Feta Spinach stuffed Flank Steak

We love this. Not sure exactly how to describe the fileting of the flank steak without pictures. Maybe I will have to buy one and make it for dinner this week to show you. Butterflying the meat is a little tricky and you need to be extremely careful. If you bought a thin enough flank steak, the butterflying step could be omitted. You may be able to only need one flank steak for 4 people but we love it so much that we need two. Leftovers get put away and get snacked on for breakfast and lunch, and never seem to make it to the next dinner.

Feta and Spinach stuffed Flank Steak

2 flank steaks, reasonably thick.
fresh baby spinach leaves
crumbled feta
olive oil
salt and pepper

First of all I take the flank steak and position it in front of me on a cutting board so the the grain of the meat is verticle in front of me. I then make a slit with a sharp knife in the middle going from top to bottom and not slicing through the meat to the board. Then I make cuts to open up the left side of the meat, you are butterflying it open. I then do the same with the right side until I have three times as much space covered on the board than when I started. If you have a few holes, it's okay, this is incredibly forgiving, just smush it all together so that the holes aren't obvious. Salt and pepper, add a couple of hand fulls of spinch, had a liberal coating of cheese and then roll up, jelly roll style being sure that the grain runs long so that when you cut the meat that you are cutting against the grain and not with it. Sprinkle with olive oil, more salt and pepper. Cook at 350 and check at 30 minutes. It's done when the meat has started to get a gorgeous light but brown crust on it. You want it to be pink inside. Let the meat rest for about ten minutes, then slice against the grain. If you want, you can serve a beef gravy on top.

Menu with what's on sale for week of Apr. 21-Apr. 26 and more on the Fry's give away

Don't forget to go two posts down and leave your name and email for the Fry's Gift Card give away.

At first glance it doesn't look like a killer sales week but I put a lot of extras in the menu this week and didn't have to revamp it once after the first rough copy. So add a package of lunch meat or shave off some money by removing the soda, pudding cups, ice cream and fruit snacks to save money this week. Or switch out some of the fruit and buy another Suddenly Salad mix for a pasta salad lunch instead of sandwiches one day. I did forget a few items so started out a little cheaper than this final total, but I still decided to keep the luxury items like the fruit snacks, juice, pop, pudding cups. You can cut them out if you want to save lots of money this week.

$78.77
if you add .88 for the Hamburger Helper total is
$79.65

Breakfast
1-Pancakes
2-Cold cereal, milk and juice
3-Bagels and cream cheese
4-Cold cereal, milk and juice
5-Pancakes, juice
6-French toast
7-Cold cereal, milk

Lunch
1-Tuna sandwich, banana, fruit snack
2-PB&J sandwich, orange, pudding cup
3-Tuna sandwich, fruit snack, grapes
4-Egg salad sandwich, strawberries
5-Tuna sandwich, grapes, tortilla chips
6-Hot dog, bun, orange, soda
7-Hamburgers, pineapple/strawberry fruit salad, soda

Dinner
1-Beef and broccoli, brown rice, green salad. I was going to post a recipe from a recipe website for Beef and Broccoli but see below for how I make it. Or google Beef and Broccoli

2-Spinach Strawberry salad with sweet vinaigrette and grilled chicken strips or slices. See below for vinaigrette recipe

3-Hamburgers, buns, Suddenly salad pasta salad. If the ground round is too dry or lean, add a little olive oil to the meat before shaping into patties. Or and egg?????? Would that work????

4-Chicken Enchilada Casserole, chips and salsa, green salad. See side bar for recipe but see below for explanation.

5-Grilled cheese sandwich

6-Stuffed green peppers, roasted cauliflower, jello. See below for link to recipe for Roasted Cauliflower. Make stuffed peppers by using the halves, cook slightly in microwave, used browned gr. beef, tomato sauce, leftover cooked brown rice from meal idea #1, season with garlic salt or basil and put into halves, add a little cheese if you want, bake until hot. I'm not sure if you'll need all three cans of tomato sauce, so open them one at a time to see how tomato-ee and juicy you will want the rice to be. OK?

7-Leftovers or Hamburger Helper. Add .88 and buy a Hamburger Helper if that is what you want. You should have enough ground beef for it and should have enough lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes for a green salad to go with it.

