Spring at last! I much prefer the warmer months and although the change in season by the calendar, doesn’t see the temperatures changes automatically, for me it is still a happy passing and very symbolic!

The following fruits and vegetables listed below are at their best and cheapest this month. These lists are for Australia, but if you live in the UK you can see what’s in season at Eat the Seasons UK and for North America Eat the Seasons US.

Fruits:
apple - lady williams, cumquat, grapefruit, lemon, mandarins -ellendale - murcot, oranges - blood - seville, papaya, pawpaw, pineapple - smooth leaf, tangelo.

Vegetables:
artichoke, asian greens - bok choy - choy sum - gai laan - wonga bok, asparagus - green - purple, avocados - fuerte - hass - sharwill, beans - broad - green, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower garlic, ginger, leek, lettuce, mushrooms - morel, onions - salad - spring, peas, potato, pumpkin, silverbeet, spinach.

Now on to the plan!

Monday: Lasagne

Baking: Rice Bubble Treat

Tuesday: Satay Chicken With Cous Cous

Wednesday: Moroccan Minted Beef

Thursday: Spaghetti Bolganaise

Friday: Left Overs

Saturday: Mexibake

Sunday: Hamburgers and Salad

I have included the shopping list for this week’s menu plan as an excel file. The below paragraphs explain what is in the attached excel file below.

Family Menu Plan and Shopping List

It contains three separate spreadsheets. The first is named “Complete Grocery’ and it lists by supermarket aisle all the ingredients that are needed to cook the family meals for this week.

The second spreadsheet is named “Ingredient By Meal’ and it lists the ingredients that are required for the family by each individual meal this week. I have also left on the aisle and aisle subsection in this spreadsheet for reference, but if you want to print that out you will need to alter the print area.

The third spreadsheet is named “Menu Plan” and is a modified version of the menu plan that I print and place on the fridge. I have a notes section, that I like to populate with any activities that are likely to impact the evening meal routine.

Want to see what we are having next week? Subscribe to my free email updates via the “subscribe page” or from the RSS Feed icon at the top of the page.

For more menu planning ideas head on over to Laura’s place at “I’m an Organizing Junkie“.

Technorati Tags: family freindly meals, menu planner, shopping list

• Menu Plan Monday - Autumn Is Here
• Menu Plan Monday - One I Prepared Earlier
• Menu Plan Monday - The Favourites
• Menu Plan Monday - Better Late Than Never!

Image: Fimb

Last week went by in a blur. I am so glad that I did my big planning session at the end of July. With the pace that I have been going at in August it has been great to have one less thing to think about and just access the menu plan file for that week and have it ready to go.

I am always a big advocate of menu planning, but going through a month like this one, I honestly don’t know how I would have fed us all healthily and within budget, if I hadn’t taken the time to prepare the menu plans earlier.

Here is what we are having this week:

Monday: Pumpkin Soup

Baking: White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Tuesday: Baked Penne With Bacon

Wednesday: Spicy Chutney Chicken with Mixed Rice
Thursday: Homemade Pasties

Friday: Left Overs

Saturday: Tacos

Sunday: Chicken Wings with Baked Potatoes and Corn

I have included the shopping list for this week’s menu plan as an excel file. The below paragraphs explain what is in the attached excel file below.

Family Menu Plan and Shopping List

It contains three separate spreadsheets. The first is named “Complete Grocery’ and it lists by supermarket aisle all the ingredients that are needed to cook the family meals for this week.

The second spreadsheet is named “Ingredient By Meal’ and it lists the ingredients that are required for the family by each individual meal this week. I have also left on the aisle and aisle subsection in this spreadsheet for reference, but if you want to print that out you will need to alter the print area.

The third spreadsheet is named “Menu Plan” and is a modified version of the menu plan that I print and place on the fridge. I have a notes section, that I like to populate with any activities that are likely to impact the evening meal routine.

Want to see what we are having next week? Subscribe to my free email updates via the “subscribe page” or from the RSS Feed icon at the top of the page.

For more menu planning ideas head on over to Laura’s place at “I’m an Organizing Junkie“.

Technorati Tags: family meals, Menu Planning, Recipes, shopping list

• Menu Plan Monday - The Favourites
• Menu Plan Monday - Better Late Than Never!
• Menu Plan Monday - Quick And Simple
• Menu Plan Monday - Easy To Cook Family Food

Don’t forget the ickle kids activity pack giveaway ends on Wednesday 21st May at 9am Australian EST if you haven’t entered yet!

