Here we are, back at Meal Plan Monday again! This week will probably be our last freezer-based meal plan for a bit – we’ve gotten things down to a manageable state again. We’ve got a meal plan full of easy, delicious, and budget-friendly meals.
By shopping the sales and our inventory, five meals for our family of four, plus one night of leftovers, comes in at about $60 this week. Again, fancy meals they are not. They are affordable, filling meals that are quick and easy for our busy family.
Let’s get into it.
| Monday | Pork quesadillas, salad |
| Tuesday | BLTs, green bean bundles, fruit |
| Wednesday | Bratwurst, red potatoes, peas |
| Thursday | Leftover buffet |
| Friday | Make your own pizza night |
| Saturday | Stir fry |
| Sunday | Family night out |
Monday: Pork quesadillas, salad
Monday’s dinner uses pulled pork from last week, tortillas and salad fixings that we need to use up, and some cheese from a great Kroger sale this week. I wound up cooking a huge 8 lb pork roast that was in the freezer last week instead of using the frozen bbq pork that I planned on. This gave me more flexibility to season the meat in different ways and provided lots of leftovers. Whatever doesn’t get eaten tonight will be frozen for the future. I did wind up buying some corn tortillas for me and some extra cheese, bringing this meal to just under $8 for all four of us.
Tuesday: BLT, green bean bundles, fruit
Yup, we were supposed to have BLTs this weekend, but it just didn’t happen. We were all tired from a busy Saturday and decided that a leftover buffet was the way to go. I picked up strawberries on sale on Sunday and those will go nicely with the sandwiches and green bean bundles. Since I picked up some fancy sandwich bread, this meal winds up coming in at $12. To make my dinner gluten free, I’ll have a wedge salad instead of a sandwich.
Wednesday: Bratwurst, red potatoes, peas
Wednesday comes in under $15 for four servings. I’ll pull two packages of bratwurst out of the freezer – both purchased for $3.99 on sale and pair them with red potatoes ($5.49 for a 5 lb bag) and frozen peas ($1.29/bag). The brats will go on one sheet pan and the red potatoes will be par-boiled, then smashed and added to another sheet pan. The rest of the potatoes (because even we can’t eat five pounds at once) will be frozen after boiling to give me an easy side dish in the future.
Thursday: Leftover buffet
We should have plenty of leftovers for Thursday night, which is great because the kids are both at school late that day for practices and I have an evening meeting.
Friday: Make your own pizzas
Refrigerated pizza dough, plus tomato sauce, pepperoni, and cheese make for a happy Friday night for these kids! We have everything on hand for this meal, but I did pick up a frozen gluten free pizza for me and Rich will doctor up a frozen pizza of his own. Between pantry staples and frozen pizza sales, this meal comes to just about $15 for the four of us.
Saturday: Beef stir fry, rice, edamame
I found a package of beef stir fry meat in the freezer that I had picked up on sale for $4.59 this fall. I’ll give that a little marinade with tamari, lime juice, ginger, garlic chili paste and brown sugar, and stir fry with cabbage and zucchini for a delicious main dish. Paired with rice and frozen edamame, this will be a delicious and easy weekend meal for about $10.
Sunday: Family Night Out
Sunday night is our usual family no cook night, so we will either have a family night out at a local restaurant or see if we have enough leftovers for another leftover buffet. We always have a big brunch on Sunday afternoons, so dinner is usually pretty light.
$60 Freezer & Pantry Clean Out Meal Plan
Quick and easy is the name of the game this week. We are using our pantry and freezer inventories well and making room in both places to start shopping the sales again.
Last week was full of school activities, competitions, a middle school dance, and lots of homework. Thankfully, this week just has one busier night so we can be a bit more relaxed and flexible with our meals.
To be honest, I’m still pretty tired from being part of the planning team for the middle school dance last week and I’m not sure that we will have enough leftovers by Thursday. But I know I can easily move up pizza or stir fry night if needed. It’s a perfectly imperfect meal plan this week and I’m totally okay with that.
What’s on your meal plan this week?
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