Meal Planning

I've not been doing this as I am sure you can see by our constant eating out.

What I have to work with (off the top of my head, I know there is more...)
Dry: Rice, noodles, shaped pastas, flour, oatmeal, Irish oats, hominy, several kinds of dried beans, tons of chickpeas, tons of organic stock and organic mac and cheese
Jarred/canned: spaghetti sauce & pineapple chunks
Frozen: chicken breast, a pack of sausages, 1 pd of GB, 1 pack of chicken legs, some bread rounds and mystery aluminum foiled items.
Produce: 4 apples, 1 iffy cutie orange
Cold: salad dressing and 2 yogurts - that's it, sad eh?

What I bought for the week:
Doritos - $2
2 20oz Breads - 69 cents each
BBQ Sauce - 49 cents
2 Sierra Mists - 69 cents each
2 packs of ballpark hot dogs - 99 cents each
2 heads of lettuce - 49 cents each
(these were all the grand opening specials for my store)
dozen eggs - 1.49
1 pd stir fry veggies - 1.67
vidalia onions (1.94 pds @ .79 pp)
milk - 3.59 (this is the cheap milk too)
peaches 1.39 pds @ 1.69 pp
2 pds frozen green peas
a big seedless watermelon - 3.99
2 taco seasonings - 39 cents
2 12oz frozen snap peas - $1.50 each
ground chuck - 3.05pds @ 2.69 pp
2.59 pds of bananas @ 49 cents pp
1 pd frozen corn - 1.25
then I had a $5 off of $35 grand opening coupon so all of this was 37.99.

Breakfast will be eggs, toast, oatmeal or hot cereal and fruit.
Lunch is whatever I can pull together. Prob leftovers. This is the first week of no school.
Dinners
1 - chicken, stir fry veggies, rice noodles
2 - beef tacos with salad
3 - chicken and dumplings with peas & carrots
4 - chicken enchiladas & corn
5 - taco rice (DD has requested more taco-y things), beef, black beans, rice - spiced up
6 - pepper chicken, rice & snap peas
7 - my guy normally takes us out

I will need to pick up a jalapeno and several packs of Kroger generic enchilada seasoning mix this week. I also have a free salad dressing and free egg coupon for them that I will cash in.

So if I make enough for a family of 4, then we should in theory have enough to roll to lunch the next day. I should be able to roll 1 bread (freeze it), the BBQ Sauce, the 1 pack of ballpark hotdogs, some onions, a frozen pea, a frozen snap pea & 1 pd of hamburger to another week.

~~~~~~Rant time~~~~~~

I went shopping this week with the intention of stocking up to put an end to the eating out. But I was simply horrified by the prices. I did pick and choose the super cheap items for the week and I'll work with it. But I wanted a few "fancy" things this week. Like shrimp, normally it is $5 pp on sale. $8 now. I wanted a dirty rice mix. $2.89 instead of $1.50 (max). Veggies used to be 75 cents pp frozen are on sale, $1.25. Taco seasoning mix, you know the powder envelope was 99 cents. For powder? I switched to the super generic store brand, taco bell can stick it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The new Kroger ad came out today and luckily apples, pears, avocados, yellow squash, zucchini, green beans & tomatoes are 99 cents pp. I will pick those up much later in the week for next week's menu. if I make up 10 stir fry mixes, I will have saved $6.70. It is something to think about for sure.