Menu Plan Monday

Well, today is Labor Day, which means that tomorrow my husband goes back to work (he's a teacher) and summer is officially over. We're back to easy weeknight meals, eating from the freezer, and liberal use of the crock-pot.  In short, life in my house is about to get much busier!

I made this week's menu plan taking into account what we have in the pantry, what we recieve from our CSA share, and what I can either pre-make or make very quickly.

As always, breakfasts are cold cereal, oatmeal, toast, and fruit. Lunches are PB&J, crackers and hummus, or quesadillas.  For snacks my children love organic raisins, fruit smoothies, and Kashi bars.

Here is my dinner plan for the week:

Monday: Chicken Sausage with Grilled Vegetables

Tuesday: Pasta with oil and vegetables and homemade freezer meatballs

Wednesday: Chicken Stir-Fry with Rice (our go-to Wednesday meal since it uses up all the leftover CSA veggies before we get our new box on Thursday)

Thursday: Breakfast for Dinner -- Scrambled Eggs and Homemade Whole Wheat Zucchini Waffles (It'll just be me and the kids so we're going simple on Thursday!)

Friday: Kashi Frozen Pizza (using this coupon) and Green Salad

Saturday: Eggplant Pasta Bake

The only things I'll need to purchase at the store this week to create these dinners will be my Kashi Frozen Pizza and mozzarella cheese for the Eggplant Pasta Bake. Other than that, I have everything I need in my pantry, my freezer, or my CSA basket!  I'll still need some staples that we are low on (milk, rice, and yogurt, for example), but our dinners are pretty well taken care of!

What are you eating this week?

Host a Labor Day Picnic for 8 for under $30!

Photo Credit

When it comes to frugal living and keeping the grocery budget down, I am always derailed by the cost of entertaining. Either I go overboard in an attempt to impress my guests (thus spending too much), or I avoid entertaining altogether in order to save money. 

I realized this week when I was doing my Wegmans Match-Ups that I could probably throw together a healthy, fun picnic menu for 8 lucky guests without busting my budget.  

First, I’ll share my menu, then I’ll show you my money-saving plan. :)

Menu: 

Slow Cooker Chicken Fajitas w/ Homemade Salsa

Chips & Guacamole

Fresh Cucumber Salad

Edamame

Fresh Corn on the Cobb

Fresh Fruit & Whipped Cream

Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?  If you were invited to this party, would you know it only cost $30 to put together?

Here’s how I’ll do it: 

Slow Cooker Fajitas and Salsa

Philadelphia Cooking Creme, Plain -- $1.19 at Wegmans when you use this coupon

Small Jar of Newman’s Own Salsa Use $1/2 from 8/28 RP = $1.49

1 ear of cooked corn, cut off the cob = $.40

1 1/2 lb Chicken -- breast or thighs =$2.00

Burrito Wraps = $.99/8 with this Wegmans coupon

CSA Cucumber Salad (This is made with ingredients I will get in my CSA basket this week, so no out of pocket cost. The prices listed are if you purchase the items at Wegmans)

2 large cucumbers = $.89 each x 2 = $1.78

1 medium sweet onion = $.75

1 large tomato or 1 cup cherry tomatoes = $1.00

Oil, vinegar, salt & pepper, and fresh herbs to taste = cost negligible, pantry items

Chips and Guacamole:

Late July Snack Chips -- $1.50 when you use the coupon here

Wholly Guacamole -- $3.99 with this coupon

Edamame:

Cascadian Farms Edamame, $1.69 with the coupon here

Corn on the Cob -- 1 dozen= $4.00

Dessert:

Fresh Strawberries, $4.99

Organic Valley Heavy Whipping Cream -- $2.69 (add a pinch of sugar and vanilla when you whip it up to make it really flavorful!)

Drinks:

Homemade Rose Hibiscus Ice Tea -- Use a pitcher, about 5 tea bags, water, and the sun to create a delicious late summer treat = $1 

Total Out of Pocket: $29.46 -- and if you have a CSA and use what you get in your basket, you can create this menu for even less!

I’d love to hear your ideas for entertaining on a budget!

Menu Plan: Stretching the Stockpile

As a family where the primary earner is a teacher, the last weeks of August and first weeks of September are the tightest time financially for us.  On one hand, we don't need to purchase a lot of lunch items, because my husband isn't packing his lunch every day (he eats leftovers instead). The again, we haven't seen a full paycheck since the end of June. 
 Because I stockpiled so much meat in May, I've been able to meal plan using meat from the freezer, fresh CSA produce, and a dry staple such as rice, pasta, or couscous (which I buy in bulk).


Here's my pantry meal plan for this week:


Monday: Marinated Grilled Chicken, grilled veggies, and biscuits


Tuesday: Hot Dogs (I know -- not very healthy!), sauteed green beans, and cucumber-bean salad


Wednesday: Vegetable Stir Fry with left over chicken and rice (need to use up all the CSA veggies before our next shipment on Thursday_


Thursday: Pork Ribs with Grilled Veggies and Rice


Friday: Pasta Primavera with Chicken


Weekend: Quesadillas with fresh vegetables and fruit (I also put some of the leftover meat in the quesadillas!)