Dessert:
Ice cream
fruit

Beef and Broccoli
This is how I would do it. Slice the meat thin and fry on hot heat fast, don't overcook. The meat should still be juicy inside. Take out of pan and put on a plate. Either fry the broccoli or par boil or steam it. Put the beef broth in the fry pan and heat, season with garlic salt, ground ginger, soy sauce if you want. Make a slurry of cornstarch and add to the beef broth and let thicken. Add the broccoli and meat back to the pan.


Enchilada Casserole
The recipe to this is at the left side. I allowed for an 8x8 size with the groceries listed. So what I would do is to cook two or three chicken breasts and dice the meat once it's cooled. Then I would take one can of cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup and put in a bowl. I would add some milk, maybe 1/4-1/2 soup can of milk, a couple of spoonfulls of sour cream and some green salsa or green enchilada sauce if I had it. If you don't, then add a spoon full or two of the salsa you have. Tear a flour tortilla into bite size pieces and put in an 8x8 inch pan. Add one or two tortillas, however many you want, add the chicken, add some sauce, continue layering with tortillas, chicken and sauce until out of chicken and sauce. Top with cheese and bake at 350 until hot and bubbly but don't burn the cheese. I sometimes garnish with diced tomato, sliced olives and crushed tortilla chips. My son thinks this is dip and will eat it by scooping it with tortilla chips. That's yummy also.

To double recipe, add a little more chicken and another can of soup and put in a 9x13 pan. You should have enough sour cream, tortillas and salsa.

Sweet Vinaigrette
1/2 C. veg. oil
1/4 C. cider vinegar
1/4 C. sugar
1 tsp. salt

whisk together or shake together in a jar or tupperware container with a tight fitting lid.

Roasted Cauliflower
see http://thisweekfordinner.com/2010/04/20/simple-side-dishes-roasted-cauliflower/

Groceries:
Albertson's:
Ground round, 5# or more, $1.77 lb., aprox. $8.85
Dole bananas, .49 lb., buy 3 lbs. at $1.47
Strawberries, .88 each, buy 2
Albertson's milk, 3 for $5, so $1.66 each, buy 3
Suddenly salad, .88 with coupon from paper
**Hamburger Helper, .88 with coupon from paper. Only buy one if you are using it instead of leftovers on meal idea #7. Add .88 to total.
Albertson's sour cream, .88 with coupon from paper
Snack pack pudding, 10/$10, buy 1
Jello, 10/$10, buy 1
Bar S jumbo meat franks, 10/$10, buy 1
Calidad flour tortillas, 10/$10, buy 1

Bashas'
Food club tomato sauce, .17, buy 3 at .51
Bashas chicken, .79 lb., buy 4 lbs. at $3.16
broccoli, .89 lb., buy 2 lbs.
Valu time cereal, .88, buy 3 at $2.64
Food Club Pancake mix, $1.59
Food Club syrup, $1.59
Food Club apple juice, $1.59, buy 2
Fresh cauliflower, .89 lb.
Food Club shredded cheese, $1.25

Fry's
Beef cross rib steak, $1.88, buy 2 lbs. at $3.76
Kroger salad dressing, .99
Kroger American cheese singles, .99, Fri/Sat./Sun. only
chicken of the Sea tuna, 20/$10, buy 3
Kroger peanut butter, 10/$10, buy 1
Campbell's cooking soups, 10/$10. Buy 1 if making 8x8, buy 2 if making 9x13
Fry's large eggs, $1.39, buy 2
Fry's tortilla chips, 10/$10, buy 1
Herdez or LaVictoria salsa, 2/$4, buy 1
Kroger fruit snacks, 10/$10, buy 1
Kroger Value buns, .88, buy 3 total, 2 hamburger, 1 hot dog
Kroger deluxe ice cream, 10/$10, buy 2
Kroger cream cheese, 10/$10, buy 1
Kroger bagels, 10/$10, buy 1 (might be in refridgerated section)
Kroger Value bread, .88, buy 4 at $3.52
Beef broth, 1 can, I've allowed for .99

Safeway
Sat. and Sun. only-2 liter Pepsi/7 Up, .69, buy 1
Sat. and Sun. only-8# bag of oranges, $2.99 each
Red seedless grapes, .88 lb.
Fresh express spinach, .99
Cucumber, .69

Sprouts
Green bell pepper, .77 each, buy 2 (for four people), at $1.54
Pineapple, $1.50
Iceberg lettuce, .88
Brown rice in bulk, .69 lb., buy 2 lbs. at $1.38
Cluster tomatoes, .97 lb.

