Beautiful in God's Eyes: Chapter 2 by Elizabeth George
HER VALUE
This is a rather short chapter, but it is good. It talks about the P31 woman's value. And the How-To's... yeah I got some work to do :-)
"Her price is much higher than jewels.: (proverbs 31:10
The P31 woman was a sparkling jewel in her husband's life. She brought the love, the color, the joy, the life, and the energy to the home. (p24) Wow, I want this. I want to be so valuable that my husband notices. On earth... there is no opinion I value more than that of my husband. And what greater opinion could he give me then to tell me that I am the color of his life. That his energy comes from me. That his joy comes from me. I mean how would you feel if your husband told you that?
The How-To's of Beauty
"I am to supply beauty in the lives of my husband and children as we struggle through life together. I am to light up the home with sparkle no matter how hard times are." (p24) That's a big order! How can I possible get there?
1. Grow in practical skills including:
-homemaking- cooking, cleaning
-money management- personal finances, budgets, stocks, investments, debt management, paying bills, managing a checkbook, saving
-time management
2. Grow in emotional stability. "Your emotions set the standard and the tone for your home (p26).
Oh uh... you mean me stressing out and pacing back in forth because we are late for meeting my parents for dinner (like I did tonight) is going to, in turn, stress my husband up (and probably make him feel guilty because it he was what was holding us up!) I don't want to stress my husband out, especially not over something small like being a few minutes late to dinner. My husband is currently in nursing school... that is enough stress for him right now!
-Emotional stability is what gives every soldier in every army the invaluable ability to continue on when the going is tough. It is the soldier's ability to persevere.
Including:
-mastering your temper. The P31 woman nurtures a peaceful heart, knows how to wait, does not strive, restrains her spirit.
-master your tongue. The p31 woman speaks less often, speaks only after thinking about what she is going to say, speaks only what is wise and kind.
These two traits- your character and the skills that reflect that character- are so desirable to Him and so valuable to others.
A note for all the "single ladies" out there: working to become the P31 woman is not something that has to wait till you are married. It is something you can begin while your are single. Remember, this is God's idea of beauty. This is his idea of what women should be. Yes, you won't have a husband and children to take care of and to make their life better. But, mastering these skills and traits (or at least beginning to master them) will help you later on in life. I know many women who got married and didn't know how to do laundry..or cook! How many people don't know how to manage a checkbook. How many people enter into a marriage with debt. Becoming a P31 woman is a tall order. I urge you if you single and desire to become a P31 woman... start now.. learn the practical skills, work on mastering your tongue and temper... if you succeed before your married... then you will be able to have conversations with your husband without them turning into yelling matches. God doesn't call just married women to become the P31 woman... it is His idea for ALL women.
Next Chapter: HER LOYALTY
Just now joining me with this devotional? Start your journey at Chapter 1.
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Beautiful in God's Eyes: Chapter 1
Beautiful in God's Eyes: Chapter 1 by Elizabeth George
HER CHARACTER
This is a great devotional about Proverbs 31. If you have never gone through a devotional written by Elizabeth George... make it your next one. Her insights are great and she explains topics in terms you can really understand. She writes mainly for woman, all ages. Her husband writes on many of the same topics, but for men. Most of her books have a study guide you can buy too, to help you get more out of the information. Here are some notes and comments about the first chapter of this book
"Who can find a virtuous woman?" Proverbs 31:10 (KJV)
Alphabet of Character
Elizabeth begins the chapter inviting you to journey along with her as we study about the P31 woman. Elizabeth then talks about the background of these verses. They are instructions from a mother to her son about the type of woman he should look for to be his wife. Something interesting to know.... this section is called an acrostic... which means each verse starts with a letter (each letter, in order) of the Hebrew alphabet.. in order! "Taught this way, this alphabet of character could be quickly learned, easily memorized, regularly recited and permanently etched into the tablet of his(the son) heart." (pg 12)
Wow, this is serious stuff. These qualities were meant to be taught and memorized by young son's so they knew what woman to look for.... And have you seen the list of her character? That seems impossible to meet! Elizabeth points out to notes of hope.... one it is written by a woman. These are men being men and dictating a woman about what her character should be. This is a woman. This could be me... what kind of wife do I think it's important for my son to have? What kind of woman do I think is good enough for him!? Also, this mother expects her son to be able to find this woman. The mother believes this woman is out there and expects her son to be able to find her. This gives me hope, because it means becoming this woman isn't impossible. I CAN become her.
A Picture of Beauty
This woman is God's idea of beauty. God wants us to become virtuous women. So what does virtuous mean? "The meaning of the word virtuous can be likened to the two sides of a coin. Power of mind (moral principles and attitudes) makes up the image on one side, and power of body (potency and effectiveness) makes up the other." (p13). A powerful mind shows her mental strength. It's the internal qualities that keep her going in life. She is pure, honest, industrious, thrifty, strong in character, kind, wise, and holy. These internal qualities are what help her manager her life, her time, her money, her mouth, her home, her relationships and herself! And that's only one half of the coin....
A powerful body- when you read more about her character you can definitely see her he life requires physical energy. Just look at some of the things she does with her life: she works with her hands, she plants a vineyard, she operates a spindle and a distaff, works from early in the morning to late at night, she nurses the needy, she weaves cloth for her family and for sale, she is never idle. Just reading this list makes me tired! "The virtuous and very industrious woman needs physical strength and ability to do the work of her life, the work of love." (P15) That's right... the work of love.
