Lady Tip: Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping

Everyone has to eat. Eating out is expensive. Buying packaged or frozen food is not tasty. The solution I've found for affordable, healthy, yummy eating is cooking at home. This means having a well-stocked kitchen and planning ahead. It's not that hard, and this week I'm walking my lady friends (and my male lurkers) through how to effectively and deliciously plan a week's worth of food.

This week's lunch includes:

Salad with Mexican fixin's

Tuna Salad Wraps

Peppered Turkey Breast Sandwich

This week's dinner menu includes:

Texas Chicken Taco Salad

Spicy Sausage Jumbalaya

Chicken Parmesan

Make it Yourself Calzones

Spicy Vegetable Lo Mein

Tomato Soup in a Bread Bowl with Side Salad

Breakfast for Dinner

I went to the store to buy all the ingredients. This week's protein is chicken which means you can save money and buy a club pack. Pick out however many chicken breasts you're using and store the rest in the freezer for next week. Here's a picture of all the groceries I bought, and the total cost was only $65.


If you break it down, each meal costs $5.40 and per person that's about $2.75. You can't beat that with frozen food OR by eating out (even if you go to Wendy's). And you aren't just getting cheaper food, you're getting healthier food. Each meal has at least one serving of vegetables and one serving of protein.

Here's your grocery list:

bread (whole grain if you can), two large rolls for bread bowl & wraps (whole grain if you can)

cheese: cheddar, Mozzarella, Parmesan (the nicest you can afford)
tortilla chips (multi grain if you can find it)

medium grain rice

pizza crust (near cookie dough; you can make your own if you like, I just never have the time)

cans: crushed tomatoes and tomato soup (I like Campbells)

spaghetti noodles (whole grain if you can)

Belgian Waffle mix

meats: bacon, andoullie sausage and chicken breasts

deli: provolone cheese (.25 lb), peppered turkey breast (.5 lb for two days)

produce: broccoli crown, lettuce, avocado, tomatoes on the vine, green pepper, zucchini

snacks: bananas, grapes, raisins, dried pineapple slices, almonds

Look for pictures and the Calzone recipe tomorrow morning. I dropped the pizza crust and it exploded open, so I'll be making that tonight.