March 2018 Meal Plan

With a new month around the corner, it’s time for me to start thinking about what we’re going to be eating throughout the next month.  I switched to monthly meal planning a few years ago, and it’s been simply ah-maz-ing!  I sit down once a month, look at the month ahead, and plan our meals around our schedule.  If you’re looking to start making your own monthly meal plans, it’s super simple.  Just follow these 5 simple steps to creating your own monthly meal plan!

March is our transition month.  Honors band is ending, as well as the musical.  With that means the honors band concert and 3 showtimes of the musical.  And a lot of rehersals leading up to each.  Soccer is also starting to gear up this month, and Hubs is heading out of state for 4 days… which happens to be a 4 day span between Honors band ending and the musical going through daily rehersals in prep for opening night.

As of writing this post, there’s no doctor’s appointments I need to schedule around, but I’m headed to the allergist in a few days, and I don’t know what my timeline for followups will be with him, especially with spring coming.  So most of the meals this month were based on being able to made fast, and using up the larger meal for the week.

 

Beyond that, here are some other things to consider while reviewing our monthly meal plan:

I plan only our dinners.  Unless it’s noted, sides consist of a fruit or veggie, possibly a grain, and is based on what I have in my fridge and pantry.  You can check out my 30+ frugal pantry staples to see what I always have on hand without going over budget.

We try to have one big meal each week, and it’s usually a roast.  Throughout the rest of the week I use the leftovers as ingredients for the week’s remaining meals.  For instance, a roast beef then becomes ingredients for beef stroganoff, beef quesadillas, vegetable beef soup and so on.

Breakfasts are usually oatmeal, cereal, toast or bagel with peanut butter and fruit, cottage cheese and fruit, or yogurt with granola.   It may seem limited and boring, but keeping breakfast choices as simple as possible makes it much easier on our hectic morning routine.  Hubs is out the door at 6:30 and kids are on the bus at 7.

Lunches are packed each day for Hubs and the kids, while I currently eat at home.  Lunches are either sandwiches, salads, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, or leftovers as the main course.  It’s served with a fruit/veg, yogurt or cheese, a drink and a “treat” {gummies, chips, etc}.  Snacks, such as crackers, pretzels and Nilla cookies, are also divided out at home and sent to school in smaller snack containers.  While packing lunches every day does raise our grocery bill a little bit, it saves us well over $250 every month, making it well worth it.  To see what supplies I rely on for our packed lunches, you can check out my 7 must haves for packed lunches.

I don’t stock pile shop –we just don’t have the pantry space– but I do shop for weekly sales, mostly for crackers, pretzels, and so on.  While this may not be the best of healthiest option, I far prefer fruit for their snacks, I have found that it is by far the easiest when divvying out snacks, and also is the least messy/sticky in the classrooms and backpacks.

During the summer and fall, I preserve what I am able to grow and get cheap from local you-pick farms and farmer’s markets.  It helps me keep what we eat fresh and local, but also limits our preservative and additive intake {I have a preservative allergy and my middle gets migraines with certain food additives}.

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Peach BBQ Chicken & Cheesy Rice
Spaghetti & Meatballs
Cheddar Corn Chowder & Grilled Cheese
Fish & Chips
Pierogies
Nachos
Potato Soup
Baked Blueberry French Toast
Slow Cooker Chicken & Rice
Ham Dinner
Dutch Oven Chicken & Risotto
Ham Potato & Green Bean Soup
Tacos
Pizza x2
Creamy Ham, Peas & Orzo
Slow Cooker Pot Roast
Quesadillas
Beef Stroganoff
Chicken Sammies
Vegetable Beef Soup
Pancakes x2
Lasagna Stuffed Shells
Roast Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing & veg
Sloppy Joes
Swedish Meatballs
Chicken Wild Rice Soup
Chicken Chili
Leftovers x2

        Need some more inspiration for your meal plans?  You can check out our past meal plans below!

• February 2018 Meal Plan
• January 2018 Meal Plan
• December 2017 Meal Plan
• November 2017 Meal Plan
• October 2017 Meal Plan

 

Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest, where I have a whole board dedicated to meal planning, as well as boards for soups, chicken recipes, and so on.

 

What’s on your March 2018 meal plan?  Are you doing a pantry challenge or did you just finish one in February and have to stock back up?  Let me know in the comments below!  I’m always looking for new meal ideas.