Here ya’ go! This what my meal plan has been this week. It’s been crazy to see the rise in food costs and so I hope these ideas help. I have increased my food budget since we paid off our debt! Hallelujah! However, I’m, still trying to very mindful of whatI spend. I tried to keep my food budget around $800 to $850 to feed my family of 8. Due to rise in food prices and now I have two teenagers and an 11 year old that is a bottomless pit, I had to increase my budget to $950. Also, I just really wanted to increase it anyway because I love food! I also, added a category in my budget to go out to eat because now we can! Hurray!
Why am I sharing all of this? There is no one correct amount of money to spend on your groceries. It comes down to ratios and priorities. So, don’t feel guilty if you spend more than your neighbor. If your spending more than you earn on groceries, then let the guilt set in because you might be living a little too wild and free. That kind of thing will later bite you in the bootie!
The Meal Plan
Tuesday- Thai Coconut Shrimp Soup
Wednesday- BBQ chicken tenders and salad
Thursday- Breakfast for dinner- pancakes and eggs (maybe a smoothie)
Friday- Homemade Pizza or Order Pizza if it’s in the budget
Saturday- Salmon, mashed potatoes, carrots, fruit salad (Salmon was on sale last week and so a cheaper option would be a pork or beef roast or you could do meatloaf)
Sunday- Green Chili Enchiladas (tried a new recipe but changed it up and they turned out a little dry and I need to work out the kinks a bit- maybe they need more cheese)
Monday- Hummus chicken with street taco tortillas or pita bread (Found this on Pintrest- look up Fooddolls)
Tuesday- Chicken Noodle Soup
My Meal Plans are Flexible
I want to mention that my meal plan is not always set in stone. Occasionally, life happens (I know crazy, right?!) and I have to adjust. I usually switch around when I make the meals. For example, I made chicken noodle soup on Monday instead of doing it on Tuesday.
The Beauty of meal planning is that you have all the ingredients on hand because you went to the store with a plan and a grocery list. Of course, I forget ingredients, and sometimes I have to make something totally different because I ran out of time. For this reason, I always make sure I have a few staple recipes I can turn to if I have to go rogue and ditch my menu plan. So, choose a couple easy recipes and keep your pantry stocked with those items. However, for the most part I stick to my plan and it makes life a lot easier.
