A brand new format: #mealplanning 7/14 thru 7/20

Brand new to Meal Planning?

Start by reading all about Meal Planning (scroll down to "A Day in My Life" on the right-hand side of this page and click Meal Planning: How To Get Started or just click here) in order to familiarize yourself with the steps! There, you will find a link to a detailed example of my own weekly meal planning where I walk you through step-by-step.
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The first thing I do on Saturday mornings is to look back over the week to see if we did indeed eat everything on my meal plan and adjust my inventory, reducing it by what we ate and increasing it by anything I purchased and/or made-ahead. We did eat everything planned. I used the boneless, skinless chicken thighs to make a double-batch of my chicken & spinach flautas, freezing 1 portion for future use, reflected in my inventory below. With the boneless, skinless chicken breasts I purchased today, I made 3 portions of chicken enchiladas Verdes also reflected in my inventory below.

Inventory
6 portions ground turkey breast
2 portion boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 portions colossal shrimp
1 portion made-ahead shredded chicken thighs
3 portion made-ahead chicken enchiladas Verdes

Next, I shop my pantry, freezer and fridge for ingredients to come up with some meals, looking at our family calendar to ensure I wasn't planning on something we had recently eaten. I scanned the weekly ad to see what was on sale that might complement and/or substitute for what I had come up with and of course, how to stretch ingredients over enough meals to use them up.


Weekly Meal Plan
Chicken enchiladas Verdes with chips & guacamole
Chicken enchiladas Verdes are a favorite in our home; I had the jarred green salsa and cilantro on hand and block Monterey Jack cheese ($5 for 32oz), corn tortillas ($1.29), and limes ($0.39), were on sale. I purchased only enough boneless, skinless chicken breasts to make this meal (and two others this week) as they weren't on sale ($2.49/lb) as well as sour cream to make this meal. We have chips as well as leftover red onion and avacado was still on sale 4@$5 so a side dish of chips with guacamole was added. I made a triple batch to have two to freeze for later.
 
Orange chicken and broccoli over brown rice
We love orange chicken and I found a new recipe to try that has you make the sauce from scratch; I had all the flour, seasonings, oranges, and brown rice on hand leaving me only needing to purchase canned tomato sauce (on sale 4@$2). A head of Organic broccoli was only $0.99 so I'll add that to the meal.
 
Sloppy Joe's with baked tator tots
I have the sauce and ground turkey breast on hand and whole wheat hamburger buns were on sale 2@$5 PLUS I had a Just4U coupon for another $1.00 off. Tator tots were added as a side since I had them in my freezer. 
 
Leftovers
 
Grilled chicken and corn salad
We grill chicken every weekend to have for the week's lunches and to easily add to other meals. I had David roast/smoke ears of corn (3@$0.99) along with the chicken and used both to make a grilled chicken salad with leftover Spring Mix from last week and the dried cranberries, croutons, carrots, tomatoes, and ingredients I had on hand to make a home-made fresh herb vinaigrette dressing.
 
Pesto chicken pizzas
With the leftover fresh basil as well as the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese I purchased last week, I made basil pesto (I had pine nuts in my freezer). I have bread flour, yeast, and salt on hand to make home-made pizza dough and will use some of the chicken David grilled to top the pizza. I'll garnish with the fresh tomatoes I purchased today as well as the 32oz block of Mozzarella cheese I purchased for $5 today.
 
Crockpot shredded spicy pork over baked potatoes with a salad
Boneless pork shoulder was on sale $2.49/lb and I had a Just4U deal making it only $1.99/lb so I purchased a 4lb roast to put in my Crockpot along with the Baja Chipotle sauce and BBQ sauce I purchased last month. I have onion, mustard, and other seasonings on hand for the pork. I'll serve it shredded over baked potatoes (Yukon gold potatoes were on sale $0.99/lb) and use up the remaining Spring mix and home-made fresh herb vinaigrette dressing for a side salad.

What did I purchase this week?
I only spent $164.49 this week. The bulk of my budget went to fresh, Organic produce: apples, peaches, berries, tomatoes, corn, broccoli, watermelon, spaghetti squash, limes, potatoes, an onion and a jalapeno. With a 13 month old who can put down 2 pints of fruit a day, I worry my $150/wk budget might not be enough! :) I also purchased our weekly deli ham & turkey, milk, eggs (got those FREE with Just4U!), and cheese (32oz blocks only $5, no limit). We were low on nuts so at a discount of $2/lb I purchased 1lb of almonds and cashews. These are a great snack for everyone! I also purchased a few things that don't expire any time soon that were on a great sale including: Kraft sliced American cheese (Buy 1 Get 1 Free), Tostios chips (2@$6 plus another $0.50 each bag from Just4U), Rice Crispies cereal ($1.88), and Odwalla juice & smoothies ($1.00 each).

Comments

  1. I really need to get organized! Then I wouldn't be in a pinch at the end of a long day.

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