Need meal planning ideas for one year food supply

[Pam6]

I have 6 kids so we are a family of 8 so think large meals or #10 cans. I am trying to prep one years supply of meals. My plan is to have 30 different meals and store enough for having that meal once a month...so storing enough to have that one meal twelve times. So far I have about 4 complete meals stored. (4 x 12 so 48 days worth of meals for a family of 8) I have been trying to add one meal in and buying enough to make 12 dinners to every payday shopping trip.
Meal ideas on my list so far are:

1. Taco rice: pita shells, taco seanoning, canned cheese sauce, and rice, fritos DONE
2. Baked beans and corn bread: #10 can of baked beans, 2 boxes of Jiffy corn muffin mix (we like to add hot dogs to our baked beans) DONE
3. Speghetti: noodles and sauce
4. Pizza: dough mix and pizza sauce (then just add cheese and other toppings)
5. Chicken flavored rice: rice and chicken boullion cubes, some speghetti noodles, shredded chicken (canned or leftovers) DONE
6. #10 can of Ravioli DONE
7. Sloppy Joe seasoning (then just need ground meat and buns)
8. Homemade mac 'n cheese: condesce nacho cheese soup, macaroni noodle, evaporated milk, and crackers
9. Hamburger Helpers (Just add the meat or canned tuna) (Stocking up during the $1 a box sale because my family uses 3 boxes at a meal.)
10. Chili: beans, tomato juice, tomatos, seasoning (I make a 20 quart roaster at a time so this lasts for several meals in our house.) (Just add meat and onion, and green peppers from freezer but I am going to try and dehydrate my onions and green peppers for next year.)
11. Chicken or tuna noodle casserole- Done except noodles
12. Chicken noodle soup: chicken boullion cubes, noodles, carrots, (usually leftover shredded chicken from roasted chicken)
13. Oodles of Noodles
14. Skillet Mac: same as speghetti only we use macaroni noodles
15. Salmon patties: canned salmon, bread crumbs
16. Chicken pot pie: #10 can mixed veggies, cream of chicken soup, and biscuit mix for topping

I know some of the meals are not super healthy but my kids love them.

I need about 15 more meal plan ideas so I would appreciate any suggestions! I am trying to plan meals that do not need to be put in the freezer except for the meat and do not use pork (we do not eat it).
Breakfasts are covered...we have 15 layer chickens and I have 12 boxes of pancake mix stored, plus some cereal and oatmeal.
I also plan on putting 125 meat chickens in the freezer this year. I put 50 meat chickens and 2 deer in the freezer last year. I am figuring with one year of food stored it should actually last two or even three years if you add in all of the fresh made meals that we add in weekly but if things really go bad and we can not go shopping for a year we would be fine.

Any suggestions for more meals???

[GingerN]

Here is what I started. I thought about every meal that I can whip up off the top of my head and wrote it down. The next step is writing down the recipe/ingredient list and then getting quanities needed. I have not gotten that far, yet, lol. Most of the stuff is stuff I would keep on hand normally. I have fallen way behind on my prepping since there for about 3.5 yrs, we lived off the preps we had and just bought groceries that we needed for 2 weeks at a time since money was tight. I am JUST NOW able to really start stockpiling stuff again. Here is my list of meals:


Various Meals


1. Spaghetti and collard greens and cornbread or coleslaw.

2. meatballs (instead of meat loaf-tastier) with mashed potatoes and English peas and biscuits

3. roast with potatoes, carrots, onions, corn on cob and green beans

4. chili with cornbread or pasta

5. baked fish seasoned with paprika and lemons (baked in with fish) pasta, and steamed seasoned veggies (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and onions)-called California mix

6. ham with mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, and peas

7. bacon and onion fried, cornbread, blackeyed peas, mac and cheese and collard greens. (New Years dinner)

8.pasta salad and grilled chicken

9. hamburger gravy with biscuits and tomato slices

10. greenbean and polish sausage and mac and cheese

11. baked macaroni and cheese using leftover ham bits
With a green vegetable and bread

12. broccoli rice chicken casserole and rolls

13. chicken and dressing , taters, gravy, English peas, devilled eggs

14. beef tips with yellow rice and stir fry

15. egg salad sandwiches and fresh veggies

16.tuna salad and cream of tomato soup

17. chicken salad on lettuce wedges and crackers and tomatoes

18. veggie beef soup and pbj sandwiches or cornbread or
crackers and cheese

19. grilled chicken strips sautéed with onions, mushrooms, oliveoil and pasta.

20. whole baked chicken with carrots, onions, taters

21. stuffed bell peppers

22. frittata

23. quiche

24. baked French toast * easy to prep before hand and just pop in the oven and serve

25. pancakes

26. soffles stuffed with fruits (sweet batter)

27. soffles stuffed with meat and cheese and veggies (non sweet batter)

28. homemade corn dogs with fried potatoes

29. fried tater skillet like I made at cabin with ham, cheese, onions.

30. bbq chicken, mac and cheese, fried okra or squash

31. bbq pork roast , coleslaw, fried taters.

