Meal Plans

plans change and we deviate, but it is still important to have a plan.  Having a plan keeps us organized and takes stress out ifmthenhectic dinner hour,  it answers that nagging question, “ what’s for dinner? “  the leaves are falling, fall is on the air.

• Chicken tamale pie 
• Pizza
• Smoked paprika garlic chicken , yellow rice, green beans 
• Chili, beer bread or cornbread 
• Pork stew
• Salmon, scalloped potatoes, peas and carrots 
• Breakfast for dinner 

1. Chicken tamale pie is a Betty Crocker recipe.  You can find it on line.  
2. Pizza is a mainstay around here.  Noreen’s kitchen has a new pizza crust recipe.  You can freeze some for another day, 
3. Smoked paprika chicken is a taste of home recipe and yellow rice is everywhere, but also cheaper at the DT, 
4. Chili In the insta pot and slow cooker button is easy,   Beer bread is even easier.  Cornbread is an option of your family likes it.  Adding mild chillies and cheese is an option, 
5. Pork stew is from the pork loin we bought this week.  35 minutes in the insta pot.   There are also oven and slow cooker options, 
6. Salmon is frozen from Costco,   
7. Breakfast for dinner is a family affair and we all cook.  Fun times.   Even small children can butter the English muffins or set the table.

You can eat on four dollars a day and eat real food.   It just takes some key concepts. 

• Eat fresh fruits and veggies in season, or eat frozen if they are a good price. Watch your frozen vegetables and fruit, produce from China can be found at other stores too.   
• Try to never pay full price,  there can be as much as a two dollar swing between the exact same foods between stores.   Remember RBP on the things you use most  often.   That can of cranberry sauce you buy once a year won’t make much impact on your budget, but the can of diced tomatoes you use twice a week will. 
• Scratch cook when it makes sense.  Some things can be prepped ahead of time when things are more quiet, or delegated to an older child.   Making mixes ahead helps.  
• Buy when prices are low and eat when they aren’t.  Stock a four to six weeks supply.
• Consider eating taste preferences not  in season.  That gingerbread protein bar that is still in its lull date is just as good in August as it was in December, it’s jut 75 percent off.  
• Avoid convenience foods,  you are laying for someone else’s labor and they often have ingredients you don’t want to eat.  Read labels.  There actually are foods that contain soap and wood pulp along other science ingredients.  
• Cut up fruit and vegetables cost more and you risk contamination.  There are more recalls on those products.  Just sayin.
• Simplify.   Less variety makes for less work.   Choose foods that are versatile ingredients for many meals. Basics are best and buy in bulk when it makes sense.  A seven dollar 25 pound bag of flour can save hundreds of dollars.   Pizza is a buck, bread a quarter, muffins .50 plus a fruit,  pancakes are pennies.  They are all much less than ready made.
• Invest in a few well thought out appliances.  They pay for themselves in a shirt period of time. We are nit talking about hot dog makers here, but, rather, insta pot, griddle if you don’t have one for the stove, air fryer to reduce the fat in food, a good food processor, and a blender he,o a lot.   My husband would tell you that the toaster and the coffee pot were necessities.