Practical Life [Olders] ~ Menu

These are a few of the Practical Life opportunities in which our children were involved this weekend as a natural part of "eclectic living" :).

1 - Middle dd is making feed bag bags to sell to help with our 4-H activities.  Here is an excellent tutorial.  I just need the nylon straps so we don't have to make the straps from the bags.  I've already washed and dried the bags for her.
http://fresh-eggs-daily.blogspot.com/2012/01/make-your-own-feed-bag-tote.html

2 - Youngest dd is making dog leashes from old jeans that I have stashed away.  She plans on selling these also if we can make several.
http://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/denim_dog_leash

This has some really, really cute ideas for recycling jeans:
http://pinterest.com/analuketic/recycled-jeans/

3 - We did a lot of cleaning in the garage and weeded most of the front beds yesterday.  Oldest dd spent some time organizing her 4-H papers, college promos that she's been getting in the mail, etc.

4 - Menu planning.  We sat together and brainstormed dinners, lunches, and snacks (in that order) for this week.  We also listed things to get from the store [1 lb ground chicken sausage (from Fran's Fryers, less than $4/lb); Organic Pasta Sauce ; organic potatoes; and cucumber].  We'll divide both the beef and sausage into thirds to get 6 meals out of them.  The biggest help for me, though, is brainstorming prep work ["Prep Tasks" that they can help me with beforehand to keep the meals moving along].  I printed out our previous brainstorm list to use for narrowing things down this week.  You can it here.

Here is our  Prep Task list for this week:
Cook rice
Cook beef and chicken sausage
Cook beans - soak/cook
Make bread
Make tortillas
Make almond or peanut butter
Make rolls
Make granola bars
Boil eggs
Make crackers

Menu for the Week (created by the children):

Dinners:

- Chicken and Rice with Spinach (the spinach is what's left after making the Shamrock Peppermint Milkshake for St. Patrick's Day)
- Tacos (1/3 lb beef, sour cream, lettuce)
- Bean and Cheese Melts (for when we need a healthy fast meal!)
- Spaghetti (1/3 lb beef)
- Homemade Pizza (1/3 lb chicken sausage)
- Chili (mostly beans with 1/3 lb beef)
- Potato Soup (1/3 lb chicken sausage)

Lunches:

- Lumpias (egg rolls)(rice, meat, cheese)
- Bean and cheese melts/tacos
- Sandwiches
- Egg Salad Sandwiches
Sides:  oranges, carrots, cucumber, raisins

Snacks:

- Cereal (I splurged and got a box of organic Cascadian Farms fruit and nut cereal which is only 1 meal/snack with a tiny bit left over)
- Carrots
- Crackers with peanut or almond butter
- Homemade granola bars
- Trail mix
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Pumpkin muffins (maybe)
- Crackers with cream cheese
- Popcorn

This real food menu by my children is part of Real Food Wednesday.






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