One of the biggest stresses of living on food stamps is making sure you plan well enough to have enough food for the month. Our family is blessed because when my husband is working overtime we are able to purchase extra food if needed, but for some families they cannot. They must survive only on their food stamps. We are also blessed that we are able to have a garden. We actually have two very large gardens with established red raspberries, strawberries, asparagus, and blue berries. Once gardening season kicks in we typically do not need to purchase fruit or vegetables often.
So, the question is, how do I meal plan for our $417 budget? Before the start of each month, I sit down with my calendar and pantry/freezer inventory list and make a detailed meal plan. I include breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. I try to plan crock pot meals for our busiest nights and quick and easy meals for days that I will be working in the garden. I also plan around the weather, our farmhouse was built in 1831 and has no air conditioning so I plan to grill on extremely warm days.
Our Monthly Rotating Breakfast Plan:
*Monday- muffins. (I make several types of muffins and freeze them so they're available even when it's too warm to cook.)
* Tuesday- pancakes. (We eat gluten free so I also make a month's worth of pancake mix to save time in the kitchen.)
* Wednesday- baked peanut butter oatmeal (this can be mixed the night before or frozen as well)
* Thursday- cereal ( this is on our menu because I found all natural gluten free cereal for $.79 a box)
* Friday- gluten free snicker doodle coffee cake ( I also make monthly coffee cake mixes)
* Saturday- cereal
* Sunday- bacon/pancakes
Obviously once the weather (finally!) warms up I won't be using the oven as much. Instead of coffee cake and baked oatmeal we will have smoothies, toast and eggs, and yogurt and fruit.
Our Monthly Rotating Lunch Plan:
* Monday- gluten free mac and cheese ( purchased at Aldi for $1.49 a box) and carrot sticks
* Tuesday- grilled cheese ( I purchase a large loaf of Udi's gluten free bread at Costco for $6.97)
* Wednesday- gluten free pasta ( I purchase whenever I see it under $2 a package)
* Thursday- peanut butter sandwiches/apple slices
* Friday- quesadilla ( I purchase fresh gluten free corn tortillas at Kroger for $2 a package)
* Saturday- grilled hot dogs or something quick and easy
* Sunday- I struggle with Sundays because we're usually not home from church until 12:30. I typically try to have leftovers available.
This menu isn't set in stone. If we have leftovers we eat those instead and save that days meal for another time.
Snack Choices:
* carrots, cucumbers, apples, bananas, various berries, peanut butter on crackers, popcorn, no bake cookies, homemade gluten free chocolate chip cookies.
Once the garden is going we have free choice of anything ready to eat.
Linking up with Making Your Home Sing Monday
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