An Army of Virtues
This woman is an army- an army of virtues. The word virtuous (that describes this woman) is used over 200 times in the Bible to describe an army. The word is used to describe men of war and men prepared for war... and now we are using it to describe the P31 woman. "Just as mental toughness and physical energy are the primary traits of an army, they also make God's beautiful woman."(p15).
When you think of armies... what do you think of? Yesterday was Veteran's Day. A day to honor those who have been in the armed services. I saw this little picture on facebook that talks about what a veteran is....
Look at that last part... Someone who wrote a blank check.... for an amount that includes their life! They are someone who willingly will give up their life for another. As a P31 woman... you are writing a blank check to others for an amount that includes you life. Or at least your life in the way the world sees it. The world seems to think you are only living your life if you are doing what you want with no concern to others. But when you become a P31 woman... your life becomes whatever it needs to be so that you can help others in your life.... you worry more about everyone else around, then you worry about yourself. You put your husband's and children's needs above your own... their needs are your needs! As I become a P31 woman... I am becoming a Veteran of the Burke Family. I am giving my husband and my children a blank check for any amount... They are my life. Everything I do... I do to help them succeed. My joy comes from their joy. My happiness comes from seeing them happy. Everything I do, I do it because it enables those around me to do what they need to do well... I make sure the bills get paid on time, the cleaning gets done, the cooking gets done so that my husband doesn't have to and can focus on what he needs to do. I take care of the details... so he can focus on the big picture (though the P31 woman is farsighted, so she keeps an eye on the big picture too)
When I think of an army I also think of men and women who have a ton of different skills... they are able to protect those around them, survive on very little, do whatever they have to to get the job done! That is the same with P31 woman.... She protects those around her: her family as well as those who can't protect themselves, such as the homeless and the orphans. Verse 20 says" She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy." She is thrifty and not wasteful. She doesn't give up and is diligent and discipline and never gives up.
This woman is definitely an army of virtues.
One of the things I really like about Elizabeth George's devotionals is that she always includes practical ways to apply what you read to your own life... here are the ones she had for chapter 1:
The How-To's of Beauty
1. Cultivate the desire... what do you want to be known for?
2. Give it Time.... Remember becoming a P31 woman won't happen overnight, it will take a lot of time. It is something you will continually have to work towards throughout your life. What kind of time will it need?
-Time Reading God's Word...."When you read the Word of the lord, He uses it to scrub and scour away your fears, your laziness, your doubts and your sinful ways. God uses Hid Word to transform you into a woman of divine power who more brilliantly reflects His beauty."(p 17)
-Time memorizing God's Word.
-Time with other woman. Find woman who will help and encourage you along your journey to become a P31 woman.
-Time reading biographies of God's saints. Read about other women on God's army, this will help strengthen and motivate you along your journey. Examples? Amy Carmichael, Susanna Wesley, Elisabeth Elliott, Edith Schaeffer, and Ruth Graham
-Time Today.... dedicate each day to living out the principles of the P31 woman
-Time over a lifetime- God has given you a lifetime to become this woman... use the time he has given you.
Next chapter: HER VALUE
HER CHARACTER
This is a great devotional about Proverbs 31. If you have never gone through a devotional written by Elizabeth George... make it your next one. Her insights are great and she explains topics in terms you can really understand. She writes mainly for woman, all ages. Her husband writes on many of the same topics, but for men. Most of her books have a study guide you can buy too, to help you get more out of the information. Here are some notes and comments about the first chapter of this book
"Who can find a virtuous woman?" Proverbs 31:10 (KJV)
Alphabet of Character
Elizabeth begins the chapter inviting you to journey along with her as we study about the P31 woman. Elizabeth then talks about the background of these verses. They are instructions from a mother to her son about the type of woman he should look for to be his wife. Something interesting to know.... this section is called an acrostic... which means each verse starts with a letter (each letter, in order) of the Hebrew alphabet.. in order! "Taught this way, this alphabet of character could be quickly learned, easily memorized, regularly recited and permanently etched into the tablet of his(the son) heart." (pg 12)
Wow, this is serious stuff. These qualities were meant to be taught and memorized by young son's so they knew what woman to look for.... And have you seen the list of her character? That seems impossible to meet! Elizabeth points out to notes of hope.... one it is written by a woman. These are men being men and dictating a woman about what her character should be. This is a woman. This could be me... what kind of wife do I think it's important for my son to have? What kind of woman do I think is good enough for him!? Also, this mother expects her son to be able to find this woman. The mother believes this woman is out there and expects her son to be able to find her. This gives me hope, because it means becoming this woman isn't impossible. I CAN become her.
A Picture of Beauty
This woman is God's idea of beauty. God wants us to become virtuous women. So what does virtuous mean? "The meaning of the word virtuous can be likened to the two sides of a coin. Power of mind (moral principles and attitudes) makes up the image on one side, and power of body (potency and effectiveness) makes up the other." (p13). A powerful mind shows her mental strength. It's the internal qualities that keep her going in life. She is pure, honest, industrious, thrifty, strong in character, kind, wise, and holy. These internal qualities are what help her manager her life, her time, her money, her mouth, her home, her relationships and herself! And that's only one half of the coin....
A powerful body- when you read more about her character you can definitely see her he life requires physical energy. Just look at some of the things she does with her life: she works with her hands, she plants a vineyard, she operates a spindle and a distaff, works from early in the morning to late at night, she nurses the needy, she weaves cloth for her family and for sale, she is never idle. Just reading this list makes me tired! "The virtuous and very industrious woman needs physical strength and ability to do the work of her life, the work of love." (P15) That's right... the work of love.
