March Challenge--Healthy eating Menu--Week Four

Chicken and Veggie Salad with organic ranch dressing

I'm a few days behind in posting my menu plan for the week as I went out of town with my mom for a women's conference this weekend.  But here it is, complete with price break-downs:

Breakfast:

Oatmeal x3

 (My hubby amazingly decided to start eating oatmeal a few times a week!  This is HUGE for our family as the kids want to eat what Daddy eats!  I'm so excited!  He is doing it because oatmeal is cheaper, but it's also healthier too!)

1.50 cents to feed 6 people

Scrambled eggs with cheese (made with farm-fresh eggs from a local ranch)

$3 to feed 5 of us (hubby won't eat scrambled eggs)

Cereal x3

(I've been trying to do organic cereals and homemade granola as much as possible this month)

$3 per morning

Snacks

Fruit/Veggies--$10 per week (thanks to Bountiful Baskets)

Bread (organic 9-Grain) and Butter--$2.50 for 1 snack for 4 ravenous kids

Hardboiled eggs--$2.50 per dozen (1 dozen equals 1 snack for my kids)

Oatmeal/Apple muffins  Approximately $4 for 24 muffins

Cheese --50cents to $1 thanks to a $2/lb. sale on cheese

Lunches

PB&J with organic PB, organic bread, and all-fruit jam 

$3.50 for 6 people (not including side dishes like fruit/veggies from the fridge)

Leftovers x2  FREE

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

$5 for 6 people

Bean Burritos (locally grown pinto beans and homemade tortillas) 

 Approximately $3 for 6 people

Vitamin Smoothies

80 cents for 4 smoothies

Suppers

Elk roast in the crockpot, baked potatoes, brussel sprouts

(Elk meat was a gift from a friend) $4 for 6 people plus leftovers

Macaroni and Cheese, homemade, vegetables

(Pasta isn't exactly healthy, but the kids love this, so it's a compromise!)

$4 for 6 people, no leftovers

Quinoa with Chicken and Veggie Stir-Fry

$8 for 6 people plus leftovers

Whole Wheat Pizza, with homemade sauce and veggie toppings

$4-$5 thanks to a cheese sale where I got cheese at $2/lb.

Chili, cornbread, Mexican melon

$5, which includes the peppers, onions, tomatoes, melon from BB

So, my total from the listed meals and snacks is around $80.  Of course this doesn't include pantry staples like spices, oil, the milk we drink, etc. Our produce, milk, butter, cheese, flour is not  technically "organic."  I cannot afford to purchase organic because of how much it costs in our small, rural town.  But our wheat does come from a neighboring state and Wheat Montana does not use genetically modified wheat or pesticides on their crops.  Our fruits and veggies get washed thoroughly with a veggie wash and we buy milk that is from cows not treated with hormones.

Is it possible to eat non-processed foods on a tight budget?  Yes!  Is it a challenge, especially with voracious eaters like my kids?  Absolutely!  It takes lots of work, but it is well-worth the effort if you are concerned about giving your family quality, nutritious food and avoiding artificial colors, preservatives, chemicals, and sugar.  If you can obtain wild game, this will give your budget a huge boost, and provide you with organic, grass-fed meat!  The Bountiful Baskets produce co-op has enabled us to eat many more fruits and veggies.  If you can join a similar group, or get to know a local farmer and barter for fresh produce, it will help you provide your family with healthy foods for less.  I am always looking for sales/clearance deals/bulk purchasing discounts, etc.

The reason I've included only 5 lunches and dinners here is because during the weekend we didn't exactly do healthy meals.  I went to a women's retreat in a nearby town and didn't have time to make homemade frozen pizzas for my family.  So they ate some Digiornos I found for $3 on sale, and my mom and I had a mostly healthy picnic for dinner in the car on the way to the retreat (Tabouli, chicken salad sandwiches, organic pears, and Girl Scout Cookies (yum!), and then on Sunday, we ate at a Mexican restaurant for lunch, and at my parent's house for dinner to celebrate my birthday.

The conference theme color was blue.  There was a Sweet Treat Buffet at break time, complete with two cotton candy trees! 

While it's great to eat healthily most of the time, it's fun to have some treats every once in a while too!

