So, here is week #5 of our Thrifty Menu! We went on vacation for most of last week (we will be posting on our travels with saving money soon!), so I am actually going to repeat much of last week’s menu!
As a recap of how our menu works:
- We don’t necessarily have a day-by-day plan for our lunches and breakfasts or snacks, just our dinners. We have a list of ideas for those meals that week, and so we wake up eating selections from the list. For lunches, we also have a list of possible lunch ideas for that week, but most lunches end up being leftovers, which is why we have a loose plan!
- Although we have stayed within our $240 per month budget (covers groceries, toiletries, household, and diapers), we haven’t necessarily tracked how much each meal costs us and thought it would be fun to figure it out and share it with you as well. We will be laying out the cost of our dinners!
- Desserts are planned last minute as well! We usually crack open a box of cookies, however, we lay out ideas and then sometimes make something special!
- Our Sunday dinner plans are varied, we try to have guests from church over every other week, if we know in advance, we usually put a roast in the crockpot, or prepare a casserole. If it is planned last minute (as many are) we have homemade chilis and stews in the freezer to heat up, frozen entrees and sides to heat up, or lots of pastas to quickly feed a crowd! Thank goodness for a full pantry! Anyway, if it is just us, we usually have leftovers, lunch or snack items, or simple prepared meals! So on our menu, you will find Sunday’s marked with a “?”
- Our goal for this site is to share the deals, freebies, hot finds; but we also want to share how we live as a larger family on a tight budget everyday and ways that we try to live thriftily in every area of life….. so this would be one of them!
Here are the ideas for breakfasts this week:
- Toast, Eggs, fruit, milk and juice
- Oatmeal, fruit and juice
- Cereal, milk and juice
Here are the ideas for lunches this week:
- Leftovers
- Soups
- Sandwiches (chicken salad, meat and cheese)
- Chef Salads
Here are the snack ideas for this week:
- Fruit platter
- Popcorn
- Celery and Carrots with dip
Here are the dessert ideas this week:
- Frozen yogurt topped with fresh frozen fruit
- Cherry Crumb Pie (recipe coming!)
- Oreos
Dinner Menu:
- Monday: Spaghetti with meat sauce, garlic bread, steamed broccoli, salad with shredded carrots
- Tuesday: Beef Stew, Grands biscuits, salad (from Monday)
- Wednesday: Baked Chicken, special recipe with fresh beets – mystery… but will share if it is a success!, pasta salad,
- Thursday: Hawaiian Hay Stacks
- Friday: Dinner guests at friends house
- Saturday: Dinner out as a family!
- Sunday: Low key sandwich, soups or leftovers!
Cost breakdown of each dinner meal! We also still have much of our Organic Co-op produce left that we will try hard to consume this week!
Monday: Spaghetti with meat sauce, steamed broccoli, garlic bread, salad with shredded carrots
- 1 Box Spaghetti .68
- Spaghetti sauce .48
- 1 lb. hamburger $1
- Broccoli .40
- Garlic Bread from the grocery store that Thrifty Al picked up! $2.19
- Homemade salad with the lettuce from our produce co-op with shredded carrots. This seriously made a gigantic bowl that should last us all week! Approximately $3.00 (for the next couple of weeks!)
Total Cost: $7.75 for the whole meal for 6 = about $1.29 per serving (including the salad to last all week)!
Tuesday: Beef Stew, Grands biscuits, salad
- Beef for Stew $1.00
- Vegetables, broth and sauces for Stew approximately $2.25
- Grand Biscuits .50
- Salad and dressings .50
Total Cost: $3.75 for the whole meal for 6 = .63 per serving!
Wednesday: Baked Chicken with Dressing Marinade, special recipe with fresh beets – mystery… but will share if it is a success!, pasta salad, fresh fruit
- 1 package Gold N Plump chicken $2.49
- Dressing as marinade .19
- Beet creation less than .40
- Pasta Salad mix .35
- Fresh Fruit – about .80 worth
Total Cost: $4.23 for the whole meal for 6 = about .71 per serving!
Thursday: Hawaiian Hay Stacks
Hawaiian Haystacks (a family favorite!), cheesecake slices
- 8 Cups cooked rice about .40
- 2 cans chicken $1.36
- 1 can cream of chicken soup .23
- 1 Tomato .33
- 1 green pepper .50
- green onions .50
- 2 stalks celery .30
- 1 can chunk pineapple .50
- Toppings such as: coconut & chow mein noodles est. .50
Total Cost: $4.12 for the whole meal for 6 = .69 per serving!
Friday: Dinner Guests at Friends house
Saturday: Family Dinner Out
Sunday: Low key sandwich, soups or leftovers! Cheap!
COST SUMMARY FOR THIS WEEK’S DINNERS: Cost for the dinners this week $19.85 for the 6 of us!
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