Items not on grocery list:
Mayonnaise
jelly
spices/herbs
condiments
oil
flour
sugar
cornstarch
vinegar
salt
Parmesan
green salsa or enchilada sauce
butter
powdered sugar
pickle relish

Other great deals this week:
Dreyer's ice cream, $2.49-Safeway
Pork chops, $1.88 lb.-Fry's
chicken drums/thighs, .77 lb.-Fry's
Strawberries, .88 each-Fry's
American Beauty, Creamette, or Ronzoni pasta, 10/$10-Fry's
Fry's milk, $1.68, limit 2-Fry's
Kroger Orange juice, 128 oz., $2.99-Fry's
Roast, $1.88 lb.-Fry's
Idahoan potato pouch, 10/$10-Fry's
Kroger Value apple juice cocktail, $1.47-Fry's
Bashas' sandwich bread, .99-Bashas
food Club salad dressing, .99-Bashas
Pork loin, $1.77 lb.-Albertson's
7 Up, RC cola, or A&W root beer, .88 with coup-Albertson's
Albertson's cereal, 10/$10-albertson's


Well, there you have it. Since it is quite a lengthy post, I am so afraid I might have left out something important. Like you sit down to eat hamburgers and realize that you didn't buy hamburger. You'll probably notice before you sit down to eat, though.

Beef Burgundy

I told someone that I would post this recipe for the crockpot and as usually happens, then I cannot find the printed version to make sure I have it correct. So I will do my best. I have been using my crockpot about twice a week lately. After school and before dinner is a busy time for most people. Putting dinner ingredients in the crockpot at 1 or 2 in the afternoon ensures that there is something for us to eat at 5 or 6.

Beef Burgundy

Small to medium roast that you cut into chunks
flour
salt and pepper and garlic powder
One package of sliced or whole fresh mushrooms
Beef broth, 1 or 2 cans
1 bag of frozen whole pearl onions

Season beef chunks in the flour. Fry to sear in a hot fry pan with olive oil. Put meat into the crockpot. Deglaze the fry pan with the beef broth, then add the mushroom chunks or slices and the pearl onions. Let sauce simmer to reduce for a few minutes, then add to the crockpot and cook on high for 2-3 hrs. or on low for 5-6 hrs. If you want to fry the mushrooms before adding to the broth you can, so to add color to them.

Menu for what's on sale the week of Nov. 4-Nov. 10

So, sitting here in my purple bathrobe working on this. It's a sight. Too bad you can't see it.


Here it is:


$71. 03 (and you can save $2-$3 on this price if you are a couponer)


$74.53 if you opt to have the s'mores ingredients added in. And we all want them.



Breakfast
1-French toast, sausage
2-Cold cereal, milk
3-Eggs, toast
4-Cold cereal, milk
5-Cold cereal, milk
6-Blueberry pancakes, see pancake recipe link on the left side
7-Cold cereal, milk


Lunch
1-PB&J sandwich, orange, cookie
2-Lunchmeat sandwich, orange, cookie
3-PB&J sandwich, apple
4-Lunchmeat sandwich, grapes, cookie
5-PB&J sandwich, orange
6-Pizza
7-Tacquitos


Dinner
1-Beef Teriyaki kabobs, mushroom and zucchini kabobs, Uncle Ben's rice mix. See below for Beef Teriyaki recipe. Add a dollar to the budget if you want a fresh pineapple for chunks from Albertsons with your skewers.

2-Broccoli and Cheese Frittata, hash browns, green salad and tomatoes. See http://www.mrbreakfast.com/superdisplay.asp?recipeid=638 for recipe

3-Spaghetti and sauce, baguette

4-Pork loin, Scalloped potatoes, canned vegetable of choice. If you wish to make Crockpot pork loin with cranberry sauce and Lipton onion soup mix, go to http://www.crock-pot-slow-cookers.com/recipes/creating-pork-loin-dishes-with-lipton-onion-soup/ for recipe and allow for $1 extra for a can of cranberry sauce at Albertson's and aproximately $2 for a box of Lipton onion soup if you don't already have it in the pantry.

