Monday Meal Plan ~ Week 15 and 16~ End of Year Wrap Up

Now we have the wood stove installed cooking is a bit more consistent . If you have any meal ideas for us, leave them in the comments!

Things to Remember

I try to post as much info as time allows, but if you have a specific question, please ask.. I will be happy to answer. Don't forget to choose the option to receive notifications to posts when you comment.. otherwise you may never know I answered! :)

I try to do bulk shopping once a month a fill in weekly as needed, although lately we have been doing more weekly shopping. We do a pantry build, so we tend to buy large quantities of basic food items. This is not just because we have a large family, although it helps, but this method also works great for smaller families and even single people. I like to shop sale/clearance items. I rarely use coupons. I will also include here random non-food grocery items, as I do include that in our budget. We shop for ingredients, not meals. This saves money and we eat a bit better I think.

Our Meal Plan

Notes
* Snacks are usually cheese and crackers, pretzels, fruit/veggies, or fresh baked goods
*Sundays we fast one meal, the littles usually snack since they do not fast. ( its optional for everyone)
*We do have a small supplement of food from our homestead and friends. Although, its not a lot.

Our weekly menu is brought to you by Quinten, who is officially in charge of planning and preparing the majority of the family meals.

So how does this all work?

We eat a very basic diet. Some may think its repetitive and boring ( me included at times!) but we are sticking to our budget and are very healthy. 

We have oat meal 4 -5 mornings a week. We buy the old fashioned oats at SAVE A LOT. Its That's about 2 breakfasts worth for us. We add fruit, honey or brown sugar. I personally can't palate oatmeal most days, so I usually have toast and fruit or yogurt. We have eggs once a week, this usually takes 3 dozen. We alternate omelettes and breakfast tacos. Sundays we have bananas and yogurt, usually with granola. We also try to have pancakes once a week, if our morning schedule allows. I love to buy crushed pineapple and make pineapple pancakes. We rarely buy syrup, we use honey. 

3 days a week we have PBJ sandwiches. If we have a week where we are out and about more and don't get home for lunch, we eat on the road, so we have cheese and bologna sandwiches. We just stop at Kroger and pick up bread, cheese and meat. We usually have fruit or carrot sticks on hand. Some of the other meals we plan for lunch is hummus, or black bean salsa. These are things we can make ahead and pack for me to bring to work. 

Dinners vary. This time of year we often have soups/stews etc. This past week we had a lovely family bring us Christmas dinner. They brought enough for our family of 11 and their family of 6, and we had leftovers the entire next day. I had to nice ham bones so we used one for split pea soup and the other for a big pot of white beans. I bought another 20qt stock pot this week, I found one at Family Dollar for $15. Its not as heavy as I would like, but it works great. We usually have 2-3 stock pots on the wood stove, one for water, and usually 2 meals prepping as the stove, most of the time, runs at crock pot temps, unless we need it higher. 

As I have posted, we buy basic foods and prep from there. Each week I stock up on what ever items we are low on, or are on sale. This past two weeks, Kroger had canned veggies for .50 each. I grabbed a dozen or so of each. Ideally, I would like to buy 4x that, but we lack space at the moment. I should have our pantry shelves built soon.. Buy buying this way, we avoid buying items we don't need, we save money buy buying ingredients, rather than pre boxed foods, and we eat less processed foods. 

Time wise, I don't think we spend all that much more time. If we take a few minutes to plan, we can prep, a few meals at once. If you have a freezer, you can also benefit by making the freezer meals. 

Tortilla Soup!

I am not good at following recipes, or making them, so I will just give you the jist of what I ( we) did... and this made a stock pot worth, two meals for us. I used up random foods that came from our food storage and some from the box of donation food we received, mostly to use it up.

I put two 28 oz's cans of enchilada sauce
1 gallon water
1 can of olives
1 can of diced tomatoes
2 cans of mexicorn
1 pkg precooked chicken
1 can black beans

We then added one lb of cooked black beans and some chili peppers. Then we added 1lb shredded cheese and stirred well Then we added a few cups of cooked rice. We also added 1lb f cooked pork sausage.

