Stocking-up last week = small grocery bill this week! #mealplanning 9/8 thru 9/13

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 each week is 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 on our meal plan last week so I reduced my inventory accordingly. I also increased my inventory by the items I purchased this week.

Inventory
4 portions ground turkey breast
2 portions ground brisket
2 portions boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 portions sweet Italian sausage
1 portions Beer Brats
2 portions New York Steak
1 portions made-ahead chicken and spinach flautas
1 portion made-ahead chicken enchiladas Verdes
2 portions made-ahead fajita marinade

Next, I shop my pantry, freezer and fridge for ingredients to come up with some meals off our Master Meal List, looking at our family calendar to ensure I wasn't planning on something we had recently eaten. I scan the weekly ad as well as the coupons and Just4U deals from Safeway via the iPhone app 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

Hawaiian burgers

I had a Just4U deal for fresh pineapple (making the whole pineapple only $1.99) and Nature's Pride hamburgers buns (only $2.00) and immediately thought of making Hawaiian turkey burgers. I have the ginger, garlic, soy sauce, hoisen, and sesame oil on hand to complete the recipe. I'll serve fresh fruit and/or chips with the burgers.

New York strip steaks and Balsamic potatoes

We are hosting friends from out of town so it was a no-brainer to take advantage of the New York strip steaks on sale. I only needed half the steaks in the package so, I have another portion to freeze for when my family is in town later in the week. I have all the ingredients on hand to make my Balsamic potatoes so I'll serve those. Our friends are bringing fresh corn to grill and dessert. Yum!

Leftovers

Brats and baked tator tots

With another busy week of school coming up (Back2School night, first PTA meeting, and two afterschool play dates), I decided to pull the package of Beer Brats and two Hoagie rolls from my freezer for a super quick weeknight meal. I'll serve it with tator tots I have on hand.

Grilled chicken sandwiches

We always have a meal on the menu using some of the chicken we grill over the weekend and this week I decided to do chicken sandwiches because buns were on sale, I have an abundance of Organic Romaine lettuce in my garden, and they are about the easiest meal to have.

Anniversary dinner out

Spaghetti with Italian sausage

I'm using my frozen package of Italian sausage along with some onion & garlic and jarred pasta sauce I have on hand to whip up a quick sauce to serve over the whole wheat linguine I have on hand for an easy meal later in the week. 

What did I purchase this week?

Did you notice this photo was taken in my dining room instead of crammed ontop of my kitchen counters? Yep, we finally unpacked every last box, got all the portraits up on the wall, and my dining room table of all the clutter that didn't have a home so, it's now ready for things like groceries and homework!

Anyhow, back to meal planning! 

 

Because I stocked-up so well last week, my grocery list was very short this week; however, I still took advantage of the "BOGO" deals at Safeway this week including: Jenny-O ground turkey, vegetable oil, toaster strudel, Stubb's chicken marinade, Orowheat English muffins, and Vlasic pickles and spent $131.04.

Some other great deals this week were:

• Bone-in New York strip steaks $4.99/lb plus just4u deal of $3.99/lb AND a coupon for $5.00 off your purchase of Rancher's Reserve beef of $20 or more. 
• Pantry Essentials bacon normally $3.99ea, just4u deal made it $1.99ea, limit 1
• 6pk Lucerne yogurt just4u deal $1.88ea, limit 2
• 5lb green, seedless grapes only $5.00
• 56oz Tropicana orange juice only $5.00
• 114ct Gordon's fish sticks normally $13.99, just4u deal made it $9.99
• Nature's Pride hamburger buns on sale 2@$5 plus just4u deal of $0.50 off
• "O" organic frozen vegetables normally $3.99ea were only $0.99ea because I had a $2.00off coupon when you purchase 2 or more

I also purchased our weekly milk, eggs, yogurt, deli meat, and fresh produce (only purchased produce at Safeway this week b/c Dan's was low or out of all the normal berries & citrus I normally purchase) for the week.