April 2019 Meal Plan

Growing up my mom always went to the grocery store every two weeks. She would think about all our schedules and then decide what meals we would eat and make a list based off of that. My mom also taught me to always have an extra of practically everything. Then once you open up the extra item put it on the list so you can replace it on your next shopping trip. I have somewhat taken my mom’s way of meal planning to the next level. I go to the grocery store once a month and I write out the entire month of meals on my dry erase board calendar. We don’t have to eat each of those meals on the specific day they are written on but it gives me a basic plan and allows me to ensure we have all the ingredients in the house for the whole month of meals. Shopping once a month isn’t for everyone but I have found that it saves us the most time and money.

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I usually spend around $250-$300 a month. This is not just our food budget but everything we buy from the grocery store, dog food (which accounts for about $45 a month) cleaners, paper products, shower stuff…everything. Before going to the store I make a list of meals and then inventory our current freezer and pantry stock to see what we need. Every now and then (maybe every three months or so) something comes up and we need a last minute specific meal item to take to an event or perhaps I’m on a milk kick that month and we run out of milk before the end of the month. This is when my loving, wonderful husband gets texted a list of things to pick up on his way home from work.

            A lot of the time you will notice I kinda stick to a “theme” with my meals.

Mondays: Malori’s choice

Tuesday: Tim’s choice (I still pick this meal out but I pick things Tim prefers, like fish or wings for example)

Wednesday: Soup and/or salad

Thursday: Left over night (depending on if I predict we will have left overs or not I will add a meal to this day)

Friday: on the grill

Saturday: Anything can happen!

Sunday: Old favorite or tried and true. This is usually a bigger meal so that we have left overs for lunches during the week.

This makes it easier for me to quickly plan out meals without having to think too much about making sure there is a variety and that we aren’t eating pasta 6 nights in a row. (Although that would be like Heaven on Earth for me.) We try to eat somewhat healthy but we aren’t doing any type of strict diet right now. Again, this method isn’t for everyone but maybe it’ll give you some ideas you can apply to your own life.

List of meals for April:

• Steak with Zucchini noodles
• Chicken and pepper quesadillas
• Pork chops in creamy spinach sauce
• Kielbasa and veggies
• BBQ chicken
• Pizza zucchini boats
• Beef tips and broccoli
• Pulled pork
• Lemon garlic salmon and asparagus
• Zucchini lasagna
• Chicken with a mushroom sauce
• Ribs
• Teriyaki chicken
• Cheeseburger salad
• Pot stickers and chicken fried rice
• Creamy Tuscan chicken
• French onion chicken
• Chicken chili
• Pesto chicken and veggies

**TBD stands for To Be Determined, or as my brother once said “it means we don’t eat that day.” Which isn’t entirely true, I usually put TBD on a couple weekend days each month because I know something will come up and we will either be out with friends or grabbing fast food on the way home from somewhere or we are being bums and are just going to have left overs or a sandwich for dinner. 

            As I mentioned before, we do not necessarily eat each of these meals on the specific day they are written on. So if we skip a meal or move things around I just erase the meal once we have eaten it. Then at the end of the month there may still be one or two things left on the board that get rolled over to the next month’s menu. We didn’t use the ingredients for those meals so I don’t have to think about including any of their ingredients on my shopping list. We sometimes do this if one of us is sick or is working late and the other decides to have left overs or something quick. I wouldn’t be sticking to my promise of being completely honest if I didn’t also let you know that this occasionally happens when I’m lazy and just don’t feel like getting back on my feet to cook so I ask Tim to stop on his way home.

Below I posted exactly what we bought at the grocery store this month. You’ll see items that are specifically for this month but there are also items that we are either out of or I’m just stocking up on because that is how our budget works out. If we don’t need very much from the store one month I use that as an opportunity to stock up on some of the more pricey items, like meats or a jumbo pack of toilet paper. You’ll also notice that not every item needed for all the meals are on this list.

I decided to share exactly what we bought from the store instead of an ingredients list for this month because it you had to buy every one of these ingredients you would be spending a lot more than $300. Over time I will add a recipe link to each of the meals listed above and then you can make your own list based on what you have on hand. This method also helps to make sure you use up things before they expire and to clean out things that may have expired while you weren’t looking.

(Here is the link for a few of the chicken recipes we enjoy.)

Sam’s Club receipt:

• Members Mark bath tissue……..19.98…….Lasts us a little over 3 months
• Healthy weight dog food………..35.98…….Lasts about 5 weeks
• Shredded cheddar cheese……..10.98………Lasts about 4-5 months
• Digiorno pizza 3 pack……………11.98……..Lasts about 3 months
• Clorox toilet cleaner tabs………10.48……..Lasts about 6 months
• Scrubbing bubbles 4 pack……..11.98…….Lasts 1 year
• Potatoes- 10lb bag……………..6.98……….Lasts about 6 weeks
• Cookie dough(don’t shop hungry)..7.98….About a 3 month expiration date
• MM Apple juice two pack….4.48×2=8.96….Lasts about 3 months
• Special K red berries cereal…..8.88…..The two large bags last about 2-3 months
• Sliced fresh mushrooms………2.88…..Lasts about 2 weeks
• Pork loin….(we cut this into a roast, a loin, and 8 chops….13.94….Last us about 3 months
• Vegetable stir-fry medley 4 pack…..7.48…..Lasts about 3 months
• Frozen broccoli 4 pack…………….5.98……Lasts about 2 months
• Chex mix (still hungry)…….5.98 x 2=11.96…….Last two months
• Beef sausage keilbasa 4 pack……8.98…….Lasts about 4 months
• 6 pack sirloin steak (these are so good)…20.87…Lasts 2-3 months

Sam’s total including tax: 212.15

***Now I need to preface this next list because Tim actually stopped on his way home for these items…I had exactly 8 items on the list, but this is what came home from the store.

Regular grocery store receipt:

• Shoe Goo…………………….4.99
• 1 Green Pepper………………89
• Birthday candle………………1.00
• Cake decoration……………..1.09
• Cake decoration……………..1.19
• Cake mix……………………..1.29 x 2= 2.58
• Wet dog food pack……..1.29 x 2= 2.58……We bought the individual packs of this brand.
• Cream cheese frosting……1.65 x 2= 3.30
• Milk………………………….2.19
• 3 Avocados…………………..3.00
• Avocado ranch salad dressing…3.29
• Ranch dressing…………………3.29
• 5 Apples………………………4.81
• Mountain Dew……………….5.29
• Coca Cola………………….5.29 x 2=10.58……..buy two get one free
• Poptarts…………………..2.00 x 4=8.00

Minus $2.00 store discount

Total: 52.16

April’s total grocery bill: $264.31