THE THRIFTY COUPLE WEEKLY MENU – WEEK OF 2/22!

So, here is week #3 of our Thrifty Menu!

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:

• Breakfast casserole (recipe coming this week), milk and juice
• 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)
• Tomato soup and cheese sandwiches
• Cheese burritos

Here are the snack ideas for this week:

• Veggies and Dip
• Crackers and Cream Cheese
• Grapes and Oranges
• Bread, butter and jam

Here are the dessert ideas this week:

• Cherry Crumb pie (recipe coming this week)
• Frozen yogurt topped with fresh frozen fruit
• Ice Cream
• Cookies

Dinner Menu:

• Monday: Crockpot Chicken, Creamy Roasted Asparagus (recipe this week!), rolls
• Tuesday: Hamburger Gravy, peas, bread and butter, salad
• Wednesday: Crockpot Roast with potatoes, carrots, celery and onions, salad and biscuits
• Thursday: Cowboy chili, cornbread, fresh fruit
• Friday: Garden and Regular burgers, chips and dip, Veggies and dip, olives and pickles
• Saturday: Family Dinner Out
• Sunday: Low key sandwich, soups or leftovers!

Cost breakdown of each dinner meal!

Monday: Crockpot Chicken, Creamy Roasted Asparagus (recipe this week!), rolls

• Gold n Plump Chicken 1 lb. $1.75
• 1 lb.  asparagus $2.21
• Homemade Hollandaise sauce about .40
• 18 Rhodes rolls $1.46

Total Cost: $5.82 for the whole meal for 6 = about .97 per serving!

Tuesday: Hamburger Gravy, peas, bread and butter, salad

• 1 lb. Hamburger .99
• Dried potatoes mix .80
• Frozen peas .50
• bread and butter .40
• Salad .38
• Dressings and sauces for gravy about .25

Total Cost: $3.32 for the whole meal for 6 = about .55 per serving!

Wednesday: Crockpot Roast with potatoes, carrots, celery and onions, salad and biscuits

• 2 lb. Beef Roast $4.50
• Veggies for roast about $1.80
• Grand Biscuits .50
• Salad .38
• Dressing about .15

Total Cost: $8.73 for the whole meal for 6 = $1.46 per serving!

Thursday: Cowboy chili, cornbread, fresh fruit

• Leftover roast for Chili FREE
• 3 cans beans .90
• 1 can tomoatoes .40
• Spices pennies!
• Homemade cornbread .50
• Fresh fruit – grapes and oranges, about $1.50 worth

Total Cost: $3.30 for the whole meal for 6 = .55 per serving!

Friday: Garden and Regular burgers, chips and dip, Veggies and dip, olives and pickles

• 2 Garden Burgers .50
• 1 lb. Hamburger .99
• Buns .78
• Chips and Dip $1.00
• Veggies and Dip $2.00
• 1 can of olives .68
• Pickles, condiments about .20

Total Cost: $6.15  for the whole meal for 6 = 1.02 per serving!

Sunday: Low key sandwich, soups or leftovers! Cheap!

COST SUMMARY FOR THIS WEEK’S DINNERS: 6 dinner meals cost a total of $27.32!