Today is my birthday and my first gift is this menu. haha! **And I'm already having to revise this mere hours into the schedule. Let's just say that a few things did not fit into my budget and that is totally fine. :)
At least half of these ideas I got from my favorite bloggers' menus, and the rest are our own favorites.
Here's 4 weeks of meals. This actually started this week, Monday October 17th. Later after I actually complete the whole month's worth of shopping, I'll share how the budget worked out. We also budgeted a meal out each week, sometime on the weekend while we're usually out and about. This will be an experiment of sorts...the cash set aside could stretch for 2 fast food meals or used for one nice restaurant. We'll see how that goes but we felt it smart to budget that in right away since we know we like to go out and have fun on weekends. :)
Breakfasts (same each week):
Pumpkin Pancakes
Kefir green smoothies, toast, hard boiled eggs
Buttermilk waffles
Oatmeal
Breakfast burritos
Lunches: Leftovers, Salmon melts, egg salad sandwiches or Soup of the Day! I have a friend who started a pot of soup every day and keeps it simmering on the stove all day long. I thought that was a great idea! We love soup but will most likely make one big pot to last all week. Right now I am planning to do a homemade Vegetable Beef soup every week until we get tired of it. :)
Dinners:
Week 1:
Monday: whole roasted chicken in crockpot
Tuesday: white chicken chili (using chicken meat** and stock made from chicken carcass the night before)
Wednesday: garden salad topped with chicken, Hawaiian rolls
Thursday: homemade hamburgers and fries, veggie sticks.
Friday: Penne with meat sauce, salad (make large batch of meat sauce to freeze and use for lasagna and other pasta nights)
Saturday: out
Sunday: Pot roast, veggies, homemade bread
Week 2:
Monday: BBQ beef sandwiches (using leftover meat** from pot roast), baked beans, corn
Tuesday: Chicken enchiladas (using chicken meat** from last week's whole chicken), Spanish rice
Wednesday: Pasta w/meat sauce, salad
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: Stew with leftover roast beef, buttermilk biscuits
Saturday: Homemade Pizza
Sunday: Out
Week 3:
Monday: Apple pork chops in crockpot
Tuesday: Homemade baked chicken fingers, veggies, rice pilaf
Wednesday: Garden chowder, homemade bread
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: Sloppy Joe's, veggies
Saturday: Out
Sunday: Homemade Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches
Week 4:
Monday: whole roasted chicken in crockpot
Tuesday: Penne with meat sauce, salad
Wednesday: Chicken curry (using meat from whole chicken made Monday), brown rice
Thursday: leftovers
Friday: Greek burgers, homemade fries, fruit
Saturday: Nacho Night
Sunday: out
Desserts:
For the most part, I make a dessert once a week and hope it lasts a whole week. Homemade cookies are the best because they're cheap and you can make several dozen to last at least a week. I rotate between these cookies:
Chocolate chip
Oatmeal Raisin
Peanut Butter
Pumpkin Spice
I also have flan on the menu to go with one of our Mexican dinner nights.
**A quick note on the meat. You can bake a chicken, slow cook a pot roast, etc. and shred the meat to use later. I put my leftovers in baggies and put them in the freezer. I can typically get at least 3 dishes from each hunk of meat I cook. :)
4 comments:
The salmon melts look similar to the tuna melts my mom used to make. I was wondering if I could sub canned salmon instead of tuna, since I actually *like* salmon and hate tuna. Might be something fun and different for lunch one day--Sarah and I both like the salmon.
Oh yeah, for melts I only use canned salmon. We haven't splurged on fresh salmon yet. But the canned is good in something like this. I also like only using one slice of bread and doing it opened-faced. Saves a little money and calories. :)
Have you ever tried sardines? Those are good too. Crystal says smoked oysters are really great too (not in a melt but just to eat in general). I haven't tried those yet but the prices are fairly close to that of canned salmon.
I haven't ever tried sardines, although I keep meaning to. Right now, my budget only allows for canned salmon, not fresh. :) But salmon melts might a good alternative to salmon salad (which is usually how Sarah and I eat the canned).
I read a tip to add sardines to tuna to up the nutrition factor. Sardines are good on crackers too. I like that you can get them flavored (mustard is our fave).
Well, I can barely afford canned salmon so I totally and completely sympathize. :)
We tried these melts with avocado and tomato and Swiss cheese and boy was that combo awesome! I love Swiss cheese melted. :)
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