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Menu Planning #142

Our meals need to be nutritious, clean, flexible, quick and cost effective.
Between our work schedules and after school activities, we need to carefully
plan our meals so that we do not end up ordering out.  We try hard to keep our
total food and household products to under $100.00 per week. 
Goal: $500.00
What did we spend? 
Week 1- $127.66
Meijer: $67.25
Aldi: $23.79
Kroger: $36.62
Rebates: $14.75
IBOTTA: $14.75
Kroger Cash: $11.49
Week 2- $99.63
CVS: $1.92
Kroger: $60.40 
Meijer: $8.36
Aldi: $28.95
Fresh Thyme: $14.67
Rebates: $15.00
IBOTTA: $13.00
Shopkicks: $2.00
Kroger Cash: $9.00
Week 3-  $119.77
Aldi: $71.35
Kroger: $48.42
CVS: $1.08 
CVS: $2.53
Rebate: $10.00
IBOTTA: $10.00
Kroger Cash: $6.25
Shopkicks: 
CVS ECB = $8.00 
Week 4- $89.14
Aldi: $22.35
Kroger: $32.74
Meijer: $34.05
Rebate: 0
Week 5- $73.94
 Kroger: $55.26
Meijers: $13.18
Walgreens: $5.50
Rebate: $3.75
Ibotta: $3.75
Total:$510.14
Rebate Total: $43.50
Final Total: $466.64 (Add $33.36 to next month’s budget) 
NOTE: Rebate total DOESN’T include Kroger Cash or Refunds because they
will come off of the Kroger Bill automatically the following week.   In addition, I
don’t count CVS as part of the grocery bill because I normally use gift cards
and ECB to get my items for free, so in the end the money is usually to my
benefit.   
Grocery Shopping Tips:    Be a little flexible with your meal plan.    For
example, our family wanted to eat Hoagies this past Friday, so I planned for it
and put it into the grocery budget.   However, when the sale ad came out this
week, shaved beef was on sale and I had a great coupon for it.    This lowered
our treat meal to $5.00 for 3 sandwiches and as a bonus everyone loves
cheese steaks. 
Let’s take a look at what we ate this week. 
Breakfast Options: 
Yogurt
Hard Boiled Eggs
Monday
Pasta
Sausage
Salad
Tuesday
Tacos
Salad
Chips w/ Salsa 
Wednesday
Kielbasa
Peppers and Onions
Hash Browns
Broccoli
Thursday
Baked Chicken
Roasted Potatoes
Broccoli and Cauliflower
Salad
Friday
Cheese Steak
Chips
Vegetable Sticks w/ Dip
Watermelon 
Saturday
BBQ Chicken
Roasted Potatoes
Steamed Zucchini
Spinach Cakes 
Sunday
Baked Pasta
Salad
Bread
This week’s rough plan: 
M- Pulled Chicken
T-  Enchiladas
W- Jambalaya
Th- Fried Rice
F- Pizza
Sat-  Burgers 
Sun-  Taco Soup 

* Indicate that the recipe is a new one for our family.    
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