Menu planning for the once monthly grocery trip

While my blog's comment rate is low, I have seen quite a few hits to my once monthly grocery shopping trip posting. Since there is interest in single people trying to keep grocery costs (and hassles) to a minimium, I thought I would expound on the topic. Here I will cover my menu planning.

The goal of the once monthly grocery shopping is cover all your needs for an entire month. I do make one or two trips at the end of the month if I need to replenish an item (e.g., need another gallon of milk) or there is some room in my budget and I cannot go another day without those potato chips. (I really try to fight those temptations but I do succumb occasionally.) So how do I do this? I plan what I will cook to cover three meals a day. Generally this means that what I make for dinner will be lunch and dinner for a two or three days. I also plan for quick meals like toasted cheese sandwiches, meals with moderate preparation like homemade pizza as well as the full cooking experience.

For example, here is what I have eaten this week:
Monday:
Breakfast: Two slices banana-cream bread toasted, buttered and sprinkled with cinnamon; glass of milk
Snack: Bag of Baked Cheetos from vending machine
Lunch: Part of 1/7 portion of Shrimp Pasta Pie, microwaved and ice water
Dinner: Made Bacon-Cream Cheese filling and baked into crescent rolls with glass of diet cherry cola. There are another three servings of the Bacon-Cream Cheese rolls so refrigerated for later.

Tuesday:
Breakfast: Two slices banana-cream bread toasted, buttered and sprinkled with cinnamon; glass of milk
Snack: Slice of pound cake spread with strawberry cream cheese
Lunch: Remaining 1/7 portion of Shrimp Pasta Pie, microwaved, applesauce and ice water; dessert Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese bar
Dinner: Bacon-Cream Cheese Crescents with glass of diet cherry cola.

Wednesday:
Breakfast: Two slices banana-cream bread toasted, buttered and sprinkled with cinnamon; glass of milk
Snack: Bag of Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips
Lunch: 1/7 portion of Shrimp Pasta Pie, microwaved and ice water; dessert Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese bar
Dinner: Bacon-Cream Cheese Cresents with glass of diet cherry cola.

I project that my menu will continue to be the same for Thursday and Friday with the exception of dinner on Friday. Currently, I am considering making pizza dough in my bread maker so I can have pizza or a quick salad or I might cook the Spaghetti and Meatballs recipe I chose to try. I might save the last item for Saturday where I will have more time to cook and fewer demands from the empty stomach.

One complaint: I am getting awfully tired of the Shrimp Pasta Pie. Here is where more freezer space would come in handy--freeze it for another time. However, it is obvious that the Pasta Pie did last for lunch an entire week and that is usually what happens to my leftovers. Plus one loaf of banana-cream bread will last an entire week for breakfast. So what other items do I have?

Breakfast: bagged cereal, pancakes, toast
Lunch: leftovers, frozen prepackaged meals (limited to three or four a month), occasional eating out
Dinner: homemade pizza, salad, toasted cheese sandwich, casseroles, meat dishes, ethnic foods, rice
Desserts: bars, apple-based desserts, cookies, chocolate
Snacks: popcorn, salad (I like crunchy!), nuts, chips, toast

I do not break down my menu into a day-by-day listing. I do have the menu items I specifically bought groceries for listed on my refrigerator to remind me what they are and put out items to thaw in preparation for them. My pantry is well-stocked if I want to try something not on the menu. Therefore, I really only make a separate trip to the grocery store for milk. Otherwise, my meals are planned and give me enough variety I tend not to get bored except when I have the same leftovers four days in a row.

Does this information help you? Do you want other details? Please let me know.