Well, it’s back to reality, which means menu planning and grocery shopping. We cleaned out our refrigerator and pantry before heading out on vacation, so we had to restock meats and some staples. No worries, though. Our grocery store had chicken breasts on sale for under $2 a pound, so we stocked up with enough chicken to last us more than two months.

After replenishing our freezer and pantry, our grand total was way over budget – about $85. Yikes! But with all the meat and several items like coffee and cheese that we buy in bulk each month, I’m not too worried about it.

For almost two weeks we’ve been eating holiday foods and restaurant meals while traveling (including an entire day of fast food yesterday as we drove 14 hours in one day — yuck!). We’re both really looking forward to getting back into the kitchen to cook some healthy homemade meals.

Here’s our first menu plan of 2009:

Sunday: Roasted chicken and red potatoes (We’ll make chicken stock with the leftovers.)
Monday: Chicken quesadillas
Tuesday: Chicken fajita tortilla soup
Wednesday: Chef’s salad
Thursday: Bean and cheese burritos
Friday: Homemade sushi (more on that later :) )

Now head over to OrgJunkie for more menu plans!