We have a pretty basic menu plan this week. The children all chose their favourite winter style meals as the cold weather has really set in. Although it is a basic menu, it is all good food that I know the kids will eat and I didn’t have to think of it!!!

Monday: Sausage and Veg

Baking: Rice Bubble Treat

Tuesday: Pasta with Chicken and Spinach

Wednesday: Kin’s Apricot Chicken

Thursday: Beef Stir Fry

Friday: Fried Rice

Saturday: Left Overs

Sunday: Beef Stroganoff

Again, I have included the shopping list for this week’s menu plan as an excel file. The below paragraphs explain what is in the attached excel file below.

Shopping List For Menu Plan 080519

It contains three separate spreadsheets. The first is named “Complete Grocery’ and it lists by supermarket aisle all the ingredients that are needed to cook the family meals for this week.

The second spreadsheet is named “Ingredient By Meal’ and it lists the ingredients that are required for the family by each individual meal this week. I have also left on the aisle and aisle subsection in this spreadsheet for reference, but if you want to print that out you will need to alter the print area.

The third spreadsheet is named “Menu Plan” and is a modified version of the menu plan that I print and place on the fridge. I have a notes section, that I like to populate with any activities that are likely to impact the evening meal routine.

Want to see what we are having next week? Subscribe to my free email updates via the “subscribe page” or from the RSS Feed icon at the top of the page.

For more menu planning ideas head on over to Laura’s place at “I’m an Organizing Junkie“.

Technorati Tags: family, Menu Planning, shopping list

• Menu Plan Monday - Better Late Than Never!
• Menu Plan Monday - Autumn Is Here
• Menu Plan Monday - Easy To Cook Family Food
• Menu Plan Monday - Short Week

I have written previously about how I try to get the children’s input into the family menu planning process, but I have not yet mentioned Mr Infrastructure’s contributions to this.

To be honest I actually hardly ever ask him what he would like to see on the menu plan. I think this may have something to do with the fact that if I do, he has a repertoire of about three meals he will roll off: Tacos, Fried Rice and Sausage and Vegetables and generally the kids have already asked for that so there is nothing new to add!

These meals also fall into the category of the five meals that he can cook. Mr Infrastructure does help out around the house and I will be the first to admit that he does more ironing than I do (I would also like to add though, I think the fact that he can do this and watch sport on the TV has something to do with this!!!), but he is not exactly a whiz in the kitchen.

I have worked hard with him, so that he has at least some meals that have nutritional value, which he can cook by himself. Mr Infrastructure developed his own process for me teaching him to cook. I would cook the meal and he would watch and take his own notes and then I would assist him when he first cooked the recipe. The photo above is of Mr Infrastructure’s personal cookbook.

This process worked quite well and although he can’t cook many meals, what he can cook, he does well. Mr Infrastructure’s hand written instructions have had another benefit recently as well. I have been trying to get the recipes I cook most frequently out of my head and onto the computer. (I am in the process of finding a way to best share them on the blog - more about that another day.) I have been able to quickly type up the meals in his cookbook without having to think too much about how I cook them.

The instructions Mr Infrastructure wrote down are far more comprehensive that my own would have been. Check out the recipe for Chicken Lasagne below and let me know what you think, it was one of his.

Monday: Chicken Korma
Baking: ANZAC Biscuits (Recipe Attached)

Tuesday: Chicken Lasagne (Recipe Attached)

Wednesday: Sausage and Vegetables

Thursday: Lamb Chops and Steamed Vegetables

Friday: Tacos

Saturday: Tomato and Basil Gnocchi

Sunday: Roast Chicken and Vegetables

SHOPPING LIST FILES
Again, I have included the shopping list for this week’s menu plan as an excel file. The below paragraphs explain what is in the attached excel file below.

Menu Plan Shopping List 080421

It contains three separate spreadsheets. The first is named “Complete Grocery’ and it lists by supermarket aisle all the ingredients that are needed to cook the family meals for this week.

The second spreadsheet is named “Ingredient By Meal’ and it lists the ingredients that are required for the family by each individual meal this week. I have also left on the aisle and aisle subsection in this spreadsheet for reference, but if you want to print that out you will need to alter the print area.

The third spreadsheet is named “Menu Plan” and is a modified version of the menu plan that I print and place on the fridge. I have a notes section, that I like to populate with any activities that are likely to impact the evening meal routine.

