Alright! We’re moving into week two and the reality of this meal plan’s limitations are setting in. There is going to be a whole lot of repitition and while that is what I end up doing for my regular meals (because I like it), somehow it seems rather stark when it’s laid out in these meal plans. I’ve also realized that $30 is a lot tighter than, say, $50, and it’s probably going to take me a bit longer to build up a pantry of reasonable depth than I first thought. While for the first four weeks I want to stick to the two stores I identified earlier, I think perhaps the four weeks after that I will change stores and see how I fare.
Grocery List: $30.60 (again – kind of random!)
- Coconut Milk, $1 (DT)
- Mayo, $1 (DT)
- 3-oz dried minced onion, $1 (DT)
- 20-oz bag popcorn kernels, $1 (DT)
- Saltines, $.98
- Italian dressing mix, $.98
- Curry powder, $1.48
- Eggs, 2 doz, $2.24
- Shredded cheese, 8 oz, $1.48
- Frozen spinach, 12 oz, $.98
- Frozen broccoli cuts, 12 oz, $.84
- Frozen peas, 12 oz, $.84
- Mixed fruit, 2 cans, $1.88
- Whole wheat bread, 1 loaf, $.92
- Lentils, 1lb, $1.54
- Tri-color slaw, 16 oz, $1.77
- Classic iceberg salad, 12 oz, $.92
- Tuna, 2 5-oz cans, $1.32
- Enriched white rice, 5lb, $2.18
- Pasta sauce, $.88
- Grape jelly, 18 oz, $.94
- Sweet relish, 12 oz, $.98
- Carrots, 2lbs, $1.14
- 1% Milk, $1.33
- Bananas, 6 ct, $1.42
Meal Plan
Breakfast:
- Oatmeal made w/milk, sugar & cinnamon, half banana, tea w/sugar. 333 calories, 3x/week
- Uses: 3 cups rolled oats, 4 cups milk, 12 tsp. sugar, 1.5 tsp. cinnamon, 3 bananas, 6 tea bags
- Scrambled eggs made w/margarine, cheese, spinach, & onion, toast w/margarine, tea w/sugar. 352 calories, 3x/week
- Uses: 9 eggs (1.5 per person per day), 12 tsp. butter, 3/4 cup cheese, 2 cups spinach, 1 -2 T. minced onion, ketchup/hot sauce as desired, 6 slices of bread, 6 tea bags, 6 tsp sugar
- Surprise muffins w/jam (2 each), hard boiled eggs, tea w/sugar. 442 calories, 1x/week
- Uses: 1 3/4 cup. flour, 1/3 cup sugar, 2 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1 egg, 1/4 cup oil, 3/4 cup milk, 12 tsp. jelly, 2 eggs (yield is 12 muffins, so 8 left for snacks)
Lunch:
- Peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, carrot sticks, half banana, water or iced tea. 395 calories, 3x/week
- Uses: 12 slices bread, 9 T. peanut butter, 6 T. jelly, 4-5 carrots, 3 bananas.
- Tuna & egg salad w/saltines, salad w/italian dressing, half cup mixed fruit, water or iced tea. 461 calories, 2x/week
- Uses: two cans tuna, 4 eggs, 5 T. mayo, 2 T. relish, 2 – 3 tsp. mustard, 24 saltines, 1/3 lettuce & coleslaw combo (mixed together), 6 T. Italian dressing (prepared — used 1 packet dressing mix, 1/2 cup oil, 1/4 cup vinegar), 1.5 cans mixed fruit
- Leftovers, 2x/week — choices described in dinner section
Dinner:
- Lentil Soup, Drop Biscuits, water or iced tea. 480 calories, 6 servings
- Uses lentils, water, 3 carrots, 2 T. minced onion, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 2 cups spinach, 1 c. flour, 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 T. sugar, 4 T. margarine, 1/2 cup + 2T. milk
- Chicken and Veggie Curry, Rice, water or iced tea. 460 calories, 6 servings
- Uses: 1lb chicken, 1lb broccoli, 1 cup frozen peas, 5 carrots, 2T. minced onion, 2T. oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, 2 cups uncooked rice
- Spaghetti w/Marinara Sauce, Salad, water or iced tea. 440 calories, 5 servings
- Uses: 10 oz spaghetti, jar of pasta sauce, 1/2 c. cheese, 1/2 lettuce & coleslaw mix, 7 T. prepared salad dressing
- Open-Faced Tuna Melts, Salad, water or iced tea. 509 calories, 2 servings
- Uses: 2 slices of bread, 2 servings tuna & egg salad, 1/4 cup cheese, remainder of salad mix, 3 T. prepared salad dressing
Leftover Choices for Lunch & Dinner (need 10):
- 4 servings Lentil Soup
- 4 servings Chicken Curry
- 3 servings Spaghetti Meal
Snacks & Beverages:
- Cinnamon or Jam Toast. 167 calories, 4 servings (1 slice of bread, 1tsp. margarine, 1tsp. sugar, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon) or (1 slice of bread, 1 tsp. margarine, 1/2 T. jam)
- Hard Boiled Eggs. 70 calories, 10 servings (10 eggs)
- Popcorn. 200 calories, 8 servings (1 1/2 cups kernels, 6 T. margarine [air popped])
- Muffins. 186 calories, 8 servings
- Cinnamon Biscuits. 157 calories, 12 servings (2 cups flour, 1 T. baking powder, 2 tsp. sugar, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 cup margarine, cinnamon sugar)
- Milk. 2 servings, 100 calories (1 cup milk).
- Iced Tea, lightly sweetened. 76 calories, 16 servings (8 tea bags, 1.5 cups sugar)
- 1500 with 2 snacks, water only
- 1800 with 2 snacks, tea and milk for beverages
This week I feel like there was a bit more variety of flavor but that meant that there was very little overage for snacks and the calorie counts seemed a bit leaner over all. In the meals where there is a higher calorie count, it’s coming from the salad dressing. So the volume of food being consumed overall is pretty low, too. I’m also really starting to get that “the-cupboard-is-bare” feeling and know that I have to replace some of my staples in the next trip while also finding a reasonable variety of foods for meals and so on. I’ve pretty much run out of the following:
- rolled oats
- peanut butter
- margarine
- oil
- possibly hot sauce (hard to tell on an “as desired” serving size)
Also, the I realized that I had been miscalculating the calories for the oatmeal — we usually use 1/3 cup when we make it here, but the serving size on the Great Value container is 1/2 cup. This means I also miscalculated the volume in each container — I corrected both the total used and my report of the total left. Because I do think the extra 50 calories are worth adding to the diet, plus it’s healthy fiber. I’ve gone back and corrected the count for the previous week’s breakfasts as well.
So what do I have left? In addition to most of my pantry items (excluding those listed above), I also go into next week with:
- 1/3 – 1/2 cup dry pintos
- 12-oz spaghetti
- .5 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 bag frozen spinach
- 1/2 bag frozen peas
- 10.5 cups rice
- 1/2 jar grape jelly
- 1/2 cup cheese
- a few carrots
- lots of dried minced onion
- 64 tea bags
Definitely a shorter list than last week! What do you think?
