Menu Plan Monday
My current grocery budget for our family of 5 is $125/2 weeks, including diapers, personal care products, paper goods, detergent.. basically, anything the grocery store sells. I try to keep under $100/2 weeks, so that I have some money left over to play with if a great coupon deal comes up, or we want to splurge on some unplanned snacks during our 2 weeks between shopping trips.
This week, my family is driving to Virginia to see my mother-in-law graduate and receive her bachelors degree, so we'll only be home for 9 days. I made my menu based on those 9 days, and made my grocery list accordingly.
When I plan my grocery list, it helps me to use the Aldi Price Sheet I created. This way I have an idea of how much I'm going to be spending before I leave the house. Knowing this amount helps keep me from throwing unplanned items into my cart at the store, and lets me know how much I have remaining in the budget so that if I see an item at the store that I need but didn't plan on buying, I know if the money is available to purchase it.
This week's meals aren't very exciting, because I was trying to keep the costs low so we can use the extra money for our trip. And there are a few repeats because we're going out of town in the middle of the two week period, so we'll have some of the same meals before we leave, and then again after we get back.
Here's this week's menu (keep reading to see the shopping list with Aldi prices)
Breakfasts:
- Cereal
- Toaster Strudel (stocked up 2 weeks ago for nearly free at Publix)
- Pancakes with fruit sauce (made with frozen organic fruit stocked up on 2 weeks ago for nearly free at Publix)
Lunches:
- Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches
- Lunchables Subs (stocked up on for free at Publix last week)
- Ramen cups (my 12 year old daughter's favorite)
Dinners:
- Spaghetti and Meatballs: one pound of spaghetti noodles, one jar of pasta sauce, and a bag of frozen precooked italian style meatballs.
- Meatball Stroganoff: 4 packets of brown gravy mix, prepared as directed and simmered with 8oz of sour cream, a package of original style frozen precooked meatballs, and a can of sliced mushrooms; served over a bag and a half of cooked egg noodles, with a side of canned peas.
- Salsa Chicken: 3 large boneless/skinless chicken breasts, a jar of salsa, a cup of shredded cheddar, and 8 oz of sour cream; cooked in the crockpot and served over a pound of cooked elbow macaroni, and a side of canned corn.
- Pineapple Brown Sugar Ham: A $4 turkey ham, cooked in the crockpot with a can of chunk pineapple and juice, and 1 cup of brown sugar. Served with white rice and a side of canned green beans.
- Taco Pasta (recipe below)
- Spaghetti and Meatballs (see above)
- Meatball Stroganoff (see above)
- 2 packages of frozen Salisbury Steaks with gravy, cooked as directed and served over white rice with a side of canned peas.
- Frozen DiGiorno pizza and breadsticks (stocked up for free last week at Publix).
Some of the items for these meals (other than the ones I've already indicated above) I already have on hand: all the canned vegetables, elbow noodles, brown sugar, and canned tomato sauce and taco seasoning and ground beef for the Taco Pasta.
Here is my shopping list for the meals above (I always estimate up on the prices, and guess a little high for the items I don't know the price of):
$2, 2 sour cream
$5, 2 shredded cheddar
$4, turkey ham (sold by the pound)
$2, 1 cereal
$4, peanut butter and jelly
$2, salsa
$2, 2 lbs spaghetti
$2, 2 spaghetti sauce
$4, 3 egg noodles
$3, 3 lbs white rice
$4, 8 packets brown gravy
$1, 2 cans mushrooms
$3, box of ramen noodle cups
$2, pineapples
$2, 1 bread
$8, 4 meatballs
$4, 2 salisbury steaks
$54 total, estimated high. I still need to buy Pull Ups, shampoo and conditioner, and snacks for the trip, but there's plenty of money left over in the budget for those things!
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Taco Pasta Recipe
(I got this recipe from one of the bloggers who posted on last week's MPM, but I didn't plan to be blogging about it so I didn't keep the link. If it was you who posted this recipe, thank you and sorry for not being able to credit you! :)
Taco Pasta
1 pound ground beef
1 package (1-1/4 ounces) taco seasoning
1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
1 package (8 ounce) shell macaroni, cooked and drained (I'm using elbow macaroni)
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chilies
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
In a skillet, brown ground beef over medium heat.
Drain and add taco seasoning, tomato sauce, and green chilies.
Stir in cooked macaroni.
Place in a 9×13 pan.
Top with cheese.
Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until heated through.
For more ideas on planning your own menus, or to see what many others in the blogosphere are eating this week, hop on over to Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com!
Your menu has me drooling! I've made the taco pasta before and it is SO good! And your meatball stroganoff is one of my fav recipes!
Have a great week,
Sherry
http://sherry-startingoverat40.blogspot.com/2010/05/menu-plan-monday-may-10th-2010.html