Want to see what we are having next week? Subscribe to my free email updates via the “subscribe page” or from the RSS Feed icon at the top of the page.

For more menu planning ideas head on over to Laura’s place at “I’m an Organizing Junkie“.

Technorati Tags: Menu Planning, Recipes, shopping list

• Menu Plan Monday - Autumn Is Here
• Menu Plan Monday - Easy To Cook Family Food
• Menu Plan Monday - Quick And Simple
• Menu Plan Monday - Back to Basics

Last week we tried out two great new recipes Roast Chicken and Vegetables and Picklebum’s Easy Beef and Veggie Triangles.

Both were easy to make, incredibly tasty and most importantly very popular with all four children! I find looking at other family weekly menu plans great inspiration for new meals for the family.

You might not notice that with what has been chosen this week though! It is all very basic and child friendly food this week, still inspired from what vegetables are in season.

Monday: Fried Rice (Recipe Attached)
Baking: White Chocolate Chip Muffins (Recipe Attached)

Tuesday: Zucchini Slice

Wednesday: Sausage and Vegetables

Thursday: Spaghetti Bolognaise

Friday: Choose your own meal (Selecting from what is still lurking in the fridge.)

Saturday: Pumpkin Soup (Made and frozen last week as we ended up going out to dinner with visiting family.)

Sunday: Beef Chutney Casserole

I have included the shopping list for this week’s menu plan as an excel file. The below paragraphs explain what is in the attached excel file below.

Menu Planning Shopping List 080414

SPREADSHEET EXPLANATION:
It contains three separate spreadsheets. The first is named “Complete Grocery’ and it lists by supermarket aisle all the ingredients that are needed to cook the family meals for this week.

The second spreadsheet is named “Ingredient By Meal’ and it lists the ingredients that are required for the family by each individual meal this week. I have also left on the aisle and aisle subsection in this spreadsheet for reference.

The third spreadsheet is named “Menu Plan” and is a modified version of the menu plan that I print and place on the fridge. I have a notes section, that I like to populate with any activities that are likely to impact the evening meal routine.

Want to see what we are having next week? Subscribe to my free email updates via the “subscribe page” or from the RSS Feed icon at the top of the page.

For more menu planning ideas head on over to Laura’s place at “I’m an Organizing Junkie“.

Technorati Tags: Menu Planning, Recipes, shopping list

• Menu Plan Monday - Autumn Is Here
• Menu Plan Monday - Short Week
• Menu Plan Monday - Easter Week And Shopping List
• Menu Plan Monday - Easy To Cook Family Food

Before I asked the children for their suggestions for this week’s meal plan, I actually took them through the below list of fruit and vegetables in season.

The following fruits and vegetables are at their best and cheapest this month:

Fruits:
Apple, Banana, Grapes, Watermelon, Figs, Nashi, Quince

Vegetables:
Asparagus, Beans, Beanshoots, Beetroot, Broccoli, Carrot, Cauliflower, Lettuce, Mushrooms, Potato, Pumpkin, Snow peas, Spring onion, Sweetcorn, Turnip, Zucchini

These lists are for Australia, but if you live in the UK you can see what’s in season at Eat the Seasons UK and for North America Eat the Seasons.

We then had a discussion around why it is better to use in season fruit and veg (cost and freshness) and then I had to answer a miriad of questions around why we could still get all this other food if they were not in season. Two core answers: the wonders of technology (eg. cold storage) and importing fruit and veg from other countries.

With all this information we were set to gather the families input and came up with this:

Monday: Pasta with Chicken and Spinach
Baking: Chocolate Chip Cookies (Recipe Attached)

Tuesday: Chicken and Seasonal Veg Stir Fry (Recipe Attached)

Wednesday: Pumpkin Soup

Thursday: Baked Penne

Friday: Roast Chicken and Vegetables
Inspired by the recipe on From Mummy’s Kitchen.

Saturday: Tacos

Sunday: Picklebums Easy Beef and Vegie Triangles
Kate has come up with a great way to use left over meat veg and turn it into a tasty meal.

As per the last few weeks, I have included the shopping list for this week’s menu plan as an excel file. The below paragraphs explain what is in the attached excel file below.

Menu Plan Shopping List 080407

It contains three separate spreadsheets. The first is named “Complete Grocery’ and it lists by supermarket aisle all the ingredients that are needed to cook the family meals for this week.

