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October 3, 2018 · Leave a Comment

October 2018 Meal Plan

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Budget· Frugal Living· Meal Planning· Saving· Ways We Save

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After my whirlwind summer, I figured it was time to buckle down and start planning our meals out by the month again.  This month, we’ve got our usual after school activities, as well as orthodontist and dentist appointments.  Since we’re out four days a week with after school stuff, I’m trying to stick to larger weekend meals that I can throw something together with later on in the week.  A roast chicken turns into chicken soup and chicken BBQ sandwiches later on during the week.  Fast, and simple!

I missed being able to sit down once a month, look at our month ahead, and plan our meals around our schedule.  I’m forgot about not having any repetitive meal week to week because I’m wracking my brain to come up with meals to make.  If you’re looking to start making your own monthly meal plans, it’s super simple!  Just follow these 5 simple steps to creating your own monthly meal plan!

Beyond our schedule for the month, here are some other things to consider while reviewing our monthly meal plan:

I plan only our dinners.  Unless it’s noted, sides consist of a fruit or veggie, possibly a grain, and is based on what I have in my fridge and pantry.  You can check out my 30+ frugal pantry staples to see what I always have on hand without going over budget.

We try to have one big meal each week, and it’s usually a roast.  Throughout the rest of the week I use the leftovers as ingredients for the week’s remaining meals.  For instance, a roast beef then becomes ingredients for beef stroganoff, beef quesadillas, vegetable beef soup and so on.

Breakfasts are usually oatmeal, cereal, toast or bagel with peanut butter and fruit, cottage cheese and fruit, or yogurt with granola.   It may seem limited and boring, but keeping breakfast choices as simple as possible makes it much easier during our hectic morning routine.  Hubs is out the door at 6:30 and kids are on the bus at 7.

Lunches are packed each day for Hubs and the kids, while I currently eat at home.  Lunches are either sandwiches, salads, chicken nuggets, mac and cheese, or leftovers as the main course.  It’s served with a fruit/veg, yogurt or cheese, a drink and a “treat” {gummies, chips, etc}.  Snacks, such as crackers, pretzels and Nilla cookies, are also divided out at home and sent to school in smaller snack containers.  While packing lunches every day does raise our grocery bill a little bit, it saves us well over $250 every month, making it well worth it.  To see what supplies I rely on for our packed lunches, you can check out my 7 must haves for packed lunches.

I don’t stock pile shop –we just don’t have the pantry space– but I do shop for weekly sales, mostly for snack items like crackers, pretzels, and so on.  While this may not be the best of healthiest option for snacks, and I far prefer fruit for their snacks, I have found that dry snacks are by far the easiest when divvying out snacks.  And they’re also is the least messy/sticky in the classrooms and backpacks.

During the summer and fall, I preserve what I am able to grow and get cheap from local you-pick farms and farmer’s markets.  It helps me keep what we eat fresh and local, but also limits our preservative and additive intake {I have allergies to multiple things, including preservatives, and my middle gets migraines with certain food additives like MSG}.


Sausage, Potato & Kale Soup
French Toast, Eggs & Bacon
Cheeseburger Macaroni
Meatball Subs & Fries
Pierogies x2
Roast Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Stuffing, Veg x2
Chicken Rice Soup
Spaghetti & Meatballs, Garlic Bread
Chicken BBQ Sandwiches
Fish Sticks & Fries
Patty Melts, Rice & Veg
Slow Cooker Roast Beef & Roasted Potatoes
Potato Soup
Chicken Enchiladas & Spanish Rice
Beef Stroganoff, Egg Noodles & Green Beans
Swedish Meatballs, Rice & Veg
Applesauce Pancakes, Eggs & Bacon x2
Vegetable Beef Soup
Beef Tacos
Chicken Chili
Nachos
Sloppy Joes & Fries
Salisbury Steaks, Mashed Potatoes, & Veg
Slow Cooker Chicken & Rice
Chicken Fajitas
Free For All / Leftovers x2
Wedding – won’t be home for dinner

Need some more inspiration for your meal plans?  You can check out our past meal plans below!
  • May 2018 Meal Plan
  • April 2018 Meal Plan
  • March 2018 Meal Plan
  • February 2018 Meal Plan
  • January 2018 Meal Plan
  • December 2017 Meal Plan
  • November 2017 Meal Plan
  • October 2017 Meal Plan

 

Don’t forget to follow me on Pinterest, where I have a whole board dedicated to meal planning, as well as boards for soups, chicken recipes, and so on.

 

What’s on your October 2018 meal plan?  Let me know in the comments below!  I’m always looking for new meal ideas.

