Since we are living on a very tight budget right now, I have decided to start not only planning our dinner menus, but our breakfast and lunch menus as well.

This is a great way to save money, and it also saves us time in the mornings and afternoons. We no longer have to “figure out” what to eat, we just look at the list.

Here’s what we are eating this week.

Breakfasts
- Cold Cereal
- Cold Cereal
- Oatmeal
- Oatmeal
- Toast, Yogurt, Fruit
- Fruit Drink
- Fruit Drink

Lunches
- Shepherd’s Pie Leftovers
- Kraft Dinner, Carrot Sticks
- Fried Rice Leftovers
- Eggs, Hashbrowns, Fruit
- Broccoli & Cheddar Soup
- Tuna Salad
- Tuna Salad

Dinners
- Fluffy Pancakes, Fruit
- Thin Crust Pizza
- Pasta with Homemade Sauce
- Shepherd’s Pie
- Fried Rice
- Spicy Chicken Wings, Carrot Sticks, Rice
- Picnic (Sandwiches, Fruit, Veggies, Granola Bar, etc.)

What’s on your menu this week?

Here’s our menu plan this week:

Meal 1: Chicken Quesedillas, Salad, Lasagna, Chocolate & Coffee Cupcakes (Oscar Party!)
Meal 2: Quick & Easy Chicken, Rice, Broccoli
Meal 3: Chicken & Bacon Pasta
Meal 4: Breakfast For Dinner
Meal 5: Thin Crust Pizza
Meal 6: Crispy Baked Chicken, Broccoli, Cheesy Mashed Potatoes
Meal 7: Parmesan Chicken & Vegetables, Lipton Sidekicks

For more menus from bloggers all over the world, check out Organizing Junkie.

Here’s our menu plan this week:

Meal 1: Thin Crust Pizza, Salad
Meal 2: Dinner At Inlaws
Meal 3: Crockpot Minestrone Soup
Meal 4: Breakfast For Dinner
Meal 5: 3 Cheese Penne Pasta
Meal 6: Chicken Croquettes, Broccoli
Meal 7: Crock Pot Thyme Chicken

For more menus from bloggers all over the world, check out Organizing Junkie.

Last week I bought 3 large packages of boneless, skinless chicken breasts from No Frills. They were on sale for a good price and we were running low on chicken, so I stocked up.

I brought the packages home and left them in the fridge for a few days, until I had time to package them for the freezer (I freeze them in individual portion sizes).

When the day finally came that I had time to package the chicken, I took it all out and got my plastic bags ready to go. I noted the expiration date on the packages and they were 2 days from the current date. I was good to go! Or so I thought…

I have a habit of smelling each chicken breast before I package it, just to make sure they are fresh – and when I did that with these breasts they smelled… different. I wouldn’t say they smelled bad. Trust me, I do know what a rotten piece of chicken smells like and I did not smell anything like that – but they did smell a bit off.

I kind of hummed and hawed over what to do. Should I wait for Richard to get home and then ask him his opinion? Should I assume the chicken is fine? Should I take it back to the store to demand a refund?

I decided that the chicken was fine. I packaged all 15 or so breasts in individual bags and popped them in the freezer for future meals. They smelled a bit funny, but they definetely did not smell rancid!

Fast forward another few days and we are at my dad’s house for dinner. I brought over the chicken breasts and was cooking them in the kitchen when, after about 15 minutes of cooking, I gave them a little sniff. Oddly, they smelled like fish. FISH CHICKEN! What the eff?! I thought that perhaps it was the new recipe I was trying out, it smelled fishy for some reason.

Once it was cooked, we all started eating and each of us had the same reaction – IT TASTES LIKE FISH. What the heck kind of recipe makes chicken taste like fish?!

I soon realized that it was not the recipe that was the problem, but that I had just cooked BAD chicken. That weird smell that I got from the raw chicken was in fact a sign that the chicken had gone bad.

Wow. Embarassing.

If I would have listened to my gut, which was telling me that something was off about the chicken, I wouldn’t have cut it all up and put it in the freezer. I would have brought it all back to the store and got some new, FRESH chicken.

Now, I am out $30 and 15 chicken breasts – but at least I have learned my lesson!

Here’s what we are eating this week:
Meal 1: Turkey Chili, Bread With Basil Pesto
Meal 2: Honey Butter Chicken, Sesame Garlic Broccoli, Rice
Meal 3: Cheese & Spinach Stuffed Shells, Salad
Meal 4: Bacon & Ranch Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli
Meal 5: Dinner Out
Meal 6: Thin Crust Pizza
Meal 7: Spicy Chicken Wings, Celery With Dip, Potato Skins

For more menus from bloggers all over the world, check out Organizing Junkie.

Here’s what we are eating this week:
Meal 1: Turkey Croquettes, Peas
Meal 2: Sesame Chicken Salad
Meal 3: Lemon & Olive Chicken, Salad Oven Roasted Potatoes
Meal 4: Meaty Spaghetti
Meal 5: FREE!
Meal 6: Shepherds Pie
Meal 7: Crock Pot Thyme Chicken

For more menus from bloggers all over the world, check out Organizing Junkie.

I don’t like New Years Resolutions. I think that if you want to do something, you should do it – regardless of what the date is. However, I do like goal setting and think it’s an imporant step in becoming happy and sucessful in life.

My goals for 2011 are fairly simple. I’m really hoping I can acheive all of them!

Personal:
1. Drink at least 8 glasses of water every day. I always forget to drink, and can go all day long without a single beverage – which is not good! This one is going to be tough but I NEED to do it!
2. Avoid “bad foods/drinks”. I have a history of kidney stones and there are certain foods and beverages I should avoid to reduce my chances of getting them again.
3. Do some form of exercise for at least 30 minutes every day. This could be a workout DVD, going for a walk or running up and down the stairs 50 times. I just need to be more active!
4. Be in bed by 11pm every night. I really need to buckle down on this one. I always think that I will stay up for just a few more minutes to read something, and those few minutes turn into an hour and then next thing you know it’s midnight. When I get enough sleep I feel rejuvenated and am energized during the day, so this is an important goal for me.
5. Manage my time better. I’m pretty organized when it comes to everything.. except my time – but I’m getting better! I plan to start writing a series on how to better organize your time, so stay tuned for that! I will share what has been working for me so far.

Family:
1. Be more active with the dogs. Going for walks, throwing the ball and chasing them around in the backyard – whatever. My poor dogs just lay around all day and I feel so guilty. I really need to do this for them.
2. Be more active with Elliott. As he gets older, he really likes to run around and I imagine that the older he gets, the more active things he will want to do. Once the warmer weather comes, we’ll be outside playing alot more.
3. Read more with Elliott. We haven’t done much reading with him because he was never really interested, but lately he has been showing us that he wants us to read to him. He’ll bring over a book and sit down beside us. Adorbs! We plan to read to him at least a little bit every single day this year.

Financial:
1. Contribute maximum amount to RRSP. We didn’t do so hot last year when it comes to our RRSP so we are eager to put more money away in 2011. I’m not sure if we’ll be able to contribute the max amount (we won’t know what that is until we do our taxes in 2 months or so), but that’s the goal.
2. Save at least $25,000 in the house fund. As long as Richard doesn’t miss out on any bonuses at work, I think this goal can easily be reached. Ideally, we’d like to save more than $25,000 in the house fund this year – but we don’t want to put a large amount for a goal and then be dissapointed if we don’t reach it. That’s why we think this number is a little bit more reasonable.

What are your goals for 2011?