The second spreadsheet is named “Ingredient By Meal’ and it lists the ingredients that are required for the family by each individual meal this week. I have also left on the aisle and aisle subsection in this spreadsheet for reference, but if you want to print that out you will need to alter the print area.

The third spreadsheet is named “Menu Plan” and is a modified version of the menu plan that I print and place on the fridge. I have a notes section, that I like to populate with any activities that are likely to impact the evening meal routine.

Want to see what we are having next week? Subscribe to my free email updates via the “subscribe page” or from the RSS Feed icon at the top of the page.

For more menu planning ideas head on over to Laura’s place at “I’m an Organizing Junkie“.

Technorati Tags: Menu Planning, Recipes, shopping list

• Menu Plan Monday - Autumn Is Here
• Menu Plan Monday - Back to Basics
• Menu Plan Monday - Short Week
• Menu Plan Monday - Easy To Cook Family Food

Cold and rainy weather has hit Melbourne, so I thought I would throw in a a salad with one of our meals, while we can still get the last remains of the summer seasonal foods.

With the exception of that meal when it came to plan for this week, it was generally of the more hearty, warming style food. As I have a distinct preference for the warmer seasons, I do take some solace that there is great food that can be cooked in the colder months.

Monday: Beef Stroganoff (Slow Cooker recipe attached)

Tuesday: Hamburgers And Salad

Wednesday: Tuna Rice

Thursday: Spaghetti Alla Matriciana

Friday: Shepherd’s Pie

Saturday: Spicy Chutney Chicken With Mixed Rice (Recipe Attached)

Sunday: Sausage And Vegetables

I have included the shopping list for this week’s menu plan as an excel file. The below paragraphs explain what is in the attached excel file below.

Menu Plan Shopping List 080331

It contains three separate spreadsheets. The first is named “Complete Grocery’ and it lists by supermarket aisle all the ingredients that are needed to cook the family meals for this week.

The second spreadsheet is named “Ingredient By Meal’ and it lists the ingredients that are required for the family by each individual meal this week. I have also left on the aisle and aisle subsection in this spreadsheet for reference, but if you want to print that out you will need to alter the print area.

The third spreadsheet is named “Menu Plan” and is a modified version of the menu plan that I print and place on the fridge. I have a notes section, that I like to populate with any activities that are likely to impact the evening meal routine.

Want to see what we are having next week? Subscribe to my free email updates via the “subscribe page” or from the RSS Feed icon at the top of the page.

For more menu planning ideas head on over to Laura’s place at “I’m an Organizing Junkie“.

Technorati Tags: Menu Planning, Recipes, shopping list

• Menu Plan Monday - Short Week
• Menu Plan Monday - The Favourites
• Menu Plan Monday - Back to Basics
• Menu Plan Monday - Easter Week And Shopping List

We are at my sisters for most of this week on holidays in sunny Mildura! My other sister and her son from Melbourne are also visiting and my parents will be around for most meals, so we have chosen very easy meals that can be cooked in bulk and that the kids will all like (mostly anyway!)

You can find an excel file at the end of this post which contains the shopping list to purchase all the food to cook these meals. As we will be cooking for so many people, I am doubling all the required ingredients.

Monday: Baked Penne

Tuesday: Tacos (Mums out - dad’s to cook)

Wednesday: Lamb Chops and Steamed Vegetables (Dads out - mum’s to cook)

Thursday: Chicken Korma with poppadoms

Friday: Zucchini Slice - (Back in Melbourne and I will be getting this out of the freezer.)

Saturday: Sausage and Steamed Vegetables

Sunday: Chicken Wings with Baked Potatoes and Corn on the Cob

The below is the an explanation for the attached file of which includes shopping lists, etc for these meals.

Menu Planning Shopping List 080324

The file contains three separate spreadsheets. The first is named “Complete Shopping List by Aisle’ and it lists by supermarket aisle all the ingredients that are needed to cook the family meals for this week.

The second spreadsheet is named “Ingredients By Meal’ and it lists the ingredients that are required for the family meals this week. I have also left on the aisle and aisle subsection this week as well in this spreadsheet. You may like to do some data sorting etc for yourself on this spreadsheet.

The third spreadsheet is named “Menu Plan” and is a modified version of the menu plan that I print and place on the fridge. I have a notes section, that I like to populate with any activities that are likely to impact the evening meal routine.

