What's for Dinner?

This past Thursday I taught my first ever coupon class!  I am still surprised that I was even asked because truly I am not the best coupon shopper out in the world (I referred all the gals to a plethora of other websites) and I think it's important for everyone to find what works for them and I was only able to show them the way I do it.  However, it was fun to see everyone that was there so eager to learn how to save money for things they are already purchasing.  One of the big questions was how I plan my menu around the sales.  I thought it would be fun to go into some detail on here about what I make for dinner during the week so you can see how I rotate and use the food I already have in storage.  Keep in mind that grocery store sales run Wednesday to Tuesday and that's exactly how I plan my meals.

Wednesday, October 13th:  Whatever Wednesday (I'll post about this some other time)

Thursday, October 14th:  Girls were at their dad's and I can't remember what I ate

Friday, October 15th:  Subway sandwich while I was at the mall because the girls were still with their dad

Saturday, October 16th:  Chicken Lasagna (sort-of), Garlic Bread, Peas

Sunday, October 17th:  Taco Soup, Cornbread

Monday, October 18th:  Tangy Ranch Chicken, Rice, Broccoli

Tuesday, October 19th:  Nachos

I will use what we are eating tonight to show the technical side of how this works.  This particular recipe of lasagna (sort-of) has the following ingredients:

2 cups shredded chicken

1 brick cream cheese

desired seasonings (garlic, oregano, thyme etc.  Just whatever and how much you like)

Lasagna noodles (this is why I kept saying sort-of.  I actually don't have any lasagna noodles so I used egg noodles instead and made it more of a casserole)

1 jar spaghetti sauce

and 2 cups mozzarella cheese.

I didn't have to purchase any of these items to make this because I purchased them all over the past year when they were on sale.  I bought 40 lbs. of chicken a couple months ago when on sale for a great price at Macey's.  I used a brick of cream cheese from my last shopping trip at Smiths (I pulled it out of the freezer the day I made my menu so it would be thawed), the seasonings were already in my pantry, the noodles I purchased clear back in January when they were on sale for only $.49 per package, the spaghetti sauce I bought months ago when it was on sale and same with the mozzarella cheese (I also pulled it out of the freezer when I made my menu).  The only thing I did buy was a loaf of french bread.  Is this making any sense?  lol.

So, as you're shopping and you're wondering why it looks like you don't have anything to make a full meal and tons of random things, it's because you need to remember that as you are stocking up eventually you will have everything you need to make great food at a fraction of the cost.

If you ever have any questions please email me at mapleandvine@hotmail.com or leave a comment on here.

P.S. Stephanie was wondering about freezing cream cheese.  I will eventually do a post on this too.  I just don't have all day to sit here and type ya know!  j/k