2014 $50 Budget Menu Plan Week #5

2014 $50 Budget Menu Plan Week #5: This week’s menu plan comes in following a harrowing weekend of working, dealing with kids schedules, an unexpected round of the flu and generally speaking, Normal Life. That thing that happens when you’re busy making plans! As such, most of this weeks menu . . .
is based off what we have on hand and what we intend to pick up at the market this morning (using our favorite stores weekly flyers!) The news is calling for a major storm for our area, something that would normally shut the state down for days, so we want to prepare dishes ahead of time that wont be difficult to cook on just a gas burner.

***UPDATED 8:43pm 1/27 ***
Well, if you checked out our menu first thing this morning you’d see that we anticipated spending about $30 this week, however in anticipation of the storm and the fact that school has Already been cancelled for tomorrow at the least, I ended up picking up extra fruit knowing that the kids will be spending more time at home munching.

Here’s what we grabbed: Cantaloupe, sweet potatoes, tomato paste, celery, cucumbers, Quick Oats, Old Fashioned Oats, Multicolored sweet peppers (orange/yellow/red), frozen corn, fresh strawberries, fresh mushrooms, artisan lettuce, few pounds of baby carrots, avocados, mangoes, Blueberries, green peppers, broccoli crowns, Organic Tomatoes, Organic bananas, cabbage, yellow squash, granny smith apples, 4 huge cans crushed tomatoes, Natural Shredded wheat, Red potatoes, couple packages of dried cranberries Total Spent (including taxes) $50.13

From our Backyard: Fresh Eggs

Breakfast Options for this week: Fresh Fruit – Apples, Bananas, Fresh Berries, Cantaloupe – We’ll throw together a fruit salad to snack on and eat for breakfast, along with the following choices:

• Cinnamon Cherry Cheeseball & Apple Slices
• Poached eggs on toast
• Cinnamon Mango Muffins
• Blueberry Maple Refrigerator Oatmeal
• Toasted Homemade Bagels with Cinnamon Honey Butter
• Scrambled eggs & Toast
• Fruit & Yogurt Parfaitsor Yogurt & Homemade Granola Parfaits
• Blueberry Ginger Smoothies

Monday January 27th:

• Lunch: egg drop soup & peanut butter sandwich or salad
• Dinner: Kale Lentil Fritatta (I found a recipe and thought I’d give it a try, since I have some leftover Kale in the fridge!)

Tuesday January 28th:

• Lunch: Southerners Egg Salad Wrap
• Dinner: Maltagliati with Baby Peas, Onion, and Bacon

Wednesday January 29th:

• Lunch: Tuna Salad (Literally tuna salad on a bed of shredded lettuce and veggies, sprinkled with a bit of cheese and drizzled with Italian Dressing)
• Dinner:Grilled Pork Chops on Cinnamon Apple Pasta with sauteed apples and steamed broccoli(Recipe to follow shortly!)
  

Thursday January 30th:

• Lunch: Apple Beet Salad
• Dinner: Honey Ginger Dump Chicken , jasmine rice, salad

Friday January 31st:

• Lunch: leftover honey ginger chicken
• Dinner: Beef-n-Broccoli Casserole (well, that’s what I tell the fam, I really use ground turkey!)

Saturday February 1st:

• Lunch: Veggie Quiche
• Dinner: Italian Shred & Toasted Garlic Bread

Sunday February 2nd: Superbowl Sunday!

• Lunch:Leftover Italian Shred
• Midday:providing Copycat Hooters Hotwings & Lemon Pepper Hotwings – friends/fam will be each providing various dishes, etc

Various Snacks & Desserts:

• Fresh Fruit Choices Available– Apples, Bananas, Fresh Cantaloupe, Fresh Berries
• Hardboiled Eggs
• Peach Cream Pie (using home canned peaches)
  
• Microwave Popcorn
• Angel Food Cake w/ sliced berries
  

Drinks Available:* Iced Tea (Unsweetened or Sweet Tea)
* Coffee
* Hot Chocolate/Cocoa

Less Likely to be used, but still available:
* Copycat Gatorade
* CopyCat Arizona Green Tea
* Lemonade
* Iced Coffee Drinks
* Almond Milk

For Further reading/help we recommend the following:

• $50 Dollar Menu Frequently Asked Questions– There are certain questions that seem to pop up again and again, so rather than be redundant and repeat answers, we’ve put them all in one convenient place for you!

  • Basic Questions–Why we don’t provide a shopping list, Random ingredients that aren’t in the shopping list, are groceries cheaper , etc

  • More Questions– more in depth questions regarding dietary guidelines, dealing with picky eaters, junk food and more

  • It Doesn’t Add up– Learn why some items in the Menu plan aren’t listed in this weeks grocery purchase list & how it all comes together

• February Sales Trends–not sure what Should be on sale right now? Here is a list of the current Sales trends throughout the month of January so you know what savings to expect and look forward to.

• The 2012 Family Guide to Groceries under $250 a Month– a guide of how and where to cut grocery expenses to get spending under control while providing an eye-opening view of the dirty manipulation tactics retailers use to keep you spending.

• $50 Weekly Menu Plan Help across the USA–Do you find yourself struggling to reduce your grocery bill each month? Check out our Menu plan help across the USA to see if your area has been featured for more 1-on-1 help, if not, feel free to add your request to have your city/state featured.

• Making Fruits & Veggies Last: At the beginning of each week we prepare the vegetables and fruits to make meal preparation easier during the week and to save money by preventing waste. You can read more about that here.

• How Spending $25 Now can save you Hundreds Later – if you gain nothing else from this site, don’t overlook this tip. It has been an EXTREME money-saver for our family

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