Large Family Meal Planning Week 249

We spent all of last week traveling and eating with family out of town, but this week we are back on the large family meal planning train!

Each week I share with you what I am feeding my large family of eight. We have six children at home from teen all the way down to a toddler. All of our kiddos at home are boys… so they basically eat us out of house and home.

Not only do I meal plan, but I keep my freezer full with make ahead freezer meals. Each month we share new downloadable recipes over on Get Dinner on the Table. You should check them out!

Here is what’s on our menu for this week. It’s still super hot here in North Texas, so we are using the slow cooker, Instant Pot and grill as much as possible!

Garlic Mustard Grilled Chicken– literally, I pulled what I had out of my freezer and pantry. I had chicken breasts in the freezer so I put 7 of them into a gallon size ziplock bag. I added 4 T of whole grain dejon mustard, 2 T of olive oil, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1/3 cup of honey, some Mrs. Dash and some dried onions. Marinate it all in the bag for 4-6 hours. My chicken was frozen so I did this on the counter, but if your chicken is already thawed you can marinate in the fridge. I am serving this with steamed broccoli and salad.

One Pot Spanish Rice– I LOVE this meal. It is so good. It is a meatless meal and so thrifty. It cooks all in one pot and leaves minimal cleanup. I don’t make this enough… needs to be on my meal plan once a month!

Quick Spaghetti– this is my go to! Every single child in my house will eat it without complaining at all. For the kids I will use traditional spaghetti noodles. For myself (and possibly the husband) I will be using these frozen veggie spiral noodles. I am in LOVE! Have you ever tried them? I am NOT working with Green Giant… just FYI. Looks like they have a coupon on their site for these noodles as well. I also have about 3 cups of leftover sauce from the last time

Chicken and Rice Casserole– making this on the grill. I am serious!! I have some chicken already shredded up in the freezer that was leftover from dinner a while back. I also have leftover Knorrs Broccoli Rice (I am NOT working with them) from the other night. I made four packets and it was way too much, so I froze the leftovers in a ziplock. (Have you ever tried this rice? I used to make it ALL THE TIME back in my 20’s when I first started cooking. I think it was Lipton brand back then…). I am going to mix the shredded chicken, the leftover rice mix and put it in a disposable metal pan. I will use a little chicken broth to think it up a bit, if needed. I am going to top with shredded cheese and cover in foil. I will put it on the grill and heat it up. I just cannot use the oven this time of year- it heats our house up way too much. What an easy way to use leftovers and think outside the box, right? I will serve this with salad and a side of strawberries and blueberries.

Grilled Pizza– I have four pizzas in my freezer from our June freezer meal assembly. Two cheese and two pepperoni. If you’ve never done this before, now is the time to try it!!

Leftover Buffet- use ’em up!

What’s on your menu?

How to Make Grocery Shopping Painless for Busy Moms

One things that is my saving grace for meal planning every week is ordering my groceries online. I literally open a window with my grocery list and a window for Walmart.

I can see exactly how much I am spending and take anything off the list before I check out if I feel like I am going over budget.
It keeps me from impulse shopping and adding unneeded junk to the basket, like cookies and candy.
No totting kids into the store for buying groceries ever again!
Order, pay online, drive up, they load your groceries and you go home! I do not even need to get out of the car! (Except to come home and put them away. lol)

If you use my link to place your first order, you get $10 off and so do I!