Heres an example of a 7 days meal plan by eating dinner and dessert at home (and not breaking the bank). I didnt take any food allergies into consideration nor did I create a meal plan specifically for diabetics, those who need a more cardiac-type of diet (low sodium, low fat) but these ideas can always be tweaked for your needs. Remember, this is just an example of what you can eat. Feel free to move things around, and incorporate things that you or your family may already love/enjoy eating. This was simply created for folks to see that *surprisingly* you can eat at home and cook healthy meals for way less than you can eat out. Sample Meal Plan- Monday - Dinner – Sticky Chicken (chicken will be around $8)-recipe on this Facebook page Carrots ($2.00) Roasted cabbage ($3.00) (For 4 people, average of $15 total with possible leftovers) Tuesday Dinner – (crock pot can work for this tenderloin) Dinner- Pork Tenderloin (cooked in the crock pot) $15.00 for the meat Roasted sweet potatoes (4) @ $.99/lb (for 4 people this will be around $2.00 on average) Green beans or asparagus (greens beans are purchased cheaply in the produce department by the pound). The price will vary greatly and for 4 people and will cost an average of $2.00-$3.00 for 4 people (For 4 people, average of $19.50 and you will or should have leftovers) Wednesday dinner – By Wednesday we are all feeling like Friday needs to be coming very soon. Today you can let your crockpot help you again. Chili this time of year is always a good and easy meal and usually always provides leftovers again. Lean ground beef for four (2 lbs) $10.00 Beans (3 cans of red kidney beans) $2.75 Tomatoes – please don’t use the ones in a can, use the boxed tomatoes on the same aisle ($3.00 for 2 boxes) 2 packages of chili seasoning (or make your own!) $1.50 for 2 (For 4 people, average of $17.25 and you will most definitely have leftovers) Thursday dinner – Spaghetti squash night For 4 people, you’ll need 2 spaghetti squash. Cut the squash in half (lengthwise) and roast cut side down (more detailed instructions on the page). When done, spoon in ground turkey and spaghetti sauce mixture and top with cheese and put back in the oven to melt the cheese. (For 4 people, average of $17.00) - $3.00 per squash on average and $8.00/lb for ground beef. Cheese and sauce will vary. Friday dinner – Chicken Parmesan (recipe on this Facebook page) Total cost for 4 people ($10.00 for chicken, average of $5.00 total for noodles/sauce/cheese) You can also put a green salad on the side ($4.00) (For 4 people, average of $15.00 not including salad) Saturday dinner- Whole chicken (beer can chicken, drunken chicken, Dr Pepper chicken, etc) Weather permitting, I sit a whole chicken down onto a full Dr Pepper can and cook on my gas grilled for 2 hours or until the bird reaches 165F internal temperature. ($11.00 for the whole chicken-sometimes way cheaper than this!) Or if it’s rainy, cold etc, I just roast in the oven. No Walmart rotisserie chicken here….I control my OWN ingredients. I add any side I have left – maybe some mashed cauliflower ($3.00 for a whole head) and some butter peas or steamed broccoli. (peas will be around $1.79 and the broccoli is around $2.99) (For 4 people, average of $17.00) Sunday dinner – Today, you may more time to cook and experiment with new things. Like the coconut shrimp I have on the page here or perhaps the Chicken Piccata with a lemon caper sauce that I made last week. (I’ll post this recipe shortly with pictures) This dish cost around $12.00 for a family of 4). Remember, you will or should have leftovers some days and you can eat those the next day (save even more money). Also, shopping sales, buy-one-get-one sales, buying things that are in-season, and even shopping at stores like Aldi for your produce can also save you money. We try to buy organic whenever possible but if its not possible, I would suggest washing your veggies as good as possible and even using a veggie rinse that you can buy in most produce departments. All costs are an average, but I have spent $112.75 for dinner for 7 days here. You may be able to spend less - depending on sales/buying in season, etc. Breakfast can be scrambled eggs, or hard boiled eggs or overnight oatmeal (I’ll post the recipe that I really really like in the next few days). :-)) Desserts and snacks should be limited. Snacks don’t have to be entirely avoided but try to avoid anything processed (no microwave popcorn, no chips, no soft drinks).
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 03:58:23 +0000
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