November Menu Plan

Updates:  So, we're in our rental house and working on the plans for the new house.  We've come to realize that we're probably over-building, so we're going to try to tweak the existing plans to make them smaller scale and cut the budget some.  Living in 800 square feet has really made us think about what we actually need, which is a blessing.  Building less house will mean sacrificing a few things, like probably a rental space and our bonus room, but it will also be more manageable for our budget and thinking long term, better for retirement because it will be less house to maintain.

I've had some more health challenges, so any prayers would be appreciated.  We're hopeful to figure out this health stuff for me so that we can continue moving forward with our other life plans.  I am grateful for some improvement after seeing GI and getting on some high powered probiotics.  But baby is fortunately much better, aside from a cold!  He's really coming along with speech, and loving his time home with Daddy.  Little man is loving kindergarten and thriving there. 

Now, on to November's menu plan!  November will be all about using whatever meat we have in the freezer, as well as any pantry items.  I'm still pretty much gluten free and sugar free, but the rest of the family can do both in moderation. We'll work hard to keep grocery spending to a minimum (since we were in transition, it seems that we were less than diligent about keeping up with that), so we'll make use of the food pantry and free community/shared meals (hopefully including some Thanksgiving ones).  I would really love to keep November's grocery budget to $100 or less to help offset recent medical expenses.  We just placed a big herb/spice/seed order, so that should help restock those things for the year.  (There's also no dishwasher in the rental, so we're trying really hard to do lots of one pot/pan meals or crock pot meals to minimize dishes and maximize leftovers.)

Breakfasts:

• Smoothies (greens, frozen fruit, almond/coconut milk, flax/chia seeds, veggies, and some spices)
• Overnight crock pot oatmeal with raisins, chia, and coconut
• Muffins or banana bars
• Trail mix (homemade with nuts, raisins, and a few chocolate chips)
• Toast and jam with hard boiled eggs
• Reheated leftover pancakes or French toast
• Leftover roasted veggies and eggs
• Breakfast casserole or overnight French toast casserole

Lunches:  

• Leftovers
• Salads
• Cheese/nuts and fruit and veggies

Sandwiches (PBJ, ham and cheese, grilled cheese, chicken salad)

• Sandwiches (PBJ, ham and cheese, grilled cheese, chicken salad)

Dinners:

• Lentil and Sweet Potato Soup with Salad
• Veggie and venison (a very generous student gave us several pounds of venison) lasagna with salad
• Crock pot lasagna soup with garlic toast and veggies and dip
• Loaded black bean chili with almond flour cornbread
• Breakfast for dinner (French toast or pancakes with breakfast meat and fruit or roasted veggies)
• Black bean or ground beef tacos with fixin's (beef is from CSA)
• Homemade pizza with pesto, veggies, and meat (if possible)
• Veggie stir fry over rice with egg rolls
• Roasted veggies and mushroom garlic chicken (from Cheap, Fast, Good) over rice or quinoa
• Turkey salad over lettuce or on sandwiches with veggies and dip
• Leftover Thanksgiving turkey and sides
• Little man's choice x 2 (one of his new chores on his chart is to help choose and prepare two meals each month)
• Grilled cheese and salad or leftover soup
• Veggie quiche with broccoli, greens, onions, and maybe mushrooms or sundried tomatoes with salad

Snacks:

• Air popped popcorn
• Fresh fruit
• Nuts
• Fresh veggies
• Bread and jam 
• Cheese quesadilla

Batch Cooking (I'll make these things on weekends or evenings after the boys are in bed):

• Muffins
• Turkey stock (hopefully we'll be able to collect several turkeys from the few meals we'll be participating in... generally people are very willing to give them up because it means less mess for them to deal with)
• French toast (it's easy to make a bigger batch and then freeze it for later use for quick breakfasts)
• Spiced nuts (these are a favorite snack and super easy to make with the large bags of nuts we get at Costco)
• Winter squash (I'll be getting loads of winter squash from school in a few weeks, so we'll cook it up in the crock pot and puree it for smoothies and side dishes.  You can roast the seeds like pumpkin seeds and they're a great snack.)

Groceries to buy for the month (or source from food pantry):

• Avocados
• Almond milk
• Canned coconut milk (or I may use the powdered I just bought)
• Dry beans (they're on sale for $1/pound right now)
• Frozen deep dish pie crust
• Eggs
• Cabbage (for homemade sauerkraut)
• Red onions
• Salsa
• Salad greens