32. squash casserole, pork roast (like I made in electric skillet)
With green beans or peas

33. pinto beans, fried taters, coleslaw, cornbread

34. Fried chicken, tater salad, coleslaw, rolls

35. Deep fried venison strips, mashed taters, green veggies

36. Country dinner: white beans cooked with ham bone, fried skillet corn, cornbread, tomatoes, and cucumbers, fried or mashed taters

37. Pork chops-fried or grilled or baked, steamed veggies, baked taters

38. Homemade hamburger helper

39. Chicken ala king

40. Homemade chicken pot pie

41. Baked taters and 7 layer salad

42, tacos, yellow rice, lettuce, tomatoes cheese and salsa

43. Country fried steak, taters, English peas, biscuits, gravy.

44. Hash brown casserole

45. Italian lasagna

46. Mexican lasagna

47. Cornbread dip that Karen makes that is so yummy.

48. Pork tips in gravy over egg noodles.

49. Dirty rice, pintos and garlic bread
50. Gumbo

51, homemade chicken noodle soup and sandwiches.

52. Cheese goulash with biscuits or toast

53. Eggs, bacon, biscuits, gravy.

54. Hot dogs with left over chili and slaw

55. Hamburgers side salad and baked taters

56. Hamburger steak with gravy and biscuits and taters

57. Brunswick stew

58. Ham sandwiches


59. Shrimp and pasta 1 pot

60. shrimp boil (shrimp, red taters, corn on cob, polish sausage in a big pot with Shrimp boil seasonings and beer.)

61. baked tater soup

62. New England clam chowder and salad

63. roasted turkey

64. egg mcmuffin (12 grams of fat 30 carbs 110 calories


65. chicken soup casserole (Jeff, Jason, Chris really liked it.) 6 b/s thighs 1 onion 2 # egg noodles garlic parsely salt pepper 1 # carrots touch of oil 12 cups water

66. cornbread hoe cakes with pintos salsa cheese and lettuce. Serve with Spanish rice


ETA keep in mind that these were notes I had for myself and my married daughter. The names of some of these things -like the cheese goulash-are not really what people think of as goulash. This is a milk gravy with 1# sharp cheddar, 6 diced hard boiled eggs, 2 cans armour dried beef. Yummy but fattening. Homemade hamburger helper is NOT the boxed stuff, but more like a stroganoff.

[sgl42]

I think you're doing fine overall. do you eat 30 different meals now? most people have only a few recipes (probably a dozen or less) they make regularly, and don't have any problem with that. while you need variety, i don't know that you need 30 different meals, with each of those occuring at exactly the same frequency. with your 15 meals now, assuming your family likes all of them, i'd say you should have enough variety for quite a while, and just get supplies for more of those same meals. I'd certainly see how much my family likes a new dish before I bought a bunch of it too.

And nothing says you have to repeat meals at the same frequency. You might have a few meals that you only make once every 2-3 months, and other meals that you make once a week, depending on how much people like it, or how expensive it is, or how hard it is to make, etc.

you can also make a single meal have variety, depending on what you add to it. I eat fried rice a lot, often multiple times per week. however, it's still different each time. Some times the protein is an egg, sometime bacon, sometimes ham, sometimes garbonzo beans. the veggies I put in depends on what was at the farmers market too. Sometimes onion and squash, sometimes kohlrabi and broccoli, varies every time I make it. Same with my homemade mac & cheese. Sometimes I put broccoli in it, sometimes a sausage. You can do the same with something like pizza, or soup, or stew -- same "meal" but different ingredients, and it tastes different and gives variety and prevents food fatigue.

Sounds like you have a garden. might also want to adjust the meals based on what's fresh in your garden, and what's fitting for the season. and some meals are more "summer" than "winter."

lastly, you might consider replacing some of the boxed or canned items with basic ingredients, depending on your circumstances and what you're trying to achieve. Eg, instead of canned baked beans, you could store dried beans, and make the baked beans when needed, depending on the time you have to do it, whether your family is particular about a certain brand of beans, etc. Instead of hamburger helper, you could buy and store basic pastas and spices. Basic ingredients often gives the ability to create more variety from the same ingredients, and is often less expensive than regular priced goods, tho sounds like you stock up on the sale prices so the difference may be less.

when i started stocking up, i also looked at what was easy to store, and tried a few recipes to see if I liked them. Dry beans are very easy to store, and while I hadn't historically eaten beans much, I do now. You might try a few recipes with black beans, garbanzo beans, split peas, lima beans, etc, and if your family likes them, rotate them into your meal plan. You can get 25-40 lbs of dry beans in a 5 or 6 gal bucket. thats quite a few meals in not much space.

--sgl

[hsmom]

My approach is more like sgl42 is describing. Rather than canned sauces, for example, I have cans of chicken broth, beef broth, and coconut milk. With a bit of oil/butter and a bit of flour, I can make a variety of sauces from them.