5-Italian Cream cheese chicken over Uncle Ben's rice mix, canned vegetable of choice. See http://www.recipetips.com/recipe-cards/u--3788/italian-cream-cheese-slow-cooked-chicken.asp

6-Green salad with leftover pork strips, baguette

7-Leftovers

Dessert idea:
S'mores. Grahams, marshmallows and half a Hershey bar either warmed in the microwave for 30 seconds or the marshmallows roasted over hot coals or embers. yum.
*** marks the ingredients in the grocery list and they are extra added to your total this week if you opt to have it.



Beef Teriyaki Kabobs
taken from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook, pg. 221


1 pound boneless beef sirloin steak
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons dry sherry or apple juice
1 tablespoon molasses
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon grated gingerroot or 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 clove garlic, minced


Partially freeze beef. Thinly slice across the grain into long strips 1/3 inch thick. (I've also done chunks) For marinade, combine soy sauce, sherry, molasses, mustard, gingerrott, garlic, and 1/3 cup water. Pour over meat. Marinate for 15 minutes at room temperature.


Drain meat, reserving marinade. On 8 long skewers, (soak for an hour if bamboo or wood) loosely thread meat accordion-style.


Place skewers on the unheated rack of a broiler pan. Broil 3 inches from the heat 5 to 6 minutes or to desired doneness, turning and brushing occasionally with marinade. Makes 4 servings.


Grill directions: Cut, marinate, and skewer meat as above. Place on uncovered grill directly over hot coals 5 to 6 minutes or to desired doneness. Turn and brush with mariade often.


NOTE: Do not serve the marinade as it has been touching raw meat.

Grocery List:
Albertson's
Roma tomatoes, 5/$5, buy one lb.
TJ Farms shredded potatoes, 5/$5, buy one
Pork loin, $1.57/lb., so aprox. $6
Pillsbury flour, 5/$5, buy one
Cream cheese, 5/$5, buy one
Boneless skinless chicken breast, $1.57 lb., buy aprox. 3 lbs. at $4.71

Bashas
Boneless top sirloin, $1.99 lb, so aprox. $3.98
Navel oranges, .39 lb., buy 6 lbs. at $2.34
Bashas large eggs, .99, buy 2
Italian or yellow squash, .89 lb.
***Hershey bars, 2/$1, buy 2 if you opt to have s'mores

Fry's
Blueberries, $1.50
Fry's milk, $1.47, buy 2
Apples, $1 lb., buy 2 lbs.
Kroger butter, $1.88
Fry's cream of chicken soup, .88
French baguette, $1, buy 2
Kroger Value bread, .88, buy 3
Del Monte canned vegetables, .67, buy 2
Kroger Value peanut butter, $1.49
Fry's spaghetti, .88
Kroger Value spaghetti sauce, $1.19
Italian dressing mis, allow for $1
Land O Frost lunch meat, 10/$10, buy 3
***Kroger marshmallows, 10/$10, buy one if you opt to make s'mores
***Grahm crackers, I've allowed for $1.50 if you opt to make s'mores

Fry's mega 10 event
1-Kellogg's cereals, $1.99
2-Kellogg's cereals
3-Tombstone pizza, $1.99
4-Keebler Fudge Shoppe cookies, .99
5-Kraft shredded cheese, $1.99
6-Jose Ole tacquitos, $1.99
7-Betty Crocker scalloped potatoes, .99
8-Brown and serve sausage, .89
9-Uncle Ben's rice mix, .99
10-Uncle Ben's rice mix

Safeway
button mushrooms, .99
Red seedless grapes, .88 lb.

Sprouts
Hass avocados, 3/$1, buy one at .33
Lettuce, red, green or romaine, .88, buy 2
Apples, .88 lb., buy 3 lbs.
Broccoli crowns, .99 lb.