An Army of Virtues
This woman is an army- an army of virtues. The word virtuous (that describes this woman) is used over 200 times in the Bible to describe an army. The word is used to describe men of war and men prepared for war... and now we are using it to describe the P31 woman. "Just as mental toughness and physical energy are the primary traits of an army, they also make God's beautiful woman."(p15).
When you think of armies... what do you think of? Yesterday was Veteran's Day. A day to honor those who have been in the armed services. I saw this little picture on facebook that talks about what a veteran is....
When I think of an army I also think of men and women who have a ton of different skills... they are able to protect those around them, survive on very little, do whatever they have to to get the job done! That is the same with P31 woman.... She protects those around her: her family as well as those who can't protect themselves, such as the homeless and the orphans. Verse 20 says" She opens her arms to the poor and extends her hands to the needy." She is thrifty and not wasteful. She doesn't give up and is diligent and discipline and never gives up.
This woman is definitely an army of virtues.
One of the things I really like about Elizabeth George's devotionals is that she always includes practical ways to apply what you read to your own life... here are the ones she had for chapter 1:
The How-To's of Beauty
1. Cultivate the desire... what do you want to be known for?
2. Give it Time.... Remember becoming a P31 woman won't happen overnight, it will take a lot of time. It is something you will continually have to work towards throughout your life. What kind of time will it need?
-Time Reading God's Word...."When you read the Word of the lord, He uses it to scrub and scour away your fears, your laziness, your doubts and your sinful ways. God uses Hid Word to transform you into a woman of divine power who more brilliantly reflects His beauty."(p 17)
-Time memorizing God's Word.
-Time with other woman. Find woman who will help and encourage you along your journey to become a P31 woman.
-Time reading biographies of God's saints. Read about other women on God's army, this will help strengthen and motivate you along your journey. Examples? Amy Carmichael, Susanna Wesley, Elisabeth Elliott, Edith Schaeffer, and Ruth Graham
-Time Today.... dedicate each day to living out the principles of the P31 woman
-Time over a lifetime- God has given you a lifetime to become this woman... use the time he has given you.
Next chapter: HER VALUE
New Design and Theme
If you are regular followers of my blog you will noticed it changed.... as I hinted it would. The address has also changed... so I hope you found your way here.
Here was the trivia question I left you:
Where does Army of Virtues come from? See if you can guess by answering a trivia question
-There are numerous books written about
-It deals with God's idea of beauty and God's design for excellence
-It is an acrostic poem (each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, in order)
If you guess Proverbs 31... you are correct.
Proverbs 31:10-31 talks about the Wife of Noble Character and it is my new theme in life.... what I am striving for. I want to be this woman. If you have studied this section at all you know that this part is a mother giving her son, King Lemuel some instructions. Here, she is tell him the type of wife she should look for. This woman is wisdom in action at its finest. She does everything with forethought and excellence which in turn enables her husband and children to do her best. Now I don't have children (yet!) but I have a husband. I have a husband who I am very proud of and who I love very much. I want him to do well in life. And if I can do anything to help him do well in life... well I am going to do it. I want to do everything I do (work, managing family, manage household, cook, clean, etc etc etc) well so that he doesn't have to and so that he can focus on what he needs to. I want my husband to be proud of me and proud of what I do.
But, more important than my husband being proud of me... I want God to be proud of me. And these verses portray God's ideal woman. These verses show the qualities that God's seek for his daughters to posses. This is God's idea of beauty and God's design of excellence. And to me, more than anyone elses' idea of beauty and excellence, I want to meet God's idea.
So what are the traits of this Proverbs 31 woman?
The Proverbs 31 woman is....
-priceless
-faithful
-good
-diligent
-enterprising
-discipline
-thrifty
-energetic
-industrious
-persistent
-kind
-farsighted
-elegant
-helpful
-creative
-confident
-prudent
-loving
-excellent
-reverent
-virtuous
(wish I could remember where I found this particular example, but this has been on a card in my bible for so many years and I just don't know where it originally came from)
Wow! What a list! I don't know about you, but I don't meet all these... I don't meet many of these, or at least not to the extent I believe the Proverbs 31 woman does.
In the weeks to come I will be sharing some of my notes with you, from the devotional I am going through right now. It is one I have done before, but one I love. The book is "Beautiful in God's Eyes: The treasures of the Proverbs 31 woman" by Elizabeth George. In fact, my next post will explain the "Army of Virtues" part of my new design. I hope you will keep coming back and reading about my journey to become a P31 woman....
Will my blog posts change?
Not really. I will still have all the same types of posts... such as my organizational posts, craft and project posts, and all the other topics I have talked about and had plan to talk about. These will also still be here, because being organized and crafty are still part of the P31 woman's life (refer to the list... she is creative-my craft projects require creativity!....she is helpful... I am helpful by making sure our bills get paid on time and that my family always knows whats for dinner and what we are doing... and these are just 2 examples-i could give more). However... there will be some new things, including practical ideas to help you become a P31 woman (if you so choose). As I already mentioned, I will share some of my devotional notes, along with some other new stuff too. So I hope you will keep coming back and come along with me on this journey.
If I am not changing the content much, then why the new design and theme?
As mentioned in another post, I wanted a design and theme that more fits my goal with this blog. The old design and feel of it didn't really create a focus... it was a blog where anything goes. Yes, I will still be writing about alot of the same things, however, now there is more focus....it's about how all those "things" (such as menu planning, craft projects, and just the day to day aspects of my life) contribute towards my goal of being a P31 woman. Being a P31 woman is very important to me and I wanted my blog to fit in with that idea.
Here was the trivia question I left you:
Where does Army of Virtues come from? See if you can guess by answering a trivia question
-There are numerous books written about
-It deals with God's idea of beauty and God's design for excellence
-It is an acrostic poem (each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, in order)
If you guess Proverbs 31... you are correct.
