Getting Ready for Fall! Meal Plan and Grocery List 8/15- 8/21

I sat down tonight to plan our week of meals right after I typed up our September-December family calendar. I have to admit that I had a little bit of a panic attack while looking at all of the "stuff" we've got going on.

This fall, for the first time since I began this blog nearly three years ago, I will be working outside of the home 2 days of the week. On Mondays and Wednesdays (while both girls are in school) I will be substitute teaching. Also, Wednesday evening is my deadline to submit the weekly food column I write to my editor, so I'll probably write the column on Tuesdays. On Thursdays I am a personal cook (I can't really call myself a chef) for a local family. Plus, one night each week (Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday depending on the week) I will teach adult cooking classes, AND every other Thursday evening I will teach the 4th grade class at our church. And that's just me! There are 3 other people in this household with activities of their own. YIKES!

I know that many of my readers are juggling similarly busy schedules. So this week's meal plan features a couple of meals that you all can double and put half in the freezer for another day. Over the last couple of weeks, I've been stocking our freezer with meals for the busy fall schedule. So far I have my Grandma Bailey's Zucchini Casserole, Chicken Enchiladas, Meatballs, and a batch of Beef BBQ stashed in our basement freezer for dinner-at-the-ready. I will add 2 more meals to my "food bank" this week, because Lord knows when I'm going to do laundry, let alone cook dinner this fall! 

If you're interested in creating your own store of meals, I'd recommend checking out my posts about Stocking Your Freezer and Batch Cooking Chicken.

Here's what I've got planned for this week:

Monday and Tuesday August 15th and 16th

We had out-of-town company this weekend and I cooked a ton of food. We have plenty of leftovers, so I hope that we can eat our way through those in the next couple of days before I need to cook again.

Wednesday August 17th

Artichoke Chicken Bake
Make 2 and freeze 1!

Thursday August 18th

Pastrami Paninis

Friday August 19th

Bacon, Onion, and Mushroom Pizza

Saturday August 20th

Grilling (Burgers or Chicken Breast)
Grandma's Cucumbers and Onions
Greek Pasta Salad

Sunday August 21st

Sloppy Joe Sandwiches
Freeze half!

Grocery List

Produce

garlic
5-6 onions
5 cucumbers
red onion
4 Roma tomatoes
flat leaf parsley
mushrooms

Deli

6 oz. thinly sliced pastrami (I used turkey pastrami)
4 oz. Swiss cheese slices (or your favorite white cheese, I'm using Muenster this week)

Meat

6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
2-1/2 lbs hamburger
6-8 bacon slices

Dairy

cream cheese
Parmesan
butter
half and half
1 lb. feta cheese
6 oz. white cheddar cheese
1 (11-ounce) can refrigerated French bread dough



Canned Goods

chicken broth
dry white wine (or white cooking wine)
14 oz. can artichoke hearts (not marinated)
vinegar
honey mustard
prepared horseradish
Thousand Island dressing
olive oil
red wine vinegar
sun-dried tomatoes in oil
small can sliced black olives
mustard
ketchup
cream of mushroom soup
Worcestershire sauce

Dry Goods

flour
8 slices hearty wheat or rye bread
sugar
1 lb. dry rotini or fusili (spiral) pasta
brown sugar
hamburger buns
cornmeal

Happy cooking, everyone!

For my readers in Ohio and Indiana: Next week I will be posting my fall cooking class schedule with locations. If you'd like to see me live and in action, check it out! I'd love to see some of you there!