Monthly Meal Plan: July 2011

July 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Here is the background to the monthly meal plan …
Last year, we did weekly meal plans. Well we did weekly meal plans most of the time. I say most of the time because some weeks we forgot to plan. Life got busy, school work was out of control, the preschool business started, the family all got sick. You name it, life happens. When I suggested a Monthly Meal Plan late last month, I was sure my husband would declare me nuts for good. BUT … he was on board. He was on board so much he tried to find a monthly meal planner online. There were none to be found that worked for what we wanted though. So being the Excel junkie that he is, he made a calendar he could fill in a meal for each day.  Part of my accountable in doing this is posting our Monthly Meal Plan each month.
I didn’t like last month’s graphic. I am thinking that might work better in the new blog design but as you can see that design isn’t here yet so I am trying to keep it simple this month.

Our Family’s July 2011 Meal Plan

Friday, July 1                English Muffin Pizzas
Saturday, July 2            Smoked Chuck Roast

Sunday, July 3              take-out Mexican
Monday, July 4            Butterflied Chicken
Tuesday, July 5            Spaghetti
Wednesday, July 6       Grilled Shrimp
Thursday, July 7           Chicken + kale + cooking cream
Friday, July 8               Shrimp Stir-fry
Saturday, July 9           Chuck Roast skewers

Sunday, July 10           Chicken Fried Steak
Monday, July 11          Leftovers
Tuesday, July 12          Sloppy Joes
Wednesday, July 13     Pasta Night
Thursday, July 14         Chili (frozen)
Friday, July 15              Fajitas
Saturday, July 16          Matthew’s 2nd Birthday Party (Pepperoni Rolls + Hog Dogs!)

Sunday, July 17            Sandwiches/Subs
Monday, July 18           Enchiladas
Tuesday, July 19           Breakfast
Wednesday, July 20     Chicken + pasta + cooking cream
Thursday, July 21         Homemade pizza
Friday, July 22              Leftovers
Saturday, July 23          Leftovers

Sunday, July 24            on-the-road
Monday, July 25           Beach Week Challenge
Tuesday, July 26           Beach Week Challenge
Wednesday, July 27      Beach Week Challenge
Thursday, July 28          Beach Week Challenge
Friday, July 29              Beach Week Challenge
Saturday, July 30          on-the-road

A few notes …

  • This month we just planned dinners. Breakfast is a free for all and everyone just eats what they want that day anyway. Lunch is divided up too. I generally take leftovers or a salad to work. The kids eat what my husband whips up and sometimes he eats that or ventures off on his own.
  • The dinner ideas are once again inspired by our freezer. I wanted pork chops for some crazy reason but we don’t have them so they aren’t on the menu. Such is life.
  • What is up with that Beach Week Challenge? It isn’t a cheat. I promise! We are headed to the beach that week. Funding for the beach week vacation is very, very tight so we are going to see what we can do while at the beach. Watch for recipes, etc to go up that week as we blog our way through Beach Week … the family with three kids under age 5 version of Beach Week that is!=P

If you are looking for answers on monthly meal planning, ask the questions you have! I don’t know that I have the answer for you but I will look for them!
If you want the empty Excel spreadsheet formatted like a calendar, let me know and I will send it you via email. Just send me an email at simplybudgeted at gmail dot com.

Have you tried monthly meal planning? How did it go? Any tips or suggestions?

Filed Under: Health & Beauty, Meal Plans, Simply Food, Simply Life Tagged With: , , ,

Mamavation Monday: Walk … Run … Week 2

June 20, 2011 By
It is Mamavation Monday time again!

I was late posting last week but I did get in my post! You can find it here if you want catch up!

So last week was week 2 of the Couch to 5k walk/runs. I survived doing all three walk/runs. oh my goodness. I am still doing my walk/runs on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday.

I am not looking forward to week 3. I am running? I don’t run … how am I doing this?

As for weight, I didn’t get the update I wanted on the scale. I was up 1.2 lbs. I can not eat enough it seems so I am trying to watch what I eat this week to make sure I am making good choices.

Mamavation TV is on tonight! To find out details check out the information here! (I miss Mamavation TV every week because it is on too late for this East Coast girl … if I am up that late, I am doing homework. blah.)