Proverbs 31:10-31 talks about the Wife of Noble Character and it is my new theme in life.... what I am striving for. I want to be this woman. If you have studied this section at all you know that this part is a mother giving her son, King Lemuel some instructions. Here, she is tell him the type of wife she should look for. This woman is wisdom in action at its finest. She does everything with forethought and excellence which in turn enables her husband and children to do her best. Now I don't have children (yet!) but I have a husband. I have a husband who I am very proud of and who I love very much. I want him to do well in life. And if I can do anything to help him do well in life... well I am going to do it. I want to do everything I do (work, managing family, manage household, cook, clean, etc etc etc) well so that he doesn't have to and so that he can focus on what he needs to. I want my husband to be proud of me and proud of what I do.
But, more important than my husband being proud of me... I want God to be proud of me. And these verses portray God's ideal woman. These verses show the qualities that God's seek for his daughters to posses. This is God's idea of beauty and God's design of excellence. And to me, more than anyone elses' idea of beauty and excellence, I want to meet God's idea.
So what are the traits of this Proverbs 31 woman?
The Proverbs 31 woman is....
-priceless
-faithful
-good
-diligent
-enterprising
-discipline
-thrifty
-energetic
-industrious
-persistent
-kind
-farsighted
-elegant
-helpful
-creative
-confident
-prudent
-loving
-excellent
-reverent
-virtuous
(wish I could remember where I found this particular example, but this has been on a card in my bible for so many years and I just don't know where it originally came from)
Wow! What a list! I don't know about you, but I don't meet all these... I don't meet many of these, or at least not to the extent I believe the Proverbs 31 woman does.
In the weeks to come I will be sharing some of my notes with you, from the devotional I am going through right now. It is one I have done before, but one I love. The book is "Beautiful in God's Eyes: The treasures of the Proverbs 31 woman" by Elizabeth George. In fact, my next post will explain the "Army of Virtues" part of my new design. I hope you will keep coming back and reading about my journey to become a P31 woman....
Will my blog posts change?
Not really. I will still have all the same types of posts... such as my organizational posts, craft and project posts, and all the other topics I have talked about and had plan to talk about. These will also still be here, because being organized and crafty are still part of the P31 woman's life (refer to the list... she is creative-my craft projects require creativity!....she is helpful... I am helpful by making sure our bills get paid on time and that my family always knows whats for dinner and what we are doing... and these are just 2 examples-i could give more). However... there will be some new things, including practical ideas to help you become a P31 woman (if you so choose). As I already mentioned, I will share some of my devotional notes, along with some other new stuff too. So I hope you will keep coming back and come along with me on this journey.
If I am not changing the content much, then why the new design and theme?
As mentioned in another post, I wanted a design and theme that more fits my goal with this blog. The old design and feel of it didn't really create a focus... it was a blog where anything goes. Yes, I will still be writing about alot of the same things, however, now there is more focus....it's about how all those "things" (such as menu planning, craft projects, and just the day to day aspects of my life) contribute towards my goal of being a P31 woman. Being a P31 woman is very important to me and I wanted my blog to fit in with that idea.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
"The Life I Live" is becoming "Army of Virtues"
That's right this blog is changing.
Why? Well "The Life I Live" was originally started over 10 years ago. (yes, I know the archives only say since July 2011, but it was on a different site) I was in a different place in my life and now I want a blog that reflects my current life.
Where does Army of Virtues come from? See if you can guess by answering a trivia question
-There are numerous books written about
-It deals with God's idea of beauty and God's design for excellence
-It is an acrostic poem (each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, in order)
Stay tuned for the answer and for the new design!
Why? Well "The Life I Live" was originally started over 10 years ago. (yes, I know the archives only say since July 2011, but it was on a different site) I was in a different place in my life and now I want a blog that reflects my current life.
Where does Army of Virtues come from? See if you can guess by answering a trivia question
-There are numerous books written about
-It deals with God's idea of beauty and God's design for excellence
-It is an acrostic poem (each verse begins with a letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, in order)
Stay tuned for the answer and for the new design!
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Menu Planning
Today let's talk about how I go about planning the menu for my family of four adults.
First of all, some back story. When we got married, we had decided Chad would be in charge of the cooking. A few months into our marriage I told him he need to start planning a menu so that we weren't spending so much at the grocery store. See with a menu, you know exactly what food items you need for the week... so you don't go spend $300 dollars on food only to find you don't have what you need. Also, you aren't grocery shopping every day. With a set menu and a grocery list to match you can cut your grocery shopping down to once a week (or every other week which is what we do now). After we moved into my in laws house, we changed the menu and grocery list so that we all eat the same thing. However, my husband started nursing school and we found it was too much work for him to do the menu and the cooking... so after a struggle I took it over. See I never enjoyed cooking too much... it was a necessity to get what I wanted: food. But, I am slowly coming to enjoy the planning and the preparation and it brings me much joy when someone tells me they really enjoyed my dish. But, like almost everything in my life... I need a system that fit me so that I wouldn't be stressing out about the menu, grocery shopping, and cooking. The system has gone through some major changes since it started.
