Thrifty Couple Weekly Menu Week of 10/2

We are going to start posting our menus on Saturday! Here is our menu for this upcoming week.

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. 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 “?”
3. 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:

• Scrambled Eggs and Toast
• Quick Oats with applesauce
• Protein Shakes
• Fruit Smoothies
  

Here are the ideas for lunches this week for us:

• Annie’s Mac and Cheese
• Chef Salads
• Sandwiches
• Chicken Nuggets
• Leftovers

Here are the snack ideas for this week:

• Fresh Fruit
• Carrot chips
• Celery and dip
• Plain yogurt with fresh fruit berry mix-ins
• Cottage Cheese and pineapple
• Cheese sticks
• Homemade fruit leather

Here are the dessert ideas this week:

• Organic suckers
  
• Plain Yogurt with honey and fruit
• Homemade Yogurt popsicles (made from fruit smoothie recipe)
  

Dinner Menu:

• Monday: Hebrew National Hot Dog BBQ, Potato salad, coleslaw
• Tuesday: Beef Stir Fry with brown rice, Salad
  
• Wednesday: Baked chicken, steamed spinach, homemade bread with honey butter
• Thursday: Tacos, refried beans, corn and salad
• Friday: Hawaiian Haystacks with brown rice
• Saturday: Family dinner out
• Sunday: Low-key leftovers, soups, sandwiches, salad, etc.!

Monday:  Hebrew National Hot Dog BBQ, Potato salad, coleslaw

• 1 Package Hebrew National hotdogs .50
• Package of buns .88
• Homemade Potato Salad around .50
• Coleslaw package $1.00
• Homemade coleslaw dressing maybe .10

Total Cost: $2.98 for the whole meal for 6 = about .50 per serving

Tuesday:  Beef Stir Fry with brown rice, Salad

• 1 pack Sutton and Dodge steaks $2.78
• Fresh Stir-Fry Veggies for $2.00
• Brown rice .65
• Salad with olive oil and vinegar $1.00

Total Cost: $6.43 for the whole meal for 6 = about $1.07 per serving

Wednesday: Baked chicken, steamed spinach, homemade bread with honey butter

• Chicken breasts $3.50
• Marinade FREE
• Steamed spinach $1.10
• Homemade bread with honey butter about .65

Total Cost: $5.25 for the whole meal for 6 = about .88 per serving

Thursday: Tacos, refried beans, corn and salad

• 2 lb. ground beef $2.00
• soft shells about .88
• 2 packets Taco seasoning .24
• Refried beans (dried from a #10 can) maybe .15 worth??
• 2 Cans corn .66
• Taco toppings (cheese, diced onions, sour cream, salsa) about .80 worth
• Salad and homemade dressing $1.00

Total Cost: $5.73 for the whole meal for 6 = about .96 per serving

Friday: Hawaiian Haystacks with brown rice

• 8 Cups cooked brown rice about $1.29
• 2 cans chicken $1.36
• 2 cans cream of chicken soup .46
• green onions .25
• 2 stalks celery .30
• 1 can chunk pineapple .50
• Toppings such as: coconut & chow mein noodles est. .50

Total Cost: $4.66 for the whole meal for 6 = about .78 per serving

Saturday: Family dinner out

Our family dinners out do not count towards our weekly grocery budget, but our eating out budget.

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

COST SUMMARY FOR THIS WEEK’S DINNERS: Cost for the dinners this week $25.05 for the 6 of us.