You’ll notice that I’ve included a number of comfort foods this week, there’s just nothing more satisfying when the weather gets this cold.
I was lucky enough to have a lot of the ingredients on hand so my grocery bill was really low this week, stocking up when prices are low really pays off.
Here’s what our meal plan looks like this week:
Budget Friendly Meal Planning
Macaroni & Cheese with Smokie Links – served with broccoli. I’ve been serving this meal since the kids were little, it has always been one of there favorites especially when we add the smokie links. I have to say the smokie links do add a really like flavor to it.
Leftover Buffet – leftovers are always a great way to save money as well as time.
Loaded Potato Soup – served with Artisan bread. During the winter months I always like to serve soup at least once a week. It’s filling and super easy on the budget! When you’re making the soup, save the potato skins, you can eat them on leftover night. I like to brush them with a little butter and put them in the air fryer and then top them with some cheese.
Chicken Alfredo – served with salad and garlic bread. This is one of the meals that I turn to when I don’t want to slave over the stove. I’ll use leftover chicken, if I have any, which saves even more time.
Leftover Buffet – a number of the meals this week had leftovers so we were able to pull out two nights of leftovers, which lowered or grocery bill quite a bit.
Honey Garlic Salmon – served with rice pilaf and brussels sprouts. I use frozen salmon for this, it’s a great deal cheaper than fresh and it doesn’t taste as fishy. I also use frozen brussels sprouts because of the lower price.
Slow Cooker Carnitas – served with seasoned black beans, tortilla chips and guacamole. This is one of my personal favorites. There’s just something so delicious about the slow cooked seasoned pork that’s then fried to a golden brown and then served on a tortilla with some fresh guacamole.
Download – Week 4: Menu & Shopping List (add new PDF)
Budget Friendly Tips
✔ Make your own flour tortillas. You can make a dozen of them for just pennies, you can make them any size you want and they taste better than anything sitting on the shelves.
✔ To lower your grocery budget even more, trying purchasing salad ingredients separately instead of the salad bags.
✔ Instead of purchasing garlic toast, try making it yourself using leftover bread. If you have any of the Artisan bread leftover that would be perfect for garlic toast. It’s simple to do, just spread with butter and sprinkle with a little garlic salt and toast under a broiler in your oven.
✔ It’s not always a budget friendly move to make your own Alfredo sauce, but sometimes you just need that authentic taste.
✔ Making your own Artisan bread is not only cheaper but tastes so much better when it comes out of your own oven. Plus it’s a lot of fun to get the kids involved.
✔ One way that I keep my grocery bill low is by using coupons for the items that I need. I rarely plan my menu around the coupons that are available, I find that I end up spending more. Instead I create my menu first and then look for coupons that will lower my bill.
Time Saving Tips
✔ If you have any leftovers that haven’t been eaten, freeze them, and pull them out on nights that you don’t feel like cooking. They also make great for lunches!
✔ Spending a little time meal planning can make your life so much easier. It’ll save you time and money, improve your nutrition, it’ll make cooking more manageable and it will give you more control over what you put on the table.
✔ A simple way to save yourself some time in the kitchen is by prepping your food for the week. This can be done by simply washing your fruits, chopping your vegetables or portioning the food for each meal. It’s up to you how much you want to do to save yourself sometime later in the week.
About Our Meal Plan
✔ Our menus are designed to feed a family of four, two adults and two teenage boys. It can also feed two adults and 3-4 young children.
✔ Many of the meals included in our meal plan are budget friendly to begin with, however we do offer tips that will reduce the grocery bill even further.
✔ Our menus do not include breakfast or lunch, but there is space for you to fill in what your family likes. Our family eats a pretty simple meal for breakfast and lunch, like cereal or sandwiches and sometimes leftovers. We don’t make to much of a fuss over it.
✔ Sunday dinner is our biggest meal of the week, that’s when all of the family gets together, so we tend to spend a little more money and include dessert. I try to make enough for leftovers during the week.
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I found your blog at the Happiness Is Homemade linky party, and I am so glad I did! I love your menu plans and recipes! Thanks for sharing them, I will be visiting often from now on!
Welcome! I’m so thrilled that you found us, and that you’re enjoying our menu plans.
Great ideas, I always want – try to budget my food shop : and I’ve tried meal planning but never stick to it especially with my fussy toddler it’d end up being pizza/pasta every night if he had his way or just tomatoes 🍅 #triumphanttales
Slimming world has a really good recipe for healthy homemade tortillas which Im yet to try, that macaroni cheese looks AMAZING!!!
Thank you for sharing this with us at #TriumphantTales. I hope to see you back next week!
I need this kind of organized meal list, but at least I made it to the store before the arctic blast blasted my poor car. What I really like is having things such as pasta, refried and black beans, tortilla chips and shells around to use when you need a good meal but haven’t been able to go shopping.
I’m going to try the slow cooker pork carnitas. It’s weird but the last time I went to our neighborhood Mexican grocery store nobody wanted the pork carnitas so he gave me a huge bag for next to nothing and they were dee licious.
I always have staples on hand too, it is nice to have on hand when you haven’t gone shopping.
Those maybe budget meals, but they sure look yummy. Thanks for sharing with me cuz hubby is laid off right now and things are tighter than tight!
Happy WW from Bethere2day! Wow! Those sound delicious! I think my family would love the Carnitas!
Chicken Alfredo is one of my children’s favorites. #ThursdayFavoriteThings
It’s one of my kids favorites too!
Welcome to Fiesta Friday! So glad that you joined us this week, bringing so many great tips and tricks. This is all so wonderful, because who doesn’t want to save money and time? And you do it so deliciously.
Thank you for the supportive comment!
sounds like you will be eating well, I love that you are sharing your meal plan menu as I do seem to borrow many ideas for our menu at many different places. Thanks again
come see us at Shop Annies
I get my ideas from a number of different places as well! Variety is the spice of life!
Thank you for sharing your wonderful tips and ideas with us over at Fiesta Friday this week! I am with you on prepping food. I have been doing that more and more as my children grow.
Prepping is a good way to get the kids involved as well.
I think it’s fab to plan meals in advance. A great way to save money and plan healthy meals too x #SaturdaySharefest
I totally agree, it’s amazing how much money planning can save!
I really ought to budget and plan better myself! I also want to get my head around batch cooking to make my life easier but I could do with a bigger freezer first! #KCACOLS
I’m always looking to save money and the grocery store is one of the main ways I do it. We make a menu and a list and carry only cash to the store. We don’t buy anything that’s not on the list and spend no more than the cash we have. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for sharing your tips for saving money!
That pasta dish looks delicious! The problem we have in our house is that I’m vegetarian but my husband is not so we tend to buy two versions of most meals. He will eat some veggie stuff or have it as a side but mostly it’s two versions of the same meal, Like earlier in the week we had curry so I made chickpea and spinach in one pan for me and chicken in another for him.
Thanks for sharing these awesome tips #KCACOLS
These are some great tips and recipes. The loaded potato soup sounds good. I love potato soup. I pinned this for later! #KCACOLS
Some great ideas. Love saving the potato skins for later after making the soup. Good Ideas! #KCACOLS
Ooh lovely food, this is making me feel quite hungry now! Great planning, I need to improve my meal planning x #KCACOLS
Yum! I have pinned the Honey Garlic Salmon as it looks and sounds delicious!! #KCACOLS
You pinned a good one, this is a really delicious recipe!
Great meal ideas and also money saving tips. I need to be more organised with our dinners! Thanks for linking up with #KCACOLS, look forward to you joining us again soon.