March Challenge--Healthy Eating Menu--Week Three

I'm loving this eating challenge!  It's been fun, and I'm finding that I feel so much more satisfied on healthier foods.  In all honesty, we aren't making enormous changes in doing this challenge.  We didn't eat terribly before, so switching to more organic foods or cutting out a few processed foods like crackers/granola bars etc. for snacks hasn't been that hard.  But, I am making a more concious effort to know what we are eating, know where our food has come from, and to cut out artificial colors and dyes.  I'm realizing again how little of the food in the grocery store is actually real food! 

One thing I would NOT recommend:  kelp pancakes!  A friend and I did a green picnic in honor of St. Patrick's Day being tomorrow and I tried to dye the whole wheat pancakes I made with kelp powder since I didn't have liquid chlorophyll handy.  Though I added more honey to cover the kelp taste, they still tasted funky and only half of the 8 kids ate them.  I can't say I blame them, I didn't like them myself! 

Breakfasts:

Cereal (Arrowhead Mills Puffed Rice, Homemade Granola or Cheerios) x 5

Organic 9-Grain toasted or made into French Toast x2

Lunches:

Leftovers

Sandwiches with organic PB and raw local honey

Quesadillas made with ww tortillas and mozzarella cheese

Snacks:

Banana Crumble muffins

Fruits/Veggies from Bountiful Baskets

Bread and Butter

Popcorn (popped in a pan over the kitchen stove)

Dinners:

Quinoa and Veggies Stir-Fry

Whole Wheat Pasta with Spaghetti sauce, organic garlic bread

Chicken and Vegetable Bulgur Stew, whole wheat biscuits

Wild Rice Chicken Casserole (with wild rice my in-laws brought out last week from MN!)

Whole Wheat Pizza with Vegetable toppings and fresh green salad

Fish fillets, steamed veggies, baked potatoes

Leftovers

Next week, when I report back I will try to include a cost break-down so you can see what I spent on the meals listed above!

March Challenge--Healthy Eating Menu

Last week's granola was a hit with the family!  It was delicious, but my family went through 24+ cups of it (plus other cereal and breakfast food) in 10 days!  My family eats a LOT, which makes it difficult to feed them healthily at all times.

The hearty lentil chili was a little spicy, but delicious!  We took it to a church potluck and there was plenty leftover for a couple more meals too.  It was a hit with the gluten-free folks at the potluck and so we shared some with them.  I threw in some black beans and we ate it with cornbread and on rice for leftovers.

The chicken vegetable curry on forbidden rice was WONDERFUL!  I liked it soooo much that I had to put it on the menu again for this week's meals!

We tried to avoid processed foods, but didn't freak out when Grammy shared these delicious daffodil cupcakes with us.  We received a free package of Oreos from our local grocery store this week in celebration of Oreos 100th birthday, and we ordered Dominos when 3 of Josiah's family members decided to come stay with us on short notice for the weekend.

Today, I was excited to go to a Local Food Fair in a nearby town where farmers and ranchers sold local goods and gave info on their products!  I purchased 12# of raw, local honey and 8# of locally grown, pesticide-free beans.

Here is this week's menu plan:

Breakfasts:

Cascadian Farms Organic Granola (purchased on a good sale with coupons)

Arrowhead Mills Puffed Rice

Organic Toast with organic raspberry jam with half the amount of sugar

Snacks:

Fruits and veggies

Mozzarella cheese wedges

Puffed Rice with milk

Organic 9-grain bread and butter

Yogurt/Spinach smoothies

Lunches:

PB and honey sandwiches (Bountiful Basket organic bread)x2

Annie's Mac N' Cheese

Leftovers x3

Organic black beans in homemade whole wheat tortillas, with cheese

Suppers:

Crockpot Chicken Curry on organic brown rice

Beef steaks and steamed brocolli and roasted butter gold potatoes

Pork chop/potato casserole (scalloped potatoes) made with homemade cream of chicken soup

Whole Wheat Panckes topped with organic 100% pure maple syrup, Farm-fresh scrambled eggs

Pepper Stir-Fry on organic brown rice (using BBasket peppers up)

Elk roast (cooked in the crockpot), brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes

Leftovers

I'm thrilled to check out the sites of those who are participating with me in this challenge!  Can't wait to try some new recipes!

My Monthly Menu Plan System

At the beginning of the month I print one of these calendar grid pages off of the internet and fill it in with all of the meals I hope to make during the month, based on what we have in the pantry, what I'm cooking for bulk cooking days, and what we like.  Then each night, I cross off what we had for supper so I know what we have left to choose from the next day.  This way I can be "prepared" but still eat according to what "sounds good" each day.  Of course the last couple of days of the month I don't have much of a choice!