Other great deals:
Cucumbers, 2/$1-Sprouts
Pears, $1 lb.-Fry's
Vegetable oil, $1.99-Fry's
Food Club brown or powdered sugar, .88 with shocker coup and $25 purchase-Bashas
Nestle choc. morsels with shocker coup and $25 purchase-Bashas
Hershey bars, 2/$1-Bashas
food Club stuffing mix-.99-Bashas
Kraft buy 3 deal, buy 3 Kraft products listed on ad coupon and get a Capri Suns box free
Del Monte pineapple 5/$5-Albertsons
Stove top stuffing, 5/$5

Items not on grocery list:
soy sauce
molasses
pancake syrup
jelly
spices-ginger
check closely, I feel as though I've forgotten a lot this week.

Menus for what's on sale Aug. 26-Sept. 2

$68.82

Breakfast
1-Egg biscuit
2-Cold cereal
3-Cinnamon or orange rolls
4-Cold cereal
5-Cinnamon toast
6-Orange or cinnamon rolls
7-Cold cereal

Lunch
1-Green salad, apple, brownie
2-Lunch meat sandwich, celery sticks, cookie
3-Lunch meat sandwich, apple, cookie
4-Chicken salad, leftover from dinner idea #3, cookie
5-Lunch meat sandwich, orange
6-Mac & Cheese, plum
7-Mac & Cheese, 7 Up

Dinner
1-Mac & cheese, sliced tomatoes, broccoli salad, see recipe below (save some bacon crumbles for baked potatoes in dinner idea #2.)

2-Baked potato with sour cream, sliced scallions, shredded cheese and bacon crumbles, canned vegetable

3-Chicken salad, see recipe below, cantaloupe wedges, crescent rolls, brownie for dessert

4-Tacos made with ground beef, shredded cheese, some lettuce left from Lunch idea #1, shredded cheese, some tomato dices left from tomatoes used in Dinner idea #1, sour cream. If you don't have any taco seasoning mix, but you do have some little packets of taco sauce from Mexican take out in your fridge, use those to season the cooked ground beef. Or use garlic salt or garlic powder, cumin, chili powder to taste.

5-London Broil, cauliflower gratin, grilled corn on the cob. see http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/sara-moulton/grilled-marinated-london-broil-recipe/index.html or http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1726,154168-232205,00.html
for London Broil recipes and http://www.recipezaar.com/Barefoot-Contessas-Cauliflower-Gratin-208626 for the Barefoot Contessa's recipe for Cauliflower Gratin. I would use regular cheese instead of Gruyere if it were me.

6-Try Chicken Squares at http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1839,146187-227194,00.html You hopefully have a can of cream of chicken soup in the pantry. If you'd rather have plain chicken, then bake and have the crescent rolls on the side. You'll have to add a canned vegetable to the grocery list or eat leftover sides.

7-Beef and Cheese Crescent Pie and mashed potatoes. See http://www.kitchentips.org/recipes/a-tasty-beef-and-cheese-crescent-pie-recipe




Polynesian Chicken Salad (Stacey C.)
2 C. cooked chicken breast, diced
1/4 C. pineapple chunks, drained
halved green grapes (red ones are the ones on sale this week)
small can of drained mandarin oranges
1/2 C. celery, diced
1/4 C. slivered almonds
4 green onions, sliced
1/2 C. low-fat vanilla yogurt (can substitute plain non-fat yogurt)
1/4 C. regular mayonnaise (can substitute fat-free mayo)

Combine chicken, pineapple, celery, almonds, and onion; set aside. Blend together yogurt and mayonnaise; stir into chicken mixture. Serve on bed of lettuce.

NOTE: I did not put almonds on the shopping list, you may want to do that. I was trying to keep costs down. Also, you may want to double this recipe since it is for a main dish. Or just double the chicken, celery, pineapple amounts.


Broccoli Salad
2-3 bunches broccoli, cut into florets
4-6 slices of bacon, fried and crumbled
1/2 C. of grated cheddar

Dressing:
1 C. Miracle Whip salad dressing
1/2 C. white or cider vinegar
4 Tablespoons sugar

Wash the broccoli and trim into florets. Make the dressing and add the other ingredients, gently toss.


