Thrifty Couple Weekly Menu Week of 12/18

Here is our menu for this upcoming week! It only shows through Wednesday as we have different plans for the rest of the 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:

• Mom’s Best Natural Quick Oats
• Homemade Banana Bread
• Cold Cereals

Here are the ideas for lunches this week for us:

• Leftovers
• Chicken Nuggets
• Soups and crackers

Here are the snack ideas for this week:

• Fresh Fruit
• Yogurt and Fruit Smoothies
• Crackers
• Cheese Sticks

Here are the dessert ideas this week:

• Sugar Cookies
• Ice Cream

Dinner Menu:

• Saturday: Cheese Ravioli with Ground Turkey Sauce, Texas Toast, Green salad
• Sunday: It’s A Guy Stir-Fry over brown rice, Jello fruit salad, green salad
• Monday: Mushroom Chicken Over rice, steamed spinach, green salad, crescent rolls
• Tuesday: Hasbrown Casserole, kernel corn, Jello fruit salad, green salad
• Wednesday: Sweet and Sour Chicken over Brown Rice, green salad

Saturday: Cheese Ravioli with Ground Turkey Sauce, Texas Toast, Green salad

• Cheese Ravioli $2.50
• Ground Turkey .97
• Spaghetti Sauce .17
• Texas Toast $2.00
• Green salad $1.00

Total Cost: $6.64 for the whole meal for 6 = about $1.11 per serving

Sunday: It’s A Guy Stir-Fry with brown rice, salad with homemade dressing, Jello fruit salad

• Beef for Stir-Fry $1.00
• Vegetables and sauce for Stir fry $2.10
• Rice about .65 worth
• Salad and dressings $1.00
• Jello .25
• Fruit for Jello .75

Total Cost: $5.75 for the whole meal for 6 = about .96 per serving

Monday: Mushroom Chicken Over rice, steamed Spinach, green salad

• 2 lbs. of chicken breast/tenders $3.00
• Rice about .40 worth
• Cream of mushroom soup FREE
• Onion .34
• French’s Fried Onions for topping $1.50
• Frozen Spinach .99
• Green Salad $1.00

Total Cost: $7.23 for the whole meal for 6 = about $1.21 per serving

Tuesday: Hasbrown Casserole, kernel corn, Jello fruit salad, green salad

• Ground Beef for Stir-Fry $1.oo
• Package of frozen tater tots .67
• 1 package of Cheese .98
• Casserole ingredients about .73
• Kernel Corn .50
• Jello Salad $1.00
• Salad and dressings $1.00

Total Cost: $5.88 for the whole meal for 6 = about .98 per serving

Wednesday: Sweet and Sour Chicken over Brown Rice, green salad

• Pre-made Chicken/Sweet & Sour Sauce and Brown Rice family meals $2.1o each = $4.20
• Salad and dressings $1.00

Total Cost: $5.20  for the whole meal for 6 = about .87 per serving

The rest of the week… we have special plans!

COST SUMMARY FOR THIS WEEK’S DINNERS: Cost for the 5 dinners this week $30.70 for the 6 of us which is about $6.14 each meal average!