Week #1 Menu-Feeding your family of five on $66.97

Something a little different than what I normally do. And I am still planning on doing an Arizona ad post this week, but this is something that I hope anyone in the U.S. can use. I got my prices from my nearby Fry's store, which is a Kroger store, so that may help some people. I had originally wanted to do this for $40 for the week but I don't think it's do-able anymore unless you are fine with eating beans for every dinner meal. I plan on doing a week #2 and week #3 so that someone could mix and match if they'd like to. Week #1 has some items in it that you won't need to buy every week, like Mayonnaise and veg. oil. Somtimes the items listed go on sale for half the price of what I have down, it's up to you to keep your eyes open for the best possible price for an item and if you do find it, it could drop the total of the week down quite a bit. I put milk prices down at full price but most weeks you can find milk somewhere for at least a dollar a gallon cheaper than what I have listed. So you absolutely can do better each than the total that I have listed if you are "on top of it" just a little. Meat prices are the only sale prices that I have down. Everything else is what Fry's (Kroger) had at regular price on mostly the Kroger "Value" brand. Hot dog condiments were not added into the grocery list.


For week #1 of the "Eating Cheap" Menu

Breakfast
1-Oatmeal
2-Cold cereal, milk and orange juice
3-Oatmeal, orange juice
4-Cold cereal, milk and orange juice
5-Oatmeal
6-Cold cereal, milk and orange juice
7-Oatmeal, orange juice
Total=$14.79
If you want to make this less, omit the cold cereal and milk and add more oats to the list. Your total would then be $3.56

Lunch
1-PB&J sandwich, carrots/celery sticks
2-Ham sandwich, orange sections
3-PB&J sandwich, apple wedges
4-Ham sandwich, celery sticks
Save some ham lunchmeat for the Fried Ham Rice dinner
5-PB&J sandwich, orange sections
6-PB&J sandwich, celery sticks
7-PB&J sandwich, apple wedges
Total=#20.64

Dinner
1-Hot dog Total=$1.98
Ingredients: 1 pkg. of Kroger "Value" brand hot dogs and 1 pkg. of KV hot dog buns
2-Mac&Cheese and frozen veg. Total=$1.84
Ingredients: 2 pkgs. of KV mac & cheese mix and 1 pkg. of KV frozen vegs.
3-French bread pizza Total=$3.77
Ingredients: 1 loaf of french bread split in half on the horizontal. KV spag. sauce and KV mozzarella cheese. If you like a lot of cheese, you may want to buy another mozzarella pkg. at $1.49 added to your total.
4-Chicken, rice and broccoli Total=$3.76
Ingredients: One aprox. 3 lb. chicken on sale for .69 lb. ($2.07). Use a third to a half of the bag of rice depending on how much you need and 1 lb. of fresh broccoli. Cook chicken and add other ingredients for a casserole or eat separately. Add a can of cream of chicken soup at an added cost of $1.29 for Kroger brand cream of chicken if you want to. Keep some cooked chicken out for the Chicken Caesar Salad dinner.
5-Ham Fried Rice Total=$2.98
Ingredients: Use aprox. 3 C. of rice as needed for your family. Cook, then cool. Use sliced scallions, some chopped ham lunchmeat and a couple of scrambled eggs. Season with garlic powder and soy sauce. Add some frozen peas or whatever other veg. you'd rather.
6-Chicken Caesar Salad Total=$2.48
Use a head of romaine and leftover chicken from the Chicken, rice and broccoli dinner. Toss with Caesar salad dressing. Or use Ranch dressing if you don't care for Caesar. Use the heels of the sandwich bread if you want to make croutons for the Caesar salad. Cube them up, add some veg. oil, salt and pepper and bake at 350 for about ten minutes or to desired toastiness.
7-Cheese Omelett and muffins Total=$4.07
Ingredients: 8-10 eggs to make omeletts and a pkg. of cheddar cheese. The muffin pkg. makes 5 muffins. If you want more than that, buy another muffin mix at .59.
Total=$20.88

Groceries
Based on Kroger prices

Produce
Broccoli, .96 lb., buy 1 lb.
Scallions, .59
Romaine, .99, buy one
Carrots, .69 for 1 lb. bag
Apples, $1.49 lb., buy 2 lbs. at $2.98
Oranges, $1.29 lb. buy 3 lbs. at $3.87
$10.08

Meat
Chicken, 3 lbs. at .69 lb., total $2.07
$2.07

Dairy
Eggs, $1.99
Milk, $3.49 gallon, buy 2
Kroger Value margerine, .67
$9.64

Wall Deli
Kroger Value Franks, .99
Kroger Value shredded cheddar, $1.49
Kroger Value shredded mozzarella, $1.49
Kroger Value ham lunchmeat, 16 slice, $3.49

Frozen
Kroger Value frozen vegetables, 10/$10, buy one peas and buy another your choice, buy 2 total
Kroger Value orange juice frozen concentrate, $1.32, buy 2 at $2.65

Canned/Bottled
Kroger Value spaghetti sauce, .99
Kroger cream of chicken soup, optional, $1.29
Kroger Caesar dressing, $1.49
Kroger Value peanut butter, $1.99, buy 2 at $3.98
Mayonnaise, $2.99
Kroger Veg. oil, $2.79
KV grape jelly, $1.67
$15.20

Dry/packaged
Kroger Value Mac & Cheese, .42, buy 2 at .84
Kroger Value long grain rice, 2 lbs., $1.46
Kroger Bag Cereal, $3.39 (28 servings)
Kroger Value muffin mix, .59 (5 servings)
$6.28

International
Soy sauce, I've allowed for $2.50
Tampico powdered garlic, .88 the kind in the bag in the Hispanic section
$3.38

Bulk
Oats, .89 lb., buy 2 lbs. at $1.78 (26 servings), based on "Sprouts" bulk price

Bread
Kroger Value hot dog buns, .99
French Bread, $1.29
Kroger Value Bread, .99, buy 4 loaves (will give you 72 slices, not counting the heels, use the heels for croutons for the Caesar Salad) (each loaf has 18 slices, you will need 70 slices if you make 5 sandwiches for 7 days)
$6.24
total $66.97