Meal Planning Part 3

This is part 3 of my series on meal planning. Last time I shared two weeks worth of meals, recipes, and a shopping list. This time I'm going to share two more weeks!

 

For the last part of February, here's what we've had:

 

Week 3

Day 1/2: Taco Soup

Day 3/4: Baked Ziti

Day 5/6: Baked Chicken and Veggies

 

Week 4

Day 1/2: Asian Stir Fry

Day 3/4: Red Beans and Rice

Day 5/6: Taco Night

 

Like I mentioned before, I have a lot of things that I keep on hand. Some things that I did not have to buy this time because I already had them were rice, tortillas, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, balsamic vinegar, jar of minced garlic, cajun seasoning, chicken, spices, and veggies (The chicken, tortillas, and veggies, I bought the previous week).

 

Shopping List

Cost: Approximately $40

• 2 lb. ground beef/turkey
• 2 cans black beans
• 3 cans diced tomatoes
• 1 can dark kidney beans
• 1 can light kidney beans
• 1 bell pepper
• 1 onion
• 1 jar of salsa
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 1 small container part skim ricotta cheese
• 1 jar spaghetti sauce
• Ziti pasta
• 1 bag shredded cheese of your choice (used for ziti and taco's)
• Vegetables of your choice
• Soy sauce and Rice wine vinegar
• Frozen corn
 

Recipes

 

Taco Night: You can find this in my Part 2 post

 

Baked Ziti: I use the same process for baked spaghetti found on the Part 2 post, except in between the layers I add a layer of ricotta cheese. This recipe is very versatile and you can add in vegetables, your favorite pasta and sauce, and made totally different meals.

 

Baked Chicken and Veggies: This is one of Dan's favorites. He works out a lot and craves healthy foods [I know, weird! :)]. I place two-three chicken breasts in a small casserole dish and coat with 1 tbsp. olive oil, 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar (or a favorite vinegarette bottled dressing), salt and pepper, and 1 tsp. garlic. Then throw in vegetables of your choice. I ususally put in frozen broccoli, frozen green beans, and some fresh carrots. Bake at 350 until chicken is cooked through.

 

Asian Stir Fry: Dice 2-3 chicken breasts into bite sized pieces. Cut vegetables that you want to use (my favorites are broccoli, carrots, sugar snap peas, and corn) into small pieces. In a small bowl, mix together 1/4 c. soy sauce, 1 tbsp. rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp. garlic, and some hot sauce. Start with a large skillet with some olive oil on medium high heat. Add chicken and cook for about 3 minutes. Add in vegetables and sauce. Cook until vegetables are tender and chicken is cooked through. Serve over rice.

 

Red Beans and Rice: This is one of our vegetarian favorites although sometimes I add smoked sausage. I don't claim to know anything about cajun/Louisana cooking or that this is even cajun at all. It would probably be a disgrace down there, but we like it! Saute 1 bell pepper, 1 onion, and 1 tsp. of garlic in a skillet with olive oil until tender. Add in 1 can of diced tomatoes, 2 cans of kidney beans, 2 tbsp. of cajun seasoning, and 1/2 cup of water. Let simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Serve over brown rice.

 

Taco Soup: In a crock pot combine 1 lb. ground meat, 1 can of black beans, 1 can of diced tomatoes, 1 cup of frozen corn, 1 cup of water, and 1 package of taco seasoning. Cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 5 hours.

 

This month we spent $150 on groceries total! Using this meal calendar, planning for breakfasts and lunches, shopping only twice, and not going out to eat really made it easy to save lots of money. Next month, I'll share our meal calendar and shopping lists again!

Meal Planning Part 2

Week 1-2 of Meal Planning

 

Last time I started talking about how I've started planning our meals for the whole month. Now I'm going to share two week's worth of meals, recipes, and a shopping list! I have a good collection of about 12 recipes that are my "go-to's". They are easy, inexpensive, and our family loves them. For February, I planned lots of meals like this because I'm still getting used to mommy-hood. Also, as mentioned in my last post, I cook enough at once so that we can eat that for supper two nights! If you're family doesn't do leftovers, you'll have to add in some extra meals.