March's Menu Plan

Tacos x3
Spaghetti Bake x3
Tuna Casserole x3
Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry x3
Homemade Pizza x3
Breakfast x1
Nachos x2
Rib Eyes x1
Fettucini Alfredo x1
Eat Out x1
Chicken Salad Sandwiches x1
Spicy Chicken Wings and Potato Wedges x2
Salmon fillets and baked potatoes x2
Leftovers x3
St. Paddy's Day Supper at Church x1
Roast Beef and fried potatoes x1

Bulk Cooking Agenda for March 1st-2nd

1.  Cook, drain, and season 5# of hamburger and freeze
2.  Soak and cook black beans and freeze
3.  Cook 4# brown rice and freeze
4.  Make 3 Tuna Casserole Kits (since our freezer doesn't have the space for all of the meals this month, I'm going to chop ingredients and mix and freeze in containers and plan to add them to the noodles, which I will cook fresh the night of the meal)
5.  Make 3 baked spaghetti casseroles and freeze
6.  Bake 4# of chicken breasts and slice into strips for stir-fry, freeze



There is no way to describe how WONDERFUL it is to have a fully stocked freezer and a month-at-a-time meal plan.  It has been AMAZING to reach into the freezer for a supper that requires only heating!  I don't know how moms of 3 or more kids or any moms who homeschool live without bulk cooking!  Yes, it's a day or two of hard work invested at the beginning, but the benefits far outweigh the input.

February Meal Plan

Here is my meal plan for Feb. for The Freezer Cooking Daze hosted by Money Saving Mom and FishMama going on today-Tuesday. I plan to shop tomorrow (leaving the kids home with Daddy--woohoo!) and cook on Monday. This month I challenged myself to use a lot of new recipes. So most of these I have never made before but am trying out of a cookbook I got for Christmas last year from my Mom called Taste of Home's 5-Ingredient Recipes.

When I did bulk cooking in November and December I noticed that four meals was almost too much of one entree, mainly because they lasted through 2 meals each so that meant we were eating one dish 8 TIMES in a month!!!! We were so sick of Sherry Chicken by the end of December that we gave my parents the last meal's worth!

So, this time I'm doing 3 each.

Freezer Meals:

Easy Lasagnax3
Fiesta Macaronix3
Green Chili Burritosx3
Bacon Cheese Friesx3
Roast Beef and Baked Potatoesx3
Green Chili Rice Casserolex3

And here are the meals I will cook regularly (1 time each):
Black Bean Soup and Quesadillas (Have some leftover in freezer from a bulk batch I made a few weeks ago)
5 Bean Soup and Biscuits (in freezer--leftover from soup-in-a-jar a friend gave me)
BLT sandwiches
Pancakes and eggs
Waffles and eggs
Nachos
Spaghetti
Authentic Enchiladas for Mom's family B-day dinner
Pepperoni Pizza-Ali's request for her B-day meal

and

Leftover Nightx2

My menu plan best serves me if I have the 30 meals for the month listed on a calendar sheet on the fridge and if I choose each day what sounds good off of the list. Busier days I will grab a frozen meal, days where I feel like being creative or cooking up a storm I will make one of the non-freezer meals.

Baking/Cooking Day!

The results of my two day cook-a-rama!

Multi-grain roll mixes. I just need to throw a bag in the bread machine, add water, and 2 T. butter. I find that as a homeschooling mom, I have less motivation to bake so making mixes will get the ball rolling and could also be used for holiday dinners and/or church potlucks.

Results of Day #2, minus a couple of the pizza ingredients for my son's upcoming birthday (still in the fridge). I'm doing 4 homemade pizzas for a family birthday party.

Results of Day #1, not including 4 bags of tortillas (already in the freezer), and 2 batches of Chicken Tetrazzini (we ate one for supper and gave one to my mom as a fun surprise when she dropped by after work for a minute.)

Lots of food!

Did tortillas for a couple of hours while chatting with

a dear friend on the phone (kids were asleep in bed.)

40-ish wheat tortillas ready to go! My family will have these eaten in no time!

Healthier and cheaper!

Homemade cream of chicken soup. Used wheat flour instead of white. Using natural chicken broth (no MSG) and milk and spices makes a much healthier cream soup than store-bought.

