Eating Gourmet for $50 a Week

 

We have been on a budget ever since my husband lost his job a few years ago (Praise the Lord he has a full-time position now!). We have found that using cash has helped us not to overspend on groceries, eating out, and other things. Our grocery budget was $300/month a while ago, but with food costing more, we raised it to $350 or sometimes $400/month. We don't really eat out ever, so this is pretty much all the food we eat in a month. As we were looking where to cut our expenses so we could finish paying off our debt, I thought there just had to be a way to spend less at the grocery store. We really only buy what's on sale and occasionally make an impulse buy, but we don't eat expensive pre-made or processed foods, and we don't really have snacks around, so how could I spend less? I think/hope the key is menu planning. My goal for the new year is to plan our menu for the week every week before going to the store. I'm sure many of you do this already, but I haven't been good about it.

After looking at the sales at the stores nearby and what I have in the house, here is my first dinner menu for 2013. Lunches are pretty simple since my hubby takes the same PB and honey sandwich, apple, and carrots (whole carrots, not baby carrots, which are a rip off) to work every day. Breakfasts are eggs or oatmeal or both and fruit. My goal is to keep it under $50/week including stock-up items like flour and the Costco peanut butter we buy.

Monday: Bacon-wrapped meatloaf (Pioneer Woman recipe) with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli

Find the recipe at Pioneer Woman. I'm halving the recipe since it's just two adults and leaving out the Parmesan but otherwise keeping everything else the same.

Tuesday: Leftover meatloaf sandwiches on good white bread with green salad

Wednesday: Baked chicken taquitos, cilantro rice, and salad

I've found that Costco rotisserie chickens are the way to go. For $5, I am using it for 3 meals this week!

For the taquitos, I'm not sure how I'll make them exactly (I'll post the recipe next week). All I know at this point is that I need to use up my corn tortillas and I will use some of the rotisserie chicken and cilantro in the filling.

Thursday: Quinoa salad with chicken

Cooked quinoa, seeded and diced cucumbers and tomatoes, any other veggies I have on hand, chopped parsley, cooked chicken, Greek dressing (I'm using store bought).

Friday: Asian chicken with broccoli and rice

I usually make this up using one or more of the following sauces: fish sauce, hoisin sauce, dark and regular soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, ginger, and garlic. It turns out really good if you use chicken that's already been cooked and just throw it in at the end. Cilantro over the top can sometimes add a nice freshness.

Check back next week to see how I did!