UPDATE: I felt the need to add a little update today. Maybe I should change my weigh in to Tuesday mornings … anyway. I was back down to my starting point this morning so down 1.2 lbs from yesterdays weigh in … let’s trash that weigh in and go with today’s!;)

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Monthly Meal Plan – June 2011

June 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

If you noticed that there was an April Meal Plan and no May Meal Plan, you were right. Big mistake on our part. See the first week of May was crazy as my sister got married so we figured we would meal plan after we got back. It didn’t happen. I don’t know what we ate but I guess we ate something or another seeing as we are still here. It was a disorganized mess though.

Here is the background to the monthly meal plan …
Last year, we did weekly meal plans. Well we did weekly meal plans most of the time. I say most of the time because some weeks we forgot to plan. Life got busy, school work was out of control, the preschool business started, the family all got sick. You name it, life happens. When I suggested a Monthly Meal Plan late last month, I was sure my husband would declare me nuts for good. BUT … he was on board. He was on board so much he tried to find a monthly meal planner online. There were none to be found that worked for what we wanted though. So being the Excel junkie that he is, he made a calendar he could fill in a meal for each day.

Part of my accountable in doing this is posting our Monthly Meal Plan each month.
So I know June is half way over so why bother posting this. I want to show you we did plan … well some. See the bottom for more details on that.

I am going to see if this graphic works this month. The clunky format I have been using is taking me forever to type up and well I just need to get faster at getting this up!

Our Family’s June 2011 Meal Plan



Update: I am not loving this graphic but don’t have time to fiddle more right now. So click the graphic to get a “big” version of it you can read. Improvements to come … hopefully sooner rather than later!

A few notes …

  • Yes, breakfast is empty. We decided we aren’t all eating the same breakfast. If I make muffins, the kids eat those and maybe I will too. Breakfast is a free for all it seems with the focus on making healthy choices. As for lunch, we have been focusing on leftovers and on-the-go meals. My husband has had the kids busy doing activities this summer so they are eating picnic style lunches on a regular basis it seems. Once again, the focus is on healthy choices.
  • The dinner plans have lots of holes in them. Why? We were tired of planning out every dinner and we need to clean out freezer. So the empty nights become “get creative” nights. We have also been trying to cook a basic meal like the ham dinner last Sunday. We then use what is left to create multiple other meals.
  • This week’s shopping list is tomatoes,cucumbers, sour cream, milk, and eggs. We needs some basics and then a few fresh items that we are getting from the garden or CSA yet.

If you are looking for answers on monthly meal planning, ask the questions you have! I don’t know that I have the answer for you but I will look for them!
If you want the empty Excel spreadsheet formatted like a calendar, let me know and I will send it you via email. Just send me an email at simplybudgeted at gmail dot com.

Have you tried monthly meal planning? How did it go? Any tips or suggestions?


Filed Under: Health & Beauty, Meal Plans, Simply Food, Simply Life Tagged With: , , ,

Cereal Spark: Week 1

June 14, 2011 By 147 Comments

**This giveaway has ended. The winner is comment #53! Thanks to all who entered! **

I am excited work on this series of reviews with General Mills and MyBlogSpark!


I grew up eating cereal. We had week day cereal (Honey Nut Cheerios was my staple pick) and weekend cereal (anything with sugar). We didn’t get to eat weekend cereal during the week. Big no-no there. I kept this up until a few years ago actually. I guess once you get in the habit, it is hard to break it?

All that being said, I was excited to read up the General Mills effort to reduce sugar in their cereals. My kids vary breakfast between cereal and other options but I always have four boxes of open cereal in the cupboard it seems … and then the stash in the garage pantry. I haven’t given them the weekend cereal rule I used to have. So I read about how General Mills has reduced the sugar in the their kids’ cereals, I was really thrilled. Now I still love it when my kids go for the plain Cheerios but I know I don’t buy as many boxes of those as I did when they were babies and lived off those!

I do know that when my package showed up with the individual cereal boxes in it, my kids went nuts. We were headed out of town so they each picked two boxes and their breakfast set for two days! I need to remember those small boxes are out there when we travel in the future as I don’t always have room to pack one from my stash!