Grocery List:
Albertson's
Corn, 6/$1, buy 6
Fresh Express salad, $1, buy 1
Libby's vegetables, 5/$3, buy 3, one veg needs to be green beans for the Beef and cheese crescent pie. Whether you buy a third canned veg for a side to the chicken squares is up to you.
Green onions/scallions, 2/$1, buy 1
Boneless/skinless chicken breast, $1.57 lb., buy 3 lbs. at aprox. $4.71

Bashas'
Bashas' 1/2 gallon milk, .88, buy 4 at $3.52
Food Club Mac & cheese, 3/$1, buy 3
London Broil, $1.67 lb. It will be aprox. $8-$9 for 2 pieces of London Broil, have one ground into hamburger for Tacos and Beef and cheese crescent pie, leave the other one whole for grilled London Broil
Bashas sour cream .88
7 up, .89
Land O'Frost deli shaved meat, $1.99, buy 2
Valu Time Eggs, .98
Prune Plums, .99 lb.
Canned pineapple, $1.38
Valu Time mandarin oranges, .50

Fry's
Mega buy 10 event
1-Gen Mills or quaker cereal, $1.39
2-Gen Mills or Quaker cereal, $1.39
3-Grands! biscuits, .88
4-Pillsbury cinnamon rolls, .88 (.38 if you have a coupon)
5-Pillsbury cinnamon or orange rolls, .88 (.38 if you have a coupon)
6-Pillsbury crescent rolls, .88
7-Pillsbury crescent rolls, .88
8-Pillsbury crescent rolls, .88
9-Betty Crocker Brownie mix, $1.49
10-Old El Paso Taco shells, .99

Organic red seedless grapes, .67 lb., buy 1
Navel oranges, .77 lb, buy 2 lbs. at $1.54
Kroger shredded cheese, $1.99, buy four package
Kroger Value cookies, $1.19
Celery, allowed for $1.00
Vanilla yogurt, buy 2 small containers, allowed for $1.50
Tomato sauce, allowed for .50
Apples, 3 lb. bag, $2.77
Potatoes, $2.97 for 10 lb. bag
Kroger Value bacon, $1.77 lb., buy 1
Kroger Value bread, .88, buy 2

Sprouts
Snow White Cauliflower, .99 ea
Large cantaloupe, .77 ea
Broccoli crowns, .77, buy 2 at $1.54
Hot House tomatoes, .99, buy 2 lbs.


Items not on list:
Miracle Whip
sugar
soy sauce
honey
vinegar

Other great deals:
93% lean gr. beef, $1.77/lb.-Bashas
Bashas cottage cheese, .88-Bashas
dole mushrooms, .99-Bashas
Valu Time sugar, $1.88-Bashas
Red or green cabbage, 2 lbs/$1-Albertsons
Fresh carrots, $1/2 lbs.-Albertsons
Yellow onions, 3 lbs./$1
Raspberries, .99-Sprouts
hass Avocado, .77 ea-sprouts
Carne Asada, $3.99/lb-sprouts
Reeses King size peanut butter cups or Reeses pieces theater candy, free with coupon-Fry's, see http://www.couponsense.com/ to find out how

Menu for what's on sale Aug. 12-Aug. 18

I intended on getting this done on Wednesday. HA! With running to the stores to check out prices, taking the car in to have the A/C fixed, monitoring the house A/C which decides intermittantly to pop off lately, attending to children who have started school and now have a whacko schedule again and emotions flyin, feeling the need to can four pork loins, and a large package of hamburger, enjoying the rain yesterday morning, it just didn't get done before now.

So....when I first started creating budget menus, just mainly to see if I could do it, and posting them on CouponSense, I usually came in under $50 for a week's worth of meals. And I was inspired and touched by posts on the CouponSense message boards of women asking how to feed their family on $20 or $40 for a week or two weeks or until the next payday. I come nowhere close to those figures. Can it be done? Most probably. The Hillbilly Housewife says that you can. Well, she says that you can do it for $45/week. But you'll be eating alot of beans and lentils and hot rice with milk. If that's your thing or if that's what you need to do, http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/ . Actually, in checking out her website for this post, I noticed that she now has a $70/week menu. And note that I don't think that her prices on foods are all consistent with Arizona prices, but it's a good website. She is very "granola", you can learn a lot of self sufficient living from her and other fine blogs or websites out there.

