Summer Meal Planning Thread with budget saving ideas!

[charming23]

OMG, someone in Cleveland is making Cincinnati Chili??????? Got to have our Skyline Chili......

I love Skyline Chili. We have one not to far from here and go at least once a month. When I make my own I sometimes make my own from the packet of seasoning you can get from them or I use the recipe.


This week okay. We only ate out for dinner once yesterday because we were shopping around Amish Country. We leave next friday to see family in Pennsylvania until 8/3 so here is what I have planned until then.

Tonight: Pork chops with apple butter and mashed sweet potatoes
Sunday: London Broil with a zuchinni ricotta tart
Monday: BLT's with pasta salad
Tuesday: Ground beef tacos with Spanish Rice
Wednesday: Spaghetti with Turkey meatballs
Thursday: Leftovers/clean out the fridge before we go

 

[jennyopenny]

Someone asked how I made Chicken and black bean tacos~sorry it took me so long to post.

I usually make it when I need to use up leftover chicken.
~shred chicken in skillet
~add hot sauce, frozen corn, and a can of black beans (drained)
~serve with corn/flour torillas, and topping of your choice

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Here to update the week. DH and I decided not to do our usual summer stock-up but try week to week. The kids have been gone a lot and it is just us so we will see....

Sunday: Hot Dogs, corn on the cob, and fresh nectarines
Moday: Chicken (grillled outside if hot), zucchini, and pineapple slices
Tuesday: Ham, lentils, and salad
Wednesday: Tortilini soup w/crusty bread
Thursday: Hamburgers, pumpkins (aka fried yellow squash), and rice
Friday: Leftover day. If no leftovers, DD will get us a pizza from work.

Here's hoping everyone has a great week. Some of the new recipes look good and I may change one night to include a black-bean, rice, and chicken night... I'll let Mother Nature guide me through that.

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Tuesday is the new Thursday...

Doing Hamburgers on the grill tonight with zucchini crisps. They are a cooking light recipe and very good. In case you started your squash overload, her is the recipe:

Oven Crisps - serving size is approximately a cup.

Ingredients
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fat-free milk
2 1/2 cups (1/4-inch-thick) slices zucchini (about 2 small)
Cooking spray

Preparation
Preheat oven to 425°.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Place milk in a shallow bowl. Dip zucchini slices in milk, and dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Place coated slices on an ovenproof wire rack coated with cooking spray; place rack on a baking sheet. Bake at 425° for 30 minutes or until browned and crisp. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Information
Calories:61 (28% from fat)
Fat:1.9g (sat 1g,mono 0.5g,poly 0.2g)
Protein:3.8g
Carbohydrate:7.6g
Fiber:1g
Cholesterol:5mg
Iron:0.6mg
Sodium:231mg
Calcium:87mg

Cost for side dish around $1.00. Serves 4

 

[Dreams83]

80 just for dinner or including breakfast and lunch as well

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

80 just for dinner or including breakfast and lunch as well

What post are you referring to, maybe we could answer if you provided it...

Some of us may be able to do dinner for .80cent per person. Depends on what you are serving etc.

I was just talking with DD about this because she is going away to college. They have a Moes on campus and she likes Chicken burritos. So I made them in the crockpot yesterday, my version. She said they were better and I showed her how inexpensive it could be...

3 chicken breasts cut into strips $3.00
Salsa $1.00
10 pack flour burritos $1.00
1 tbsp. taco seasoning .10
1 can black beans .50
small amount of velveeta cheese/cream cheese.. .75

So for approximately $6.25 she has 10 chicken burrito's or .62 cents for the burrito. For a $1.00 per person she could add some brown rice, sour cream and a piece of fruit.

Plus the burrito mix can be frozen, making even more economical for days when you really don't feel like cooking.

 

[momx2]

I forgot to post this week! Here it is...

Monday: Ground turkey with beef flavored rice a roni $3.60;
Tuesday: Crockpot French Dips, crockpot baked potatoes $9.00;
Wednesday: Barbeque Pork and cornbread and corn on the cob $6;
Thursday: Grilled chicken with rice and peas $5.50;
Friday: Homemade pizza and appetizers from take out (my birthday!) $25

 

[NHWX]

Thank you! Squash is indeed going like crazy here. I'm of two minds when I think about the slugs eating the baby squash. Is it a good thing or a bad one? the zucchini crisps will go on the grill with salmon burgers, I believe.

We're having family visit on Saturday and I told them under no circumstances whatsoever could they bring additional tomatoes.

NHWX

Tuesday is the new Thursday...

