Menu Plan Monday

I hear all the time about how people “want” to eat healthy but they are on a budget. So I’m going to show you for the next couple weeks how I’m feeding my family 5 kids (including 2 teenagers) and one adult on a budget while eating healthy, nourishing whole foods.  I’ll even include how much I’ve spent on what and where.

Saturday June 15

HomeMade Pizza topped with some supergreens that were close to their end that i just wilted a little, a gluten free crust mix from namaste I found when I cleaned my pantry & mozzerella cheese.  total cost $0 (everything was on hand)

Sunday June 16

Breakfast We had a little more grain here than we usually do but I had already gone shopping when I found out we were having my Mom & her boyfriend as unexpected dinner guests and I needed to stock the freezer with more breakfast stuffs for the kids. I made some homemade cinnamon rasin Challah, homemade biscuits, scrambled eggs, bacon & sausage (a splurge). We did have leftover biscuits & french toast. total cost  $29 breakdown eggs $12 flour $4 butter $3 milk $2 rasisn $2 sausage $6 (on sale)

Monday June 17

Zuppa Toscana This is one of our favorite soups in rotation regularly. All the kids eat it & always enough for leftovers. I even just make up some quick broth for it with some frozen chicken carcasses when I plan on making it easy peasy. Its just a simple sausage, potato & kale soup. There is enough in the pot for at least 2 full meals. Total Cost $11 breakdown around a lb of non casing sausage $5 a lb of organic kale $4, organic potatoes $2

Tuesday June 18

Taco Night  What could be simpler than taco night. To keep this meal on the cheap side we use a lot of mushrooms and lettuce. We are also having both ground beef & chicken tacos to stretch our proteins a little because I had found that other chicken in our freezer. Total Cost $13 Breakdown tortillas $4, ground beef about 1/2 lb $4, 20 oz mushrooms $4 rice for the kids about $1

Wednesday June 19 PRODUCE PICKUP DAY

We have over the years done CSAs, organic produce co-ops and the such and when our last one shut down I hadn’t renewed until NOW! This is our first week and I’m not sure what to expect so I hope the meals I planned around our share all work out. Our share costs $50 but because we are a large family and home all day every day I add on $10 for the family size, a snack pack for more fruit for the kids $10 and I added on a salad daze this time for another $10 I’ll be sure to post a picture of our share on Wednseday!

Grilled Chicken Salad Using up more of that chicken and the salad fix ins from our produce share.

Thursday June 20

Spaghetti (squash) night This is my favorite way to make spaghetti these days! When I found that frozen chicken at the bottom of the freezer I also found a package of frozen italian sausage too WIN! Had I not found the sausage I would have just added a little ground beef 1/2 lb or less most likely. Total Cost $12 (approximate)

Friday June 21

Shrimp Scampi There is supposed to be some organic squash in our produce share (crossing fingers) and I’ll pair it with some garlic & butter spaghetti squash. Cost $9 on a lb of frozen wild caught pink domestic shrimp

Saturday June 22

Pizza & Movie Night Same breakdown as above those wilted greens I put the extras in the freezer just for this!

Sunday June 23

Chicken Stirfry Using up the last of that chicken (all thighs) and veggies from our produce share, coconut aminios already on hand and sesame seeds. YUM!  Maybe some rice for the kids.

Monday June 24

Chicken Vegetable Soup  Yes we eat soup almost every Monday even in the summer. We just to just keep a pot simmering on the stove all the time and it would grow & change through the week but then my kids started to resent soup so now its a main meal on Mondays and then leftovers through the week until its gone. Any leftover spaghetti squash and random bits of veggies will make their way into this soup. The chicken is bits from picking a rotisserie chicken and freezing the bits perfect for soup. I’ll have to make more stock though I only even have a quart or so already made on hand anymore. 

Tuesday June 25

“Steak” and Vegetables  because we are doing this on a budget I didn’t buy a flank steak for this project but bought some much lower price stew meat instead. It will be marinated and stuck on some skewers to be grilled and really when its all cut up on your plate it still tastes just as good! I bought a family pack of stew meat it was about 3 lbs for about the same price as what I would have spent on a steak for one meal now we get 3!

Wednseday June 26 (Orthodontist Day)

Baked Potato Soup

Its been tradition in my house every time its orthodontist day to have baked potato soup that was until April when I did Whole30 then it became fauxtato this month it will be a combo of the 2 I’ll purree some broccoli to keep it a little cleaner but add the potatoes too because we have some on hand from other meals and our produce share. I’ll have to buy some chives (we never have enough)

Thursday June 27

Taco Salad THis is probably an overstatement and really should just be called ground beef with salsa on lettuce but I have kids if you call it taco salad it has a much greater chance of them actually eating it.

Friday June 28

Leftovers Its bound to happen in every house once in a while right? There are bits of everything and take note we had soup twice this week I’m guessing there will be many a bowl around my dinner table this night!

Saturday June 29

Pizza Night

Budget Break Down

Costco $111.83 (this will also include the beef for the following 2 weeks in our meal plan also so not too shabby)

Publix $83.06 (this includes cat food & kitty litter)

Annie’s Buying Club (organic produce) $80

I do still have to go to BJ’s today I’ll update this total when I do

How much do you typically spend on groceries? What are your splurges?