Many of you may not to be so explicit with your menus, but for those of us living paycheck to paycheck, in addition to budgeting money, we need to "budget" our food. Menus help the budget by limiting last minute take out, impulse shopping trips, and wasting food we already have by letting it spoil. I recommend writing your menu from payday until the next payday so you know your family will be fed (healthy food!!!) no matter what your bank account balance is.
Monday: Jan. 30 Crockpot Chicken ($3), Steamed Broccoli ($2), Microwaved Baked Potato ($1.25)
Tuesday: Jan 31 Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup with Celery and Carrots (Leftover from Monday) and Pulled Pork Sandwiches ($2) leftover from Sunday Dinner
Wednesday: Rice and Bean Enchiladas ($3) with frozen corn ($1)
Thursday: Grilled Chicken Breast Sandwiches (with Honey Mustard) ($4), Ore-rida Fries ($1) Green Salad
Friday: Homemade Beef Stroganoff ($3), egg noodles, fresh veggies (carrots and celery--left from soup on Tuesday)
Saturday: Lunch- Pizza ($3) and Salad, Dinner- Tacos($3), black beans($1), and corn($1)
Sunday: Lunch-Flounder ($5) rice, lettuce salad, baked potato Dinner Chicken Alfredo ($5) frozen peas ($1)
Monday: Feb 6 Spaghetti ($3) Green Beans ($1)
Tuesday: Feb 7 Breakfast for Dinner, eggs, fruit, waffles ($3)
Wednesday: Feb 8 Grilled Chicken Breast, rice, salad ($3)
Thursday: Frozen Pizza, salad ($3)
Friday 10: PAYDAY! Treat the family to dinner out!!
I try to include additional fresh fruit and veggies with every meal that is not listed on the menu so nothing spoils.
I love this idea of doing a menu every two weeks versus weekly. I plan our dinner menu for the week (daycare menu is done monthly) but hate actually going to the grocery store weekly. So, my question to you is, do you buy fresh fruit and vegetables weekly or how do you buy stuff that may spoil without going to the grocery store often. I remember being a kid and my parents went to the grocery store maybe once a month. I have no clue how they did that and planned 20 some dinners...
ReplyDeleteYes, we are big on the fresh produce too! Bananas are a given (always a great price), we shop for produce at Sam's Club (HUGE bags of lettuce, 10lb bag of oranges, ect.) but are still picky about price (not EVERYTHING is a better price there), and a stop every few days for milk or bread makes a great opportunity to see if the store has anything additional on sale in the produce aisle. We also keep applesauce and raisins for "backup" produce on the days we are lacking fresh stuff. So, yes, even though the menu is "done" the shopping is never complete it seems.
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