Menu Plan Aug 14-20

I'm starting to meal plan again, it's helpful for my budget. It's somewhat tough to come up with ideas that both my son and I like. The things I like, he does not like and I don't usually eat carbs at dinner (part of my new "diet"). The menu is just an overall foundation some things may change like side veggies and I may substitute the carbs for myself.

Sunday~Steak and eggs
Monday~GF breaded chicken breasts with asparagus
Tuesday~Bangers and Mash and peas
Wednesday~Burgers and homemade fries
Thursday~Meatball Marinara
Friday~Salmon, spinach and wild rice
Saturday~Veggie pasta toss

Weekly Dinner Menu June 19

Sunday
Curry lentils and rice (was delicious!)

Monday
Chicken Etouffee

Tuesday
Southwestern pasta


I will not be cooking after Tuesday because we are going out of town to visit the grandparents. I can't believe I'm even cooking now, it's too hot! LOL

Weekly Dinner Menu June 12

Man, a week flew by! Here's my menu for this week:

Sunday
Clams in marinara sauce over linguine (will have to remove clams from DS plate, he doesn't like them)

Monday
Chicken tacos

Tuesday
Pork fried rice (I love making this)

Wednesday
BBQ Hamburgers and fries

Thursday
GF fried chicken and salad

Friday
Beef stir fry

Saturday
Grilled Salmon

Weekly Dinner Menu June 5

Being a single parent, in the SF Bay Area of a child who requires outside therapy, I'm on a budget!

One of the things that helps me save money is meal planning. I give myself a grocery budget, then I take stock of what is in my pantry, then create a menu, then shop for the things I don't have. It usually works.

Here is my weekly dinner menu for the week of June 5

Sunday
Sirloin roast with roasted potatoes and asparagus

Monday
Thai curry chicken, rice and peas

Tuesday
Homemade salmon cakes with homemade french fries

Wednesday
Green salad with tri tip beef

Thursday
Spanish style chicken and rice

Friday
Spaghetti with homemade sauce (I made the sauce last week; freezes nicely)

Saturday
Cajun salmon and spinach

I try to make things simple, tasty and quick (and gluten free)

Extreme Budgeting: 17 meals with $45

I am very cost effective and often times you may see an 'extreme budgeting' themed post. I have to really think about every dollar that goes out of my household and make sure it's purposeful because right now, I need to provide for my son and I also want to expose him to activities and things that he enjoys.

So back to the goal... I wanted to plan 17 meals (May 13-May 30) with $45.

I should preface this by saying, I did have quite a bit of things already in my fridge and freezer so that helped.

Between 2 stores, I spent $44.78! Yay!

How I did it? I went through my pantry, fridge and freezer and took stock of what I had. I then opened up MS excel and created a basic calendar to create a meal plan. I listed all the core items I had on hand and then went to allrecipes.com to find some menu ideas and then Viola! 17 meals.

I only shopped for what I needed and I stuck to the list.... well, with the exception of a bottle of two buck chuck from trader joes!

Bleu :o)