$200/MONTH MENU PLAN FOR OUR FAMILY OF 5 (POST #21)

So, I have some exciting news…..I’m pregnant!  And yes, that is why I’ve not been posting quite as much and why this menu is getting posted on a Monday instead of a Friday or Saturday.  

I’ve not been feeling very well,so the blog is just getting put on the back burner a bit while I try to do the basics and rest. I’m almost 12 weeks along and that usually means I start to feel better, so I’m hopeful that in the next week I’ll be back to feeling a bit more like my usual self.

This menu plan should probably be called the survival menu plan.  It’s a bit more basic than many of my menus and uses more convenience food than normal too.  I’m sure you understand why!  🙂  

Actually, many evenings my kind husband was the one who got dinner or at least did the brunt of it.  Most of the time I didn’t really care what we had as long as I didn’t have to think about preparing it!

If you are new to these menu plans of mine, it’s probably helpful to know a couple of things first:

• Our family of five consists of two adults with fairly big appetites, a 7-year-old boy, a 4-year-old girl and a 22-month-old girl.
• I buy lots of fruits and veggies in bulk from local farmers/orchards in the summer and then freeze or can them. This is not only much cheaper it is also healthier too. But that is why if you look at my Weekly Spending Summaries you won’t always see lots of produce.
• I have a stockpile.  My cupboards are full from previous shopping and here’s why. When I can get pasta for free with coupons, I buy as much as I have coupons for.  If I’m able to get flour for $0.50/bag like I did last fall, I’ll buy half a dozen and put them in the freezer to use as needed.  I do this as much as my budget allows, on as many items as I can and as a result save lots of money. Then when I go to plan menus, I simply plan our meals around what I already have in my cupboards and freezer, as much as possible.  Obviously, I still might have to buy a few things at regular price here and there, but by stocking up when the price is at rock bottom I save a lot.
• I cook almost totally from scratch.  That means when I make a cake, I rarely use a cake mix.  I make my own bread totally from scratch.  I rarely use pre-packaged sauces.  I make my own cream soups and pie crusts.  Making your own food is typically less expensive and healthier too.
• We rarely snack.  By eating “heavy” food like granola at breakfast we don’t get hungry until lunchtime.  And the same goes for the afternoon.  Our lunches are big enough that we usually are fine until dinner time.  When we do need a snack, I try to keep it mostly healthy by offering fruit, nuts or maybe No Bake Energy Bites.  We don’t always do it perfectly though and sometimes end up having chips or cookies instead.
• Our breakfasts consist of Easy Homemade Granola or Baked Oatmeal, the occasional bought cereal that I was able to get for $0.50/box and sometimes some fruit too.  I know that might seem awfully boring to some of you, but we actually all really enjoy it and prefer it over other breakfast food.  I also have a homemade iced coffee, homemade frappe or some other fun beverage every morning.  It’s just one of the little things that I do to add a bit of sunshine to my days!

Below you will find our lunches and dinners.  (If we ate something other than our usual breakfast, I’ll note that too.)  Monday through Friday, 2 days a week the lunches are just for the two youngest and I, the other 3 days my husband joins us.  

Our son gets lunch at school and 3 days a week my husband takes a packed lunch with him to school/work.  His lunch typically consists of sandwiches, fruit, homemade yogurt and sometimes random leftovers too.

WEEK 1
Sunday

• Ate at my in-law’s
• Eggs; Easy Fruit Smoothie

Monday

• Various Leftovers; Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches; Frozen Blueberries (I preserved)
• Leftover Asiago Bisque; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Homemade Applesauce; Homemade Cookies (from the freezer)

Tuesday

• Meat & Cheese Sandwiches made with Homemade Bread; Homemade Yogurt; Frozen Crushed Strawberries (I preserved); Home Canned Peaches
• General Tso’s Chicken (used a Sun Bird brand mix); Tikka Masala with chicken (used a Seeds of Change brand mix); Rice; Green Beans; Homemade Applesauce; No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecakes
  – I got the two chicken mixes free with coupons several months ago. I knew that the kids wouldn’t like the General Tso’s, so I went ahead and made the Tikka Masala too so that we would all have something we liked.

Wednesday

• Various Leftovers; Frozen Crushed Strawberries (I preserved); Frozen Blueberries (I preserved)
• Creamy Cauliflower Cheese Soup; Lettuce Salad; Homemade Applesauce; No Bake Pumpkin Cheesecakes
  – I wasn’t able to find any similar recipes to the Creamy Cauliflower Cheese Soup online- hopefully sometimes I’ll get the one I use posted to the blog!

Thursday

• Meat & Cheese Sandwiches made with Homemade Bread; Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches; Frozen Blueberries (I preserved)
• Cheeseburger Casserole; Peas; Homemade Applesauce

Friday

• Meat & Cheese Sandwiches made with Homemade Bread; Homemade Yogurt; Bananas; Home Canned Peaches
• KidFresh Chicken Nuggets; McCain Smiles Shaped Potatoes; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Homemade Applesauce; Turkey Hill All Natural Ice Cream with Homemade Chocolate Syrup
  – I was able to get the KidFresh nuggets free with coupons recently….instead of using them as kid-only food, we all enjoy them! The McCain Smiles were also free after coupons.

Saturday

• Easy Vegetable Beef Soup; Homemade 100% Whole Wheat Bread; Homemade Yogurt; Apples; Banana
• Eggs; Toasted Homemade Bread; Sausage; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing

WEEK 2
Sunday

• Ham Loaf (comes pre-made- I just make a glaze for it); Baked Potatoes & Sweet Potatoes; Green Beans; Homemade Applesauce
• Homemade Grilled Chicken Salad Sandwiches made with Homemade Bread; Easy Fruit Smoothie

Monday

• Various Leftovers; Homemade Yogurt; Frozen Blueberries (I preserved); Home Canned Peaches
• Creamy Crockpot Mexican Chicken; Green Beans; Homemade Applesauce; Homemade Yellow Cake with Homemade Icing

Tuesday

• Meat & Cheese Sandwiches made with Homemade Bread; Homemade Yogurt; Bananas; Home Canned Peaches
• Hamburgers (pre-made ones that I got cheap at a local discount grocery store- they were really good!); Lettuce Salad; Homemade Applesauce

Wednesday

• Meat & Cheese Sandwiches made with Homemade Bread; Homemade Yogurt; Frozen Blueberries (I preserved); Home Canned Peaches
• Ate out at Red Robin- used our daughter’s free birthday meal!

Thursday

• Various Leftovers; Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches; Apples
• Salmon Soup (sort of like oyster soup, but uses canned salmon instead); Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Homemade Applesauce; Leftover Homemade Yellow Cake

Friday

• Meat & Cheese Sandwiches made with Homemade Bread; Homemade Yogurt; Frozen Blueberries (I preserved); Apples
• Hot Dogs/Rolls/ Toppings; Lettuce Salad; Homemade Applesauce; Turkey Hill All Natural Ice Cream

Saturday

• Soup (a sweet friend dropped off for us!); Lettuce Salad; Homemade Yogurt; Home Canned Peaches; Apples
• Domino’s Pizza; Lettuce Salad with Mexican Dressing; Hummus/Chips/Veggies (friends brought); Homemade Applesauce; Cinnamon Rolls (my mom-in-law made and shared with us)
  – Some friends shared dinner and the evening with us. My hubby said that he’d buy pizza with some of his grad gift money so that I didn’t need to think about making food. So sweet of him! And for whatever it’s worth, we love how ungreasy Domino’s pizza is. It is also reasonably priced. You can get two medium 2-topping pizzas for just $5.99 each- a super good deal!