Want to see what we are having next week? Subscribe to my free email updates via the “subscribe page” or from the RSS Feed icon at the top of this page.

For more menu planning ideas head on over to Laura’s place at “I’m an Organizing Junkie“.

Technorati Tags: Menu Planning, Recipes, shopping list

• Menu Plan Monday - One I Prepared Earlier
• Menu Plan Monday - Shopping List For Our Family Menu Plan
• Menu Plan Monday - Quick And Simple
• Menu Plan Monday - The Favourites

It was a very easy to plan the family meals for this week, as we head off for our Easter Holidays on Thursday morning, which left me only three meals for to cook this week at home:

Monday: Tacos

Tuesday: Vietnamese Beef with Noodles (Recipe attached)

Wednesday: Sausages and Salad
Baking: Chocolate Balls (Recipe attached)

Thursday: At my sisters!

Friday: Big Family Lunch - Dinner will be what is left over.

Saturday: Camping - BBQ

Sunday: Camping - BBQ

I received some fantastic feedback last week on how other people collated their shopping lists and plan their supermarket shopping. I have since then, started creating two basics list, one for the fortnightly shop and the other list for what I need to buy on a monthly basis. I will post these next week Monday when they are finished.

Menu Plan Shopping List 080317

I have attached our very small shopping list for this week. I have also copied the explanation from last week about what is the attached excel file below.

The file contains three separate spreadsheets. The first is named “Complete Shopping List’ and it lists by supermarket aisle all the ingredients that are needed to cook the family meals for this week.

The second spreadsheet is named “Ingredients By Meal’ and it lists the ingredients that are required for the family meals this week.

The third spreadsheet is named “Menu Plan” and is a modified version of the menu plan that I print and place on the fridge. I have a notes section, that I like to populate with any activities that are likely to impact the evening meal routine.

Happy Easter to those who celebrate this holiday.

Want to see what we are having next week? Subscribe to my free email updates via the “subscribe page” or from the RSS Feed icon at the top of the home page.

For more menu planning ideas head on over to Laura’s place at “I’m an Organizing Junkie“.

Technorati Tags: Menu Planning, Recipes, shopping list

• Menu Plan Monday - Easy To Cook Family Food
• Menu Plan Monday - Shopping List For Our Family Menu Plan
• Menu Plan Monday - Short Week
• Menu Plan Monday - Autumn Is Here

I have to firstly thank my very kind eldest sister who looked after my children (yes all 4!) from 10.30am Sunday until midday Monday. And she didn’t take it easy either and took them on a “awesome” day out at Moomba. Whilst she was looking after my children, I was able to attend a farewell party and I also had some extra time up my sleeve to be able to add my shopping list, as well as my menu plan for to this week’s Menu Plan Monday post.

I have previously mentioned that I have created a menu planning tool in Microsoft Access for myself, so that I can generate quickly and easily, menu plans for the family and the associated shopping list.

The attached excel file below contains three separate spreadsheets. The first is named “Complete Shopping List’ and it lists by supermarket aisle all the ingredients that are needed to cook the family meals for this week.

Menu Plan Shopping List 080310

The second spreadsheet is named “Ingredients By Meal’ and it lists the ingredients that are required for the each of the family meals this week. The meals I have included are deliberately easy and I have put the links to meals where I have previously posted the instructions.

The third spreadsheet is named “Menu Plan” and is a modified version of the menu plan which I print and place on the fridge. I have a notes section, that I like to populate with any activities that are likely to impact the evening meal routine.

This is what we have planned for this week:

Monday: Fried Rice

Tuesday: Left Overs

Wednesday: Pizza Margherita

Thursday: BBQ Sausages And Steamed Vegetables

Friday: Pasta With Chicken And Spinach

Saturday: Chicken Lasagna

Sunday: Chicken Schnitzel And Salad

If you use the shopping list, drop back and leave me a comment to let me know how you found it.

For more menu planning ideas head on over to Laura’s place at “I’m an Organizing Junkie“.

Want to see what we are having next week? Subscribe to my free email updates via the “subscribe page” or from the RSS Feed icon at the top of the home page.

Technorati Tags: Menu Planning, Recipes, shopping list

• Menu Plan Monday - Easy To Cook Family Food
• Menu Plan Monday - Easter Week And Shopping List
• Menu Plan Monday - The Favourites
• Menu Plan Monday - Better Late Than Never!