone. You have a great site. I really enjoyed your posts about preparing for guests and making them feel comfortable in your home. My husband and I have guests quite often, so it’s pretty important to me. Thanks for stopping by!
[email protected]
Love this! Meal planning is awesome…It helps so much. Thanks for the free template link;)
Tallya
I realize this is an old post but I loved reading about your menu planning. My husband works 3pm to 11:30pm so we get lunch together as a family which is a bit tricky for me. I don’t always get my menu planning done but love it when I do… here’s this week’s:
Mon. Beshbaramak (hubby’s fave dish)
Tue. Potato stuffed peppers (OFF) Green salad
Wed. Teriyaki salmon, rice and salad
Thurs. Mushroom soup, homemade bread
Fri. Steamed artichokes, beet salad
Sat. Chicken veggie skewers and quinoa
Kristina
Hello Olga! I love your website and your authentic recipes. I found I enjoy your method of making Borsht over other popular bloggers 😉
I am a student who will eventually work 3 12-hr night shifts and also expecting twins! We are almost 2 years married and I already feel like I am in a rut with cooking lol. I enjoy cooking and do it quite well, but we WASTE SO MUCH food with just the two of us. So I decided to start budgeting and menu planning! I am hoping this new start will work for us and eventually becomes part of my life. Thank you for the inspiration! Now onto listing off all my recipes and making a PLAN 🙂
olgak7
Hi Kristina,
I am so happy to hear that you are enjoying my website. Borsch is a favorite in our family as well.
Congratulations on your twins! I hope your pregnancy and birth will be blessed. Children are such an incredible gift.
Good for you for starting to meal plan and budget. It makes such a big difference. I wish you all the best.