Weekly Meal Plan: October 17-21st Delicious healthy meals for you family for less than $30 a week!

Monday, October 17th: Savory Butternut Squash Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 Butternut Squash, chopped
• 2 Sweet Potatoes, chopped
• 1/2 cup Carrots, chopped
• 1/2 cup Onions, chopped
• 1/2 cup Celery, chopped
• 2 cups Chicken Broth
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 3/4 cup Butter
• 3 tbsp fresh Sage, diced
• 3 tbsp Seasoning blend (approx. 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp cumin, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp fennel, 1 tsp coriander…blended finely together)
• 1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar
• 1/4 cup dark Molasses
• 3 tbsp white sugar
• 1/2 cup cream or milk (optional)

1. Pre-Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cut squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots into 1 inch pieces. Meanwhile melt butter over medium heat, and add Balsamic Vinegar, molasses, sugar, and sage to melted butter.
3. Add diced veggies to sauce mixture. Season with your special seasoning blend, salt and pepper. (if you don’t have all of the spices for the seasoning blend, the most important flavors are cumin, chili powder and cinnamon)
4. Saute Veggies in mixture for about 2 minutes or until evenly coated. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until tender.
5. Pour 1/2 cup olive oil into a dutch oven, saute onions and celery with the cinnamon stick, salt and pepper. Once tender, remove cinnamon stick and add chicken broth.
6. Take squash mixture out of the oven and add to the dutch oven. Let simmer for 15 minutes (or until flavors are well combined).
7. This step is optional…you can chose to serve it hardy as is or ladle veggies and broth mixture into a blender add a dash (1/4 cup) cream and blend. Repeat until all the soup is blended.

Shopping List:

• Butternut Squash (Albertsons, $0.79/lb)
• Sweet Potatoes (HMart seems to be the cheapest, about $0.39/lb)
• Carrots (QFC, $1.00 each)
• Onions (Albertsons, $1.29/lb or HMart)
• Celery
• Chicken Broth (Albertsons, Swanson’s Chicken Broth $3.29…use $1/2 Swanson Broth or Stock Carton printable, double coupon….Final Cost: $2.79)
• Seasonings

Tuesday, October 18th: Ground Turkey Meatloaf

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/4 lbs ground turkey
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 egg (or 1/4 cup egg substitute)
• 3/4 cup Ketchup
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Directions:

1. Melt butter in a saute pan.
2. Cook onion and garlic in melted butter for 5 minutes (until onions are transparent), stirring occasionally.  Set aside mixture in a separate bowl.
3. Combine turkey, bread crumbs, egg, 1/4 cup of the Ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper with onion mixture.
4. Press meatloaf into an 8×4-inch loaf pan.
5. Spread remaining Ketchup on top.
6. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 50-55 minutes. (Internal temperature should reach 165 degrees.) Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Shopping List:

• Ground Turkey (Safeway, Foster Farms BOGO and use $1/1 SS 10/9 or $2/1 found inside packaging…Final Cost: $1.00 each)
• Onion (Albertsons, $1.29/lb)
• All other seasonings should be in your stockpile or kitchen pantry. (If you are missing anything I recommend using Albertsons Doublers to lower your costs).

Wednesday, October 19th: Creamy Cashew Nut Chicken (White sauce not Asian inspired)

Ingredients:

• 2-3 lbs Chicken Breasts

Thursday, October 20th: Campbell’s Pot Roast with Veggies 

Ingredients:

• Pot Roast (Albertsons BIGI sale, usually around $12.00 for 2) 
• 2 cups carrots Organic Carrots, chopped (or whole baby carrots) (QFC, $1 each for 1 lb bag, or cheaper at Costco)
• 2 cups Potatoes, chopped (Albertsons, $1.99 for a 10 lb bag)
• 1 cup onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, whole
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 can Campbells Cream of Mushroom (or Cream of Chicken Soup)
• Salt and pepper

Friday: October 21th: Beef London Broil with Cucumber Salad and Rice

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs Beef London Broil
• 1 1/2 cups Soy Sauce
• 2 tbsp Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Black Pepper
• 1/4 cup vinegar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Prep Time: 10 min                        Cook Time: 15 min                         Difficulty: Easy

Shopping List:

• London Broil (Top Foods, $2.88/lb or Albertsons BOGO)
• Cucumber
• Apple Cider Vinegar

Total Cost for meal: Approx. $8.00. Plus you will have an extra London Broil for another time!