 

 

Week 1

Day 1/2: Baked Spaghetti

Day 3/4: Taco Night

Day 5/6: BBQ Chicken and vegetables

 

Week 2

Day 1/2: Chili with cornbread

Day 3/4: Stir Fry

Day 5/6: Taco Night

 

For the 7th day of each week, we either did a special date night at home with steak that we already had in the freezer or ate a freezer meal that I had made before our son arrived! Those have been so nice to have.

 

Shopping list for this round

Cost: Approximately $45 (I shopped at Aldi for the majority of the list)

• 2 lbs. ground turkey (use whatever ground meat you like/that's on sale)
• 1 bag of frozen chicken breasts or chicken breasts in bulk (you wont need it all this time, but will use it for the next half of the month)
• 1 package of smoked sausage
• Spaghetti Noodles
• Jar of your favorite spaghetti sauce
• 4 cup package of shredded cheddar cheese or block of cheddar to shred yourself
• Frozen vegetables of your choice (broccoli and green beans are our favorite)
•  2 cans of chili beans
• 1 package of chili seasoning
• Ingredients for cornbread (I have these on hand) or a package of box cornbread mix
• 3 cans of diced tomatoes
• 1 bell pepper
• 2 onions
• 2 packages of taco seasoning
• 1 large jar of your favorite salsa
• Tortillas
• 1 can of black beans
• 1 bottle of your favorite BBQ sauce

Recipes



I apologize for not having pictures. Meal time isn't what it used to be with a newborn! I will try by best to have some next time! :)

 

Baked Spaghetti: Cook noodles and brown 1 lb. ground turkey. Once turkey is completely cooked, stir in jar of spaghetti sauce and a can of diced tomatoes. Make alternating layers of  noodles and meat in a 9 x 13 dish. Top with 1 1/2 cups of cheddar cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes! Steam broccoli or have a salad on the side. This meal is also HUGE. So we sometimes eat it for 3 nights and/or have lunches.

 

Taco Night: This is possibly our favorite meal to have! It's so easy! Cook chicken breasts (I usually do 2-3 depending on size) in the slow cooker with 1/2 the jar of salsa, taco seasoning, and black beans for 2 hours or until chicken is done. Take the chicken out and shred with two forks. Put back in the slow cooker and stir together add 1 cup of shredded cheese before serving. Serve on tortillas with your favorite toppings. We sometimes put the mixture inside of a tortilla and grill/cook in a pan for a quesadilla instead!

 

BBQ Chicken: Another family favorite... cook chicken breasts in slow cooker with 1 bottle of BBQ Sauce. Take chicken out and shred. Serve with vegetables and rice or on a bun.

 

Chili: Dice and saute 1/2bell pepper and 1 onion. Brown 1 lb. ground turkey in a soup pot. Add 2 can of diced tomatoes, 2 cans of chili beans (don't drain!), and package of chili seasoning. Let simmer for 30 minutes. This can also be cooked in a slow cooker. Top with cheese and serve with cornbread!

 

Stir Fry: Cut smoked sausage into bit sized pieces. Slice 1/2 bell pepper and 1 onion. Saute sausage, pepper, and onion until the sausage browns. I serve this with brown rice. Sometimes I also add some kidney beans and Cajun seasoning.

 

The shopping list is the BASICS for the suppers. I always have a few things on hand that I can throw together like brown rice and whole wheat pasta, frozen vegetables of all kinds, flour and cornmeal for breads, seasonings and spices. These things help me make meals more flavorful and filling.



Meal Planning Part I

A lot has happened in the past few months. We are now a family of 4 (kitty included!). Our son was born January 4. He is seven weeks old today. You can read more about him here. These have been the BEST seven weeks of my life! We've been blessed that I have been able to stay home and be a mommy. It was (and still is) a step of faith. In order to make it work, we've made drastic changes to our budget and have cut back a lot. I haven't missed a thing.

