Menu Plan Monday

( I am bringing this post over from my previous blog so it is a few weeks old but still wanted to share)

Happy Monday folks! I have been a fan of Menu Plan Monday over at Organization Junkie for some time now and thought it would be fun to join in.

My family is working towards our goal of being debt free and living simply, so making a budget and sticking to it is important. I know many families have the same goal so with that in mind I am going to include how much our food cost this week are. Keep in mind I don’t usually count in the price of some spices and such if it is an item I typically have on hand. I am also not going to include breakfast and lunches in this post, this time. We don’t all eat breakfast everyday and lunches are varied each day but usually include either leftovers or sandwiches of some kind but my total food cost for this week are counting what we eat for three meals a day plus snacks. Here is our evening meal menu for this week….

Monday-Baked Sweet and Sour pork chops, Pea Salad, Cheesy Oven Taters ($6.00 ish for the entire meal and because I bought a large family pack of the pork chops we will have leftovers for lunch the next day for sure)

Tuesday- Chicken Parmesan Pasta with Salad ($5.00 for the entire meal )

Wednesday- Breakfast Casserole and Fruit WE LOVE BREAKFAST FOR DINNER ($6.00 ish and we always have leftovers because my recipe makes such a large dish of this)

Thursday- Hamburger Pie, Green Beans ($7.00 ish and this makes two pies so we will have enough for leftovers for lunch the next day)

Friday- Homemade Pizza ($5.00 ish, I make my own crust so the only cost really is the toppings which I do a plain pepperoni  and then a loaded veggie one)

Saturday- Goulash with Salad ( $5.00 ish)

Sunday- Squash Casserole, baked chicken, mashed taters, rolls ($8.00 ish, this is my most expensive meal but not only we will have leftovers of the squash casserole for lunch the next day but I will have leftover chicken that I can stick in the freezer to use for another meal too)

As you can see our dinners come to approximately $45 for the week. I spent $130.00 total on food for this week when I went shopping over the weekend for this weeks meals. The rest of the money went stocking up on some pantry items, staples, breakfast and lunch stuff for days we don’t have leftovers and some extras for snacks like fruit, cheeses, crackers and such. I was little over indulgent at the grocery store this week I am afraid. I am pregnant and have some cravings and I just couldn’t help myself from buying a few items I would never normally purchase. I know I can work on the food budget if I can handle breakfast, lunches and snacks better so that is my next goal to work on. All in all I don’t think $130 a week for a family of four is too bad, I will work on getting down lower though next week.