Do you menu plan?  Many folks view menu planning as a way to cut the grocery budget, and in many ways it can help.  Once you’ve followed the couponing plan for a bit though, you don’t really need to menu plan to help save money.  After following the 6 week sale cycles and buying enough of what’s on sale to get you through the 6 weeks until it is on sale again, you pantry soon becomes the grocery store.  You don’t need to keep your menu’s tied to the weekly ad focusing only on what’s on sale this week.  If you want to continue planning out meals go for it, but now the sky’s the limit on what you can fix.  Really at this point you are creating a plan only to save time during the week, not to save money.

I have a challenge for you.  I want you to put your stockpiling skills to the test.  Let’s see if you can make 5 new-to-you meals without having to head to the store for anything!

I’m joining you in this challenge… so here’s how my stockpile holds up.  To make this more fun I had friends recommend all the meals so that I couldn’t cheat and pick things I knew we had.

Monday Dinner
Grilled Salmon with Snow Peas and Rice

Ingredients:
Salmon 2 lbs
Soy Sauce
Brown Sugar
Vegetable Oil
Snow Peas
Rice (I have at least 50 lbs we eat it so often)

 Tip: Get stocked on frozen veggies when they are BOGO with coupons.  You never have to think about your veggie or spend much time on it!

 Tuesday Dinner
Easy Chicken Enchiladas with Corn

Ingredients:
Cream Cheese
Salsa
Chicken Breast
Pinto Beans
Corn Tortillas (this is how we make it gluten free)
Shredded Cheese
Corn

 Tip: I grab cream cheese and freeze it when it’s at it’s best price.  We also use mostly dried beans, 1 bag of dried beans equals 3.5 cans and is much cheaper.

 Wednesday Dinner
Grilled Gluten Free Pizza

Ingredients:
Gluten Free Flour, Xantham Gum, Yeast
Olive Oil
Tomato Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese
Toppings to your liking (any free veggies you have or meats)

If you are not gluten free, making your own pizza dough is even easier.  You just need flour and yeast.

Thursday Dinner
Chicken & Feta Cheese Burgers with Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:
Ground Chicken Breasts
Feta Cheese Crumbles
Lettuce, Tomatoes
Hamburger Buns
Alexia Sweet Potato Fries

 Tip: My husband will skip the bun and it’s now gluten-free for him.  I have the Alexia fries from an awesome Publix deal a month or so ago.  (I love having an extra freezer).  I don’t buy ground chicken, so take raw chicken breast and grind it yourself using a food processor.

Friday Dinner
Black Beans and Pork Chops with Rice

Ingredients:
Pork Chops
Black Beans
Salsa
Rice

 This looks super simple, again my plan is to use dried beans instead of canned and to skip the cilantro (my husband doesn’t like it).

The Verdict:
I can actually make everything here without a trip to the store!  We don’t eat difficult meals, and these all actually have me pretty excited.  As for our meats, we buy most in bulk and freeze it.  So meal wise I have every meat we would ever care to eat.  This week doesn’t include a lot of “fresh” produce, but in our house frozen is just as good!

Now it’s your turn.

Either take my 5 meals here or spend a little bit of time searching for 5 new recipes and see how you do.

How did your stock pile hold up?