Originally our menu started on Friday and went till Thursday. We did this because the store we shopped at most (our local Farmer's Market) had $10 off $50 coupons on Thursday. So I would do the menu and list on Wednesday, we would shop on Thursday and be ready for the new menu Friday. Well this is the last week I will (hopefully) do the menu on list on Wednesday. See for the new year I wanted to get all of my planning and schedules starting on the same day (my week starts on Monday, so I want my menu to start on Monday). Plus, we are finding we shop at Costco more (because we found buying in bulk is saving us money). Also, I plan start menu planning weeks ahead of time, so if we want to start shopping at the market again, we can still go on Thursday to get the special, I just will already have the menu done. I am hoping by planning ahead more, I can scour coupons and ads and save us even money. Also, at the moment my in laws are paying for the majority of the food (unemployment sucks!) and so I started doing the menu/list for 2 weeks, instead of 1, so that we could do the shopping the week she gets paid... a little easier on her pocketbook.
With that I give you: our Menu.
I start with a blank menu. The new ones start on Monday and are only one page, but this is the week I am transitioning over so this one starts on Friday and is two pages to end on Sunday. You can find my template by going to my list/file page on my website (it's titled Blank Menu). Originally I was doing the menu on the computer, but I have decided to switch to hard copies, mostly so that I can have them ready to go in my weekly folders next year. (I might end up the week before it starts typing it up so we have a fresh, clean copy up in the kitchen, but we shall see.
Since I do the menu and grocery list most weeks, I know what kind of leftover stuff we have from the menus before... I usually pick recipes that use those up. We rarely end up with extra fruit and veggies... which is good as you want these fresh. I know right now I have some bacon chicken tenders, bread, lunch meat, waffles, 1 bag of frozen veggies and pepperoni in the deep freeze. Upstairs in the fridge/freezer there is some quacamole, frozen corn, frozen green beans, some egg souffle's and sausage patties. In the pantry (which is either in the island cabinets or in the laundry room if its overflow) I know there are a few fruit leathers, tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, ketchup, an unopened box of granola bars, some rice, and a few can goods that I have been trying to use up (they aren't really things we use, they were my in laws before we moved in). Remember we shop at Costco, so when I say things like "unopened box of granola bars" I am talking probably 30ish bars... enough for at least 2 weeks worth of snacks since we don't eat the same snack every day. These are the items I will try and use up first. I will pick recipes that use a few of these so I only need to add a few ingredients too. This will be a big shopping week... not only because it will have 2.5 weeks worth of food, but also because we have used up most of our prepacked foods and those will need to be restocked. We are a busy family, all on different schedules, so I only really "cook" 2 or 3 meals a week, the rest are prepacked items we just have to reheat. And when I say meals, I mean dinner... Lunch is the leftovers from the night before. Really I cook 8 servings for dinner, not 4.
So now that I know what food I have to work with, its time to fill in that menu. First, I fill in the dates in the Day calendar. My current menu/list will include the dates of 11/11-11/27. Next, I will pull out my monthly calendar and note any days/meals I know we won't be eating at home. If you were paying attention, you probably know there is a holiday in that date range-Thanksgiving. This year, the four of us will be spending Thanksgiving in Branson with my father in laws sister and 2 of her children's family....We stay in a condo and yes we will need food... But This will get its own menu/list so for now I just marked Branson/Thanksgiving on the times we will be gone. We are leaving Wednesday afternoon and won't be back till Sunday evening. I am filling out my menu in pencil... in case I need to change it. (as a side note... I also wrote down two things in my planner at this stage: on Monday, 11/21 I wrote menu/grocery list so I know I will need to do a menu/grocery list for the next 2 weeks on that day-unless I get it done early! Also, on 11/e21 I wrote down shop for Branson/Thanksgiving so I remember that we didn't buy food for our trip yet)
Besides our trip, this will be a quiet time for us... not many events that affect the menu (at least not any more than normal-more on this in a minute). I know that my uncle is coming into town this coming weekend, so I will probably plan something easy Saturday night in case we decide to go out to eat with them and my parents. I also know what our normal schedule generally looks like: MIL and FIL eat at church most wednesday nights and go out to eat after church on Sunday- so these are light/easy meals. I have class tues/thurs evenings- so the meal has to be something I can put together before or a crock pot meal that my husband just has to divide. My FIL leaves for work at 4:30 am, so lunches are always done the night before. My husband now works 11-11:30 usually Mon/thurs but sometimes the days change- so on those nights dinner has to be done before he leaves for work. Also, from looking at my calendar I know his weekend to work will be during this menu, but luckily he only works till 7:30 on those days, so it isn't necessary to have dinner ready before he goes, he eats when he gets home. Also, my MIL works evenings on Tuesdays, but she waits till she gets home to eat so that doesn't require special planning either. Also, from looking at my calendar I know I start watching my nephew 3 days a week on the 14th... which means I won't be home during the day, so these will either be crock pot meals or prepackaged. See how busy we are and how conflicting our schedules are. We rarely all eat together, which is sad, but that's the way it is.
Now, on to diets.... we are all trying to lose weight and get in shape (with the exception of my FIL who doesn't really want to, but we don't give him a choice). We don't restrict ourselves on anything, we just eat in moderation. We also eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. The snacks are light-granola bar, yogurt, etc. Also, my mother is diabetic... so I have to watch the amount of sugar. We generally have 1 cheesy meal and 1 pasta meal a week. I also try and make sure there is protein with our meals. Also, I try and pack as many fruits and veggies as I can.
I better start filling in this menu if I want to finish by the time my MIL gets home from work! (we are doing the shopping today, because the rest of the week schedule is crazy).
First, I fill in snacks... these are the easiest for me (besides lunch which I just have to copy dinners). Generally our snacks are :Granola Bars, Yogurt, Cheese Snacks (much to my husbands dismay....I snuck this snack in), and Almonds and Fruit Leathers. We have tried other things and I need to get some more options, but that's for another week. I think this week I am going to use the rest of the Cheese up, but not buy anymore... see if we can't find something else at Costco today. If you have snack ideas that are easy, light and healthy... please share!
