2012 $50 Weekly Menu Week #7-This week I made the mistake of shopping on a Saturday- in case you weren’t aware, Saturday is the LEAST effective shopping day when it comes to finding great deals, particularly on meats. That doesn’t mean, however, that we didn’t come in under $50!
The majority of our groceries were purchased at Aldi’s this week and include cabbage, peppers, potatoes, spinach, pretzels, fresh broccoli, cucumbers, granny smith apples, sugar & flour. Despite finding great deals at aldi’s I stopped at another of my favorite shopping spots and picked up carrots, romaine lettuce, celery, oatmeal, a dented can of cherry pie filling and store brand Nutella. The grand total for this week is $47.84
This week was a pantry/mix supply restocking week and as such, despite having several bags of flour already, we purchased 2 more. I made up more than 15 various flavors of bread machine mixes, a bunch of chicken, beef and turkey gravy mixes, several dip mixes, some laundry soap and about 25 various seasoning blends.
Here’s our dirt cheap menu plan for the week . . .
Monday 13th:
- Breakfast:Fruit Breakfast Bars
- Lunch:Leftover Chicken Veggie Stew
- Dinner:Broccoli Garlic Penne, Salad
Tuesday 14th:
- Breakfast:Valentines Day Smoothies
- Lunch: Grilled Chipotle Chicken Sandwiches, (Extra grilled chix set aside for kids dinner tonight)
- Dinner: Romantic Dinner Out (for 2) The Boys will be throwing together a stir fry for themselves using the chicken I cook at lunchtime.
Wednesday 15th:
- Breakfast: Cinnamon Raisin Toast, Eggs
- Lunch:Crunchy Ramen Pepper Salad
- Dinner: Slow Cooker Cabbage Rolls, Salad
Thursday 16th:
- Breakfast:Strawberries & Cream Oatmeal
- Lunch:Leftover Cabbage Rolls
- Dinner:Pepper Steak, Baked Potato
Friday 17th:
- Breakfast:Cinnamon Apple Breakfast Quesadillas
- Lunch:Pepper Steak Wraps
- Dinner:Hearty Meatball Spinach Stew, Italian Garlic Bread
Saturday 18th:
- Breakfast:Poached Eggs on Toast
- Lunch:Grilled Cheese & Salad
- Dinner:Crockpot Roast Beef, Potatoes, Carrots, Yeast Rolls
Sunday19th: Lately on Sundays we’ve been eating a late breakfast, around 10 am or so and it carries well over into the afternoon before anyone wants to eat again. This tends to be a day where we munch on various items, deviled eggs, fruit, cut veggies, etc
- Breakfast:Country Breakfast Casserole (Few alterations to the recipe- I make my own sausage using ground turkey & use my own shredded hash browns, rather than buying them).
- Lunch/Dinner:Open FacedRoast Beef Sandwiches (using leftover roast & Homemade bread!)
Various Snacks:
- Fresh Fruit- Granny Smith Apples, Cinnamon walnut cherry Cheeseball
- No Bake Nutella Dreams
- Stained Glass Valentine Cookies
- Double Chocolate Lava Cakes
- Pretzel Sticks with Onion Blossom Sauce
Drinks included: * Iced Tea (Sweet Tea)
* Coffee
* Lemonade
* Copycat Gatorade
* CopyCat Arizona Green Tea
FYI: We’re getting over a dozen eggs a day now & as such, we’re a little tired of them. So I scrambled them up, a dozen at a time, tossed in some chopped peppers, onions and various seasonings in each bag, vacuum sealed them and tossed them into the freezer. These will be used later on for quickie Breakfast scrambles, either at home or while camping.
The freezer is still fairly full of chicken that we purchased back in November/Dec- but the traditional February sales cycles tells me to be on the lookout for great deals on steaks, pork ribs, seafood etc. I already found oatmeal about half price (it’s National Hot Breakfast month)!
I am just starting to wade into making up things ahead of time. What would you recommend for some basic mixes: spice blends and baking (no bread machine). I do have a heavy duty mixer Bosch mixer with a serious dough blade. The lists on this site are overwhelming and I’m just looking for a few basic starters.
Any thoughts?
I think it entirely depends on your family and what you like to eat. For us it’s various seasoning blends – like the sweet potato baked fries seasoning, or the good seasons italian dressing clone- as we go through several packets a week.
I make up several different types of muffin mixes to throw together for the kids mid-week, or if it’s going to be hot (weatherwise), I’ll opt for baking a bunch of different kinds of muffins, wrapping them individually and putting them in the door of the freezer so the kids can grab them, toss them in the micro for 15 seconds and have a hot muffin on their way out the door to school.
What do you cook during the week? What do you eat the most of? Do you buy snacks or make them? Do you have really limited time, or are you home a lot with ample time?
Maybe you’re home a lot with NO time, like if you have young kids at home. Do you make a lot of taco’s or gravy etc- you just need to figure out what will work for your family.
What do you store your bread mixes in? Do you freeze them? Do you add the yeast? Sorry for all the questions.
Thanks