Meal planning single-handily saves us more money on grocery shopping than any coupon ever could. I used to be a coupon junky too! Saving $1.00 on anything used to give me a special thrill.
Knowing what we need for the full weeks prevents us from last minute trips to the grocery store. The last minute trips used to include additional impulse buys that killed our bottom line.
We do eat a lot from our pantry, freezer, and weekly CSA farm box. Our grocery bill from yesterday, including a dozen canning jars for more blackberry pancake syrup was $40.
Our meal plan this week:
Monday (meatless Mondays) - spaghetti, garlic bread, and cucumbers from our CSA box
Tuesday - turkey burgers on homemade buns, sweet potato fries, a veggie
Wednesday - Tofu scramble rice bowls. SO yummy
Thursday - Buffalo chicken sandwiches from the crockpot
Friday - Black beans and rice (recipe below), and a side veggie. Another crockpot recipe
Saturday - Pizza! Pizza dough from the Kitchen Aid mixer, alfredo, mozzarella, artichoke hearts, bacon, and garlic
Sunday - family dinner at my parent's
Black beans & rice
I took this recipe, and adapted it. I soaked 1 cup of beans overnight, and only did about 2-3 cups of water in the crockpot. I sauteed onion and garlic and added it to the mixture in the crockpot. I included cumin and smoked paprika, and just let it sit for about 6 hrs. Adding salt to beans while the cook is guarantee for tough beans.
Once everything was done, I added the salt, a can of tomatoes, and some diced bacon. We did rice in the rice cooker made with chicken broth instead of water. Paired the meal with homegrown zucchini marinated in Italian dressing and grilled on the BBQ. We top the zuke with a little mozzarella just before serving.Labels: Poverty Cookbook