One week "time emergency menu":

Due to an absolutely wildly crazy busy schedule, I am going to put this blog, in it's current format, on hold for one week.  The last "free" evening I had was Tuesday the 29th of last month... and the last free day was long before that.

Putting together the menu, shopping, scanning through ads, searching for creative and inexpensive recipes and creating a family friendly menu... while I enjoy doing it... is a time consuming project.  I am right at the end of finishing my master's degree, and between work, maintaining a house, and school, my time is overloaded.

After coming home from my regional Soroptimist International spring conference (find out more about SI here http://www.soroptimistinternational.org/, http://www.soroptimist.org/, or check out my local chapters facebook page.. Soroptimist International of Hanover)... I confess, I 've been eating in the cafeteria (3 times) and using gift cards to eat out (twice).... plus it has been helpful to have had several meals that have been provided as part of National Nurses Week celebrations (3 times... one consisted of filet mignon and crab cakes!). I've also been eating quick and easy meals I don't have to think about... bagels with peanut butter, yogurt and fruit, coffee, and eggs.

At any rate, I am going to produce an " time emergency menu".  This coming week, I will be focusing on what is cheap, what is easy, what I don't have to mess up a lot of dishes/pots and pans for, and I won't be presenting any menus... because if I don't do a better job this coming week, my budget is going to get blown. Even though I had planned meals... I didn't have time to cook them.  So, I switched to my defaults, which tend to be eating out (even if it is with gift cards or at my less expensive work cafeteria) it is still not something I want to be doing unless it was planned.

So part of sticking to a $25 a week food budget AND not eating out all the time... planning for emergencies! Some of my time saving concessions this week:.. buying a tub of deli cole slaw and using paper plates and utensils.  My parents always give me disposable utensils for Christmas. This is kind of a running joke in the family, as they bring them home from fast food joints they eat at and wash them to give them to me.  I try not to use paper plates, but this week, time is at a premium, and I'd rather spend some money on some paper plates then washing a lot of of dishes.

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast	Breakfast
bagel with pnt btr	fruit and yogurt	bagel with pnt btr	fruit and yogurt	bagel with pnt btr	fruit and yogurt	fruit and yogurt
Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning	Mid-Morning
carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots
Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch	Lunch
Ham and cheese sandwich	Tuna salad sandwich	Ham and cheese sandwich	Tuna salad sandwich	Ham and cheese sandwich	leftovers	eat out
carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots
banana	banana	banana	banana	banana
Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner
Crock Pot Pork Roast	bbq pork sandwich	egg sandwich	bbq pork sandwich	egg sandwich	leftovers	pizza w/coupon
frozen veggies	frozen veggies	frozen veggies	frozen veggies	frozen veggies
baked potato	baked potato	baked potato	baked potato	baked potato
pineapple	pineapple	pineapple	pineapple	pineapple
	deli coleslaw		deli coleslaw
Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack	Snack
carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots	carrots
Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost	Cost
Total cost per week: