January 

Welcome to a new year! Here is the free menu planning help you need. Meal planning ideas perfect for January (think cozy, fillings and winter yum!) and Orthodox Fast Friendly too! This year, my focus is on making every moment count.  This means lots of areas of life need to be organized, need to be efficient, and need to be more productive.

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What does this have to do with a meal plan?  Everything!  I’m setting some lofty (for me) goals and the kitchen is no exception.   I will be attacking our food budget and reigning it in, working on a new menu method that saves money and reduces waste, and adding more veggies, smoothies and healthy snacks to our plan.  Who wouldn’t want to do this, right?!

I even plan to take an e-course called Grocery University in the coming months to hone my skills and learn some new tips.  I’ve heard great things from about this course from lots of people, so I’m excited to check it out for myself.

You won’t see these changes all at once.  I’m experimenting with different ideas and working out kinks, but our menu plans will slowly start to reflect these changes.  I’m super excited because I think we can all benefit from changing at least one of these areas…

And yep, if you are an Orthodox Christian, there I will still of course be making the menu “fast friendly.”

Here’s to an incredible and healthy year!

Here’s my disclaimer:   I am not a medical expert by any means!  I do not add up calories, fat, or nutritional content.  You should consult with your health care provider for any and all health, nutrition, and food advice.  My menu plans are just that: a meal plan I make for my family. Here, I get to share it with you in hopes it can help ease your burdens and save you some time!

If you would like to read about why we share our menu plans (and why they are “Orthodox”) then check out the beginning of this post.


A few things worth noting:

• • First, this menu contains only dinners.  If you are looking for breakfast and lunch help, check out A Menu Method for Families on a Tight Budget.  This is the system we use to save us time and money – this will be changing soon!  Breakfast and lunch ideas can be found there.  
  • Second, Sundays for us are very full, so I never plan a meal for Sunday evening.  It is my day off from cooking, so we scavenge for food: leftovers, popcorn, snacks – anything we can find!  
  • And finally, some of the members of our family have very specific diet restriction (including low carb, low dairy, low/no sugar).  Hence, our menu selections tend to be homemade, from scratch, and generally healthy meals.  Most can easily be made gluten free as well by substituting out the bread/pasta selections (that’s what we do!). 
  • Oh, many fasting recipe’s I include will contain olive oil.  We just substitute an oil like canola etc. in its place if it is a fast day.

Menu Plan Ideas

Update – September 2017 – Since this post was originally created as a menu plan for a specific month (which is now past), I’ve gone through and edited the actual menu into categories (no fast, fish day, etc.) that can be used as menu planning ideas (especially for Eastern Orthodox Christians).  That way, if you are looking for inspiration to create a menu plan, the info is still there for you, but in an easier format…  

January 2017

 

No Fast Ideas 

(anything goes!)

 

BLTs

Ham Egg Bake

Stuffed Green Pepper Soup with Rice Crackers

Pork Chops, Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Cucumber Salad

Chicken Caesar Salad

Sloppy Joes, Veggies with dip and fruit

Pulled Pork (such a great recipe – takes time, but inexpensive and worth the effort!), Coleslaw, and Baked Beans

Chicken Fingers, Fruit Salad, Steamed Broccoli

Roast, Potatoes, Carrots and Onions

 Fritatta

Lasagna and Salad

Turkey Rice Soup

Crockpot Sausage, Spinach, and White Bean Soup*

Spaghetti with Meatballs, Salad and Garlic Bread

Mixed Bean and Ham Soup with Crackers and fresh veggies

Chicken Pesto Cranberry Pasta Salad

Chicken and Broccoli Stir Fry

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes and Salad

Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas and carrots

Fasting Ideas

(No animal products except shellfish)

 

Copycat Panera Butternut Apple Soup (Super easy and so yummy!)

  Roasted Garlic and Tomato Lentil Salad (the garlic in this recipe makes for amazing flavors)

 Bean Burgers (frozen Costco), rice, and salad

Fish Ideas

(No animal products except fish)

 

Salmon Patties, Mashed Potatoes, Steamed Veggies

Tuna Casserole

 Baked Cod, Coleslaw, Roasted Potato Wedges

*  New recipes – can’t wait to try!  Let me know what you think if you try it!

 

Let’s start the New Year right!

~Karina

Also – here’s a new cookbook we got over the holidays…really looking forward to trying out some awesome new recipes!