2015 $50 Weekly Budget Menu Plan Week #17

2015 $50 Budget Menu Plan Week 17: It seems like we are buying the same things week after week- lettuce, green peppers, tomatoes, celery, cucumbers and this weekis no different! With that in mind, we added several more plants to our garden, but since this is an ongoing thing year round… we built our own self-watering (nearly) hydroponic growing system. My hope is that we can move this system indoors this winter and have more fresh organic veggies cheap and nearly effortlessly.

This week we purchased the following: Lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, celery, cucumbers, butter (on sale again!), bananas, plums, nectarines, raspberries, blackberries, vanilla yogurt, fresh spinach, Fresh Kale, fresh mushrooms, pepper jack cheese, gruyere cheese, boneless skinless chicken breast, ricotta cheese, cottage cheese

Total spent this week on groceries: $56.48

From our Backyard: Fresh Eggs (about 10 a day)

From our Windowsill/ Garden: a few fresh herbs in the windowsill– cilantro, basil, parsley, rosemary, scallions

Breakfast Options for this week:

• Fresh Fruit (bananas, nectarines, berries)
• Peach Jam Breakfast Bars
• Eggs-poached, over-easy, hard boiled, scrambled with leftover sauteed veggies & a sprinkle of cheese, etc
• Buttermilk Berry Pancakes
• Instant Oatmeal (18 Flavors)
• Fruit/Berry Yogurt Parfaits

Lunch Options for this week:

• 18 way Egg saladsandwiches or wraps
• Chicken Salad Wraps
• Tomato Cucumber Salad

Monday April 27th:

• Dinner: Pepperjack & Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breast, Baked Potato, Salad

TuesdayApril 28th:

• Dinner: Spinach Gruyere Quiche

Wednesday April 29th:

• Dinner: Grilled Pork Cutlet, Garden Salad, Homemade Applesauce (made in season & frozen!), Roasted Sweet Potato

Thursday April 30th:

• Dinner: Homemade Calzones

Friday May 1st

• Dinner: Tandoori Chickenwith Cucumber Raita & Dirty Rice

Saturday May 2nd:

• Dinner: Baked LaSketti,Homemade Toasted Garlic Bread, Salad

Sunday May 3rd: (This may or may not go over well with the fam- if not, we’ll be making Copycat Olive Garden Zuppa Toscana)

• Dinner: Mushroom Kale Frittata

Various Snacks & Desserts:

• Fresh Fruit Choices Available– Bananas, Cantaloupe, Canned Peaches, Frozen Strawberries/Blueberries
• French Onion Dip & Crispy Kale Chips
• Chocolate Lava Cake
• English Muffin Bread Toast
• Strawberry Chocolate Chip Scones

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:If you’re wondering why all the ingredients listed in the recipes aren’t necessarily showing in the “purchased groceries” list, please check out our Frequently Asked Questions!

The sweet potatoes listed in this weeks menu plan are from last years garden. We’re actually running low on them, I thought they’d last a bit longer, but we eat them fairly often. Sweet potato fries are my absolute favorite comfort food!