Menu Planning #165

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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.  


Instead of guessing regarding our food budget, I looked up the Official USDA Food Plans as of December 2020 which was enlightening.    Since, we have 3 members in our household and use the thrifty plan, the food only weekly budget would be $123.40.  However the monthly SNAP benefits average $125 per person or about $260.00 per household.   


Goal: $500.00 

What did we spend? 


Week 1- $108.97

Kroger: $87.83

Meijer: $21.14

Rebates- $9.65

IBOTTA: $7.55

IBOTTA: $1.10

Kroger Cash: $1.50


Week 2-$84.37

Kroger: $84.37

Rebates: $7.44

IBOTTA: $7.44

Kroger Cash: $2.19


Week 3: $183.11

Meijer:$10.19

Kroger: $25.08

    $36.60

Aldi: $111.24

Rebates: $13.29

IBOTTA: $11.00

Coupon.com: $2.29


Week 4-$133.87

Kroger: $76.87

Aldi: $57.00 

Week 5- 


Total: $510.32

Rebate Total: $30.38

Final Total: $479.94


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:   Incorporate high nutrition, filling and low price items in your meal planning. For example, I know that a bagel for breakfast will keep me full and satisfied until lunch time.    This prevents me from overeating at breakfast and snacking before 12:00.  

     

Let’s take a look at what we ate this week. 

NOTE- If you want to see the recipes, just click on the picture to see the link. 



Breakfast Options: 

https://sweetlifeonabudget.blogspot.com/2018/11/making-yogurt-101.html


Yogurt

Cereal

Eggs


Monday


Greek Chicken

Salad

Pita/ Hummus


Tuesday


Tacos

Chips w/ Salsa

 

Wednesday

(Homemade Gravy)

https://sweetlifeonabudget.blogspot.com/2020/04/classic-gravy-aka-marinara-sauce-049-cup.html


Pasta

Meatballs

Salad



Thursday

https://www.budgetbytes.com/cajun-sausage-and-rice-skillet/


Cajun Sausage Rice Skillet

Broccoli 


Friday

https://sweetlifeonabudget.blogspot.com/2019/05/pizza-277-per-pie.html


Pizza


Saturday


Steak

Baked Potatoes

Salad


Sunday

https://sweetlifeonabudget.blogspot.com/2020/03/california-three-bean-chili-053-per_9.html


Chili

Bread Sticks



This week’s rough plan: 


M- * Food Court Bourbon Chicken

T-  * Black Bean, Pepper and Rice Casserole 

W- Pasta w/ Sausage

Th- Crockpot Chicken Pot Pie

Fri- Calzone

Sat- Greek Chicken

Sun- Cowboy Soup 


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


What is your family having this week for dinner?


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