Is this week's meal plan overly exciting? 


Not really. 


But it's affordable, provides an abundance of fresh organic produce (through our CSA), and (hopefully!) is seasoned well enough to keep my family happy.  I'm not a fan of low-fat cooking, by the way. I believe in using natural ingredients in moderation, rather than low-fat or low-calorie foods with a ton of unpronouncable ingredients. That's why much of our food is seasoned with vinegar, olive oil, sea salt, garlic, fresh herbs, and good-quality cheese. A little of the good stuff goes a long way. :)

It's Weekly Menu Plan Time!

In preparation for my weekly shopping trip to Wegmans,  I looked through all the cabinets refrigerator to see what I needed to use up this week.  You'll also notice that there are a couple of repeats from last week. I never made the pork ribs because I'm afraid to grill them (our grill is old and occasionally shoots fireballs out the side), and it was hot so I didn't want to bake them in the oven. Now that it's a little cooler, I'm going to give it a try. 


Also, my husband loved the Eggplant Parmesan from last week so much, he asked to have that again. Since we got another batch of gorgeous graffiti eggplant in our CSA basket this week, I couldn't say no. 


The funny thing is I can make all of the components for all of these dinners using items already in the freezer, refrigerator, or pantry.  I'm really happy about that -- it's what is helping me stay within my tight budget right now.  I shopped only for fresh staples like cheese, milk, and bread (and, of course, my Stacy's Pita Chips).


Here's the dinner menu for this week:


Monday:  Pasta with Sauteed Swiss Chard and Garbanzo beans (I forgot the greens were in there and needed to use them up!)


Tuesday: Broccoli Stir-Fry with Rice Noodles


Wednesday: Pork Ribs with Grilled Zucchini & Onions


Thursday: Chicken Pasta Primavera


Friday: Dinner with Family


Saturday: Tacos (using meat from my freezer cooking day) with Fresh Tomatillo Salsa

What are YOU eating this week?

Weekly Menu Plan -- Let's Eat from the Pantry!

I've been stocking up with coupons and great deals so much lately, my pantry is filled with plenty of meal fixin's: rice, frozen vegetables, oatmeal, crackers, bread crumbs, pasta, and rice noodles.  Plus, I still have plenty of chicken in the freezer from my 40 lb buying spree back in May. 


In order to keep as much money in my cash envelopes as possible, I decided to try to plan this week's meals around what I already have in my pantry. Here's what I came up with:


Monday -- Date-night! (I know Monday is a lame day for date night, but my dad and step-mom offered to take the kids, so we will take what we can get!)
Tuesday -- Grilled Barbecue Chicken with Sweet Potato Fries & Grilled Squash
Wednesday -- Pork Ribs with grilled vegetables and biscuits (still looking for a good slow-cooker pork rib recipe, so please share if you have one!)
Thursday -- CSA Vegetable Stir Fry with Fried Rice 
Friday -- Italian Chicken & Orzo Skillet -- I'm using the recipe from the Philadelphia Cooking Creme package. There is a coupon here that makes it only $1.19 at Wegmans. 
Saturday -- Dinner with Extended Family
Sunday -- Quesadillas with fresh salsa


The only thing I need to buy for all of these meals is the orzo fro Friday's Chicken & Orzo Skillet. Not too bad!


What do you have cooking this week?

Menu Plan Monday

I decided to change things up a little today; instead of Make it Yourself Monday, we’re doing Menu Plan Monday!  Don’t worry, it’s not because I am at a loss for ideas for Make it Yourself items, it’s just been a busy week and I haven’t had time to try them out.

This week is going to super-busy as well, so I’d like my menus for the week to be simple and easy to prepare. As always, I’ll be shopping the sales and using what’s in my stockpile to round the meals out.

Breakfasts are easy: we have either:

Yogurt and Fruit

Cereal with Milk

Oatmeal and Fruit

Tutti-Frutti Muffins

Lunches are pretty similar as well (what can I say, my kids only want to eat the same three things!):

Ham & cheese sandwich

Grilled cheese sandwich

PB&J sandwich

Hummus & crackers

Fruit

Dinners -- this is where things get tricky. The meal that takes the longest to make is right during the crankiest part of the day. Because of this, I purposefully like to plan things that are either really easy or can be made ahead. Here are my ideas for this week:

Monday -- Chicken Sausage and sweet potato fries

Tuesday -- Grilled Salmon and rice with salad using CSA greens and radishes

Wednesday -- Homemade chicken “nuggets” with homemade fries (frozen, bake in toaster oven)

Thursday -- Pasta with Greens & Beans using fresh CSA kale

Friday -- Dinner out to celebrate the last day of school

Saturday -- Grilled chicken with green salad

Sunday -- Dinner out with family