2017 $50 Budget Menu Plan Week 2

2017 $50 Budget Menu Plan Week 2: It’s Chili Cook-off Time, a highly anticipated gathering of friends, great food and amazing CHILI!!

If you’ve followed previous years menu plans you know that we tend to stock up on meat (and poultry) at various times of the year when the prices drop. Traditionally speaking, poultry tends to drop in price during the first couple weeks of January, so rather than spending the full amount on groceries for the week, we’re anticipating a decent sale price and setting the money aside. In a few weeks, the price of seafood will drop drastically and we’ll stock up on shrimp and scallops. You can view anticipated sales by month here.

This week we purchased the following: lettuce, bell peppers, tomatoes, celery, cabbage, carrots, raisins, dried cherries, sweet potatoes, cheddar cheese, cantaloupe, grapefruit, apples, bananas, broccoli, sour cream, cream cheese and a chocolate bar (don’t judge, lol).

Total spent this week on groceries: $38.22

From our Backyard: Fresh Eggs

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

Breakfast Options for this week:

• Fresh Fruit -Grapefruit, Cantaloupe
• Leftover Slow Cooker Omelett Casserole (use homemade sausage & homemade hashbrowns)
• Maple Almond Scones
• Eggs-poached, over-easy, hard boiled, scrambled with leftover sauteed veggies & a sprinkle of cheese, etc
• Cinnamon Raisin Toast

Lunch Options for this week:

• Cajun Deviled Eggs
• Leftovers of previous days dishes
• Grilled Cheese & Tomato Po’ Boys
• PB & J

Sunday January 8th:

• Dinner: Unstuffed Cabbage Rolls(made with ground venison) & Mexican Cornbread

Monday January 9th: Meatless Monday

• Dinner: Szechuan Style Chinese Noodles(I’m not a fan of peanuts, so we’ll omit those and add 1/4 c of cashews instead)

Tuesday January 11th:

• Dinner: Caribbean Dump Chicken, mashed potatoes & Salad

Wednesday January 11th:

• Dinner: Leftover Slow Cooker Omelett Casserole-we use homemade sausage & homemade hashbrowns for this recipe.

Thursday January 12th:

• Dinner: Copycat Olive Garden Salad(Dressing), Grilled Pork Loin, Parmesan Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

Friday January 13th: GOOD LUCK DAY!

• Dinner: Cabbage Veggie Stew (use a cup or so of diced leftover pork loin), Cloud Biscuits with cinnamon honey butter (Sorry- for this one I don’t follow a recipe, I throw it all together in my instantpot.)

Saturday January 14th: Annual Chili Cookoff Event with Friends (bringing a dessert!)

• Dinner: Chili Cookoff – 12-20 different kinds of chili, so we’re opting to bring a desert (keep an eye out on the site for the recipe!)

Various Snacks & Desserts:

• Fresh Fruit Choices Available– Apples, Grapefruit, Bananas
• Firebites
• Celery & Carrot Sticks with Homemade Hummus
• Brandied Peach Compute (using frozen peaches) over toasted Biscuits
• Honey Crunch Granola Bars
• Strawberry Muffins

Drinks Available:

• Coffee
• Hot Chocolate/Cocoa
• Iced Tea (Unsweetened or Sweet Tea)

Less Likely to be used, but still available: These are very rarely used in our house- we just prefer coffee, tea and water.

• 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!

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