Thrifty Couple Weekly Menu Week of 12/5

We haven’t been sharing our menu the last month, well this last week, we were so busy that we didn’t even create one! And to our weakness, we ended up eating out more, having poor diets and eating later than scheduled! So, to help us stay on track and to share what we eat on our budget, we are sharing this week’s menu!

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:

• Mom’s Best Natural Quick Oats
• Raisin toast and fruit
• Cheerios and bananas
• Bagels and Cream Cheese

Here are the ideas for lunches this week for us:

• Cheese Sandwiches and Soup
• Leftovers
• Baked Potatoes
• Chicken Nuggets

Here are the snack ideas for this week:

• Fresh Fruit
• Yogurt and Fruit Smoothies
• Crackers and cheese
• Bread and butter

Here are the dessert ideas this week:

• Cherry Crumb Pie
• Sugar Cookies

Dinner Menu:

• Sunday: Mushroom Chicken Over rice, steamed Broccoli, Cucumber salad
• Monday: Taco Salad, Spanish Rice and fresh fruit
• Tuesday: It’s A Guy Stir-Fry over brown rice, salad with homemade dressing
• Wednesday: Salmon fillets, brown rice, steamed butternut squash and green salad
• Thursday: Grilled steaks, Corn, corn bread biscuits with honey, green salad
• Friday: Hawaiian Haystacks with brown rice
• Saturday: Dinner out for during holiday festivity of the Christmas Shakespeare Festival with extended family!

Sunday: Mushroom Chicken Over rice, steamed Broccoli, 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
• Organic Broccoli from produce co-op about $1.00
• Organic Cucumber salad with homemade dressing about $1.15

Total Cost: $7.39 for the whole meal for 6 = about $1.23 per serving

Monday:  Taco Salad, Spanish Rice and fresh fruit

• 2 lb. Hamburger $2.00
• Taco Seasoning FREE
• Tortilla Chips .78

• Spanish Rice about .32 (.12 for packet of spice and .10 for rice)

• Lettuce, tomatoes, green onions, sour cream salsa, cheese toppings around $2.00
• Fresh Fruit around $2.00 worth

Total Cost: $7.10 for the whole meal for 6 = about $1.18 per serving

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

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

Total Cost: $4.75 for the whole meal for 6 = about .79 per serving

Wednesday: Salmon fillets, brown rice, steamed butternut squash and green salad

• 4 Salmon Fillets at $1.75 each = $7.00
• Rice about .65 worth
• Organic butternut squash fresh steamed about $1.00
• Salad and dressings $1.00

Total Cost: $9.65  for the whole meal for 6 = about $1.61 per serving

Thursday: Grilled steaks, Corn, corn bread biscuits with honey, green salad

• Steak Package $2.50
• Corn .40
• Homemade Corn Biscuits about .50
• Salad and dressings $1.00

Total Cost: $4.40 for the whole meal for 6 = about .73 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: Dinner out for during holiday festivity of the Christmas Shakespeare Festival with extended family! This is not part of our grocery budget but eating out and holiday budget.

COST SUMMARY FOR THIS WEEK’S DINNERS: Cost for the dinners this week $37.95 for the 6 of us.