Here are a few … “Did you know?” Facts about cereal!

  • Cereal is one of the healthiest breakfast options you can make (See video below to learn more)
  • Packed with nutrition, cereal provides a great choice for breakfast
  • Studies have shown that kids who eat breakfast tend to perform better in school and have fewer disciplinary problems. They also have shown that breakfast also tends to help kids stay alert.

As part of this Cereal Spark series, I will continue to share information I learn about the health benefits of cereal so keep watching for a weekly post for four weeks!

I am excited I have been offered the opportunity to offer one of my readers a Week 1 gift pack of their own which will include 10 sample sized boxes of cereal and milk pitcher!

This drawing will end Friday, June 24th at 11:59pm EST. I may pick the winner using Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to reply with their address. You must include your email address in your comment or have it in your profile so you can be contacted if you are a winner! Please make sure I can see your email address!!! You must complete the Mandatory Entry for the additional entries to count.

This giveaway is open to US residents!!!

So how do you enter?

Mandatory Entry: Tell me which cereal benefits are most important to you and your family!

Additional Entries:
1) Like Simply Budgeted on Facebook: http://facebook.com/simplybudgeted. (worth 2 entries!)
2) Follow me on Twitter. Leave a comment with your twitter name.
3) Tweet about this giveaway with this tweet:

RT #Win a cereal gift pack with a milk pitcher @simplybudgeted http://bit.ly/mAGgdM #giveaway #breakfast #myblogspark ends 6/24

Leave a comment with the URL for your tweet. (One Tweet per day until end of giveaway!!)
4) Add my blog button to your blog. Button is in my sidebar! Leave a comment with the URL and where to find the link.
5) Follow me publicly through the Google Friends Connect on my side bar. Leave a comment with your name that you subscribe with.
6) Subscribe to my blog using the Subscribe To option on the sidebar. Leave a comment stating you subscribe.
7) Leave a comment in a Simply Budgeting series post! Leave a comment here with what you did.


NOTE: I was sent a Cereal gift pack in support this review by General Mills through MyBlogSpark. No other compensation was received. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Kids, Promotional, Reviews, Simply Family, Simply Food Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mamavation Monday: Survived Week 1

June 14, 2011 By
Well I am a day late but it is Mamavation Monday time again!

I know I said was recommitting last week and then I didn’t post yesterday. Yesterday I was an allergy mess. I was lucky to get through the work day. Then we took the kids to the library summer reading program launch party. My homework didn’t get done and it was due yesterday. That is how bad off I was. If something had to give, it was blogging and now here I am catching up!

So last week I did all three Couch to 5k walk/runs. I am doing my walk/runs on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. That meant that Saturday morning I had to get up and get moving before we left for a quick overnight at the in-laws. Since no prior packing had been done, it would have been so easy to skip and leave on time that morning but I didn’t. I went out.

Since I am a day late posting this, I can tell you that I did walk/run one for this week … two more to go. I will be sore for sure tomorrow.

As for weight, I did my weigh in yesterday was up a pound from last week. The food we ate while not at home was not good choices. aye. I did jump on the scale this morning before I went on my walk/run and was back to my weight last week so no change. I am good with no change because I know I was moving. Hopefully this week will bring a positive change but at any rate, I will keep the goal of moving because it feels good.

Mamavation TV was on last night. You can check it out the theme for the week here though!

Filed Under: Health & Beauty, Simply Life Tagged With: , , , , ,

Mamavation Monday: Recommitting

June 6, 2011 By
It is Mamavation Monday time again!

Recommitting. Recommitting to what? To me … and to my Mamavation Monday posts. I have let myself have a big, great big break from being active and I don’t really enjoy it. At some point, something had to give though and that is what gave for me. It happens, I accept it. I am going to recommit to my Mamavation Monday posts too. I have started and stopped several times lately. I am going to keep posting for my sake not the comments of encouragement I hope I get left. At this point, I almost feel like I have been around too long just hanging onto it all. I know I don’t have the time to commit to be a Mamavation campaign mom as in the shows are just too late for this East Coast girl and heck if I am up, I am doing homework that is due that night. Not a good combination. I do love the Twitter hashtag and taking a few minutes so comment on others posts on Mondays. So I will keep up with that better even though it is harder without Tweet Deck!

