I have been wanting to begin posting my menus again for several weeks now, but have not achieved it yet. It helps keep me accountable to compile and print it out each week. Here we go again! I love getting inspiration from others eating nutritionally on a budget (which has been my pursuit) so therefore, I thought I would return the favor, if it is any help at all!
This week is my final week of the month before my monthly grocery shopping trip, so I am pretty low on most items, and will be using what I have! I am low on all my fruit (so smoothies and applesauce this week!), but I wanted to try an experiment of making my budget stretch even more by not taking another trip to the store. I will sharing more this week on simplifying menu planning in continuation of my simplifying series on Wednesday.
Michele at Frugal Granola inspired me awhile back to start including preparation steps in my menu planning. These have been so helpful to remind me of any soaking that needs to take place, or for any things that need to be taken out of the freezer. Thanks Michele!
Monday
Sunday evening prep: soak kidney beans (for taco salad) & navy beans (for baked beans)
Monday morning prep: soak oatmeal & black beans for Tuesday, cook navy beans
Breakfast: Kefir Smoothie, applesauce bread
Lunch: Leftover Vegi Soup, toast
Dinner: Taco Salad (gr. Turkey, kidney beans, eggs, lettuce, cheese, olives)
Tuesday
Prep: soak rice (for dinner), make baked beans for lunch, thaw chicken for dinner
Breakfast: Oatmeal, raisins, apples
Lunch: Hot Dogs, baked beans, applesauce, celery sticks (peanut butter & raisins)
Dinner: Chicken Curry, Quinoa & Black Beans, Naan, Salad
Wednesday
Prep: thaw lentils for dinner, cook eggs for lunch, soak oatmeal for Thursday
Breakfast: Smoothie, whole wheat cinnamon rolls (a special treat for the hubby!)
Lunch: Egg Salad Sandwiches, oranges
Dinner: Lentil & Rice Casserole, steamed vegi (gr. Beans, peas, corn)
Thursday
Prep: make refried beans for dinner w/leftover kidneys
Breakfast: Oatmeal, apples, raisins
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Burritos
Friday
Prep: soak pancakes for Saturday, thaw buns & gr beef for dinner
Breakfast: Eggs, smoothie
Lunch: Peanut Butter & Jelly, applesauce, celery sticks
Dinner: Hamburgers, baked beans, salad
Saturday
Breakfast: Pancakes -the hubby’s favorite, topped with peanut butter & maple syrup!
Leftovers
I am excited to share my chicken curry dish later on this week…I have been experimenting with it and it is very authentic tasting (thanks to my sister Christa’s inspiration and tips!). It is actually very frugal as well!
As I looked at your menu, I almost sighed with relief. A lot of other nourishing food blogs I follow have such detailed, work-intensive menus that I just want to cry when I look at them! As much as I want to eat and feed my 1 year old son and husband nourishing foods, I DO NOT want to spend all day every day in the kitchen!!! Thanks for the encouragement
Yes, you’ll find only easy simple home cooking here!
Thanks for the sample, it is really helping learn to plan better:) One ? for the Kidney beans for your taco salad, do the beans need not to be soaked overnight like other beans?
Hey Lindsay! Looks like and AWESOME cinn roll recipe…do you use soft wheat or hard wheat?
Thanks!!!
I used half soft wheat and half kamut. Worked great!
Your menu sounds great! I really like how you listed out your prep work. I need to do that. Many times I’ve had to switch my menu because I forgot to do something ahead of time. Having it planned out on my menu would help me for sure!
Have a blessed week!
Hi!!!!
I’ve been meaning to introduce myself. I have really appreciated your blog. I am also a thrifty nourishing traditions devotee who lives in Portland, and a believer as well!!! AND I just met the Frugal Granola at the park today to boot!!!! Well, I just wanted to comment and say that I too, love looking at everyone’s weekly plans. I have been doing that for about 18 months now and I have to say, it gives me so much peace knowing that I have a plan for what to feed my family. Recently, however, my paradigm has shifted from “what do I want to make” to “what do I have on hand, and what can I do with it!” I have learned how to be very creative and am known to do many “extreme leftover makeovers” which are fun. Not having a microwave forces me to do many creative things with my leftovers. Thanks for all you do on your blog. May I add you to my roll?
Carrie, oh how fun! I love meeting other local gals and sharing ideas! I enjoyed visiting your site as well!
Welcome to MPM! I know you will enjoy it here and we will enjoy having you hear. Always so good to hear and learn from others. I love your frugal menu planning!
What kind of hotdogs do you eat? Ever tried Hebrew National? I heard they were the best to eat. none of the junk the other brands have. Supposedly kosher etc. We very rarely eat hotdogs. Maybe once a year. Scarily enough, usually at a cook out!
We eat nitrate free beef hot dogs (no added artificial junk), as I try to avoid pork. We get them from our local Trader Joes and they are simply wonderful! They are Aaron’s favorite, so it is a way to serve the hubby! They are a bit prizy, at $4 for 8 hotdogs, but I make them stretch, and we only have them once a week for a month.
Yep we don’t eat any pork, seafood etc. I allergic to seafood, but I do not believe eating creatures that eat
garbage from the sea is God’s will. We’ve even steered away from red meat. Have you cooked w/Tofu yet?
Love the Maker’s diet too. Have you read The Foods Jesus would eat? I’ll have to check. the author tho. Don Colbert maybe?
I was at the store on Saturday and I thought of you! There’s a brand of lunchmeat, called Boars head, that is nitrate free, no hormones etc. And VERY heart healthy. It’s a bit pricey. For turkey breast it’s $8.99/lbs. But OH so worth it! Not sure if you have this brand or not. Where we live (East coast) We have Giant foods, and I know Publix carries it. We don’t have a Trader Joe’s. About the only store we have that I’ve heard of out of state is Wegman’s. But I never been there, yet!
$4 for hotdogs isn’t bad tho. I think they are about $2.99 or something around here.
Your blog is such an inspiration for me! I am so glad that you are posting your menus. I love your recipes…the ones I have tried anyway. We are trying to eat less meat (to save money and encorporate more fiber to our diet) so I am intrigued by your lentil and rice casserole and other veg. meals. I’d love the recipe.
New to your site. Followed a trail from Sue Greggs site. I am so happy to find others who share the same eating/budget idea’s I do. I also can’t wait for the chicken curry recipe.
Blessings. Beth Ann
Sounds like a great week! Don’t those cinnamon rolls sound amazing!
You are inspiring me, Lindsay! I am thinking about posting my menus on my blog, also. Maybe that will keep me accountable! Looking forward to the curry chicken recipe. (I noticed naan on your menu – do you make it or do you buy it?)
I just added the naan recipe that I would like to try this week, if I have the time. Otherwise I have purchased whole wheat Naan in the past from Trader Joes, which is excellent.
I like the idea of adding the prep work to the menu planning. Right now, my prep work would be ‘take meat out of freezer’, but I may find in listing it, there there is more prep work I could be doing ahead of time.
Thank for sharing your recipe.
You’re welcome!
Thanks for the link to my blog.
What a great frugal menu for the week! I’m really looking forward to your curry recipe. We love curry!
Will you be using homemade bread for your sandwiches, or do you buy it?
Now I need to go finish up my menu plan for the week… I’m dawdling around looking at everyone else’s instead!
Blessings,
Michele
Yes, I will be using my homemade bread recipe! I love it! Yummy! I like to thinly slice it for all my sandwiches, french toast, and the like.