Doing Hamburgers on the grill tonight with zucchini crisps. They are a cooking light recipe and very good. In case you started your squash overload, her is the recipe:

Oven Crisps - serving size is approximately a cup.

Ingredients
1/4 cup dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons fat-free milk
2 1/2 cups (1/4-inch-thick) slices zucchini (about 2 small)
Cooking spray

Preparation
Preheat oven to 425°.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Place milk in a shallow bowl. Dip zucchini slices in milk, and dredge in breadcrumb mixture. Place coated slices on an ovenproof wire rack coated with cooking spray; place rack on a baking sheet. Bake at 425° for 30 minutes or until browned and crisp. Serve immediately.

Nutritional Information
Calories:61 (28% from fat)
Fat:1.9g (sat 1g,mono 0.5g,poly 0.2g)
Protein:3.8g
Carbohydrate:7.6g
Fiber:1g
Cholesterol:5mg
Iron:0.6mg
Sodium:231mg
Calcium:87mg

Cost for side dish around $1.00. Serves 4

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

Thank you! Squash is indeed going like crazy here. I'm of two minds when I think about the slugs eating the baby squash. Is it a good thing or a bad one? the zucchini crisps will go on the grill with salmon burgers, I believe.

We're having family visit on Saturday and I told them under no circumstances whatsoever could they bring additional tomatoes.

NHWX

Oh my, I would love a fresh tomato. DH didn't get the garden in time and DS was on a crusade telling us we couldn't water because of the drought conditions. Hoping someone will have some on the side of the road soon!

Put a saucer of beer in by the plants and the slugs will drown themselves in a happy/drunk kind of way!

 

[NHWX]

As far as the slugs go, I've been using old shallow yogurt cups with a yeast, sugar, water mixture since we don't drink beer at our house. It seems to do the trick though I do have to warn everyone that if you miss a cup one day, the dead slugs smell nasty the next day.

This is a true budget board trick... when I asked at the garden center about preventing bugs (caterpillars went to town on my carrots and something is having a grand time with my basil), the older gentleman mentioned that old timers used to toss the dishpan water on the garden at night and that worked instead of using Safer or one of the new natural pesticides. He suggested I use a garden sprayer with a weak solution of water and Ivory dish soap.

I put my biggest mixing bowl in the second sink and any relatively clean rinse water is going in there. Then I'm dump it on the garden. Ditto for water used to rinse out milk jugs before recycling. We go through about 6-7 gallons of milk per week so it's a fairly common occurrence to rinse a milk jug here. Maybe that will help a bit with the drought and your garden.

As far as a budget meal went tonight we had

whole wheat spaghetti
sauteed vidalia onions, tomatoes and oregano (last 2 from our garden)
topped with feta
and watermelon on the side

NHWX

 

[swilshire]

Oh my, I would love a fresh tomato.

While we were on vacation, DD24 kept sending us pictures of the mass of tomatoes we were missing. By the time we got home July 4, they were getting pretty small because of the dry weather. A golf ball sized one is big by comparison to most of them, but I've had at least five of them for lunch every day. YUMMMMM!

Sheila

 

[Tinker'n'Fun]

While we were on vacation, DD24 kept sending us pictures of the mass of tomatoes we were missing. By the time we got home July 4, they were getting pretty small because of the dry weather. A golf ball sized one is big by comparison to most of them, but I've had at least five of them for lunch every day. YUMMMMM!

Sheila

I totally miss my tomato/mayo sandwiches for dinner. Talk about budgets. Bread, mayo, free tomatoes, salt and pepper....

We could do that dinner for .25cents per person!!

 

[Piecey]

Can we revitalize this thread?? I know it's not summer anymore but I need motivation to stick to a menu!!

Sunday:: Chicken Enchiladas with mexican rice ($1.78/lb chicken, .50c rice, .50c tortillas; free cheese, cream cheese, canned tomatoes = ~$3)
Monday:: We were in Pittsburgh, so we had Red Robin. ($32 )
Tuesday:: Hamburgers, baked beans and corn (Half pack of buns .50c, doctored up pork and beans $1, hamburger $1.50, veggie steamer .25c = $3.25)
Wednesday:: Buttermilk Chicken, mashed potatoes and garlic carrots. ($1.78/lb chicken, potatoes ~.50c, frozen carrots ~.50c = ~$3)
Thursday:: Beef Tenderloin sliced with lima beans and scalloped potatoes. (~$7 beef, .35c scalloped potato box, free Kroger lima beans = $7.50)
Friday:: Leftovers (Free!)
Saturday:: Going to a wedding. (Free!...ish)