Meal Prepping Freezer Meals on a Budget
As a new homemaker, I have a vision. Waking up bright and early in the morning to the sound of a rooster. Heading out to collect eggs for breakfast, where I'll make scrambled eggs and fresh biscuits served with homemade butter and topped with strawberry jam from last year's harvest. I would then head out to the garden to gather vegetables for dinner, which would be home cooked. Doesn’t that sound lovely?
Currently, I feel a million miles from that goal, but I have a plan. For all of September, I’m cooking at home. No restaurants, no fast food. Nothing.
For an added piece of motivation, I will also be on a budget. To be completely honest, I’m not great at creating budgets; “Overspender” should be my nickname. But this month will change that.
Budget:
My budget needs to feed my husband and I each 3 meals a day for 30 days, totaling 180 meals.
Giving myself enough room for error, my budget for each week is $100. That's around $2.22 per serving. Hopefully, I can get that number down by shopping sales.
Meal Plan:
Most of the meals will come from 3 sources. “What’s Cookin’?” by the Mesquite, Texas First Baptist Church; Stelton Medical Center Auxiliary, Silver Anniversary Cookbook; and Becky from Acre Homestead.
Can I just give a big shout out to Becky? The biggest thing holding me back was that I work full time outside of the home. I didn’t think it was possible to cook all my meals at home, let alone have a large garden with chickens, and run a YouTube channel. Many people say that a Proverbs 31 woman isn’t achievable, but she is living proof that it is. Without her videos, I never would have gathered enough courage to start this project. Thank you so much for doing what you do and thank you for inspiring me to start living a self-sufficient life.
Some items you won’t see on my shopping list and that’s because I already have them on hand.
Breakfast:
- Oatmeal w/ frozen fruit
- Eggs with an English muffin and granola (I have a ton of granola in my pantry that needs to get eaten.)
Lunch:
Left overs
Dinner:
- Quick chicken stroganoff served with noodles and salad
- Sloppy joes, served on bread and with salad
- Baked chicken aloha served on rice with salad
- Sweet and sour chicken served on rice with salad
- Applesauce meatballs served with pasta and salad
Shopping List:
- Oatmeal $1.87
- Frozen fruit $2.35
- Almond milk $3.96
- 3 - 8oz cans tomato sauce $1.17
- Pineapple tidbits .88
- Crushed pineapple $1.11
- Brown sugar $2.77
- Butter $3.96
- Cream of poblano soup $1.42 (I could get a cheaper soup for .99 cents but hubby and I wanted to try this one.
- 1 large onion $2.00
- ½ cup oatmeal $1.39 (This will be much cheaper since I’m buying from the bulk section)
- 1 bunch celery
- 1 each of organic red, orange, and yellow bell peppers $5
- 1 green bell pepper $1.25
- 1 can tomato paste .79
- 1 carton mushrooms $2.99
- 2 heads garlic $1.00
- 4 bags salad $13.32
- 2 bags frozen broccoli $1.98
- Bays english muffins $3.99
- Whip cream $3.99
- Ketchup $2.99
- Chicken $21-$35.99 (I’m giving myself a lot of leeway for this one)
- Quart freezer bags $2.00
Total $88.98!
That's $11.02 under budget. This was my plan and I am happy to say that I ended up only spending $71.89. I even bought some grapes and Brussel sprouts.
The total number of meals I was able to make was 11. I think it might be even more since a couple of the freezer meal bags were pretty full.I wish you all well and may God bless you!
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