The first budget meal menu I worked out was $36-something for that week(it was a great coupon shopping week). They have consistently gone up in price and I don't think that food prices have changed that drastically, but I do throw a cookie in for lunch now and again or a soda here and there whereas before the menus were bare bones, survival food. Oats for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, mostly vegetarian main dishes. And you can do it cheaper yourself if you use coupons, cut out a few things that might be unnecessary or veer towards the cheaper foods this week. This is just a guide or inspiration or a pat on the back that YOU CAN live within a food budget and not die from lack of creativity. I am not an expert at anything, this is just for fun. This week's menu is a little over $65....AGAIN. Feel free to pull anything frivolous out to make it cheaper.

$67.68

Here are the Menus for the week:

Breakfast
1-Breakfast Tacos (flour tortilla, scrambled eggs, cooked sausage. If you want cheese, you will have to spend .99 extra or pull something else from the grocery list and replace it with cheese as in trying to keep costs down, I didn't allow for cheese for this dish)

2-Cold Cereal, apple juice

3-Cold Cereal or Corn pancakes or waffles (use the recipe on the side of the Jiffy corn muffin mix for corn pancakes or waffles)

4-Cold Cereal

5-French Toast, bacon if any is left

6-Cold Cereal

7-Cold Cereal, apple juice

Lunch
1-Ham or turkey Sandwich, celery sticks

2-PB&J sandwich, pretzels, cookie (there are 32 cookies in the Kroger Value cookie package)

3-Ham or turkey sandwich, grapes

4-PB&J sandwich, pretzels, cookie

5-Ham or turkey sandwich, grapes (Serving size on the package of ham or turkey states one slice per serving with 14 servings per package)

6-Chicken Noodle soup

7-Tomato or Chicken Noodle soup, carrot sticks if any carrots are left

Dinner
1-Swiss steak, canned vegetable, jello, corn muffins. For a swiss steak recipe see http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Swiss-Steak/Detail.aspx

2-So, two options here. You can either have the leftover swiss steak and corn on the cob and french bread stick, or you can freeze the leftover Swiss Steak for dinner sometime next week and make a pot of Cheddar Corn Chowder http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/cheddar-corn-chowder-recipe/index.html (Barefoot Contessa version)
You should know that I did not put potatoes or half and half on the grocery list. Or chicken stock, but....I figure if you wanted to you could buy six extra cans of Campbell's chicken noodle soup at .50/can, strain out the noodles and chunk of chicken, yes the one chunk of chicken and that would probably work? Don't you think? You may have to add water, so maybe six cans is excessive, you'll know better than I. If you don't like guessing games, then buy some chicken stock. Serve the soup with the french bread stick. This sounds like it makes a lot of soup, you may want to halve the recipe, then again, you'll know better than me. Using milk in place of half and half would be lighter. If you choose not to buy potatoes, I think that it could still be a great soup.

3-Food Club Skillet Classics, their version of Hamburger Helper, green salad, pudding for dessert. Food club Skillet Classics offers these flavors: Stroganoff, Zesty Italian Pasta, Chili Mac, Salisbury Pasta, 3 Cheese Pasta, Beef Taco. They make 5 cups and suggest one cup servings to serve five people.

4-Grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup

5-Baked chicken, Knorr side dish, steamed carrots

6-Several options here also. Spaghetti and red sauce. Or Spaghetti and Alfredo sauce, with broccoli in it. Or...if you wanted to spend $1.79 for a package of Food Club lasagne and another .99 for a package of cheese, you could make a delicious vegetable lasagne. I would cook up half of the lasagne noodles and then layer with Alfredo sauce, some steamed broccoli and sauteed onion and continue layering, then top with cheese and bake. Kind of an italian inspired mac and cheese with broccoli thrown in.. Serve with a green salad.

7-Stuffed green peppers, four halves stuffed with a Knorr rice side dish and any leftover cooked ground beef, canned vegetable.