 

 

One thing that has really helped us stay on budget is planning our meals. I used to do this before the pregnancy cravings kicked in! However, we didn't always stick to it. Now we have to stick to it and I can't believe how much money we've saved. It also takes the stress of trying to figure out what to make each night.

 

How to plan meals:

1. Get organized. I use a calendar on the computer and just input what we're having each night. I'm a huge fan of cooking ONCE and eating TWICE, so I plan a meal for every other night. I make enough for the next night too. It's awesome and I'm so glad to have a hubby that loves leftovers. I hang the calendar on the refrigerator so it's there when I need it.

 

2. Limit shopping. I plan meals for the whole month and shop only twice a month. This is also a big money saver. I ONLY go to the store twice a month, no exceptions. All of those little trips were really adding up for us. And since I really hate grocery shopping, this was actually welcomed by me. I was inspired by a friend who shops for the whole month at once. I may try this one day, but it involves lots of freezing (for milk, cheese, sandwich meat, etc. or else they will go bad). I'm not quite there yet! You don't have to freeze anything if you shop every two weeks.

 

3. Have a theme. Plan meals that use the same proteins and ingredients so you can buy in bulk or family size to save money.

 

4. Don't forget your breakfast, lunch, and snack needs. I don't plan these meals. We normally eat the same things for breakfast and lunch everyday: some sort of eggs and an english muffin for breakfast and some sort of sandwich and raw veggie for lunch. I just make sure to buy plenty of these things so that we have them.

 

5. Plan for special nights. Having a baby in the middle of flu season has been quite scary for me. I have been a little over protective of him, not wanting to take him out in fear that he'll get sick. Now that he's 7 weeks old and I'm breast feeding (YAY for immunity!), I have eased up a bit and we've been venturing out some. For this month I planned home date nights, which were usually a special meal and included some sort of dessert. Part of the budget cuts we made were some date nights, so I'm planning more special nights for home. Things to consider for out-of-the-ordinary nights: home date nights, family or friends coming over, if you'll be taking a dish to a party, special weekend breakfasts, birthdays, etc. Think of EVERYTHING so you don't have to go back to the store.

 

 

 

Over the next few posts I am going to share with you some example weeks from our calendar. For February, since I am still getting acclamated to being a mom, I made sure that all of our meals were super easy and fast or for the slow cooker. Check back in a few days for a week's worth of planned meals and recipes!



Freezer Meals- Part III {Suppers}

This is Part III to my freezer meal plan. In case you missed Part I and Part II, you can read those now!

For all of the supper recipes, I used chicken tenders purchased from Sam's Club. I bought two large trays of chicken, and it was about 15-16 pounds total. I divided that evenly between all the freezer meals. For the suppers, you need gallon sized zip top bags. These meals were made for 2 people, but normally we have leftovers for lunch the following day. If your family is bigger, you may want to add more chicken and more vegetables. And as mentioned before, I used all chicken because I don't plan on eating these every night. If you want to eat your freezer meals every night, you may want to use different proteins. You can substitute pork chops, pork tenderloins, turkey tenderloins, or steak!

Supper Freezer Meals Shopping List

Chicken tenders or  breasts (15-16 pounds)

red pepper flakes

chili powder

paprika

thyme

ground ginger

jar of minced garlic

olive oil

honey

balsamic vinegar

3 cans of orange juice concentrate

large bag of carrots

4-5 bell peppers

green onions

4-5 onions

4-5 limes

soy sauce

peanut butter

dijon mustard

1 large container of chicken or vegetable broth

BBQ sauce (I used 2 bulk sized bottles)

I had a lot of the seasonings on hand, so I didn't have to purchase them. My total cost for the suppers was $75.27 = 3.01 per meal! Also, I used the Once a Month Mom website for my inspiration for some of these recipes. For the suppers, set out all of your gallon size bags, fold the top down, and divide your chicken evenly among them. Then add the ingredients below into each bag...

