Monday, January 20, 2014

Eating ~ Large Family Style!

A friend of mine asked recently what a week of cooking or meal planning looked like at our house.  I thought I would take a minute to jot down our weekly meal plan for this current week.

Monday (today)
Breakfast: Eggs and potatoes with sauteed onions
Lunch: Cheese Quesadillas with homemade salsa, homemade peach yogurt
Dinner: Grilled chicken, mashed garlic potatoes, southwestern corn

Tuesday
Breakfast: Egg McMuffins, green smoothies
Lunch: Grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, applesauce
Dinner: Oriental veggies and rice, grapes

Wednesday
Breakfast: Homemade applesauce muffins, green smoothies
Lunch: Homemade mac-n-cheese, homemade mandarin orange yogurt
Dinner: Taco Salad, fruit salad

Thursday
Breakfast: Eggs over rice, green smoothies
Lunch: Peanut Butter and banana sandwiches, applesauce
Dinner: Black beans, rice and fresh chimole, pineapple salad

Friday
Breakfast: Homemade applesauce muffins, green smoothies
Lunch: Egg Sandwiches, apples
Dinner: Homemade pizza, salad

Saturday
Breakfast: Waffles with strawberries and fresh whip cream
Lunch: Leftovers if there are any
Dinner: Homemade calzones, salad, applesauce

Sunday
Breakfast:  Cold cereal, bananas
Lunch: Leftovers if there are any
Dinner: Lasagna (store bought), salad (made the day before), applesauce

Snacks for the week
homemade banana or applesauce muffins, popcorn, trail mix, smoothies, yogurt, homemade granola bars

I spent $210 on our groceries this week for our family of 11.  This included a few items that will be used for the next couple of weeks.  Some weeks our food bill might hit $300 and there have been some weeks we've actually kept it down to $100.

We save a lot of money during the week by making our own yogurt by the gallon.  It's so super easy that our 9 year old asked to take over that job.  We make three gallons of yogurt a week to use in smoothies, muffins, and fruit yogurt. The cost for a gallon of yogurt is roughly $4 homemade and to get yogurt from the store can cost us around $12 or more for a gallon. Cha-ching!

We also save money buying in bulk.  This week I spent $25 on 15-20lbs of hamburger on sale for a great price.  I then took the portion we are going to use....for this week it would be the taco salad...and put the remainder in the freezer for another week. Next week I will plan a meal with hamburger and I won't have to purchase anymore which might help my food budget be lower next week. Buying flour, rice, sugar and other items we use a lot during our week in bulk saves us money as well and I usually only have to purchase them once a month.  I also have started making our own salad dressing and spice mixes which can add up when we use them so much. 

Lastly, we have been trying to keep our Sundays as relaxing and free from work as we can.  One thing we have cut is a major cooking and dish washing.  Sometimes I will make a freezer meal early in the week that we can just pop in the oven for dinner. Other things we have done is make extra pizzas, chicken or double a meal the night before that we simply reheat for dinner. We tend to just have cold cereal and leftovers that take seconds to make for breakfast and lunch.  Throwaway plates, bowls and silverware keep our dishes to a minimum as well. It has been a great change for our family!

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