But you can improvise with what you do and don't like.. I will say it was REALLY good!

Shopping List

(prices are for each, unless noted )

(this is two weeks worth of shopping)

Save A Lot

4 containers oatmeal $2.39

1pkg sugar wafers .99

1 pkg pop tarts $1  (pregnant lady shopping before dinner=bad choices) 

4 bags pretzels $1.19

2 bags raisins $1.99

$20.29

IGA 

3 qts Egg Nog $1.99

4lbs northern beans $3.39

$9.36

Dollar General 

4 boxes cheese crackers $1.65

4 boxes Vanilla Wafers $1.70

2 boxes choc covered cherries .75

1 caramel cob .01 

1 pkg fig bars $1.85

$20.16

Dollar Tree 

1 3pk socks

1 2pk irish spring soap

1 3pk rubber balls

1 2pk socks

kitchen timer

spatula

8pk dice

super glue

markers

toothpaste

freezer bags

peroxide

powder

playing cards

pens

batteries

ointment

2 dish soap

crayons

D Batteries

ibuprofen

ginger ale

wire rack

party cups

storage drawer

choc cherries

screen protector

thin mints

2 square totes

$38.16

Walmart 

2 containers hot coco $2.48

2.5 dozen eggs $4.28

8 food storage buckets $1

receipt book .94

pliers 1.96

mini lights $2.50

wash cloths $4

lg pkg peanuts $5.98

2 quarts egg nog $2.50

4 gallons water .88

3 4pk forks .94

3 4pk spoons .94

lighter fluid $4.57

copy paper $3.47

utility shelf $14.97

laundry basket $3.27

$79.99

Kroger 

1 lb salt .47

2 pkg diapers $5.49

1 pkg wipes $1

2 roll wipes $1.49

38 yogurts .40

14.5 lbs bananas .59lb

3 kiwi .59

24 loaves bread .79

1 king size twix FREE 

2 bags chips $1.99

12 dozen eggs .99

4 pkgs pickle loaf $1.49

4 pkgs cheese $1.88

2 bags apples $2.49

3 pkg gummy bears $1

8 half gallon egg nog $2.99 

4 half gallon ice cream $2.50

7 8 oz bags shredded cheese $1.88

9 cans pineapple $1.00

1 box powdered milk $6.09

2 6pk ramen $1.09

3# beef $7.78

3 small bags oranges $1

2 8# bag oranges $5.99

3 boxes candy canes .75(all)

12 cans corn .50

24 cans green beans .50

12 cans carrots .69

2 bags frozen veggies $1

1 jar jelly $1.72

1 can mandarin oranges $1

2 1lb butter $1.99

1.94lbs grapes $1.68lb

3 pkgs slice cheese $1.49

2 green peppers .79

1 bag choc  chips $1.59

1 bag choc chips $1.88 

1 pkg gloves $1

1 bottle honey $5.55

2 boxes baking soda .59

14.97 lbs apples .99lb

1 3pk paper towels $2.19

2 pkgs chocolate candy coating $1.59

1 pkg toilet paper $2.79

( I hit a bunch of marked down breads)

3 pkg buns .99

2 pkg dinner rolls $1

8 loaves bread $1

3 pkg donuts $1

2 loaves rye bread .99

6 raisin bread $1.29

2 heads cabbage .55lb

2 bags onions $1.59

2.31lbs romas $1.19lb

3 frozen OJ $1.59

2 pkg bacon $2.59

3 bags almonds $1

3 bags oranges $.99

1 gatorade FREE

4 4lb bags sugar $1.99

$318.47

Total week spending $486.43 Total month spending (Dec) $909.24 Total year spending (9/8/13) $3388.97

This is my last post of the year. 4 months/ 16 weeks. Our average was $850 a month, $211 a week 


*If for some reason you think we aren't eating right, then no worries, just move along. I assure you my family is extremely healthy and our diet sustains my very energetic free range children.