My kids are in their last week of school, so summer for us starts in just one week. I tell you, I won’t miss packing lunches every day, setting out clothes every night, or the early morning rush. I’m looking forward to the lazy day’s of summer!

We cook out quite a bit during the summer. With the day’s longer and the bed times later it just seems easier. It keeps us from heating up the kitchen with the oven and clean up is easier too.

To add some more fun to our summer dinners, I like to create theme nights. I find it takes some of the guess work out of what I’ll be cooking and since we tend to be pretty active over the summer, this is something I really love. I’m okay if we don’t stick with it perfectly, it’s just a nice guideline for us to go by. Here’s our theme night menu plan for the summer:

Monday: mystery night
Tuesday: Mexican or Italian night
Wednesday: leftovers
Thursday: dinner out
Friday: chicken on the grill
Saturday: steak or burgers on the grill
Sunday: crock pot dinner

I put Monday as mystery night because usually one night a week I’ll make a simple dinner like sandwiches, salad and baked potato or grilled cheese. Thursday is listed as dinner out because we usually eat out once a week. The other nights tend to stay what they are but all are interchangeable.

Do you have theme nights in your house?

For the past two to three years I’ve been reading a blog by Crystal over at MoneySavingMom.com, I’m consistently inspired by her posts. Recently she posted about eating from the pantry and inspired me to give it a try this week. We are getting back into our normal routine as my kids were home on Spring Break last week. Because they were home I never made it to the grocery store to pick up this weeks groceries. After reading her post I decided to check out my pantry and freezer to see what I could come up with for this weeks menu; I was quite surprised by what I had! Here’s my menu:

dinners:

chili,cornbread
baked potatoes topped with chili, salad
grilled chicken salad, grilled cheese sandwiches
crock pot chicken (recipe to come), rice, black eye peas
cheeseburger mac (recipe to come)

Planning quick, easy, yet nutritional meals for our family this week. We have two softball practices and one game this week so we’re pretty busy in the evenings.

Thanks, money saving mom for the inspiration!

Here’s my menu plan for this week.

breakfast:

fruit smoothies
scrambled eggs, sausage, biscuits with jelly, and oranges
oatmeal with fruit
waffles
pancakes

lunch:

pb&j sandwich, apple slices, cottage cheese, juice, cookie
chicken salad with crackers, apple slices, yogurt, granola bar, cookie
ham and cheese sandwich, chips, oranges, pudding, cookie
boiled egg, grapes, cheese slice, crackers, yogurt
cheese sandwich, apple slices, chips, cookie

dinner:

taco’s, mexican rice, cornbread
baked chicken, steamed broccoli, corn
beef tips over egg noodles, green beans, carrots
mini meatloafs, mashed potatoes, mixed veggies
dinner out

It’s Monday. Here is my menu plan for this week:

breakfast:
cereal
pancakes
oatmeal
cinnamon rolls
fruit smoothies

lunch:
pb&j sandwich, yogurt, chips, cookie
chicken salad with fruit and crackers
hamburger, fruit, chips, cookie
cheese sandwich, pudding, chips, apple slices
ravioli, crackers, fruit cup, granola bar, cookie

dinner:
roast, mashed potatoes, veggie
baked chicken, rice, stewed squash
pasta, garlic bread, salad
dinner out
pork chops, rice, black eye peas

It’s Monday.  This is normally when I do my major grocery shopping for the week.  My kids are in in school so I won’t buy any extras that we don’t need but they think we “just have to have”.  On Monday morning, after I drop the kids at school, I come home and create my menu for the week.  This allows me to make my list of items I need to purchase.  I never go to the store without my list.  If I do mistakenly leave it at home I find myself wondering around the store trying to remember what I needed.  This always wastes time and I always forget something.

So, here is my menu for this week:

breakfasts:

1. oatmeal
2. cereal x 2
3. cinnamon rolls
4. yogurt smoothies
5. pancakes
6. eggs and fruit

lunches:

1. sandwich, fruit, yogurt, cookie, drink
2. lunchable, fruit, pudding, cookie, drink
3. ravioli, fruit, yogurt,  granola bar, cookie, drink
4. chicken nuggets, fruit, cottage cheese, cookie, drink
5. sandwich, fruit, crackers, cookie, drink

dinners:

1. taco’s, mexican rice, corn bread
2. baked chicken, steamed squash, rice
3. baked potato, salad
4. roast, potatoes, carrots, rolls
5. dinner out
6. pasta, salad, garlic bread
7. grilled meat “n cheese sandwich, french fries