Welcome to my weekly series, What We Ate this Week on our Budget. Grocery spending can get out of hand quickly, so I post our weekly menu to ensure that I am planning it weekly. Our monthly grocery budget for my family of 4 is $500. It’s a tight budget and I failed miserably recently, but we have lots of financial goals, so I need to get it back in line.
This Week in the Kitchen:
In an effort to save time and money, I’m trying to add either meals or ingredients to my freezer each week. This week at the grocery store, I found a whole chicken marked down to a nice price. I cooked it in my Instant Pot (look for the directions on Monday 10/23/17), and used the meat for Tuesday night’s dinner. I put the rest in the freezer for later use in soups, enchiladas, and/or quesadillas.
This Week’s Dinners:
Sunday: We had many activities going on, so it was a fend for yourself kind of night. My husband and I had leftovers, one daughter had breakfast-for-dinner, and the other daughter had a can of soup.
Monday:
- Goulash – This recipe called for 2 cups of dried pasta, but I added more stock and used an entire 16 oz box.
- garden salad
Tuesday:
- Chicken, Sweet Potato, Black Bean Quesadillas
- garden salad
- homemade sugar-free applesauce
Wednesday: leftover night
Thursday: Chicken & Broccoli Alfredo. My oldest daughter likes to grocery shop with me and requested Alfredo sauce on our last trip. I sauteed chicken tenderloins and once they were cooked through, I added a jar of store bought Alfredo sauce. As the sauce heated up, I cooked thin spaghetti noodles and added a bag of broccoli florets to the boiling water the last 5 minutes that the noodles cooked. Before draining the pasta/broccoli, I added some of the water to the Alfredo sauce to thin it out. This dinner was super easy and everyone loved it.
Note to self: listen to daughter more often! 😉
Friday: Grilled pork chops, sweet potatoes, garden salad.
Saturday: I will be at a conference all day that will extend to dinner. My husband and kids will be on their own and most likely go out for dinner.
This Week’s Breakfasts, Lunches, and Snacks:
Breakfasts included cereal, eggs & toast. Lunches included leftovers (goulash, quesadillas, and Alfredo), sandwiches, chicken nuggets, apples, carrots with ranch dressing, pretzels, granola bars, and yogurt sticks.
What did you make this week that your family enjoyed? I’m always looking for new recipes. Please share in the comments.
