Hi, I’m Hilary — I’m a mom to 3, wife to one and completely on a budget. We eat home about 90% of the time, but if there’s no menu plan I’m lost. Here’s what’s for dinner this week!
{Uh! I was putting this job off, somehow I did my floors rather then menu plan.}
Corn Grits with Shrimp and Bacon – I found this on pinterest, and I LOVE polenta, so I thought I’d give it a try. Growing up my mom always made a yucky face when referring to grits. So, we’ll see.
Roasted Cauliflower Pasta — we have a ton of cauliflower from the garden, and this is a family favorite
Chicken tacos in flatbread — I somehow have a ton of salsa and flatbread, so I combined. I’ll cook the chicken in the crock pot with some salsa, salt and some extra garlic and then we’ll shred it and have it in flatbread with more salsa, sour cream and some veggies.
Korean Meatballs and Marinated Cucumbers — my husband served his mession in Korea and EVERYONE loves this dish at our house. We serve the meatballs with rice, and I have to do 2 full cucumbers to statisfy everyone. They love them! (btw, the cucumbers need to be done early afternoon to give them time to sit)
Chickpeas with broccoli Rabbe and Bacon — the garden is also producing broccoli, and my family loves to it it this way! Also, beans were on sale for 50 cents a can at Fry’s a few weeks ago, making this meal fairly cheap (if only bacon was cheaper!)
Chedder Chowder — I think we’re heading to the end of the short southwest soup season — my mom found me this recipe out of the daily herald a few years ago. Yummy and easy.
Chunky Split pea soup — the garden’s giving us plenty of swiss chard, might as well use it. I’ll probably throw some ham in too, because we have a lot of ham.
**I make a list of 7 meals to have sometime in the next 2 weeks. I probably will throw in a breakfast for dinner, or some nachos at some point, but this gives me some healthy, varied meals to try. I don’t assign meals to a day as I tend to do whatever I’m in the mood for, but having a plan saves us $$!
Denise says
So here’s my query. I meal plan and I try to cook at home – and I’m better about it when trying to save money. But feeding my family is expensive and I’m trying to figure out where I can save money.
Do you choose meals based on how much they cost or what you have on hand or something else?
Hilary says
Denise, I choose my meals mostly by what I have on hand. My garden coordinates a lot of it. I wish we could have shrimp nightly (as do my kids) but I try to limit it to every other week as it gets pricey with all these little mouths.
For the most part, if I don’t have it on hand, we don’t eat it. I stock up when stuff is on sale. I guess that’s how we mostly save money.
Michelle says
How much is reasonable to spend on groceries each month? I never know if I’m doing well with what I’m spending or not. I try to shop sales and coupon but I don’t know if I could be doing better with my budget.
Hilary says
Michelle if you click on my finances tab, you can see all of my budget posts with our actual budget money. Maybe it would help you out?