Froze it in baby food jars and when I ran out I used plastic cups and when they are frozen I plan to pop the soup out and put in a ziploc.

Cramming it all in the freezer was no easy task!

Making pumpkin pancakes (triple batch) for breakfast

Cream butter imported from Denmark was on an amazing markdown deal this week so I snatched up a few. It is delicious butter!

Super yummy granola using this recipe. I substituted butter for the oil and did a double batch.

------------------------

Written Results of Baking Day:

4.5 cooked, shredded chicken breasts

1 dozen hardboiled eggs (kid snacks)

3 # elk hamburger cooked as taco meat

4 bags of brown rice

4 bags of chicken tetrazzini

5 C. zesty hummus

40 large whole wheat tortillas

2 dozen pumpkin pancakes

Pizza dough for 8 pizzas

Bagged 10# of mozzarella from Sam's Club divided into 2-pizza portions to freeze

4 multi-grain rolls mixes

4 cornbread mixes

4 large bags freezer potatoes

2 gallons honey/raisin granola

10 C. of homemade cream of chicken soup

All in all, I think it took about 10 hours of work in two days. We still did a park playdate, went to the grocery store, went to the post office, and did schooling one of those days (the other day my daughter wanted to nap, and since she NEVER wants to nap, I felt her body must really need the sleep!)

How did I get it done with kiddoes? About 6 of the cooking hours were when they were napping or in bed for the night (and my daughter colored pictures while the boys napped) and when they were awake I allowed them to watch one movie each day while I cooked. If Justus was awake he sat in his high chair and snacked or ran around in the kitchen or re-arranged my pantry (one of his favorite pasttimes.)

Master Meals List

No, I didn't forget about posting this today! I'm posting it late tonight because my mom invited me on a last minute trip to the "big city" of Casper on an errand for my Dad and I decided to join her with the three kids on about an hour's notice. So, my whole day was spent hanging out with Mom, driving, and grocery shopping. We were able to hit up Walmart and thus I stocked up majorly and discovered that Walmart prices vary a LOT! Casper Walmart's prices were much lower than the one I usually shop monthly that is in a nearby town. They also had much more selection.


For all my planning, I really can be spontaneous! And for all my planning, I still make mistakes. We both forgot to get gas in Casper and it was a very tense ride as we realized we were empty about 40 miles from the nearest town with a gas pump. But my van thankfully got us there as we drove slow, coasted down the hills, and prayed hard. You don't realize how scary this is until you've seen the desolation of certain stretches of road in Wyoming!



I share my Master List with the understanding that these are the meals OUR family likes. Many of you will cringe over some things we eat and wonder where all the ribs and pork chops are on this list. This is also not an exhaustive list as I'm sure I'm forgetting a lot of the meals we like, especially more winter meals, crockpot meals, etc. So, here is my list:



Mexican
Lupe’s enchiladas
Tacos
Bean Burritos
Nachos
Wet Burritos
Enchiladas with cream style sauce
Tostadas
Salsa skillet
Indian tacos
Taco dip and chips



Italian
Spaghetti
Fetuccini Alfredo
Mushroom Linguine
Ravioli
Lasagna
Manicotti
Angel hair pasta and vegetables
Italian cheese bread and salad
Mac n’ Cheese
Linguine and roasted veggies
Pizza
Quick Pizza


Soup/Salad
Chicken Curry Salad
Black Bean Salsa
Black bean soup
Wild Rice Soup
Chicken noodle soup
Chili
Chicken and noodles
Barley Vegetable soup
Turkey Soup
Chicken Tortilla Soup
Oven Beef Stew
　
　
Chicken
Brown Sugar Chicken
BBQ Chicken
Fried Chicken
Pepper Chicken
Chicken Fajitas
Sherry Chicken
One-Dish Chicken Bake
Chicken tenders/nuggets
Chili chicken on rice
Baked Chicken
Parmesan Chicken
Cheesy Chicken
　
　
Casseroles
Chicken Brocolli Rice Casserole
Western Cornmeal Pie
Brown Rice Spinach Dish
Black bean veggie lasagna
Mac n’ Cheese Bake
Plowman’s share
Stroganoff
Tuna Casserole
Baked Tomato Spaghetti
　
　
Sandwiches
BLTs
Subs
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Hamburgers
Hotdogs
Sloppy Joes
Chicken salad sanwiches
　