So what am I going to do, I agreed maybe on a whim, maybe out of lack waking up but to do the Couch to 5k program with my husband. Since it is a 3 day a week program, we can alternate days and trade early morning kid duty. This was inspired by the fact he ran in a 5k this past weekend. The kids and I handed out water to the runners with other people from my office. Someone had to watch the kids since they are too little to join in and I only have a double jogger. Since the cause fit my husband better, he became the runner and I became the volunteer. It was inspiring to see everyone run for a great cause. So we will run and next year, someone else will get the kids while we both run.;)

All that being said I will take today as my starting weight (again) and go from there. More to report next week as tomorrow is my first Couch to 5k day!

Are you ready to watch Mamavation TV tonight? You can check it out here! (It is past my bedtime so I miss the show every week!=/)

Filed Under: Health & Beauty, Simply Life Tagged With: , , , ,

Mamavation Monday: Another Monday

May 23, 2011 By
It is Mamavation Monday time again!

I have nothing to report this week. It seems to be a standard post for me these days. My eating isn’t that off. Maybe a few extra treats as I just have a hard time say no but that isn’t the problem. I know I can say no. I can’t seem to find the motivation, energy, or time to be active. Work is as a busy time with extra hours, we are trying to get the yard/garden/path in order before it is 110 degrees outside, and school started again today. It is always something. I don’t know where to add the minutes because I can barely convince myself to get out of bed in the morning and I just crash at night after I finish the “must-do” list for that day. It just isn’t there.

It is on my mind to figure this out. I know I will but I don’t know what will make this change for me yet. If you have ideas, let me know. I seem to be out.
Are you ready to watch Mamavation TV tonight? You can check it out here! (It is past my bedtime so I miss the show every week!=/) Oh and if you are in the 5 before or after me, I will comment tomorrow, I promise!!

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Mamavation Monday: Survived Another Wedding

May 9, 2011 By
It is Mamavation Monday time again!

Saturday my sister became a married woman! I thought I might die. I used to have a small wedding coordinating business. It was fun but took a lot of time and energy. Then I had Grace (my oldest) AND we moved. I never started it back up after we relocated. I totally forgot how much my feet would hurt after that.

All that being said, my family survived a trip to Myrtle Beach and back … we all came back so that was good. It took us 8.5 hours to get there and 8 hours to get home. I should add the maps say it is a 7 hour drive so feel my pain.
As for my weight loss this week. ha. There was none but there was no weight gain which was impressive for some of the crap I ate. I did make the cake so I was darn sure having a piece of it! At any rate, I was happy to not come home plus 5 pounds or something crazy.
This week is a hard deadline for a work assignment for me so I don’t see scheduled work outs in my future this week. I am going to drink my water and watch what I eat. I must get to the store for some fruit and veggies. We are majorly lacking those as we cleaned the fridge/kitchen before we left!
Nothing much fun but that is how it is.

Are you ready to watch Mamavation TV tonight? You can check it out here! (It is past my bedtime so I miss the show every week!=/) Oh and if you are in the 5 before or after me, I will comment soon, I promise!!

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Friday Favorite: Chipins

April 29, 2011 By 3 Comments

Friday Favorites is another almost weekly feature here at Simply Living on a Budget. The whole point of this feature is to share some of my favorite finds. Anything is game. Food. Cleaning supplies. Kid stuff. Garden favorites. Recipes. Anything that I really like and want to randomly post about. Reminder/Disclaimer/Whatever: Everything in Friday Favorites is something that I use and bought on my own.

This weekly feature isn’t all about food. I promise. I just couldn’t wait to post about these!

Up this week …

Details … (on the White Cheddar kind)

We just looked up the word “cheesy” in the dictionary, and we didn’t like the definition one bit. In our book, cheesy means glorious and delicious, and when it comes to the white cheddar on these insanely crispy chip’ins, cheesy means all sorts of right. So bust open this bag, try some of the crunchiest, cheesiest, most delicious chips ever, and let’s redefine cheesy once and for all. Enjoy, and Munch Better™.

