2015 $75 Budget Menu Plan Weeks 2 & 3: Since this is a meat restocking week, we thought we’d share two weeks worth of menu’s at once, to help give you an idea of how we figure our grocery budget of about $300 per month.
The first of January is almost always a meat restocking time for us. It means that we purchase whatever meats are on sale (generally pork and chicken since the big drought!) and restock the freezer until the next sales cycle.
It is considerably cheaper to purchase an entire case of meat than it is to pay per pound for small packages. Here’s an example of meat prices per pound this week (photo snapped Jan 2015). We also picked up a deer from a local meat processor for $40. The hunter that dropped it off neglected to pick it up for several weeks. If you live in an area where hunting is common, check with your local meat processing plants as it is not uncommon for them to sell whole deer at dirt cheap prices, particularly if their freezer space is running low! Also, even if you don’t hunt, if the regulations in your state allow the harvest of more than 1 animal, oftentimes other hunters in the family would be willing to get a deer for you.
This week we purchased the following: 68 lbs of Pork, roughly 80 lbs of Venison, zucchini, lettuce, tomatoes, green peppers, granny smith apples, bananas, celery, yogurt, 5 avocados, sandwich skinnies (bread), raspberries, cantaloupe, lemons, cabbage
Total spent this week on groceries: $168.67 (68 lbs of pork at Case price $106.55, 80 lbs Venison $40, Remaining Groceries $22.12 )
From our Backyard: Fresh Eggs (down to about 12-15 a day)
From our Windowsill/ Garden: a few fresh herbs, cilantro, basil and rosemary – they’re starting to look a bit tattered so we’ll be planting more shortly! We harvested nearly 100 pounds of sweet potatoes from our garden last fall and we’ve been storing them in the garage. Some of those suckers are HUGE!! So, if you see them mentioned in the menu plan over the course of the next few weeks, that’s where they came from.
Breakfast Options for this week: Fruit Salad- (Cantaloupe, Berries, banana slices, apple chunks)
- Fruit Salad
- Poached eggs on Toast
- Lemon Oatmeal Pancakes
- Espresso Mocha Oatmeal
- Fruit & Yogurt Parfaits
- Egg Omelets with leftover veggies
- Toasted English Muffinswith Straw/Zucchini Jam
- Scrambled Eggs or Over Easy, etc
- Cinnamon apple breakfast Quesadillas
Generally speaking, I have the same breakfast every day- eggs of some sort. Oftentimes I add whatever leftover veggies. The kids generally opt for coffee & a muffin or toast (homemade bagels, homemade english muffins).
Lunch Options for this week:Lunch is over-rated and we often skip it. We eat dinner early and snack mid-afternoon on the following:
- Leftovers from previous nights dinner
- Tomato Basil Salad
- Egg saladsandwiches or wraps (There are literally about 20 different ways to flavor egg saladeasily!)
Monday January 12th :
- Dinner: Chicken Parmesan, Tomato basil Salad, jasmine rice
TuesdayJanuary 13th:
- Dinner: Zoodle “Spaghetti” (Zucchini ‘noodles’ with homemade spaghetti sauce & browned sausage)
WednesdayJanuary 14th:
- Dinner: Sesame Chicken Stir-Fry, Jasmine Steamed Rice
ThursdayJanuary 15th:
- Dinner: Garden Bounty Saute,garlic bread
Friday January 16th:
- Dinner: No Flu Cabbage Stew, Cornbread
SaturdayJanuary 17th:
- Dinner: Chili Cook-off with Friends, Our Chili submission is called “E-Bowl-A Chili”!
Sunday January 18th: Playoff Football Games- another Potluck gathering with friends for the big games
Dinner: Copycat Hooters Wings, Homemade Onion Dip, Chili
Monday January 19th:
- Dinner: Southwestern Eggs Benedict(this uses leftover cornbread)
Tuesday January 20th:
- Dinner: Grilled Lemon Pepper Fish (Catfish or Bass caught over the summer & frozen) w/ tartar sauce, steamed green beans with garlic butter, loaded twice baked potatoes
Wednesday January 21st:
- Dinner: Grilled Pork, Crispy Garlic Romano Sweet Potato Fries, salad (keep in mind, if you fail to seal your veggies, they’ll never make it through nearly 2 weeks!)
Thursday January 22nd:
- Dinner: Making Do Casserole
Friday January 23rd:
- Dinner: “Restaurant Night” – this isn’t actually eating out, instead we use the individual portion size meals (leftovers) that have been vacuum sealed and frozen.
Saturday January 24th:
- Dinner: Boston Baked Beans, red hot dogs, brown bread
Sunday January 25th:
- Dinner: Grilled Venison Steak, rosemary grilled potato wedges, steamed peas
Various Snacks & Desserts: We’ve cut out most of our snacking, but here are few . . .
- Honey Crunch Granola Bars
- Apples
- Muffins (Various kinds)
- Chewy Granola Bars
- Hard Boiled Eggs
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
FYI:As you can see, the pork comes in very huge packages of meat. I generally cut these up, creating roasts, chops and then 1/4 of it gets ground and made into packages of sausage. If you’re new you might be wondering how some items appear on the menu that weren’t in the list of purchased groceries. As you can see from our Meat Restocking info, we utilize the freezer for many items. The red hot dogs are actually a “New England” thing and my mom literally mails me some a couple times a year.
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
- $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.
Sorry to sound stupid, but I have never seen my local Walmart sell meat by the case. Where do you go for this? And the deer, did the meat processing plant provide the deer in cutlets or did you have to do the processing? for years I have wanted to purchase meat in bulk, but haven’t found solutions like these!
Not walmart, Sam’s Club.
Not walmart, Sam’s Club.
My local Walmart doesn’t provide the ability to buy meat by the case. Any suggestions?