Asian
Stir Fry on brown rice
Quinoa and vegetables
Egg rolls
Chicken curry over rice
Taboule
　
　
Other
Homemade Pizza Pockets
Baked Potatoes
Waffles
Pancakes
Salmon and veggies
Tuna Sauce on Biscuits
Aztec Quiche
Roast Beef
Red Beans and Rice
Deer/Elk steaks



Due to lack of time here I can't provide the recipes for all of these meals. But I will tell you that you will probably find a lot of them on my favorite recipe site, Tammy's Recipes or under the Cooking thread on my blog. If there is one you absolutely MUST have, I'll get to posting it as I have time and depending on how many requests I receive.

Temporary Scarcity and Eating Healthy

Image from www.ok.gov

Is it truly possible to eat well and live frugally at the same time? A lot of people don't think so. I myself used to think that it was an either/or. But I've discovered that you CAN eat healthily, even in my area, where groceries are really high. I will say that you can't eat all ORGANIC here and keep it cheap though!

Here are my tips for eating healthily on a very tight budget:

*Buy grains and flour in bulk when possible. If you know someone going to a large city where there are bulk food stores, have them pick you up some stuff. A friend in town has a bulk-food home business and I discovered that I can get brown rice and yeast for a really great price in bulk! I also got some wonderful 9-grain flour from her last year that lasted me half a year!

*Buy reduced produce. Whereas the stores in our town didn't use to have many reductions, if you keep your eyes open you can find them nowadays. Occasionally I even find a great deal on organic lettuce which doesn't go bad for a long time even if it's past the freshness date. Often the reduced bananas look fine and are half the normal price.

*STOCK up! This is the number one way we eat healthily. When blueberries are at the lowest price of the year, we'll get a ton and freeze them for smoothies. When spinach is a loss leader, we buy it, cook it, puree it, and freeze it to sneak into foods. When frozen brocolli goes half price, we fill the freezer!

*Make it yourself. Making your own bread, muffins, granola bars, snacks, etc is much healthier for you and costs less unless you are getting some convenience foods on great coupon deals. Make your own crockpot yogurt and roll your batches. Make your own jams and jellies and add less sugar or use alternative sweeteners.

*Hunt! My hubby doesn't hunt but my dad is AN ADDICT and thankfully he shares a lot of elk with us. Elk and deer tags are relatively cheap. My in-laws often get a free deer from friends in MN since each person can hunt up to 5 deer and some guys and gals just like to hunt for fun but don't need the meat. In my opinion, elk is tastier than beef and is the leanest meat I've ever seen. It's also "organic."

*Grow it! I am excited to start a garden now that we have a spot for it! I want to avoid pesticides and hopefully keep the deer from eating it!

*Shop the loss leaders. I mentioned this in my frugal tips post. Every week there are deals to get people in the store. There are always certain produce items and certain meat items and certain dairy items on sale. If you make your menus from the flyers, you can always be paying the lowest prices for your food and you will have a variety as every week something different is on sale. So, if this week oranges are on sale, oranges will be your child's snack! If whole chickens are on sale, you will be making roasted chicken and chicken noodle soup!

*Try squeezing one healthy item a week into your budget. For example: one week I may buy a jar of flax seeds which will last me a month or two in smoothies and breads. The next week my healthy purchase may be a box of green tea which will last me 2 months. The next week I will buy some honey, or some wheat germ, almond butter, or some olive oil. Trying to buy it all at once can be pricey; buy it just a little bit at a time and you'll never notice. Better still, give up one unhealthy treat you are in the habit of buying and subsitute it with a healthier alternative. (Just as long as I don't substitute anything for my hubby's ice-cream! He considers ice-cream a necessity!)

*Be on the lookout for great deals. I posted last week about an amazon sale I had heard about where you could get groceries at 40% off and free shipping on many items. Sometimes a health food store goes out of business and everything is half off. This is how we got a year's supply of sucanat!

*Research! The fact that you are reading this post is a step in the right direction! The more I study my Sneaky Chef and Whole Grains cookbooks and the more I learn about Foods that Heal and Kitchen Counter Cures, the more I understand about health, nutrition, and the benefits of good eating. I follow blogs that encourage me in my healthier eating pursuits.

