Week #1- $50 or Less Weekly Menu

Over the course of the past 14 years, our family has spent an average of $250 per month on groceries and household items for the four of us. At the request of a good friend, we've decided to share our weekly menus with the world, in hopes that you too can get your family out of debt in this gloomy economy.

Our weekly menus run from Monday through Sunday.

Week 1 Grocery Notes: If you'll note in the picture, I purchased 30 pounds of pork in various cuts from Food Lion for $29. The Welches juices were completely free due to coupons I received from posts shared in the freebies forums. The vegetables were purchased at our local store for under $6 total. (Please note that there are 2 packages of dole salad mix that got cut off from the photo). Total cost for the groceries pictured here $38.62, (including tax).

Obviously we aren't going to eat all of that pork in a week, it will most likely be spread out throughout the entire month. The 1/2 gallon of milk isn't going to last the entire week with 2 teenage boys to feed, but we already had a gallon on hand before this shopping trip. The additional $11.38 was spent on weekly loss leaders.

January 3rd - 9th -

Monday 3rd:

• Breakfast: Biscuits, (split, Toasted and buttered with homemade Jam), homemade applesauce*
• Lunch: Salad with sliced hardboiled eggs, shredded cheddar cheese
• Dinner: Apple Roasted Pork, applesauce*, squash*, baked potatoes with sour cream/chives

Tuesday 4th

• Breakfast: French Toast, maple syrup (dh cooked a bunch of extra FT to toss into the freezer. That way the kids can simply pop them
  into the toaster in the morning for a fast, hot breakfast.)
• Lunch: grilled cheese & Tomato Soup
• Dinner: Chinese Pork Chop Suey, Jasmine Rice (made using leftover pork)

Wednesday 5th

• Breakfast: cold cereal or oatmeal
• Lunch: Salad or PB & J
• Dinner: Pork Enchilada Casserole (using leftover pork)

Thursday 6th

• Breakfast: poached eggs on toast
• Lunch: Poor Boy (grilled cheese with tomato slices)
• Dinner: Spinach Quiche w/ Hash Brown Potatoes

Friday 7th

• Breakfast: Bagels & Cream Cheese
• Lunch: leftover Quiche
• Dinner: Crab Newburg over Old Bay Pasta

Saturday 8th:

• Breakfast: Omelets & Toast
• Lunch: (leftover) Crab Newburg over fresh biscuits
• Dinner: Chicken Pot Pie & Cranberry Sauce

Sunday 9th

• Breakfast: Just Middles (Cinnamon Rolls the easy way)
• Lunch: Big Whip
• Dinner: Pizza Pasta, garlic bread and side salad

Various Snacks:

• homemade Potato Chips
• Microwave Popcorn
• granola bars
• Apples (Sliced w/ peanut butter or Apple Dip)
• Rice Krispie Treats
• Beef Jerky
• Hard boiled eggs (I usually keep a dozen or so on hand for fast, easy snacking)

Drinks included:

• Welches Grape Juice (I had 3 free bottles!)
• Apple Juice
• Iced Tea or herbal teas
• Coffee

A few things I'd like to share:

I raise chickens & therefore have more eggs than you could shake a stick at! The chickens are free range (most of the time) and eat whatever they can find, plus all of our fruit, veggie, grain/bread table scraps. In addition to providing us with 3-4 dozen fresh eggs per Week, they also provide an excellent fertilizer for the lawn/garden, as well as pest control.
If you have the opportunity, it is well worth getting 3-4 hens to provide nearly free eggs.

*Several of the vegetables listed were purchased (or homegrown) when they were in season, vacuum sealed and frozen. We do our best to purchase fruits & vegetables in season and either can, freeze or dehydrate them for later consumption.