Next I fill in breakfast. Again, we have a rotation. Waffles/Sausage/Fruit, Jimmy Dean Sandwiches, and Cereal/Smoothie/or Oatmeal. I usually do the last one on the weekends, when we generally have more time. My husband is getting sick of waffles, but we still have a huge box... when its empty I will switch to something else. These have to be prepackaged because we all get up at different times and don't have time to make much. Again, if you have ideas... please share. Today, at Costco I will look at our options. we had muffins one week and those are good.. I might add those in.
Now on to the hardest part: Dinner/Lunch. We have a few prepackaged things from Costco we really like: Breaded Chicken Patties and these Pita Cheeseburgers we had this time... they have been asked for again. i also think I will repeat the Texas Stew and the Rice Casserole we had this week... they were good! The weather is cold, rainy, and icky this time of the year so I was thinking of a soup or two as well.... to get my recipes I have two many sources: my pinterest boards or this pile of recipes:
These are all the recipes I have either printed or cut out from magazines. That book on top? That was a wedding present from a friend of my moms'. Its a recipe book. Inside it has clear pockets that hold 4x6 recipe cards. I have been slowly transferring my loose recipes into this book. At first, I was doing all them, but now I am just doing ones we have tried and like and would do again. Working on a system for my recipes has been on my To Do list for the last year... its a slow work in progress. I also have a ton of these:
Cookbooks! Not just these, but 3 small totes filled as well. However, I only have a few out and honestly I just don't have the time to look through them. I am hoping that now that I am starting to plan my menus week in advance I can get some recipes from here. And again the plan is that once we pick a recipe from the book, try it and like it, it will be copied and moved to the other recipe book(that will eventually be turned into a few books I am sure). I am too tired today and have to much to do to mess with the recipe stack... so on to pinterest!
I have started to sort some of my boards (they were getting to big) and now have a board just for Crock Pot Meals, one for Soups, one for Burgers and Sandwiches, one for Chicken, etc. As I decide on a recipe, I print it right away and set it aside so it is ready for the grocery list/and for cooking! This is what I have found:
Crock Pot Pizza (we usually do a pizza night of the weekend, I am dying to try this!Plus we have most of the ingredients: we have had 3 cans of pizza sauce for about 2 months now, we always have peppers, onions and garlic around, and I already mentioned I had bacon and peperoni in the fridge.)
Texas Stew (this is amazing, love it!)
Sante Fe Chicken (it sounds yummy, and it will use some of the rice we have)
Baked Potato Soup (will use alot of the same stuff as some of the other recipes)
Quinoa Burgers (this will be a meat free dish, sounds interesting)
Rice Casserole (this will be a side to our chicken patties one day, instead of our normal veggies)
All of those are made in the crock pot except the quinoa burger. Now that I have my cooking items, time to fill in the rest. I added some chicken patties, chicken pot pies, ravioli with pesto sauce, pita cheeseburgers and deli sandwiches. Here it is all complete:
Once we are finished grocery shopping and I know I won't have to make changes... I will type it up. One copy will go upstairs, along with the recipes to sit in the kitchen. Another copy will stay downstairs on my desk (or in my weekly folder once the new year starts), so I know what/if I need to cook that day.
Now, on to the grocery list. I do mine by hand. And I do two of them. My first one will have everything we need on it. Then, I go through the freezer, kitchen, overflow etc and mark off what we already have, then I rewrite the list, separating it into stores and grocery store sections. Be back soon... this takes a bit.
Here is my finalized list:
Not bad for 13 days of food for 4 people. 34 items to buy. I actually had alot more stuff already than I originally thought. After doing the list I made one adjustment to my menu-changed a waffle day to a souffle day to use up the souffles in the freezer. I could take off the chicken broth on this list because we have some frozen... but there isn't really enough in there yet and Costco has a coupon for Swanson broth this week... so I want to get it while we have and then I can choose whether to use the store bought or the frozen.
Next I go through the coupons....
I am working on a better system for these too... eventually I will make a binder for them, so I can see what I have without have to look through each one, but for now this works. Coscto only takes their coupons (with few exceptions), so I go through their coupons first... The coupons don't start till the 10, so what few items are in there, I will have my MIL get on her way home from work Friday. We didn't have coupons for anything at the regular store we needed, so it will probably just be Costco this week. Hopefully as I get menus and lists done earlier, I will be able to buy more when we have coupons and when things are on sale. Today isn't that day.
All done! I know this may of seemed like a lot of information and a long post. And you might be thinking... That is much more work than I do for our grocery shopping. Maybe... but do you do a menu? If you don't, at least in my experience, you tend to shop more and pay more. Do you make a grocery list or do you just pick stuff up from the store? If you don't make a list, you probably find that you either don't have what you need or have to go to store alot. And you probably spend more, because you buy a lot, not just what you need? Also do you eat alot? We don't... for budget and diet reasons. So we eat at home alot, meaning we need to have meals planned and food bought. Also, I showed you our schedules, if I didn't plan ahead it would be next to impossible to coordinate meals to fit everyone's schedule. If you are like me and make a menu and grocery list... then your process is probably just as long and complicated, you just do it automatically and don't think about it. I thought my process was simple till I sat down and tried to explain it to all of you!
Anyways, the menu and list is done and now I can take a few days break before I go through the process again.