*If you're having trouble finding healthy foods you can afford, try starting with potatoes ($4 for a 20# bag), plain oatmeal ($1.50 per large canister), eggs ($1 a dozen), black beans (6 cups for $1 if you buy them dry), brown rice ($1-2 per #), carrots (50 cents to $1 per #), green tea (10 cents or less for a 16 ounce mug), and a loaf of 100% whole wheat bread ($2-$3). We've been fixing lots of potatoes recently because I found out that they are excellent for healing bones and contain lots of Vitamin C. We all love them and they are really cheap too! Potatoes can be baked, boiled, mashed, made into baked fries, or fried in olive oil. Onions (5# for $1 on sale) are wonderful for adding flavor to potato, rice, and bean dishes.

*Look for Pick-It-Yourself farms. They are rare in these parts but nevertheless there are farmer's markets and folks who might be willing to sell their farm produce. I know some of my MN friends enjoy picking berries in the summer and making jam!

*Learn to cook well. Knowing how to season food or experiment with recipes and flavors will help you to enjoy healthier eating. If you always burn the potatoes or make the cooked beans crunchy, you will find yourself gravitating back to Ramen.

*MoneySavingMom often features free samples, sales, or coupons for healthier foods.

What tips do YOU have on eating healthy on a budget?

This Week's Menu

Dinners:

Smoothies every night (more on these in a future post)


Brown Rice Spinach Casserole, Oatmeal Brown Bread, vegetable
Homemade Taboule (bulgur wheat with tomatoes, green onions and spices), salad
Whole wheat pasta with spaghetti sauce (all natural sauce with sweet potato puree snuck in)
Power Pizza, Spinach salad
Sloppy Joes on whole wheat, homemade buns, homemade french fries, corn
Barley Beef Soup, whole wheat bread
Lupe's enchildadas made with elk roast, homemade refried black beans, Mexican rice

Lunches:
Leftovers
Mac N' Cheese
PB and J on homemade bread

Breakfasts:
Toast or cereal
Homemade Yogurt
Juice

Snack Ideas (My kids eat snacks at 10am and 3pm):

Mrs. Jo's Healthier Cookies
Hard boiled eggs
Nutrigrain Bars (got these on a sale deal recently)
Raisins
Goldfish crackers
Homemade Oatmeal Brown Bread
Apples
Carrots and Ranch

This Week's Meal Plan

It's been a while since I've posted on our weekly menu. Lately, it seems my kids are just ravenous and it feels like no matter how much I shop, we always are running low on groceries. (Of course my husband eats the same amount as 3 teenage boys so that doesn't help). I am toying with the idea of shopping twice a month instead of weekly just because I'm tired of having to use one of my evenings or my Saturday morning to hit the two grocery stores in town. But, I'm not so sure we can go two weeks without shopping since things come up all the time (preschool snacks, inviting people over after church, snacks for a snowboarding trip, etc.) that require us to visit the store at least weekly. (Not to mention we have a fairly small fridge and freezer).

My meals are very simple and very cheap, but that doesn't mean we skimp on nutrition.

Suppers This Week:

Salmon fillets, quinoa, battered zuchinni sauted in butter

Spaghetti Pasta (whole wheat pasta, sweet potatoes "snuck in" sauce, elk hamburger)
Homemade breadsticks, salad

Power Pizza, Salad

Tuna Noodle Casserole (chickpea puree "snuck in"), green beans, peaches

Elk roast, mashed potatoes, brocolli with cheese on top (Yay for a dad who is obsessed with elk hunting and doesn't mind sharing!)

Turkey, Stuffing (whole wheat box mix with sweet potato puree "snuck in"), Vegetables (Yay for frozen turkey leftovers from Thanksgiving turkey deals!)

Bean Burritos (wheat tortillas made from scratch), black beans (cooked in my pressure cooker to a soupy consistency) salsa, and cheddar cheese, served with fruit and salad


Lunches

Leftovers
Mac N' Cheese
Sandwiches
Nachos made with leftover burrito ingredients

Breakfasts

Cereal
Blueberry Pancakes one morning
Toast

Snacks

Trail Mix
Hard boiled Eggs
Cheese
Blueberries
Apples
Granola Bars
Crackers
Pretzels
Goldfish Crackers
Carrots and Ranch

