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!