Here's the grocery list:

Albertson's
Whole fryer, .57 lb., aprox. 3 lbs. at $1.71
If you choose not to get the grapes at Bashas, you can get them here at .77 lb.
Corn on the cob, 6/$1, buy 6
Calidad flour tortillas, 10/$10, buy one
Brown n serve sausage or Farmland sausage at 10/$10, buy one
Kraft American singles, 2/$4, buy one
Carrots, .99 for 2 lb. bag

Bashas
Boneless Round steak, $1.37 lb., package I got was $5.86 (and enough steak to feed some third world countries. You're saving over $13 on a package this size!). Aprox. 4 lbs.
Green seedless grapes, .79 lb, package I weighed was $1.64, a tinge more than 2 lbs.
Large slicing tomatoes, .88 lb., one .36
Food Club shredded cheese, .99, buy one (if you don't make the Cheddar Corn Chowder, you can use the one bag of cheese for the breakfast Tacos, if you do make the chowder then you will need at least one other bag of cheese and if you make the Vegetable Lasagne you will need another bag. Totally confused? Me too.)
Bar S Extra lean sliced turkey or ham, $2.88. Package states 14 servings at one slice per serving. Campbell's tomato or chicken noodle soup, 20/$10, buy 6 cans
Jiffy corn muffin mix, .50, buy 2
Food Club gelatin or pudding mix, 2/$1, buy one of each
Hunt's diced tomatoes, $1, buy 2 cans
Food Club strawberry preserves or grape jelly, 2/$4, buy 1
Food Club canned vegetables, 5/$3, buy 2 cans
Food Club Skillet Classics, $1.25, buy 1
Green bell pepper, .49 ea, buy 2(use four halves)
Bashas medium eggs, $1.49, buy 1
French bread stick, $1.49, buy 1

Fry's
Milk---milk, milk, shmmmmilk. .77 for a 1/2 gallon. It's going to be cheaper for you this week at a 4 limit to pick up four 1/2 gallons of Fry's milks than it is to buy 2 gallons at $1.99 ea. Buy 4 at $3.08
Super lean gr. beef, $1.77 lb. in a 2 lb. chub at $3.54 [If you have a problem with chub meat, some people do and I am one of them, ask your butcher nicely and with a smile on your face, at Bashas to grind up some round steak into hamburger for you(Bashas)]
Knorr sides, .88, buy 4 pkgs. These have 2.5 servings in them with 1/2 cup being a serving.
Kellogg's cereals, buy four, save $4, soooooooo buy four, $1.37 each, $5.48 total
Broccoli, $1 lb., the bunch I weighed came to 1-1/2 lbs. which means, $1.50
Kroger Value cookies, $1.19, buy one. I counted out 32 cookies in one pkg. They have about four kinds to choose from
Fry's apple juice, $1.25
Yellow onion, .69 lb., the onion I weighed was a 1/2 lb., so .34 (If you make the Cheddar Corn Chowder, you may want more onions than just one.)
Kroger peanut butter, .99 (18 oz.)
Kroger Value Bacon, $1.77
Kroger Value bread, .88, buy 4 at $3.52(a loaf of KV bread has 20 slices in it counting the heals. If you make four sandwiches six times and make french toast with 8 slices, you will use 56 slices of bread. So you decide whether you get the fourth loaf of bread or not. You may need to have some toast with cereal on some mornings?)
Fry's pretzels, $1.29
Ragu Alfredo sauce or red sauce, $1.50 (Kroger Value red sauce is $1.15)
Kroger Value spaghetti, .88
Iceberg lettuce, $1
Celery, $1

Other good values this week which are not on the grocery list:
Chunk light tuna, .69-Fry's
Kroger Value animal crackers, .99-Fry's
Kroger Value vanilla wafers, $1.27-Fry's
Fry's pasta, .99-Fry's
Fry's spaghetti, 10/$10-Fry's
Fry's rice, $2.49 for 2 lbs.-Fry's
Big K soda .77-Fry's
Fry's chocolate milk, .77/1/2 gal.-Fry's (NOTE: that there is a four limit on the milk, so you can't buy four regular milks and then a choc. milk in one transaction, just be aware.)
Youplait yogurt, 10/$5-Bashas
Hillshire Farms Deli Selects, $2.88-Bashas, there's bound to be a coupon for this, knocking it down to $1.88, check your coupons
Chorizo, $1, -Albertsons

Items not on the grocery list you might already have:
Mayo, coffee, flour, sugar, condiments

See how you can save more on groceries, at http://www.couponsense.com/