First of all, some back story. When we got married, we had decided Chad would be in charge of the cooking. A few months into our marriage I told him he need to start planning a menu so that we weren't spending so much at the grocery store. See with a menu, you know exactly what food items you need for the week... so you don't go spend $300 dollars on food only to find you don't have what you need. Also, you aren't grocery shopping every day. With a set menu and a grocery list to match you can cut your grocery shopping down to once a week (or every other week which is what we do now). After we moved into my in laws house, we changed the menu and grocery list so that we all eat the same thing. However, my husband started nursing school and we found it was too much work for him to do the menu and the cooking... so after a struggle I took it over. See I never enjoyed cooking too much... it was a necessity to get what I wanted: food. But, I am slowly coming to enjoy the planning and the preparation and it brings me much joy when someone tells me they really enjoyed my dish. But, like almost everything in my life... I need a system that fit me so that I wouldn't be stressing out about the menu, grocery shopping, and cooking. The system has gone through some major changes since it started.
Originally our menu started on Friday and went till Thursday. We did this because the store we shopped at most (our local Farmer's Market) had $10 off $50 coupons on Thursday. So I would do the menu and list on Wednesday, we would shop on Thursday and be ready for the new menu Friday. Well this is the last week I will (hopefully) do the menu on list on Wednesday. See for the new year I wanted to get all of my planning and schedules starting on the same day (my week starts on Monday, so I want my menu to start on Monday). Plus, we are finding we shop at Costco more (because we found buying in bulk is saving us money). Also, I plan start menu planning weeks ahead of time, so if we want to start shopping at the market again, we can still go on Thursday to get the special, I just will already have the menu done. I am hoping by planning ahead more, I can scour coupons and ads and save us even money. Also, at the moment my in laws are paying for the majority of the food (unemployment sucks!) and so I started doing the menu/list for 2 weeks, instead of 1, so that we could do the shopping the week she gets paid... a little easier on her pocketbook.
With that I give you: our Menu.
Since I do the menu and grocery list most weeks, I know what kind of leftover stuff we have from the menus before... I usually pick recipes that use those up. We rarely end up with extra fruit and veggies... which is good as you want these fresh. I know right now I have some bacon chicken tenders, bread, lunch meat, waffles, 1 bag of frozen veggies and pepperoni in the deep freeze. Upstairs in the fridge/freezer there is some quacamole, frozen corn, frozen green beans, some egg souffle's and sausage patties. In the pantry (which is either in the island cabinets or in the laundry room if its overflow) I know there are a few fruit leathers, tomato sauce, stewed tomatoes, ketchup, an unopened box of granola bars, some rice, and a few can goods that I have been trying to use up (they aren't really things we use, they were my in laws before we moved in). Remember we shop at Costco, so when I say things like "unopened box of granola bars" I am talking probably 30ish bars... enough for at least 2 weeks worth of snacks since we don't eat the same snack every day. These are the items I will try and use up first. I will pick recipes that use a few of these so I only need to add a few ingredients too. This will be a big shopping week... not only because it will have 2.5 weeks worth of food, but also because we have used up most of our prepacked foods and those will need to be restocked. We are a busy family, all on different schedules, so I only really "cook" 2 or 3 meals a week, the rest are prepacked items we just have to reheat. And when I say meals, I mean dinner... Lunch is the leftovers from the night before. Really I cook 8 servings for dinner, not 4.
So now that I know what food I have to work with, its time to fill in that menu. First, I fill in the dates in the Day calendar. My current menu/list will include the dates of 11/11-11/27. Next, I will pull out my monthly calendar and note any days/meals I know we won't be eating at home. If you were paying attention, you probably know there is a holiday in that date range-Thanksgiving. This year, the four of us will be spending Thanksgiving in Branson with my father in laws sister and 2 of her children's family....We stay in a condo and yes we will need food... But This will get its own menu/list so for now I just marked Branson/Thanksgiving on the times we will be gone. We are leaving Wednesday afternoon and won't be back till Sunday evening. I am filling out my menu in pencil... in case I need to change it. (as a side note... I also wrote down two things in my planner at this stage: on Monday, 11/21 I wrote menu/grocery list so I know I will need to do a menu/grocery list for the next 2 weeks on that day-unless I get it done early! Also, on 11/e21 I wrote down shop for Branson/Thanksgiving so I remember that we didn't buy food for our trip yet)
Besides our trip, this will be a quiet time for us... not many events that affect the menu (at least not any more than normal-more on this in a minute). I know that my uncle is coming into town this coming weekend, so I will probably plan something easy Saturday night in case we decide to go out to eat with them and my parents. I also know what our normal schedule generally looks like: MIL and FIL eat at church most wednesday nights and go out to eat after church on Sunday- so these are light/easy meals. I have class tues/thurs evenings- so the meal has to be something I can put together before or a crock pot meal that my husband just has to divide. My FIL leaves for work at 4:30 am, so lunches are always done the night before. My husband now works 11-11:30 usually Mon/thurs but sometimes the days change- so on those nights dinner has to be done before he leaves for work. Also, from looking at my calendar I know his weekend to work will be during this menu, but luckily he only works till 7:30 on those days, so it isn't necessary to have dinner ready before he goes, he eats when he gets home. Also, my MIL works evenings on Tuesdays, but she waits till she gets home to eat so that doesn't require special planning either. Also, from looking at my calendar I know I start watching my nephew 3 days a week on the 14th... which means I won't be home during the day, so these will either be crock pot meals or prepackaged. See how busy we are and how conflicting our schedules are. We rarely all eat together, which is sad, but that's the way it is.
Now, on to diets.... we are all trying to lose weight and get in shape (with the exception of my FIL who doesn't really want to, but we don't give him a choice). We don't restrict ourselves on anything, we just eat in moderation. We also eat 3 meals and 2 snacks a day. The snacks are light-granola bar, yogurt, etc. Also, my mother is diabetic... so I have to watch the amount of sugar. We generally have 1 cheesy meal and 1 pasta meal a week. I also try and make sure there is protein with our meals. Also, I try and pack as many fruits and veggies as I can.