(Basically, heat 3 tbsp oil or butter, add 3 tbsp flour, stir and cook for a minute or two, then slowly add 2 cups of liquid (broth or milk) while stirring.) I can add some onions/garlic/celery/carrots with the oil, and/or spinach or quicker-cooking veggies with the liquid. This results in anything from a beefy noodle dish (use beef broth, root veggies, and beef, serve over pasta), to an Indian curry over rice (use coconut milk and add apples, raisins, and chicken), to chicken pot pie (use chicken broth and add onions, carotts, and perhaps peas, put in baking dish under pie shell or biscuits or mashed potatoes), to mac cheese (use milk, onions & celery, and add cheese once the sauce boils).

Having the basics on hand means I can improvise with whatever ingredients come my way. By cooking this way most nights, I've gained experience with a variety of ingredients, so I get better over time. (Yes, sometimes it's not that great, but that's less and less the case.)

Besides the "white sauce" approach, I have a basic quiche/fritatta/strata formula, which is a great way to use odd greens, and helps make a bit of ham or other protein stretch a long way. Like sgl42 said, fried rice is another basic formula that can be varied easily.

But then, I enjoy cooking this way! Hubby asks "what's for dinner" and I say "it's a work in progress". The best part is that if I make something no one likes, it's unlikely to be seen at our table again. The worst part is that if I make something amazing, it's also unlikely to be found in exactly the same format again!

I've even been learning to make my own chicken broth in the crock-pot. Probably not strictly worth it from a day-to-day perspective, but definitely a useful cooking skill when it comes to using up every little scrap.

[unregistered29228]

You all are making me hungry! Those are great lists of food, and nobody will get bored if you can serve all that. We only eat about 30 different things, from stews to casseroles to Mexican and Indian food, to various omelets and rice, bean and noodle dishes. My main tool is spices - I can make a can of tuna, a quart jar of canned beef chunks or a butchered rabbit into just about anything with the right spices.

[Spinner]

I chose my 14 favorite meals, then repeated them 26 times to get a year supply. That only repeats a meal twice a month, and I know that I have foods we will enjoy.

For me it's important to try to keep our meals as close to normal as possible. During tough times, the last thing I want is to try new foods that might not agree with our digestion systems.

An example is that when I fix spaghetti, I do the spaghetti with garlic bread, no side dishes other than a desert. So I store 26 days of spaghetti, 26 jars of sauce with the meat in the sauce, butter, garlic, and the ingredients to make 26 loaves of bread. I have the salt, Parmesan cheese, etc. that makes the meal a little better, but it could be done without the extras if I had to.

Then I go to another meal: Mock swiss steak. I have the steak cut into serving size pieces and canned in jars. I have 26 jars of tomato juice, enough dehydrated veggies (tomato, celery, etc.) to add. The spices are in storage. When I make this meal, I usually make mashed potatoes and a green veggie to go with, so I have 26 meals of green veggies (usually English peas) and jars of potato flakes to make instant potatoes, or jars of mixed new potatoes w/ bacon bits & green beans.

I didn't have a full year supply of "meals" so what I did to be sure we have enough to last a year is fill in the empty days with ham & beans. It's easy to hang a few large smoked hams and fill a few 5 gallon buckets of beans. Lots of powdered milk on hand along with some wheat berries and cornmeal and it will provide a lot of meals.

As I add more of what I call "solid meals" then some of the ham & beans meals get moved to the "extras" list.


I forgot to add that I bought a pasta maker last year. With a few basic ingredients I can make my own spaghetti, macaroni, bow tie noodles and various other types of noodles.

With a meat grinder I can make ground chicken, goat, and other meats.

I wouldn't want to be totally dependent on the hand crank grinders, mixers, blenders, etc., but when there is no power they are very handy to have. If we loose power for a long time, I'll have other hands to help with the work so it'll be nice to have the options open for a variety of homemade goodies.

[manygoatsnmore]

You are really making me very hungry, you know? I know the OP asked for no pork (I assume that includes ham and bacon, etc), but I'm glad that you have listed meals that do use all of these as well, as we DO eat a lot of pork here. Thanks for giving me some fresh ideas and reminding me of old favorites.

[firegirl969]

An easy and inexpensive one dish meal is"

1 lb of ground beef, browned
2 cans mixed veggies
can of whole kernal corn
can of sweet peas
can of green beans
box of elbow macarroni
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all in large pot, add 1/2 can of water to each can of veggies. Cook on medium till pasta is done.

Easy and tastes great. We serve cornbread with it. For a larger family, just add a little extra veggies. The kids like this reheated as it gets better with age.

[Pam6]

Thanks for all of the great ideas!

[Ruby]

Originally Posted by firegirl969

An easy and inexpensive one dish meal is"

1 lb of ground beef, browned
2 cans mixed veggies
can of whole kernal corn
can of sweet peas
can of green beans
box of elbow macarroni
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all in large pot, add 1/2 can of water to each can of veggies. Cook on medium till pasta is done.

Easy and tastes great. We serve cornbread with it. For a larger family, just add a little extra veggies. The kids like this reheated as it gets better with age.

I make this too, but I add taco seasoning to the meat and instead of the sweet peas and green beans I add a can of chopped tomatoes.