One of My Goals for the New Year

I know, so many folks out there think New Year's Resolutions are lame, and I guess I sort of do too. You set a goal for yourself, and many time, never meet that goal. But, this is one I feel I can really adhere to! I plan to try a new recipe every two weeks! Our paychecks are bi-weekly, so I shop for groceries every two weeks. I make my menu plan and shopping list at the same time (and, in most cases, I actually remember everything I need-lol). I do not plan meals according to day, usually. I just pretty much decide that day or the night before what we will eat.

But, our menus really do not have much variety and after a while, I do not even feel like making my shopping list because Im so sick of, what seems like, the same meals over and over!!

So, I have decided that each paycheck, we will try a new recipe for dinner! Most will be frugal, simple and fast. But, some will be, in my mind, a splurge dinner-something that costs more than $6 to feed my family of 7 :)

This week's new recipe was Easy Chicken Parmesan Bake. The recipe calls for 6 small boneless/skinless chicken breasts (about 2 lbs), but I have to admit I used 9 breasts in total (and that was about 4 1/2 lbs which I bought on sale at Reasors when they were priced at about $1.49/lb). My cost for the chicken was about $6. The sauce I got at Target with the pasta/sauce coupon they had a couple of weeks ago. That cost me about 67 cents. I also added in a can of tomato paste that I watered down a bit since I was using the extra chicken and so we would have extra sauce. For a side, I made spaghetti (which was about $1). The cheese for the topping was about $1 (I omitted the parmesan they called for in the recipe since my shredded cheese already had parm in it). I would say the total amount for this whole recipe cost me less than $9...not too bad for a family of 7 and it was very filling! Add in side veggies like a salad, brocolli, etc...and this can be a pretty frugal meal! And, this meal was quick and SO easy to throw together (well, minus to time it took to defrost the chicken since it was a last minute decision to make it that night :)

I will post more meals as we go through this New Years goal! Im looking forward to having lots of meals to choose from when this year is over!!!