Menu Planning

Hello friends. I am finally glad to have a system that is working for me when it comes to menu planning, cooking dinner and grocery shopping for this season of my life. I have done a similar system for years but with ever changing seasons of life, numbers of people eating fluctuating as well, the system has changed off and on. I keep an eye out all week for any new recipes I would like to try. Then on Friday and Saturday I finalize the menu, make a grocery list, purchase online and schedule pick up for Saturday or Sunday afternoon. My husband goes with me & we pick up the items and then he unloads and I put away. 

This is majorly different from the past. In the past, I made a general list of meals I wanted to make and then headed to the store on Mondays or Tuesdays and shopped and took care of it all on my own weekly. I like the new system. I have noticed I have been saving more money as well by not going inside. Don't worry.... I do make a stop in the store weekly or biweekly to pick up my own produce because I do like having a time out in my community and I like to pick out most of my own produce. 

For the last three weeks I have made every single meal I planned. Most of them have been very good expect for two. Last week I did not care for the Pasta Fiesta, but the family loved it. I also made a pizza recipe off Pinterest using the Red Lobster Biscuit Mix. I do not recommend it. We ate it and it was okay, but we all agree it was not our favorite recipe or style of "pizza."

This week I am really looking forward to trying the Crispy Chicken Tender Tacos. I am following a recipe I found but tweaking it to our liking. We are going to omit the Cilantro Lime dressing sauce because we do not like cilantro.

Check out the recipe here

I usually try a couple of new recipes a week. I like variety now that I have more time on my hands to try new recipes more often. When the kids were younger, we were on a very tight budget, and I made the same simple frugal meals over and over and over. As I learned more about cooking and budgeting as well as time went on in my homemaking journey I ventured out and tried at least one new recipe a week. This helped me build up an arsenal of meals over the years, but even so I still like to try new recipes all the time. 

Do you all like trying new recipes often? I guess everyone's seasons in life could make a difference when it comes to that answer.

When it comes to finding recipes are you a cookbook person, online cooking sites or Pinterest person or both?