Thrifty Couple Weekly Menu Week of 3/22!

Whew! I meant to get this out yesterday, but our lives are reality and reality said we ran out of time! Too many wonderful things we want to post – yet so little time 😉 We still haven’t had a chance to post the results of our shopping trips from a week ago, and I hope to do that here soon so you can see (even though the sale is over!).

At any rate, last week’s menu was also the menu of improvision! Towards the end of the week, we ran out of a few things! First, we made homemade pizza.  We usually put pepperoni and black olives or hamburger on it, etc.  Well, all I could find was green olives and Salami! Wow!! It was probably the best homemade pizza we have ever had. The combination of those 2 ingredients was incredible! Yummy – now a favorite! Second, we ran out of milk for a couple of meals! One morning we ended up having breakfast cake and scrambled eggs.  I have always just milk in the eggs and beat them together.  Well, no milk, so I melted some butter, and then beat some eggs into it to microwave.  They were the best microwave scrambled eggs ever, I ended up having to make a second batch that was devoured!! So I guess it is sometimes good to run out of things and improvise as you might discover some new favorites 😉

Any way….. on with the Thrifty Menu for this 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. 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:

• Eggs, fruit, milk and juice
• Oatmeal, fruit and juice
• Cereal, milk and juice
• Breakfast Cake and eggs

Here are the ideas for lunches this week:

• Leftovers
• Soups
• Pasta with sauce and cheese
• Tuna salad sandwiches

Here are the snack ideas for this week:

• Celery and Cream Cheese
• Apples and bananas
• Cheesesticks
• Bread and jam

Here are the dessert ideas this week:

• Frozen yogurt with fruit
• Cookies
• Cheesecake slices

Dinner Menu:

• Monday: Stuffed Chicken Breasts, corn, mashed potatoes and stuffing
• Tuesday: Family dinner out to Denny’s
• Wednesday: Stir fry with Beef, rice, fruit salad
• Thursday: Tacos, Spanish rice, refried beans, salad
• Friday: Pork Roast, roasted red potatoes, steamed veggies and salad
• Saturday: Spaghetti and meatballs, garlic french bread, green beans, salad
• Sunday: Low key sandwich, soups or leftovers!

Monday: Stuffed Chicken Breasts, corn, mashed potatoes and stuffing

• Pre-made Stuffed Chicken Breasts (broccoli and cheese) .99 = $4.95
• Frozen Corn – .68
• Mashed potatoes .75
• Stuffing .75

Total Cost: $7.13 for the whole meal for 6 = about $1.19 per serving!

Tuesday: Family Dinner Out to Denny’s – Typically around $18 (does not include tip, which we tip on the total BEFORE the discount of the FREE meals!)

This is not part of our weekly grocery budget, but from our eating out budget!

Wednesday: Stir fry with Beef, rice, fruit salad

• Beef for Stir-Fry $1.00
• Vegetables and sauce for Stir fry $1.90
• Rice about .30 worth
• Fruit Salad $1.50

Total Cost: $4.70 for the whole meal for 6 = about .78 per serving!

Thursday: Tacos, Spanish rice, refried beans, salad

• 2 lbs. ground beef $2.00
• Corn taco shells .50
• Taco toppings est. $2.20
• Spanish Rice .50
• Refried beans .20
• Salad and dressings .50

Total Cost: $5.90 for the whole meal for 6 = .98 per serving!

Friday: Pork Roast, roasted red potatoes, steamed veggies and salad

• 2 lb. Pork Roast pre-seasoned $2.50
• Red potatoes .50
• Steamed broccoli .79
• Salad and Dressings .50

Total Cost: $4.29 for the whole meal for 6 = .71 per serving!

Saturday: Spaghetti and meatballs, garlic french bread, green beans, salad

Spaghetti with Spicy Sausage, steamed broccoli, garlic bread, clementines

• 1 Box Spaghetti .12
• Spaghetti sauce .48
• Meatballs $1.48
• Green Beans .50
• Garlic Bread (bought night of dinner at store) $1.99
• Salad and Dressing .50

Total Cost: $5.07 for the whole meal for 6 = .85 per serving!

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

COST SUMMARY FOR THIS WEEK’S DINNERS: Cost for the dinners this week $27.09 for the 6 of us!