Monday, July 11, 2011

Adventures in Menu Planning: Feeding Two Families

Grocery shopping for eight

Check out all the milk you have to buy if you're feeding 4 adults (including a pregnant lady) and 4 kids!! Not to mention the gallon and a half that was already in the fridge. Whew!

This was our major grocery shopping trip for the week, with the exception of produce, which I will be purchasing tomorrow from a produce stand (Christina is switching her produce box schedule around, thus no box this week).

Our breakfasts lately have consisted mainly of oatmeal, cheese grits, and eggs. This week we'll have cold cereal in addition....as you can tell, we stocked up.

Last week was, in a word, scattered. With the kids being sick, during the day Christina and I went from one task to the next until we collapsed exhausted at the end of the day. It is a beautiful, glorious thing when our husbands get home from work. They have been so helpful--washing dishes, directing the children, helping with bedtime routines. We married wonderful men. They have done the dishes pretty much every night. Need I say more?

This week, we're hoping for more sanity. We've nailed down a menu plan (a frugal one!) and plan on alternating the nights that we cook dinner. While one of us cooks, the other can spend time with the kids. Our husbands are sweetly taking turns preparing breakfast in the morning. Here's the official plan:

Breakfasts: Cold Cereal, Yogurt (I made a batch last week), Oatmeal, Grits, Eggs.
Lunches: Leftovers, sandwiches

Dinners:
Monday--Company over, so we're cooking for 10. Baked Ziti (2 large pans) with salad.
Tuesday--Chicken Stir Fry with Broccoli and Peppers
Wednesday--Sticky Chicken x 2 with veggies (didn't get to this last week)
Thursday--Shepherd's Pie (2 large pans)
Friday--15 Bean Soup with Smoked Sausage and Rice
Saturday--Chicken Soup
Sunday--Dinner at church

In other news, did you go to Chick-fil-A on Friday and get your free meal? We made a family outing of it, and it was so nice to get out of the house. Not to mention it's purely hilarious to eat at at Chick-fil-A when everyone's dressed up like a cow.

Cow Appreciation Day
Doesn't Squishy look like he's not sure if he wants to associate with us?
Here's to a happy Monday!



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8 comments:

  1. Whew. That is a lot of food! Reminds me when we lived with our pastor and took turns cooking for both families. They have 4 teenaged boys. Lots of food was required. ;)

    And you guys look too cute in your cow costumes! We didn't make it to Chick-Fil-A this year. I remembered to late and didn't have the energy to make costumes. So we had spaghetti for dinner.

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  2. WOW!! You guys are amazing! That is a ton of people to cook for and a lot of milk to drink :) Looks like you guys have a good plan! I LOVE the chic-fil-a photo...Squishy totally looks like he doesn't want to associate with you guys. Cute photo! Our nearest Chic-Fil-A is an hour away and I'm sad to say, we missed out. boo! :)

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  3. That last pic...hehe

    I can't imagine working at a big restaurant where you'd be cooking all day long for tons of people. I can hardly keep up now. We go through tons of milk too. I'm bad about remembering to drink it myself. The girls would throw a fit if they didn't get their 2 cups daily. =p And hubby guzzles it too.

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  4. YOU ROCK, Alicia!!! Wow, wow, wow!!! We recently started going through 4.5 gallons a week now that Pax is on whole milk...zoiks! Your schedule sounds deeeelish. What I do often is try to carry the sauce from 1 meal to the next. So on Monday make double meatsauce to use for ziti then save for weds spag. or cheese ravioli. That's helped us tremendously with 4 kids, and sauce always seems to be a meal pleaser for the youngin's. :)

    And despite the morning sickness and my husband working the night shift, I am uber proud to say that the kids and I DID make the Free Meal!!! And they waited until we ordered to strip off their ears and spots. hahaha :P

    I know you're super busy, but take some time to rest for you and your growing baby .

    Hope to see you soon!
    XOXO! marissa

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  5. What an adventure feeding two families!! Glad the sticky chicken made the menu. And love your Cow outfits, super cute!!

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  6. I use that recipe to make the baked ziti. It's so good! I also puree spinach and add it to the spaghetti sauce for extra veggies (you know my hubby doesn't like his veggies!). You are doing great and your week looks wonderful! Love the cow outfits! We almost joined everyone, but figured we just stay in on Friday :)

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  7. This yes, this. I have the *idea* of mealplanning and I've done it quite successfully in the past - You are proving to me that it CAN be done - even when the house is in flux!

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  8. I'm just trying meal planning myself! So far, its worth the prep. Love your blog :)

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