Weekly menu planning made easy

I don't know of a single person who isn't on a budget these days.  The only thing I really try to do when I'm planning my menu for the week is to try to find recipes whose main ingredients are already in the house.  Things you never need to use much of but you always have to buy a big bottle of.  Like Worcestershire sauce.  And Balsamic vinegar.  Peanut butter, honey, ketchup, oil.  Veggies, of course, will always go bad if you don't use them in time, but if you actually plan a menu for a week, it's easy to use them all up anyway.  Don't buy more than you can use in the produce section.  That's a sure waste of money.

At our local commissaries we have a wonderful "discount bin" full of meats.  Another for dry goods and sundries, and a third for dairy and lunch meats.  I can almost always find yogurt within weeks of expiration that are still good.  Milk, buttermilk, pudding, cream cheese, lunch meat, and pork and beef...spare ribs, beef tenderloin, strip steaks, ground beef or pork, you name it.  And it's always at a fraction of the cost of the fresher ones.

But here's what we have planned this week:
Tonight is roasted loin of pork with apricot-rum glaze.  YUMMMM!

For the rest of the week:
Beef Teriyaki
Champoin Chicken Parmesan (had this before and it is ALWAYS good!)
Balsamic Vinegar Chicken with almonds (use a good vinegar for this one)
Baked Chicken Dijon (Simon and Seafort's recipe, wooo hoooo!)
Grilled chicken with oregano, cinnamon, and paprika
At some point we'll have tacos this week, too.

Rob is starting to take some college courses this week so it'll be just me and the kids 2 nights a week, so tacos will be a likely dinner on one of those nights.  With me working till 6 those two nights it's gonna be a crazy semester!