Menu Plan #167

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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: $400.00 

What did we spend? 


Week 1- $76.36

Kroger: $36.74

Aldi:$39.62

Rebates- $2.60

IBOTTA: $2.60

Kroger Cash: $1.75


Week 2-

Kroger:

Rebates: 

IBOTTA: 

Kroger Cash: 


Week 3: 

Meijer:

Kroger: 

Aldi”

Rebates: 

IBOTTA: 

Coupon.com: 


Week 4-

Kroger: 

Aldi: 


Total: $76.36

Rebate Total: $2.60

Final Total: $73.76


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:   Our refrigerator died this past week resulting in an emergency run to Best Buy to pick out another one.    However, the supply chain created a slight delay in being able to have the refrigerator delivered to our home.  No worries- this was an opportunity to think creatively,  change our menu plan, pack our backup refrigerator to it’s capacity, canned some more jams/stock and selectively choose which items we would lose because of this situation.    Needless to say the grocery bill was only the items we had picked up prior to the refrigerator breaking. Eating our pantry/freezer this week and part of next week.        

     

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


Lasagna (freezer meal)

Salad

Bread


Tuesday


Tacos

Salad

Chips w/ Salsa


 

Wednesday

Jambalaya

Green Beans

Salad


Thursday

Cajun Shrimp Pasta*

Salad


Friday

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


Pizza

Mushrooms 

Jalapeno Poppers


Saturday

Roast Turkey

Baked Potatoes

Green Beans 


Sunday


(Homemade Gravy)

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


Pasta

Sausage

Salad



This week’s rough plan: 


M- Leftovers 

T-  Thia Turkey Soup*

W- Pasta 

Th- Bratwurst 

Fri- Pizza 

Sat- Shrimp Fried Rice

Sun- Steak


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


What is your family having this week for dinner?


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