Menu Plan: Week of 3.8.15

Menu Plan Week 3.8.15

Breakfast

Cereal, yogurt, or scrambled egg sandwiches

Lunch 

school lunch and/or packed lunch for Little Man, Miss Priss eats at daycare, homemade Taco Soup all week for me

Dinner

Chicken tacos, rice, refried beans

Omelettes, bacon, fruit

Hot dogs, baked beans, peas, applesauce

Pepperoni Stromboli, salad

Chicken nuggets, french fries, apples

Peanut butter sandwiches, chips, fruit, veggies

**A couple of notes about our family's meal planning.

• I only plan 6 meals a week to cook at home because we usually end up eating with one set of grandparents, having a leftovers night, or some other sort of craziness at least one evening a week.

• I really try to avoid prepackaged meals and convenience items and make as many things from scratch as possible--BUT I also have to balance that with how much time the preparation takes since during the school year I don't have all day to prepare food.

• We are a family of 4.

• Each person in our family gets to decide on one meal a week.  Therefore, we have "kiddie" food a couple times a week.  Our little Priss-pot is a little extremely picky and our hope is that by giving her some say in what we eat, she will start to branch out a little bit other days.

• We eat PBJ sandwiches once a week.  After our weekly Wednesday night after-school program we need something quick and easy!  And not to mention it's cheap!!

• I primarily shop at Food Lion.  I'll tell you why, here.

• Our grocery budget is $350.

This plan is my attempt to balance health, time, and cost with our meals.

Here's how all of the shopping went down...

Sam's

I hardly ever grocery shop at Sam's, but we happened to be near it, so I picked up a couple of things. Sam's is about an hour away for us, so this is definitely out of the norm.

•  2 lbs strawberries: $4.99 (about the best possible price around here this time of year)
• 3 cucumbers: $3.99 (oh, how I miss my garden!!!)

Total: $8.98

Food Lion

Hummus $2.99
Chicken Nuggets $3.99
Cheddar Cheese $2.00
Whole Milk Mozzarella $3.99

Frozen Green Peas $2.08
Gallon Milk $2.89 - $.25 back from Ibotta, final price $2.64
Dozen Eggs $1.78
Honey Nut Cheerios x 2 $5.00 - $1.00 instant savings, $1.00 coupon, final price $1.50 each
Kraft Mayonnaise x 2  $6.00- 50 cents off coupon x2, $.25 back from Ibotta, final price $2.38 each

Deodorant: $2.59- 50 cents off 1 coupon, final price $2.09
Doritos $2.14
Taco Seasoning $.59
Black Beans x 3 $2.07, $.69 each
Chili Beans $.69
Ragin Cajun Seasoning $2.49
Baked Beans $1.79
Worcestershire Sauce $1.59
Taco Dinner Kit x 2 $5.00 - $1 off 2, $2.00 each, one for this week, one for next
Hot Dog Buns $2.00
Long Grain and Brown Rice $4.78
Sandwich Bread $1.99, coupon $.55 off 1, final price $1.40
Pretzels $2.99
1 lb Sugar $2.19
Bacon x 2 $5.00, one for this week, one for next
Hot Dogs x 2 $1.98, coupon $.75 off two, final price $.62 each
Bananas $1.46, $.58/lb
Grapes $3.10, $1.49/lb
Iceberg Lettuce $1.19
Carrots $1.49, $.25 back from Checkout51, final price $1.24
Sweet Onions $1.25, $.89/lb
Cilantro $.89

Total: $76.25 - $.75 rebates= $75.50

Total for the week: $84.48

Total for the month: $197.48

*Check back at the end of the week for updates on how this plan went.*  

What is something yummy you have planned for your family this week??

*Linked up with Menu Plan Monday at Organizing Junkie*