My thoughts …
I have admitted before that I am a popcorn junkie. It is true. I accept it. I saw these at Sam’s Club last week and had to get them. This is odd because we rarely impulse buy on food at Sam’s Club and I don’t like to huge bags of stuff to just try. But these were POPCORN CHIPS. I should add, I am not a big chip fan but these said POPCORN.

Did I mention my addiction yet? Yeah so these popcorn chips totally have not helped my popcorn addiction because they are amazing. The kids LOVE them too. I find I can’t eat just one but I don’t have to eat the whole bag so this is nice. Sam’s Club at the White Cheddar kind so that what we got. I am in love. Serious love. The only reason the bag isn’t empty yet is because I shoved it to the back of the cupboard so I could forget about it. It isn’t really working but has made them last longer.

If you come across these in the store, you need to try them. If you have tried them, let me know what you think.

Oh and you can find Popcorn, Indiana on Twitter and Facebook so follow and like them!;)

Did you miss my last Friday Favorite? Find it here!
If you have a suggestion for a Friday Favorite, leave me a comment and let me know.
If you have a blog post that includes a recipe, tip, or article you wrote that you want me know about, leave me a comment and you might see it in a future Friday Favorite!!

Filed Under: Friday Favorites, Memes, Simply Food, Tips & Techniques Tagged With: , , , , ,

Silk for Milk 10-Day Challenge

April 28, 2011 By

**This giveaway has ended. Thanks to all who entered! The winner was comment #52! **

I recently had the chance to review Silk Pure Almond milk as part of the Silk for Milk 10-Day Challenge!
Details …
Silk has issued a Silk for Milk 10-Day Challenge. Have you tried this Challenge yet? They have made it super easy by creating suggestions for Everyday Swaps, Busy Family Swaps, and Everyday Chef Swaps!
I love the Popsicle mold suggestion on the Busy Family Swaps suggestion list. I think my kids would go nuts for those!! Especially my little guy who is teething and takes anything cold he can get right now!!
My Thoughts …
We have been a fan of Silk milk for awhile. My favorite is the Almond milk with the vanilla flavor. I was excited to learn about this challenge as it is really easy to make switches to Silk products. I have used them in my cereal in the mornings … I am a big cereal junkie for breakfast. I have also just poured myself a big glass to drink while eating a cookie. mmmmm.

One thing I am looking forward to trying this summer is some ice cream made with the Silk Pure Almond milk. We love to make our own ice cream and I think this will make for a super yummy treat!

You can find Silk on Twitter and Facebook. Plus HERE is their coupon link!!

I am pleased to announce I have been provided with the opportunity to giveaway a coupon for a free Silk product and a Silk Chico Bag to a reader!!!! You can start your own Silk 10 day Challenge!

This drawing will end Friday, May 13th at 11:59pm EST. I may pick the winner using Random.org. The winner will have 48 hours to reply with their address. You must include your email address in your comment or have it in your profile so you can be contacted if you are a winner! Please make sure I can see your email address!!! You must complete the Mandatory Entry for the additional entries to count.
So how do you enter?

Mandatory Entry: Tell me what your first switch would be (from milk to Silk!)

Additional Entries:
1) Head over to Facebook, like Simply Budgeted on Facebook HERE: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Simply-Budgeted/129997329472 Leave FIVE comments saying you did this!
2) Leave a comment in the latest Monthly Meal Plan post! Leave a comment here with what you did.
3) Follow me on Twitter. Leave a comment with your twitter name.
4) Tweet about this giveaway with this tweet:

RT #Win Free Silk Milk & have your own Silk Challenge thanks to @LoveMySilk! @simplybudgeted http://bit.ly/kU91eW #giveaway #silk ends 5/13

Leave a comment with the URL for your tweet. (One Tweet per day until end of giveaway!!)
5) Follow me publicly through the Google Friends Connect on my side bar. Leave a comment with your name that you subscribe with.
6) Subscribe to my blog using the Subscribe To option on the sidebar. Leave a comment stating you subscribe.

NOTE: I was sent a the product mentioned in support this review. No other compensation was received. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Filed Under: Giveaways, Promotional, Simply Food, Tips & Techniques Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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