Meal Plan Monday

I made it through August with $8.00 to spare in my $350 grocery and household budget challenge for August. The last week of August I was really quite lazy and just couldn't be bothered to stop at the grocery store, and bought one large zucchini at a farm stand. This was not achieved without complaints from DD2 that there was "nothing to eat." Well, there really was plenty, which was why my laziness was not at the expense of starving my family, and we ate meals of sorts for suppers, she had cereal, toast or muffins for breakfast, and sandwiches or leftovers for lunch. I don't think I can recall at all what I ate, but probably a combination of leftovers, fruit, maybe some tortillas and cheese. I spent way more than I needed/should have for the lake, cutting into our budget for this month pretty substantially. I'm budgeting $400 total grocery and household, plus I'll put $50 per month in DD2's lunch account. That still should be ample as I have enough odds and ends left from last month, a few frozen proteins and pantry staples. DH brought a few items home with him from the lake-I don't know what and how much they used on Sunday, probably most of the hamburgers I bought. I have a sister-in-law that seems to conveniently forget things she intends to serve, and she has five in her family, three of whom are adult men.

I digress. Estimating what I'll need for laundry, cleaner, and personal, I am left with an average of $63 per week for grocery food items. I spent $33 last night after being with my nieces kids on a few odds and ends at our local store-kills me to spend those prices after shopping at Aldi's, but the Aldi's is 12 miles up the highway and I only stop on my way home from work. I'll make this work though as we have bigger and better plans for our funds this month. I'm going to make a load of pumpkin bread and muffins for the freezer today, which will stretch over a couple weeks. I stocked up on cereal, oatmeal, french toast sticks,and yogurt so  breakfasts are covered for a couple weeks. Lunches of course will be leftovers, plus the odd sandwich, salad, or wrap. Here's the sort of meal plan for the week suppers. * means I need to add items to the grocery list.  I'll use the crock pot this week for some things so meals are ready when we want.

Sunday- Chow mein, rice, noodles (bought as part of the bits Sunday night)
Monday-Vegetarian chili, crackers, with cheese and sour cream*
Tuesday-Goulash with green beans and corn
Wednesday-Tomato soup and grilled cheese or egg salad sandwiches-bread*
Thursday-chicken*, sweet potato* wedges, zucchini
Friday- Taco's with hamburger*, rice, cheese, refried beans, lettuce*, salsa*, sour cream, and guacamole*
Saturday-Nothing for DH and I as an Italian buffet dinner is being served on our wine club complimentary wine cruise, frozen pizza* for DD2 and friend

My $30 remainder for this week needs to cover chicken, sweet potatoes, more hamburger, more eggs, lettuce,avocados, a frozen pizza and fresh fruit, so doable, but tight. Next week I'll have few pantry items left so will need to be more strategic. I'll have chicken and cheese to carry forward into the following week, so that should help. Over spending labor day weekend took a bite out of my budget, but I won't be deterred. In hopes of being more organized this school year, my Monday menu might be a regular feature. What's on your menu this week?