This Week's Menu

I had a request to post my menu and explain how I'm planning on doing it with a $50 a week food budget. I'm only going to post Monday through Thursday but I've been making my menu plan Friday through Thursday. Aaron is off on Friday's so that is kind of the start of my weekend.



Mon- Enchiladas and Beans ( I'll be making several pans of Enchiladas for The Kitchen Fairy http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Kitchen-Fairy/289155151121 so I'll make a pan for us. The beans I have in the freezer, I cook a big pot at a time and freeze them in bags. Beans freeze wonderfully and thaw quickly)

Tues- Spaghetti ( Saturday night I made Strombolli, we like to dip ours in Marinara sauce so I'm going to add the leftover marinara to some ground beef and cook some pasta. The canned tomatoes used in the marianara were bought for 25 cents to 50 cents a piece when on sale and were in my stockpile so they didn't come out of this week's budget. The same goes for the ground beef and pasta, it too was bought during a previous sale I had stocked up on. I'll probably make some garlic bread, I have that in the freezer too because Kroger keeps a clearance bread rack so I stock up everytime I'm there.)

Wed- Mini Meatloaves ( When I make these for The Kitchen Fairy I put some aside and freeze for us because they too freeze beautifully and thaw quickly. I'll probably make some mashed potatoes to go with it, potates have been on sale a lot lately and they keep in the fridge for a long time so I've got plenty. I'll pull a bag of frozen veggies out to steam also, they rarely go on sale but the Kroger brand is only 88 cents a bag.)

Thurs- Shredded Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches & French Fries ( This is a new recipe I have yet to try, I got it from a fellow menu planner of Facebook I'll repost it below. The buns are in my freezer I bought them clearanced out at HEB for 50 cents a bag. We'll have french fries to go with it, even when the name brand is on sale it's still not as cheap as the store brand and store brand french fries are one thing I don't mind.


Lunches will be leftovers for Aaron and for us it varies between sandwiches, canned or Ramen Noodle soup and sandwiches. I always keep fresh veggies and fruits that I cut up and serve with most of our meals.

Breakfast will be alternated between cereal (I stockpile that when it' on sale and I have coupons to combine with it), waffles (I have a freezer full because they were on sale last week) and I'm going to try my hand at making pancakes again. If the pancakes turn out well I'll make a bunch on my griddle and freeze them for quick breakfasts in the future.


Shredded Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches in the crockpot.

Recipe:
4 boneless & skinless chicken breasts, a bottle of buffalo wing sauce (about 17.5 oz), 1/2 of a 1oz dry ranch salad dressing packet. Mix the dry ranch & hot sauce together. Put the chicken breasts in a large freezer bag & pour the sauce on top, then freeze.

Thaw in the fridge or on the defrost setting in the microwave. Dump it into your crockpot & cook on low for 6-8 hours. Shred with 2 forks, & serve on a bun. This is also really good as a buffalo chicken pizza!

I'll post the following weeks menu when I get it planned.