It has been 2 weeks now since my first post.  The holiday season, work, and a lack of being able to type out coherent thoughts into intelligent paragraphs escaped me.  I  am sorry.  But, this is a New Year…New You.  I will try to be better.

Last night I sat down to menu plan for the first time in about 6-8 months.  It is refreshing and terrifying all at the same time.  With a three-year old in the house, me pregnant, and a husband who wants to eat healthy from here on out….means Pizza night last night will be the last for some time.  This process is terrifying because you make these decisions on meals that sound good to you at the time that you read it but who knows if you will be excited to eat that on the day that you scheduled it and who knows if the three year old will eat it.  I mean one day we love kiwi and the next it is the grossest thing ever…but we will eat blue cheese straight!  Come on!   Menu planning can be refreshing; it allows you to try new foods, balance out your meals, be organized, have lunches with the left overs, and shopping lists!  I LOVE shopping lists!

So, what did I do, you might be asking?  (Well, I will tell you even if you weren’t thinking that).  I printed out a weekly spreadsheet for my menu.  Days of the week as my rows and Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and snacks/other as my columns.  Once printing it out, I used my Avery Self Adhesive Laminating Sheets to  laminate my menu and then grabbed my dry erase markers and went to town!  Some tape on the back and then on the door to the garage (visible from my Kitchen).

My work schedule rotates between day shift and night shift every few months.  And on the days that I work (12-16 hour shifts) the hubby is in charge of dinner and all of the meals on the weekends that I have to work.  That is a lot of pressure.  So I have been getting into Freezer meals and batch cooking once or twice a month.  SO far it has been great.  (Check out my NOSH posts).  I love to cook. I love providing for my family.  Healthy food and Paleo are the new way around here.

So the Menu for this week:

Monday: Pizza…….last time for a while.  I am kind of in mourning

Tuesday:   Taco Salad , Paleo Chicken Salad for lunches, and Paleo Sweet Potato Chili-Crockpot to Freeze for later.

Wednesday: A favorite Breakfast item in this house Paleo Chicken Hash, and Garlic Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin for dinner and the freezer (for the freezer…don’t cook the tenderloin.  I like to write the remaining directions on the vacuum sealed bag.)

Thursday: Paleo Vegetable Soup for the freezer and Salmon another favorite  here

Friday: All Time Paleo Favorite…Stuffed Sweet Potato

What happened to Saturday and Sunday you might be asking….Hubby said that he will take care of that since I am working nights.  I hope that you try these and love them as much as we do.

We LOVE our FoodSaver!  We have used this for a few months now and it is amazing!!!!!!  We use this 2-in-1 FoodSaver and we use this for the bags.  This model is super easy to use and even though it is a bit pricey it has saved us a ton of money!  We routinely use this so that we can freeze meals for later and for saving leftovers in the fridge.  I do find that it is easiest to label the bags with all of the information including any cooking directions BEFORE you put the food in the bags to seal.  This model is a bit on the large side and it takes up its own smaller cabinet shelf in our kitchen.  I will say that this is totally worth the money and so long as you have the space…..BUY IT!!!!!  you will love it.  There are so many functions and uses.  You can seal moist and dry items.  I typically freeze my stews in here and put them in the freezer for later.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!  Ok time for bed.

Later Gators