I better start filling in this menu if I want to finish by the time my MIL gets home from work! (we are doing the shopping today, because the rest of the week schedule is crazy).
First, I fill in snacks... these are the easiest for me (besides lunch which I just have to copy dinners). Generally our snacks are :Granola Bars, Yogurt, Cheese Snacks (much to my husbands dismay....I snuck this snack in), and Almonds and Fruit Leathers. We have tried other things and I need to get some more options, but that's for another week. I think this week I am going to use the rest of the Cheese up, but not buy anymore... see if we can't find something else at Costco today. If you have snack ideas that are easy, light and healthy... please share!
Next I fill in breakfast. Again, we have a rotation. Waffles/Sausage/Fruit, Jimmy Dean Sandwiches, and Cereal/Smoothie/or Oatmeal. I usually do the last one on the weekends, when we generally have more time. My husband is getting sick of waffles, but we still have a huge box... when its empty I will switch to something else. These have to be prepackaged because we all get up at different times and don't have time to make much. Again, if you have ideas... please share. Today, at Costco I will look at our options. we had muffins one week and those are good.. I might add those in.
Now on to the hardest part: Dinner/Lunch. We have a few prepackaged things from Costco we really like: Breaded Chicken Patties and these Pita Cheeseburgers we had this time... they have been asked for again. i also think I will repeat the Texas Stew and the Rice Casserole we had this week... they were good! The weather is cold, rainy, and icky this time of the year so I was thinking of a soup or two as well.... to get my recipes I have two many sources: my pinterest boards or this pile of recipes:
These are all the recipes I have either printed or cut out from magazines. That book on top? That was a wedding present from a friend of my moms'. Its a recipe book. Inside it has clear pockets that hold 4x6 recipe cards. I have been slowly transferring my loose recipes into this book. At first, I was doing all them, but now I am just doing ones we have tried and like and would do again. Working on a system for my recipes has been on my To Do list for the last year... its a slow work in progress. I also have a ton of these:
Cookbooks! Not just these, but 3 small totes filled as well. However, I only have a few out and honestly I just don't have the time to look through them. I am hoping that now that I am starting to plan my menus week in advance I can get some recipes from here. And again the plan is that once we pick a recipe from the book, try it and like it, it will be copied and moved to the other recipe book(that will eventually be turned into a few books I am sure). I am too tired today and have to much to do to mess with the recipe stack... so on to pinterest!
I have started to sort some of my boards (they were getting to big) and now have a board just for Crock Pot Meals, one for Soups, one for Burgers and Sandwiches, one for Chicken, etc. As I decide on a recipe, I print it right away and set it aside so it is ready for the grocery list/and for cooking! This is what I have found:
Crock Pot Pizza (we usually do a pizza night of the weekend, I am dying to try this!Plus we have most of the ingredients: we have had 3 cans of pizza sauce for about 2 months now, we always have peppers, onions and garlic around, and I already mentioned I had bacon and peperoni in the fridge.)
Texas Stew (this is amazing, love it!)
Sante Fe Chicken (it sounds yummy, and it will use some of the rice we have)
Baked Potato Soup (will use alot of the same stuff as some of the other recipes)
Quinoa Burgers (this will be a meat free dish, sounds interesting)
Rice Casserole (this will be a side to our chicken patties one day, instead of our normal veggies)
All of those are made in the crock pot except the quinoa burger. Now that I have my cooking items, time to fill in the rest. I added some chicken patties, chicken pot pies, ravioli with pesto sauce, pita cheeseburgers and deli sandwiches. Here it is all complete:
Once we are finished grocery shopping and I know I won't have to make changes... I will type it up. One copy will go upstairs, along with the recipes to sit in the kitchen. Another copy will stay downstairs on my desk (or in my weekly folder once the new year starts), so I know what/if I need to cook that day.
Now, on to the grocery list. I do mine by hand. And I do two of them. My first one will have everything we need on it. Then, I go through the freezer, kitchen, overflow etc and mark off what we already have, then I rewrite the list, separating it into stores and grocery store sections. Be back soon... this takes a bit.
Here is my finalized list:
Not bad for 13 days of food for 4 people. 34 items to buy. I actually had alot more stuff already than I originally thought. After doing the list I made one adjustment to my menu-changed a waffle day to a souffle day to use up the souffles in the freezer. I could take off the chicken broth on this list because we have some frozen... but there isn't really enough in there yet and Costco has a coupon for Swanson broth this week... so I want to get it while we have and then I can choose whether to use the store bought or the frozen.
Next I go through the coupons....
All done! I know this may of seemed like a lot of information and a long post. And you might be thinking... That is much more work than I do for our grocery shopping. Maybe... but do you do a menu? If you don't, at least in my experience, you tend to shop more and pay more. Do you make a grocery list or do you just pick stuff up from the store? If you don't make a list, you probably find that you either don't have what you need or have to go to store alot. And you probably spend more, because you buy a lot, not just what you need? Also do you eat alot? We don't... for budget and diet reasons. So we eat at home alot, meaning we need to have meals planned and food bought. Also, I showed you our schedules, if I didn't plan ahead it would be next to impossible to coordinate meals to fit everyone's schedule. If you are like me and make a menu and grocery list... then your process is probably just as long and complicated, you just do it automatically and don't think about it. I thought my process was simple till I sat down and tried to explain it to all of you!
Anyways, the menu and list is done and now I can take a few days break before I go through the process again.
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