Honey Glazed Chicken (5 meals)

To be served with rice or on pasta

Chicken

2 tsp. red pepper flake

2 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. paprika

1 garlic clove

1/2 honey

4 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp. chicken broth

3 chopped carrots

Peanut Chicken (4 meals)

To be served with rice

Chicken

1/2 onion, chopped

1/2 bell pepper, chopped

3/4 c. chicken broth

3 tbsp. peanut butter

1/2 tsp. lime zest

2 tbsp. lime juice

2 tbsp. soy sauce

1 tbsp. ginger

4 cloves garlic, chopped

BBQ Chicken (6 meals)

To be served with rice or on buns, after it is done cooking, shred the chicken

Chicken

1/2 onion, chopped

BBQ sauce, enough to cover chicken

Orange Chicken (4 meals)

To be served with rice

Chicken

3 large carrots, chopped

2 bell peppers, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

2 tsp. ginger

6-8 oz. of orange juice concentrate

2 green onions

Balsamic Chicken (6 meals)

To be served with pasta

Chicken

1/2 c. balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp. dijon mustard

1 tbsp. fresh thyme

1/4 c. olive oil

...After adding all the ingredients to the bags, zip the top up and use your hands to massage the ingredients into the meat and mix them all together. It's important that all the components are mixed well. Depending on your ingredients, you may notice that you need a little more liquid to cover the meat. If that happens, mix in a little extra broth or extra ingredients. Label each bag with the type of meal it is. Lay flat (to maximize freezer space) to freeze.

To cook your meal, simply take your meal from the freezer and add all the contents to your slow cooker. Cook for 2-3 hours on high. Cook some easy rice, pasta, or extra vegetables to enjoy with your meal. These meals were relatively easy to put together and took about 2 hours! And they are delicious! It is definitely worth our money to have these stocked in the freezer. We don't go out anymore, except on date night, and these are the perfect meals to enjoy on nights that I am just exhausted!

Freezer Meals- Part II {Breakfast/Lunch}

Last time I shared with you my freezer meal plan. We all have those nights that we just do not feel like cooking supper. We also all have those mornings where we just don't know what to eat for breakfast or what to take to work for lunch (at least I sure do). This post is dedicated to my freezer burritos! They are simple to make and are really filling for those busy mornings.

For breakfasts/lunches, I used two different burrito fillers. These can be mixed up however you like. You can add or take away any ingredient that you like or dislike. There is a lot of versatility with these.

Shopping list for breakfasts/lunches

40 tortillas

2 dozen eggs

30 oz. black beans

green onions

1 large jar of your favorite salsa

cheddar cheese

bacon

frozen shredded hashbrowns

My total cost: $21.52 = about 54 cents per meal!

Mexican Burritos (20 burritos)

This recipe is from here.

Scramble 1 dozen eggs, add 30 oz. cooked black beans and chopped green onions. Lay out 20 tortillas. Add shredded cheddar, salsa, and then the egg and bean mixture. Fold the tortillas into burritos and wrap in foil/wax paper. When reheating, remove wrapping and heat in microwave for 2 minutes on defrost and 1 minute on high.

Egg Burritos (20 burritos)

Cook center cut bacon (less fat than normal and alot better tasting than turkey), crumble, and set aside. Cook frozen hashbrowns until browned and set aside. Scramble 1 dozen eggs. Lay out 20 tortillas. Add shredded cheddar, salsa (if you like), the eggs, bacon crumbles, and hashbrowns. Fold the tortillas into burritos and wrap in foil/wax paper. When reheating, remove wrapping and heat in microwave for 2 minutes on defrost and 1 minute on high.

You can't beat 54 cents per meal! And these are so much more filling than cereal! I cooked these on the same thing that I did the suppers, but none of the ingredients are overlapping, so you could definitely cook just the burritos one afternoon and have 40 breakfasts or lunches to enjoy all month!

Freezer Meals- Part I

I love cooking. And I one of my favorite things is to cook a big meal for my husband and watch him enjoy it. However, with school starting back up and this pregnancy well under way, I can see some exhausted days in my future. Normally on days that I just don't feel like cooking, Dan and I normally head out to grab something to eat. Dan is a champ at choosing healthy choices when we go out, me... not so much! In an effort to save some money and to be healthier on those tired nights, I decided to stock our freezer with some meals that can be cooked easily in the crockpot! Which by the way, we just got a new chest freezer and I love it! Our regular freezer was busting at the seams with vegetables and fruit from the garden, so I needed some extra space. Now with all this extra space, I could also make a lot of freezer meals.

