Menu on a Budget

Hello all!!
WOW! This has been a long two weeks! Winn-Dixie had some great deals on meat this week! I got 3.75lbs of hamburger meat, Ground Chuck, for $11! I rolled over a couple of meals from the previous weeks because family had us over for dinner one night, and we ate at church two different nights. My total bill was $148.07. Here is my menu:

Week 1
Chicken Nachos
Chicken Pot Pie
Grilled Pork Tenerloin - w/ baked beans and salad
Country Fried Steak - w/ mashed potatoes, green beans, biscuits
Potato Soup - w/ cornbread

Week 2
Pork Chops - w/ fried okra (our favorite), peas
Tacos
Manicotti - w/ salad and garlic bread
Chicken and Dumplings
Southwestern Stew
Hot Dogs - what a dinner! =D

Chicken Nachos
2 Chicken Breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 jar pace picanti mild sauce
3T Taco seasoning
1/2 c Sour Cream
Combine in crock pot and cook on high for 4-6hrs. Serve over nachos with your choice of cheese. I use the kind found in the deli section of Winn-Dixie, it is called Gordo's Cheese dip.

Chicken Pot Pie
2 chicken breasts cooked in crock pot
2 cans green beans
2 cans corn
2 cans potatoes
1 can cream of chicken soup
Salt to taste
1 pkg Pilsbury roll out pie crust
Place one pie crust in botton of pyrex baking dish. Combine all indegredients in bowl. Pour in pyrex dish. Cover with the other pie crust. Bake according to pie crust package.

Recipes

2009-08-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

Turkey and Dressing
Already cooked chicken
1 Pan Corn Bread
1/2 onion
2 eggs
1/2 tsp Sage (1 tsp if large pan)
1/2 stick butter or 1/2 cup

Combine all ingredients. Put in glass pan or iron skillet. Bake at 350 degrees until brown.

Given to me by my MaMaw - Peggy Jarrett

Santa Fe Chicken
6-8 boneless chicken breast or tenorloins
1Tbsp water (add salt)
1 pkg Ritz Crackers ( crushed, I usually do this with a hammer)
1 stick margarine
1 cup Sour Cream
2 cups sharp cheddar cheese

Roll meat in 1 beaten egg and 1Tbsp water (the egg and water are mixed), then roll in crushed Ritz Crackers. Brown in skillet with 1 stick of margarine. (you are not trying to cook, just brown). Place in a Pyrex dish and add a dollop of soup cream on top of each piece of chicken. Cook 20 min on 350 then add cheese on top. Cook another 25 min. Enjoy!

Given to me by Linda Foster

Southerwestern Stew
1lb Hamburger Meat - cooked and drained
2 cans Rotel - mild
2 cans corn
2 cans diced potatoes
16oz jar Pace Picanti Sauce - mild
2 cans tomatoes (optional)

Don't drain anything! Mix all ingredients together in crock pot and cook on low until your family is ready for dinner!

Given to me by Donnette Gilmore

Chicken Ranch Pasta
4 chicken breasts
6 slices of bacon
2T flour
1pkg powdered ranch mix
1 1/4 c milk
Pasta - any kind...we like Rigatoni
Parmesan Cheese

Cut bacon into small pieces and cook in a large pan. Remove Bacon. Cook chicken in left over bacon drippings until no longer pink. Sprinkle ranch and flour onto chicken. Stir well. Add milk. Cook until thickened and bubbly. Cook one more minute. Stir in cooked bacon. Mix with cooked pasta. Sprinkle with Parmesan.
Give to me by Jennifer Paige

Manicotti
1 box Jumbo Shells
1 jar Tomato and Basil Sauce
1lb ground chuck
2tbsp olive oil
1bag fresh spinach
1c onion
1clove minced garlic
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8tsp nutmeg
1 egg
1/4c parmesan cheese
1c mozzarella cheese
Preheat over to 350degrees. Cook shells and drain, reserving 1/3c of the pasta water. Cook ground beef. Drain greese well. Add, oil, spinach, onion, garlic, and pasta water. Cook 10min, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Add seasonings and blend. Let mixture cool. Stir in egg and parmesan cheese. Pour 1c of pasta sauce into a baking dish. Fill shells with mixture. Pour remaining sauce over shells; top with mozarella. Cover with foil. Bake 30min.
Give to me by Jennifer Paige
I thought this was going to be time consuming and hard to make, but it so wasn't!!!

Chicken and Dumplings
Cook 4-6 chicken breast in crock pot with 4c water and 1T salt. When done, pour all chicken and stock into large pot. Use and fork to shred the chicken, it should just fall apart. Make your dumplings using Bisquick. The reicipe is on the back of the box. Drop in and cook 30-40 min. Enjoy!