Menu of the Week

Meals for the Week

Roast Chicken/Veggies/Baked Potatoes
Cost Estimate: $5.50 for 4

Ravioli topped with mozarella/Salad/Garlic toast
Cost estimate: $5 for 4

Homemade Pizza/Salad/Fruit
Cost estimate: $6 for 4

Crock Pot Chicken on Mashed Potatoes/Salad/Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
Cost estimate: $3 for hearty meal for 4 ($7 total, but provided 2+ lunches too)

Bean Burritos/Peas
Cost estimate: $3 to feed 4 (Homemade tortillas and homemade refried beans)

Waffles or Pancakes and Scrambled Eggs
Cost estimate: $1 to feed 4

Salsa Skillet/Peas/Jello
Cost estimate: $4.50 because elk hamburger was free

Each of these meals yields leftovers for lunches. Some of the meals took care of even 2 lunches!

Meal Plan for the Week

I enjoy looking at other people's meal plans/menus for inspiration so I decided to go ahead and post again on this subject just for fun. I try to incorporate some really inexpensive meals with some fancier stuff. This menu isn't nailed in stone since I will have to see what I can find in the grocery store. None of the sales at the 3 major grocery stores in our area were very impressive this week. I did notice a lot of Mexican food on sale for Cinco de Mayo so we will definitely be having at least one Mexican meal and will be stocking up on salsa and sour cream.

Suppers for the Week:

Bean Burritos (new recipe from my new Taste of Home's 5-Ingredient cookbook) Made with salsa, rice, beans, cheese, and I'm going to throw in some canned chilis since we like them

Salmon with dill sauce and baked potatoes (new recipe from that same cookbook mentioned above) We're trying to eat more salmon since we love it and it's one of the 14 Superfoods!

Crabby Alfredo (imitation crabmeat in Alfredo sauce on top of egg noodles (also a new recipe from above cookbook) homemade breadsticks and salad

Cheesy Chicken (Chicken with cheesy crumb coating, also new recipe from above cookbook)
Vegetables and rice on the side

Tuna Noodle Casserole (Mom's recipe and one of my favorite comfort foods; easy to make too!) French bread, jell-o and fruit

Spaghetti (An inexpensive stand-by that is quick and easy and we have the stuff on hand already. I've been experimenting with making my own sauce using canned tomatoes (since I have a ton from the Safeway deal a while back), frozen green peppers, and various herbs and spices and it's really yummy!) Garlic toast and veggies or salad

Breakfasts:
Usually cold cereal or toast

Lunches:
Leftovers, homemade mac n' cheese, or PB sandwiches

Snacks:
Cottage cheese (I'm trying to get more protein for Justus's sake)
Yogurt
Pretzels
Goldfish crackers
Homemade bread
Fruit
Popcorn

My Meal Plan for the Week

It's been a while since I've done "Spoil King Jo Week" so I thought I'd do it again. However, with tightening the grocery budget in order to save for the minivan, I don't have enough flex room in the budget to plan a big, special meal every single night so I've decided to just spoil him with one meal, dessert, breakfast, or snack each day that he really likes and that we haven't had in a while. This way I can still make affordable meals and yet bless him. I always write my weekly menu down in my home management binder before I go shopping for the week. I don't like assigning days to the meals though since I like the flexibility of fixing what I most feel like eating (especially in pregnancy) or what I have the time to make that particular day.

I've highlighted in red the things that are King Jo's special foods of the day:

Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, veggies Snack for King Jo: Jerky

Sloppy Joes, French Fries, Salad

Pancakes, Hashbrowns, Bacon

Sub Sandwiches (Spicy cajun pepper turkey with pepper jack on homemade french bread), Sour Cream and Onion Chips, Peanut Butter Cookies

Mom's Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas, Salad, Tortilla chips and salsa Breakfast: Coffee Cake

Prairie Fire Chicken Strips, Zuchinni/veggie stirfry

Snacks for the kids and I this week:

Strawberry yogurt
Grapes
Cottage Cheese
Goldfish crackers
Cheese
Homemade Wheat Bread with butter
Leftovers

Lunches this week:

Tuna sandwiches and chips
Ramen noodles, cheese, fruit
Leftover Sloppy Joes
Leftover Subs
Enchilada leftovers
Vegetable beef/barley soup (homemade)

Most of the time our breakfasts are cereal. We drink water, juice, and milk throughout the week.

The items I needed to buy for this week's menu cost around $55, which isn't bad at all for our town. However, keep in mind that I have elk hamburger on hand and things I am using from the pantry or leftovers from last week.