Welcome back to another weekly menu plan! I hope that you get some inspiration and ideas from my meal plans. I have had several readers asking why I bother to make weekly menu plans and it really boils down to 3 key reasons.
- Saving money.
- Saving time.
- And saving aggravation.
Scroll down to the bottom of this post if you’d like more information on how you can save money, time, and aggravation with meal planning too! And don’t forget to leave a comment or to email me at [email protected] if you have any questions or need any help with your meal planning.
Weekly Menu Plan – Week of January 13
Remember that if you’re looking for new plans or perhaps aren’t that fond of the ideas in the current plan, you can simply go through the archives for my previous meal plans. I tend to plan somewhat seasonally, so old January menu plans will likely be a good fit for this January too!
YOUR GUIDE TO THE MEALS IN MY MENU PLANS:
FF = FREEZER FRIENDLY
SC = SLOW COOKER
MF = MEAT FREE
PLO = PLANNED LEFTOVERS
MA – MAKE AHEAD
BBQ – GRILLED FOOD
I’m also planning extra simple meals on Saturdays and Sundays so that we truly can take a Sabbath and spend some time focusing on family and fun!
This Week’s Meals
You will find that most of these meals are under $10 based on prices (sale prices where possible) in London, Ontario, Canada. We are feeding a family of 4 – 3 adults and 1 toddler, all with healthy appetites. We generally have some leftovers from our meals and if these aren’t being used as part of another meal, they are used for lunches throughout the week.
Prices are based mostly on those at No Frills and FreshCo, the two grocery stores we frequent most often. Note: at this time of year, we are mostly using frozen vegetables as they tend to be better quality and have more nutrients than fresh.
Monday
Instant Pot Mongolian Beef with veggies, rice
Tuesday
Chicken Cassoulet, green beans, butternut squash
Wednesday
Slow cooker apple bacon pork chops, egg noodles, broccoli, sweet potatoes
Thursday
Chicken and rice casserole, spinach, carrots
Friday
Tomato soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, carrots and Ranch dip, fruit cocktail
Saturday
Chicken Parmesan meatballs and spaghetti, garlic bread, chopped salad
Sunday
Chili served over spaghetti which helps stretch it and tastes delicious! (this recipe will give us tons of leftovers for lunches and the freezer), cornbread
Breakfasts and Lunches
Dinner leftovers
Japanese onion soup (broth is on sale super cheap – $1.50 per large container – so it’s a great time to make a big batch and freeze some!).
Other soups (canned)
Eggs
Pancakes (we always have mix on hand)
Oatmeal
Cold cereal
Yogurt
Toast with jam or peanut butter
Sandwiches – lunch meat or cheese or cucumber and onions, selection depending on what’s on hand and on sale that week
Salad
How Meal Planning can Help You
By planning ahead, I am able to take advantage of sales at the local grocery stores. We tend to shop mostly at one of two stores but we are smack dab in the middle of 6 different stores (all within about a kilometer and a half) so if there are lots of amazing deals at more than one, we will take advantage of them.
In addition, instead of leftovers lingering in the back of the fridge, forgotten, I can add them to my plans and make use of them, cutting down on food waste. It’s good for the planet and good for my wallet!
Knowing what we’re going to be eating each day for dinner saves me time and aggravation too. Oh, the wasted minutes on those days when we have no plan. “What do you want to have for dinner?” “I don’t know. What do you want to have for dinner?” “Well, what do we have in the kitchen?” “Hmmm, I don’t know. I’ll have to go look and see.” And so it goes.
It takes me roughly 15 minutes to make a meal plan for the week. I could likely do it even faster but I like to check the local grocery flyers to take advantage of the deals. Fortunately, by using the Flipp app, I can quickly peruse several flyers in short time. I can even use the search feature to find specific ingredients.
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