Thrifty Couple Weekly Menu Week of 6/28!

This will be a fun week with the upcoming Fourth of July holiday weekend!

As a recap of how our menu works:

1. 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!
2. 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!
3. 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!
4. 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 “?”
5. 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:

• Fresh fruit and yogurt smoothies
• Quick Oats with honey and fruit
• Muffins
• Cereals

Here are the ideas for lunches this week:

• Leftovers
• Pasta with cheese, fruits and veggies
• Popcorn Shrimp
• Soup with crackers and hummus

Here are the snack ideas for this week:

• Berries
• Celery and hummus
• Crackers and hummus
• Yogurt

Here are the dessert ideas this week:

• Organic suckers
• Homemade Ice Cream
• Homemade popsicles
• Ice Cream sundae bar for party

Dinner Menu:

• Monday: Hard and soft tacos, corn
• Tuesday: Chicken Fried Steak, baked potatoes, fresh steamed broccoli, homemade bread
• Wednesday: Stuffed Peppers, homemade bread, salad
• Thursday: Spaghetti with Ground Turkey, Eggplant parmigana, Steamed veggies, garlic bread
• Friday: Big 4th of July party at our house – everyone is bringing their own meats to grill and a side dish to share
• Saturday: Family date out as we celebrate our Independence!
• Sunday: Low-key leftovers, soups, sandwiches, etc.!

Monday:  Hard and soft tacos, corn

• 2 lb. ground beef $2.00
• 1 box hard shells .40
• 4 soft shells about .50 worth
• 2 organic avocados $1.10
• 2 cans of corn .80
• Taco toppings (cheese, diced onions, sour cream, salsa) about $1.00 worth

Total Cost: $5.80 for the whole meal for 6 = about .97 per serving!

Tuesday: Chicken Fried Steak, baked potatoes, fresh steamed broccoli, homemade bread – Guest over

• Round steaks and fixings for chicken fried steaks $3.00
• Baked Potatoes with toppings est. $1.00
• 1.5 lbs Fresh Steamed Broccoli $1.00
• Homemade bread and honey butter est. .60

Total Cost: $5.60 for the whole meal for 7 = about .80 per serving!

Wednesday: Stuffed Peppers, homemade bread, salad

• 1 lb. ground beef $1.00
• 4 bell peppers $2.00
• Fixings for “stuffed” part est. around .70
• Homemade bread and honey butter .60
• Salad and dressings $1.00

Total Cost: $5.30 for the whole meal for 6 = about .88 per serving!

Thursday: Spaghetti with Ground Turkey, Eggplant parmigana, Steamed veggies, garlic bread

• 1 lb. ground turkey $1.50
• 1 box spaghetti .12
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce .40
• 1 Eggplant $1.00
• Parmigana fixings est. 80
• 1.5 lbs steamed broccoli $1.00
• Store bought garlic bread $1.50

Total Cost: $6.32 for the whole meal for 6 = about $1.05 per serving!

Friday: 4th of July BBQ at our house – up to 30 guests. But everyone is bringing their own meats to BBQ, we are still deciding what to pull out of the freezer (steak, hamburgers, or hot dogs….).

Saturday: Family date out! Does not count towards our grocery budget!

Sunday: Low key  – leftovers, soups, sandwiches = CHEAP

COST SUMMARY FOR THIS WEEK’S DINNERS: Cost for the dinners this week $23.02 for the 6 of us!!