My new freezer!

Now, freezer meals have been quite a trend on Pinterest. I'm not sure how many people actually make them, but a lot of people pin them. I enjoying reading through them, but never found one that seemed to work for me. I didn't like the idea of cooking all the food before hand, it seemed like too much of a cooking marathon. I ran across this plan and I liked the premise (cheap and more than just suppers). I also used Once-a-Month Mom for some inspiration for recipes. I decided to stick with one type of meat, since we would only be eating the meals on nights when we were busy/tired and not every night. If you want to make your own freezer meals and plan to eat them every night, you would probably want to mix up your protein so it doesn't get boring.

My Freezer Meal plan will make 25 suppers and 40 breakfasts or lunches. The best part is, for everything, it only was only $96.79 (I got everything I could at Aldi's, the meat at Sam's Club, and the rest at Walmart). So, if we don't go out to eat a few times on those exhausted evenings, the meals will pay for themselves! The meals are stored, uncooked, and are to be cooked in the crockpot. They can be served with rice, beans, quinoa, or on a bun (the total cost included enough rice, beans, and quinoa to go with all the meals!).

Over the next few days, I'll share my freezer meal plan recipes and some tips on preparation!

Money Saving Tips

With a baby on the way, I've been in money saving mode! I've always been a bargain hunter. I hate paying full price for things and I can't justify spending a lot of money on groceries. Here are a few tips to save money in the kitchen! Also, in the next week, I'll be sharing some of my freezer meals and a lot of these tips were used in the making of those.

1. Canned beans vs. Dried beans. Do not let canned beans fool you. Sure, they look cheap because they are normally less than $1 a can. However, if you buy a bag of dried beans, it contains enough beans to fill about 8 cans and normally costs about $1.50. Now, I know how long it takes to cook dried beans. So to get to get the good deal and to have the convenience, buy a bag of dried beans and cook them all at once. Take the beans and divide them into portions that are right for you and put into small freezer bags. Then freeze them! They keep the same texture, no thawing needed, and its budget friendly! This can also be used with rice.

2. Pre-Shredded cheese vs. a Block of cheese. This is the same idea as the beans. It is much cheaper to buy your cheese in the block and shred it yourself! Also, doing this will save you some of the preservatives and "anti-clumping agents" the companies put into the pre-shredded cheese. If you want the convenience of pre-shredded cheese, shred the block of cheese all at once and store in a large zip top bag.

3. Check out discount grocery stores. There are some great discount grocery stores popping up in our area. We recently got an Aldi. It is amazing! I can't do all of my shopping there, but I have found amazing deals on things like tortillas, milk, sandwich meat, cereal, etc. We are paying about $100 less on groceries per month now-- and I was only shopping at Walmart/Sam's Club before!

4. Homemade Cleaning Supplies. It's no secret that laundry detergent, dishwasher soap, and other cleaning supplies are very expensive. They are also full of chemicals (and water!). One thing that I've started doing is making my own! It takes a little money to get started (about $30-40), but is so worth it. This blog has great recipes for all sorts of homemade supplies! They've all been great too. When you're looking at her recipes, make sure that there isn't an update to it! She updates the recipes from time to time to make them better.

5. Buy in bulk.  Don't go crazy and buy everything in bulk, but things that you use a lot of are smart to buy in bulk. We have a membership to a bulk store and love it. However, sometimes things are more expensive there. You just have to watch the prices. We buy all of our meats (HUGE savings-- if this was all we bought there, our membership would still be worth it), some cleaning supplies, fruit, almonds, peanut butter, and protein powder. I calculated that we save about $50 on those items alone. And those things are things we use all the time.

These are a few of my money saving tips. I hope that you find these useful. Do you have any money-saving strategies that you live by?