It's been quite a while since I shared a weekly menu... mostly because our menus don't vary all that much, especially in warmer months!! They should... but a certain husband tends to want pretty much the same meals every week! lol!
I've also been doing a lot of shopping at ALDI lately to help keep our budget inline and it's just easier to stick with familiar foods that we know we enjoy!
"Shopping" the pantry -- this was another trick I used this week. I checked what types of products we had at home as I was writing my grocery list to make sure I didn't buy anything that we already had. Our grocery budget this week was $60.00. With tax I spent $59.01! It's always a win to come in under budget!
Also, we generally don't stick to specific days for meals. It gives us the opportunity to make whatever meal we're hungry for that night.
This Week's Menu:
- Tacos -- Hubs wants tacos a lot during the summer. We will make them with ground beef, lettuce, avocados, and shredded cheese. PS... instead of adding a taco seasoning mix to the ground beef (which often can have gluten in it) we just season the beef to taste with cumin, garlic, oregano, and chili powder and thicken it with about a teaspoon of cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water. Hubs eats his taco fillings in the actual corn taco shells, while I generally make a taco salad and just crumble a shell on top.
- Chicken Stir-Fry -- I use a package of frozen stir-fry veggies and then add additional fresh veggies that we have in the fridge. I use 1 1/2 large chicken breasts for our stir fry and we're able to get 4 meals out of it. We serve it over white rice.
- Cheeseburger Pizza -- I've been trying to stay away from tomato-based foods, because in general tomatoes and I just don't get along. So a few weeks ago we tried a "cheeseburger" pizza using a gluten-free pizza crust mix we found at ALDI (boy I wish they would keep those mixes in stock!). We used homemade thousand island dressing as the "base" for our pizza, and then loaded it up with browned ground beef, mushrooms, green peppers, red onions, shredded cheese, and a drizzle of yellow mustard. LOVED it!! May be my favorite pizza now!
- Pinto Beans -- Not really a summer meal, but still one of my super frugal favorites because you can just add soaked pinto beans to the crock pot, add whatever seasonings you like, cover with water, and voila... when you get home, instant dinner! And you can cook them to death and they're still edible! I love them topped with caramelized onions!
- Cheryl's Lentil Dal & Roasted Cauliflower -- another "meatless" meal option that I like to have on hand, it's quick and easy for a weeknight meal and it's pure comfort food! Just as an FYI, you can roast frozen cauliflower too! It works great and is super tasty!
- Tuna or Salmon Melts -- Basically just canned tuna or salmon mixed with a little mayo, relish, salt, pepper, and mustard and placed on GF toast, topped with a slice of cheese and put under the broiler to melt. Quick, easy, and a good hot weather dinner!
- Chicken Caesar Salad -- My dad's awesome ceasar salad topped with grilled chicken! A perfect summer meal!
- Beef Stroganoff -- I haven't made this recipe in years, but had a big craving for it last week! I will make it using gluten-free wide noodles from Schar, beef broth, sour cream, mushrooms, red wine, and various seasonings... And I need to remember to pull out the beef from the freezer!
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