My first go at meal planning

With money getting tight around here I looked at my finances to see where I could cut back, the three big ones were, eating out, grocery's, and gas.  I had already been watching my gas so that one couldn't be helped much but the other two, I knew I could do something about. I sat myself down and looked at  anything to do with pre-made meals, freezer meals, crock-pot meals, meal planning etc. I was over loaded with information and ideas and was running out of time (my kitchen was empty!)  I wrote down things I would like to make and what ingredients they all would need and even tried to  plan what days I would eat them (Ha! like that happened) Looking back I was a little overwhelmed and rushed (all of which I did to myself) but I planned the next two weeks of breakfast, lunches and dinners and went to work.
First I'll share my menu.

Breakfast could be anyone of the following; Oatmeal, Quinoa porridge, breakfast sandwiches, homemade pop-tart, or a breakfast shake.

Lunch Items were either a salad, or stir-fry  and on weekends it was either clam chowder or split pea soup.

Dinner menu sounded like this;
Beef stroganoff with roasted zucchini.
Meatloaf with Dijon roasted potatoes and green beans.
Burrito pie (your typical burrito ingredients but assembled like a lasagna , so I could use corn tortillas)
Orange chicken, rice and broccoli
Chicken pot pie
Lemon baked chicken with mushroom and asparagus risotto
Honey mustard chicken with salad
Shepherds pie
Honey sesame chicken, rice, and broccoli
Meatloaf with mash potatoes and green beans
Chicken pot pie
And on Saturday nights we would have whatever soup was made for the weekend and a salad.

Snack options were; Frozen yogurt drops, homemade chicken toquitos, peanut butter granola bars, a protein shake, meatballs, and fruit.

Sounds like a yummy menu right? Well some of these are tired and true recipes I've always loved and others, well the others were awesome ideas I thought I'd try. Some of those awesome ideas didn't turn out (the toquitos) or I was so burned out making all of this stuff that I never got around to making it(the pop tarts). Some however turned out and I will be using them again someday, like the burrito pie or the frozen yogurt drops.

I didn't get to the store until the late afternoon and once I got home I prepped all my meat, and there was a lot of it. Most went into the fridge and I didn't cook or assemble most of the meals until the next day, and it took me ALL day.






Mr.Beam was happy to see and smell all the food and I tried stacking it on my counter for you to see it all but all the salads  and stir-fry's were in bags and look a little lost. It was a LOT of food that I carefully crammed into my small fridge and freezer.

This was everything that needed to be in the freezer and  I almost didn't have room for it all! the burrito pie was thankfully in the fridge for the next day or I don't know what I would of done.

 I will slowly share each of these recipes with you (at least the successful ones) at a later time. But I will not ever take on that big of a project in that short amount of time again. I can see repeating a lot of these meals for my winter menu but now that its summer this meal planning thing is easier, I'll share with you how much easier in a later post, until then here is the cost break down for each meal


Beef Stroganoff: $2.34 a serving
Meatloaf: $1.25 a serving
Burrito pie: $1.01 a serving
Orange chicken: $1.46
Chicken Pot Pie; $1.06 a serving (6 servings in a pie tin)
Lemon chicken: $1.90 a serving
Honey mustard chicken: $1.96 a serving
Clam chowder: $0.80 a serving (should feed 8)
Split pea soup $0.58 a serving (should feed 8)
Lunch salads $1.38 for 2
Dinner salads $1.55 for 2
Stir-fry $1.57  for 2+  (the + means there was so much it could easily feed an extra person or two)
Roasted Zucchini $0.93 for 2+
Dijon roasted potatoes $0.93 for 3+
Broccoli $0.24 for 2
Mushroom Asparagus risotto $1.11 serving
Sesame honey chicken $1.07 serving
Breakfast sandwiches $1.27 a serving.


Breaking it down this way defiantly help show Mr. Beam just how much we can save eating at home verses eating out. I also did all my shopping at one store which I won't do next time, I'll bargain shop next time to help bring down the prices :)