Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Weekly Menu

I'm attempting to keep myself a bit more organized by planning out a week's worth of menus, and then sticking to it (loosely). I have found when I do this, my grocery budget stays lower, and the family seems happier overall because there is generally something to eat.

I've found a couple blogs that I have been getting some recipes off of. I'll link to the recipes.

This is the plan for the next seven days.

Today
Breakfast: Hootenannies
Lunch: Easy Pasta Bake
French Bread (Shannon fell in love with me all over again)
Dinner: Creamy White Chili (I doubled the recipe)
Cornbread with Honey Butter

Thursday

Breakfast: Cereal/Toast
Lunch: Sweet n Sour Meatballs
Rice
Dinner: Leftovers

Friday
Breakfast: French Breakfast Puffs
Lunch: Chicken Cordon Bleu Pasta
Vegetable
Dinner: Leftovers

Saturday
Breakfast: Cereal/Toast
Lunch: Beef Enchiladas
Refried Beans
Tortilla Chips
Dinner: Leftovers

Sunday
Breakfast: Cereal/Toast
Lunch: Roast
Mashed Potatoes
Vegetable
Apple Dumplings
Dinner: Leftovers

Monday
Breakfast: Orange Blender Drink
Lunch: Chicken Tetrazinni
Vegetable
Dinner: Cheddar Ham Soup
Italian Bread Bowls

Tuesday
Breakfast: Cereal/Toast
Lunch: Roast Beef Casserole
Vegetable
Dinner: Leftovers

We eat our big meal at noon. This works better for us because of practice schedules, games, and Shannon's work. If there are no leftovers on a given night, there are usually chicken nuggets, hot dogs, and other very nutritious options.

My goal used to be to spend only $100 per week for groceries. That's nearly impossible lately, and I'm struggling to keep it under $150 per week. I will double a lot of the above recipes to feed our size family.

Shannon, and the rest of the family for that matter, will usually eat whatever I put in front of them. After each new recipe, we vote and see if it is a keeper or not. If not, I don't make it again. If it is a keeper, it goes on the "Master List". I try not to make the same thing more than once a month.

Last night I spent about $155 for enough groceries for the above meals, as well as 5 gallons of milk. Those five gallons may or may not last us through the week. I had very little meat in the house, but had several boxes of pasta in the cupboard. I'm not quite organized enough to plan my menu based on the weekly ads, but I try to keep a mix of chicken, beef and pork dishes. Shannon requires that I cook with meat at least once a day. Part of that $155 went towards some paper products, too. I usually go to Aldi's first, get what I can off of my list, then get my meats at Fareway. Walmart is nice if I need a bunch of other household items, but I tend to spend a ton more if I go there. It's too easy to stick a lot of other "cheap" things in the shopping cart.

At $155/week, divided by 10 people eating 3 meals a day, that comes to about $.74 per person per meal.

I have no idea if this is good or not. I'd like to keep track for a few months and see what kind of stats I can collect.

"...Eat only as much as you need..." Proverbs 25:16

3 comments:

Beckysblog said...

I am going to have to try some of those receipes. Especially the breakfast ones...I love having breakfast for supper.

Beckysblog said...

Oh, and hope you feel better soon!

Melanie said...

WOw, that is very impressive! I think $.74 a person is amazing! The meals also sound delicious. Honestly, if I make two homemade meals a week, I feel like I"m doing really well! Otherwise we are scrounging or eating leftovers...which probably go a lot further in our house then yours!