Meal Plan Monday.....January 11th Edition....Using my Food Budget to Stock-Up A Bit

Last Week's Menu Postmortem...

We had about half of the meals as I had planned them.  Some nights we just didn't feel like what was slated and I have so much in my freezer and stockpile that we just substituted something else I already have on hand or we worked on some leftovers.
One dinner that was a last minute substitution was GREAT!  I had a roll of Italian Sausage....not links but a loose sausage meat roll.  This had been hanging out in the freezer door too long so it had to get used.  What I did was brown and crumble the meat, then I boiled a box of Whole Wheat Penne Pasta and made a pot of Spaghetti Sauce from scratch and added the sausage meat to that.  Dump the Penne and the Sauce into a casserole and top with Shredded Mozzarella.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes.  Add a salad and you've got a tasty, hearty, cold weather beater dinner!  And better still, no money was spent this week on it.

I've moved a few of the meals to this week, and adjusted my plan to accomodate the relative that is visiting us this week.

Here's what I will be serving our family of 6 this Week.....

MONDAY--Fried Calamari(freezer), Garlic Shells in Butter Sauce(stockpile), Carrots(freezer)
TUESDAY--Taking the Relative out for Dinner
WEDNESDAY--Boston Baked Beans(stockpile),Cornbread(stockpile)
THURSDAY--Pork Ragu(stockpile/freezer) Garlic Bread, Creamed Spinach(freezer)
FRIDAY--Chicken Alfredo with Vegetables(freezer/leftover/stockpile)
SATURDAY--Leftovers-only 2 family members home for dinner
SUNDAY--Roast Chicken, Roast Veggies, Mashed Potatoes(freezer/stockpile)
SNACKS/DESSERTS--Pineapple(stockpile), Applesauce(stockpile), Brownies(stockpile), Birthday Cake(stockpile)

Last week I spent $88.44 on food/toiletries....$73.05 at Weis, $7.26 at Rite-Aid, $7.13 at Carone's and $1.00 at CVS.
$32.88 that was spent, was for food/toiletry needs that were used in that week.  $55.56 was in future needs/wants.  About half of that $55.56 was on meat which I got very inexpensively.

After assorted rebates on the goods purchased(naked juice, kraft/planters nuts, full price rebate on shampoo, various items for Rite-Aid Single Check Rebate)amounting to $37.99, my OOP spending for the week is $50.45.

Food Waste Report....1 small cube of cheese(about 1"x 1"x1/2" thick)that wasn't worth scraping the mold off of and 1 slice of bread(a heel)that went moldy too.

Since I bought Molasses last week, this week's menu only requires milk, sliced cheese(for #2 son's back up meal of choice-grilled cheese)and bread stock-up. I do want to stock-up on more Progresso Soup on sale this week at Weis as well as more Naked Juice to do the rebate for BIL.
$25 should do it for weekly needs so I'll reserve the other $37.50 of the food budget for stock-ups if I find something worth getting at a good price.

I think that next week, after #1 son goes back to college and the relative leaves, I'm going to have a NO Grocery Store Shopping Week.  I hope Weis doesn't decide to do a rare good Catalina Deal next week!lolol

Check out ORGANIZING JUNKIE to see what other Home Cooks are serving this week.

Sluggy