 

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makingcentsmatter

makingcentsmatter
Only you can determine what your financial goals a Only you can determine what your financial goals are. If that means you're adding money to your savings account, or contributing to your retirement, while you are paying off debt, then so be it!⁠
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Do what looks right for you and your personal finances.⁠
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The trick to meal planning is to make it predictab The trick to meal planning is to make it predictable. But predictable doesn't mean the same thing week to week. You could have a chicken meal, a soup meal, a pasta meal, a leftovers meal, a family favorite meal, and so on.⁠
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We always try to go with themed days, but some weeks are so hectic the theme is literally "fast". Thankfully that hasn't been the case lately.⁠
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I can only hear about my extended warranty I never I can only hear about my extended warranty I never purchased so many times. 😣⁠
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March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠ .⁠ House: $51 March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠
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House: $511.13⁠
Citi: $0 – this has a residual $3 in interest charges since payoff, due in April⁠
D NelNet: $100⁠
K NelNet: $100⁠
K Chase: $600⁠
Explorer: $336.27⁠
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Total Paid in 2021: $8,258.84⁠
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Extra Payment: There isn’t one this month since we were $25 away from zeroing out the budget for our February 15th monthly paycheck. That $25, and monies left from our January 15th paycheck, covered our OOP costs for Hubs’ filling. We also have some savings goals coming up that need to be met, making our debt payments a little lower for the time begin.⁠
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The battle for who can charge what tonight is abou The battle for who can charge what tonight is about to begin. 😬⁠
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My kids run off with my charger, plug it into one outlet 5 feet from where they found it like that particular outlet is the only one in this house, and then proceed to fight over who can charge their device first at night.⁠
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Then they get grumpy when it's their turn and it's not the proper input cable. #itwasmychargerfirst #dontlikeitgofindyourown⁠
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A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a bit in our February Budget Check-In about how much of this I think we'll owe, and you can check that out on my YouTube channel if you're interested, but I wanted to say here...⁠
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To the mother with little kids struggling to get your finances in order, it will get better. I wish I could have heard those words years ago.⁠
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Nearly 10 years ago we were facing a $1,400 out-of-pocket portion for A's Phase 1 orthodontic work (I looked it up after I uploaded the video... we had a $1,400 portion).⁠
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It was a lot of money for us at the time. Our kids were 6, 2, and 3 months old. I don't think we even had $500 in savings, and I just left a part-time teaching job because it wasn't paying the part-time daycare bill, so paying our portion in full was just a dream I didn't think was achievable.⁠
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I was even stressing about the monthly $100 payments. We were so strapped. It was our breaking moment to start cutting costs and budgeting more effectively. We've learned a lot in that time period.⁠
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What we've learned is that it does no good to stress about it all the time. Life happens. All you can do is try to plan ahead, and if it's something that's unplanned, readjust. It won't always be easy, especially at first, but it will be worth it.⁠
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Nearly 10 years later, we are still paying off our debts. Student loans suck. But I see this bill as a reminder of how far we have come. Seeing a bill like this doesn't stress me out like it used to, and I know we can easily create a plan that can get it done and out of the way.⁠
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Will it delay our debt-free date more? Yes. But it's not worth stressing over. Life happens, readjust, and continue on down the path. It's called a journey for a reason.⁠
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It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budget It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budgeting categories are working out for the pay month.⁠
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Food is looking good this far into our paycheck, probably because miscellaneous - which includes eating out - took a hit with unexpected purchases. Pet is low for this time of the month, and Household is spot on.⁠
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Fuel looks like it'll be lower than last month (yay for weeks of snow days & delayed school starts), and Therapy had one more appointment than initially planned.⁠
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Garden, Dental, Medical & Propane are not included in these estimates so far because those expenses are coming from sinking funds. Once we're done with the month and review the budget, I'll move over the total amount spent from those sinking funds.⁠
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How's your paycheck budget coming along?⁠
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Automating your finances makes saving money and bu Automating your finances makes saving money and budgeting more convenient, and therefore easier on you. Out of sight, out of mind, right?⁠
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What's one thing you can automate this week to make your finances easier?⁠
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Me? I'm going to set up our sinking fund transfers to automate every payday (the 15th of every month). Our bank set up a feature on their app where we can schedule savings transfers now, and I'm going to take advantage of it!⁠
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Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone a smidgen overboard this month!⁠
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I foresee a goal for March's paycheck to at out less than twice. That's where this category went awry. $99.16 of it went to eating out. 😑 Some of it was avoidable, but not all of it. Having to drive to multiple appointments in one day during snow squalls and rearranging our whole day was one of those unavoidable instances.⁠
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Tracking our expenses - much like a budget review - is vital to sticking to your budget!⁠
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#makingcentsmatter #debt #debtfreejourney #debtfreeprogress #debtfreecommunity #realbudget #budgetcategories #monthlyincome #savingmoney #savings #frugalliving #frugalblogging #budgeting #zerobasedbudget #financialgoals #personalfinance #personalfinancetips #financialfreedom #expensetracking #budgetfail
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