Hawaiian Chicken
4-6 Chicken Breasts
1/2c flour
oil
Syrup:
1can-1lb sliced pineapple
1c sugar
2Tcorn starch
3/4c vinegar
1T soy sauce
1/4t ginger
1cube chicken boullon

In flour and oil fry chicken until slightly brown. Place in baking dish. Pour off juice of pineapple to make 1 1/4c juice - add water to make the 1 1/4c. I usually add water on top of the pineapple and pour into my other juice. Add all other ingredients unter *sryup*. Bring to a boil - 2mins. Pour over chicken. Bake 30min uncovered, remove from oven and add pineapple on top. Bake 30more minutes. Given to me by Laura Clayton

First Two Weeks!!

2009-08-13T13:53:00.000-07:00

Hello!! Today is my first "official" post with my menu and such. I only went to Winn Dixie today, just because I didn't have time to go anywhere else. They had chicken BOGO! We love chicken at our house. I also had Pork Tenderloin, pork chops, beef stew meat, hamburger meat, and chicken fingers in the freezer already. I did buy chicken and a roast. I splurged and got Chad some mixed nuts because they were BOGO also! My total bill was $151.30!!! All these menus will only consist of dinner, lunch and breakfast are pretty much a given around my house. They consist of dry cereal, pop tarts, bagels, waffles, pancakes, leftovers, PB Sandwiches, lunchables, and Spaghetti O's! Recipes will be done in a separate blog. We usually eat sandwiches, hot dogs, cereal (Chad's fav) etc. on Wednesday and Sunday nights, since we have church. By the way ,we go through 2 1/2 gallons of milk a week around the Clayton household! Milk is EXPENSIVE! We hardly ever eat out, and if we do it is a special occasion. This has also helped me to lose weight! Eating out has so many calories. Even though I don't cook "healthy", it is better than eating 1,200 calories in one meal.

Week 1 Menu
Chicken and Dumplings
Grilled Pork Tenderloin - with baked beans and mac and cheese
Ranch Chicken Pasta - with Salad and garlic bread
Santa Fe Chicken - with green beans and bacon cheese potatoes
Southwestern Stew - with cornbread
Pork Chops - with fried okra, peas, and fresh corn

Week 2 Menu
Pot Roast - with carrots
Chicken and Dressing - with Turkey Breast, fried okra, peas, and corn (this takes time, but so worth it! It is usually my Saturday meal!)
Hawaiian Chicken - with Rice
Spaghetti
Manicotti - with salad and garlic bread
Baked Chicken Fingers - with Green Beans and mac and cheese

The Pot Roast, Southwestern Stew, and Chicken (for the dumplings) are cooked in the crock pot!
I hope you enjoy!!

Menu's

2009-08-10T13:52:00.000-07:00

Many of my friends (and friends of friends) have been asking me to do a blog about my menus, how I plan, and how I get by spending $150 every two weeks on groceries for a family of 4. First of all, at tax time we always take money and stock up on paper goods at Costco. We also buy our toothpast, shampoo, soap, etc. and that will last us approx. a year. So, when I go to the grocery store and I am only buying groceries.

Let me explain how I got started doing this. In 2007, I decided that I was unhappy with my career choice. This led me to pray about what I was supposed to be doing with my life, other than raising my beautiful twin boys. With the Lord's guidance and Chad's approval, I quit my job at Gadsden State Community College to pursue my teaching degree at JSU. We lost a whole lotta income, but knew God would provide and He has! I have about a year left at JSU and we plan to keep up with this menu planning thing.

First of all, we only have a Winn Dixie and Wal-mart in good 'ole Jacksonville! Most people think, Winn Dixie is too expensive. It really isn't. They always have buy one get one free!! This is how I shop! I dislike Wal-mart's meat and bread. Everytime I get bread, it is stale and the meat is just gross looking. We eat home grown veggies, so we do not have to buy tomoatoes, peas, corn, bellpepper, squash, cucumbers, etc. Thanks to my father-in-law for this one! Next year we plan on having a garden of our own!

So, to start my menu for two weeks, I go to www.winndixie.com and look to see what is on sale. I look at the meat especially. Then I look at www.walmart.com to see what sales they have going on. Depending on which meat is on sale will depend on my menu. If it is buy one get one free, I use them on different weeks but making different meals with it. Depending on what is on sale, I get out my handy dandy cookbook and find something that I can make with the meat. A lot of times I just go to my friends! I will be posting my meals on here, and the recipes! I hope you enjoy this blog!!!