One of the things we strive for when planning our menus is making everything fit together into one nice, neat little package. We look to use ingredients in different ways throughout the week so that we’re benefiting from the ability of do-aheads and being able to buy in bulk. We also benefit from a well-stocked pantry.
Starting this week I’m participating in an exciting series that was spearheaded by Jessica from LifeasMOM focusing on how we can continue to feed our family without breaking the bank. I know people sometimes think we must spend a lot on groceries every week, especially with a family of six, but we work to keep our budget under control and in check.
I hope you’ll join us for the series and check out the posts by these other lovely ladies as we focus on different ways we each use to save money when buying the food that feeds our family, break down meals and explore the topic from the different regions of the continent we’re from as well.
- Aimee from Simple Bites
- Alyssa from Kingdom First Mom
- Carrie from Denver Bargains
- Jessica from LifeasMOM
- Katie from Good Life Eats
- Katie from Kitchen Stewardship
- Mandi from Life Your Way
- Shaina from Food for My Family
- Tammy from Tammy’s Recipes
Monday – Brick-Grilled Chicken
Tuesday – Chickpea and Potato Curry with Naan
Wednesday – Spinach and Potato Frittata
Thursday – Lemon Chicken and Orzo Soup
Friday – White Pizza on Naan
The Preparation Shortcuts:
1. Save 1 pound of chicken on Monday for the soup. Make chicken stock from the leftover carcass.
2. Cook all the potatoes ahead of time so they are ready for the frittata the next day.
3. Use similar ingredients throughout the week: spinach in the soup and the frittata, potatoes in the curry and the frittata, chicken on Monday and in the soup Thursday.
4. Make naan to serve with the curry and use it as a crust for the pizza. Use leftover vegetables to top the pizza.
The Shopping List:
1 whole roaster chicken
4 ounces frozen salad shrimp
14 1/2-ounce can fire-roasted or stewed tomatoes with chiles
3 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes
1 bunch scallions
8-12 ounces baby spinach
1 small knob ginger
2 lemons
1 bunch carrots
1 bunch fresh parsley
fresh thyme
1/2 cup Greek-style yogurt
1/2 cup ricotta
6 ounces Romano or Parmesan
6 ounces mozzarella
Pantry Items:
onions
garlic
butter
olives
milk
eggs
flour
yeast
orzo pasta
chickpeas
white wine
olive oil
chicken and vegetable broth
cumin
coriander
cayenne pepper
salt
pepperLast week from Food for My Family:
Creamy Macaroni and Cheese
Keep a Kitchen Garden
Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs for Easter
April Fools’ Day Fried Rice Cupcakes
Seeds of Change: 25 Organic Seed Packets for $4.99
LOVE LOVE LOVE menus like this that share the pre-preparations you can do to make the week easier! your menu this week sounds delicious! I’m really intrigued by the “brick grilled chicken!”
What a GREAT idea! And…a fantastic group of bloggers, too. I’m totally tuning in. My hubby would ADORE me spending waaay less on groceries. Eeek!
I love this idea! Planning out what you’ll eat, and what you’ll need, in advance saves last minute trips to the store and saves money.
will you be sharing your grocery budget with us later on (or maybe you did and I missed it!). We’re a family of five that’s transitioning to a whole foods/organic diet, and we recently bumped up our grocery budget to $100 a week. But, it’s still challenging to fit in the food changes I want to make in that amount (which also has to include non-food necessities too).
wow this sounds so cool,
Atruly great idea as I’m always going to the supermarket buying things I don’t really need and also buying because I’m hungry. Guess once you have built of your pantry stock then you start to see a real financial saving. Helpful post, many thanks.
Good post & great idea.
I usually get many ‘unwanted’ items when go to the supermarket. I tends to buy from big discount than necessary need. Sometimes, I ends up with going back again in 2-3 days later!
Planing meals for the whole week make me see the real budget for groceries.