Weekly Meal Plan for 5/14/18

EDIT: Because the weather was calling for rain over the weekend, my parents decided to come next weekend instead of this weekend. I had already gone to the store, so I've had to adjust our recipes and you'll see the changes in red. I tried to save as many of the recipes for my mom as possible.

I had a mild panic attack at the store today when I saw my total. Ok, not really, but I did spend much more than usual. Most of that due to the fact that my parents will be visiting us Wednesday-Sunday, so more people = larger food budget. But, I wanted to share with you guys the total, because sometimes your week may be a bit different, and your budget gets out of whack, and that's ok. It's just life. We can do the best we can with the budget and don't sweat it if we're a little off here or there.

Here's what we're eating this week:

Monday: Crescent Chicken, mashed potatoes, zucchini. 

This was actually on the meal plan for this past Saturday night, but after spending hours outside painting our deck, my husband just really wanted a cheeseburger (who does he think he is, an American??), so we ended up going to Wendy's instead. 

Tuesday: Creamy Pasta with Ham and Peas, Garlic Bread. Total for this meal $4.58

I had the garlic bread already and will try to split the ham steak I bought between this meal and another. 

Wednesday: Chicken Thighs, Roasted Radishes and Carrots. Total for this meal: $5.29

I've mentioned previously that my mom has some food sensitivities, so I wanted to make sure while she's here that we're eating things that won't affect her health. 

One of my friends, Rachel, asked me if I wanted some radishes and swiss chard she had. I've never tried either (oops), but am always down for free food! I'm going to use the radishes and roast them with some carrots for a good side dish (hopefully)! 

We ended up using the frozen pizza I bought this week instead bc I wasn't feeling well and didn't cook.

Thursday: Out to Monkey Wrench Smokehouse. Yum!!

We ate the Taco Salad scheduled for tomorrow night and I saved half the ground turkey for a different meal. 

Friday: Taco Salad. Total for this meal: $7.21

Ground Turkey
Brown Rice
Black Beans
Salsa
Leafy Greens (we're using fresh spinach) 

Combine turkey, brown rice, and black beans and place on top of leafy greens. Add salsa to top. 

This is about as easy as it gets, but nice and healthy! I got this recipe from fitness challenge after Abel was born, and we still have this from time to time, because it's so good. For one serving, these are the amounts they suggest: 4 oz ground turkey, 3/4 cup brown rice, 1/4 cup black beans, 1/3 cup salsa, 1 cup leafy greens. 

We have some leftover white rice in the fridge, so Clarence and the kids will probably finish that off and the rest of us will eat brown rice. 

I'm making the meal from Wednesday night tonight. I will probably use this recipe so I can use up the rest of our spinach. Will sub in milk for the heavy cream. I'll put half of the chicken thighs in the freezer for a future meal.

Saturday lunch: Fish, Green Beans, Fruit. Total for this meal: $5.15

I actually have a women's brunch at my church this morning, so probably won't be too hungry at lunch time (which is a shame cause I love fish....not really). Everyone else will enjoy this meal though!

I'm trying not to make another trip to the store yet, so we'll use the other half of the ground turkey and a couple sweet potatoes to make this dish. Should still leave plenty of sweet potatoes to make fries next week. And we'll use the green beans.

Saturday dinner: Hamburgers and hot dogs with sweet potato fries and grilled zucchini. Total for this meal $8.81

We're grilling out! If the weather cooperates, my dad and Clarence are supposed to be building our playset this week/weekend. I doubt Clarence is going to want to cook out after working hard, but looks like we're already committed haha. Aldi has grass fed ground beef for $3.99! That's what we'll use since my mom can tolerate that from time to time. We also grabbed the whole wheat sandwich thins which are a healthier alternative!

I put the sandwich thins in the freezer and the meat will hold, so we'll save this for when my parents are here. 

I was really struggling to pull one more meal from what I have in the cabinets and then Haven said she wanted grits so DONE. We'll have cheese grits, crescent rolls, and fruit. Thanks, Haven!

Sunday lunch: White Beans w/ spinach (and swiss chard) and sausage, crescent rolls. Total for this meal: $6.82

I'm going to add in the swiss chard Rachel gave me with some fresh spinach as well. I also bought some of Aldi's "never any" chicken sausages which has no added hormones or additives. That way my mom can eat this dish too. It might be a bit hot out for soup, but this one is really delicious!

I'm going to save this meal for my mom next week. Tonight we will use the zucchini I bought and pair it with a box of mac and cheese and chicken nuggets we already have.

Sunday dinner: We're going to our local baseball game (weather permitting), so will figure out dinner while we're out. 

Monday: Ham, Egg, and Cheese Casserole, Fruit. Total for this meal: $6.38

This is a MOPS day, so I went ahead and planned for dinner so I won't have to worry about it on the day. 

Total this week: $82.52

Also bought apple juice, take and toss sippy cups, diapers, cereal bars, popcorn, 2 boxes of mini muffins, peaches, 2 fruit bowls, mac and cheese, american cheese slices, pretzels, 8 yogurts, grapes, strawberries, puffs, frozen pizza, 2 apples, bananas, bread.

I grabbed some stuff for lunches this week since we likely won't have leftovers from dinner. Big thanks to my friend Linh for dropping off some kefir she got on some super sale!! We didn't have to buy any this week. :)