28 Day Meal Plan Challenge - Part 1 - The Plan of Attack

uggghhh here's a short list of things I hate:

1. Living on a budget
2. Being so poor that not being on a budget is not an option
3. Spending my lunch hour staring at the coupons I have clipped (uhhhhmmm now what am I supposed to do with these? Do I clap 3 times and my magic stockpile appears? No? hmmm kay)

but alas....I have spent the time doing these things and I felt like it was my civic duty... (civic? civil? where is my proofreader??) to help out my fellow budgeters so I have prepared a sample meal plan with 3 meals a day including snacks, drinks and desserts for 28 days. I have also attempted to make these all "Clean eating" recipes since it is in fact summer time and no one wants to be fat. So here's the thing. I do not like to try out new things without knowing if it's a sure deal and since I assume that is the norm what I'm going to do since I'm such a giving person and all is to try this out and see if:

1. cutting coupons as an ammeter is even worth it.
2. we can actually stick to the meal plan
3. we can actually enjoy and dare I say look forward to our meals

That way I can report back and if it is in fact a success then you all can try it too!....Your welcome!

So let's get started. Since most people are on cell phones trying to read this I am not going to post recipes but each recipe title can literally be plugged into Pinterest and you can take it from there. If you are the only person** in the universe who doesn't know how to Pinterest then please feel free to ask for my help in getting you a specific recipe. **Even my dad and husband who were voted "Least likely to Pinterest" are Pinteresting these days so really there is no excuse.

Here is the official menu. I like how it's set up because I feel like I'm at a restaurant and I can choose what I want. I think my plan is to sit down once a week and chose the weeks meals and write them on this handy meal planner menu (http://www.passionforsavings.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/menu.pdf) and I will cross those choices off of my master meal plan menu so the next week we can chose something new. The only area I feel like I'm lacking on is lunch. Four choices might get old but then I forgot that some days we will have leftovers to work with.

28 DAY CLEAN EATING THAT YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO EAT MEAL PLAN

Breakfast Ideas:

Scrambled egg pitas with spinach and tomato

Oatmeal with Greek yogurt peaches and almonds

Scrambled eggs with salsa and cottage cheese in whole wheat tortilla

Yogurt with blackberries and granola

Waffles

Cereal

Lunch Ideas:

Balsamic tuna sandwich

Capreses sandwich

Skinny pizza wrap

Tuna Pasta Salad with peas

Snack Ideas:

Pretzels

String Cheese

Rice cakes with PB and banana

Edamame

Hard boiled eggs

Celery with reduced fat cream cheese

Drinks:

Infused waters

Blackberry mint

Lemon cucumber

Strawberry mint

Raspberry lime

Coconut water

Almond milk

Dinner Ideas:

Turkey chili

Burrito bowls

Salmon and roasted veggie bowls

Pork tenderloin, salad and sweet potato

Turkey burgers, sweet potato fries

Grilled Shrimp Served Over Lemon Tomato Pasta

Balsamic Chicken Served With Quinoa Salad

Grilled Pork Chops, Couscous & Asparagus

London Broil Over Arugula Salad With Corn on the Cob

Crock Pot BBQ Honey Pineapple Chicken over rice

One pot pasta with sausage and tomatoes

Chicken Strawberry and Avocado Spinach Salad in Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette

Herbed Chicken, Orzo, and Zucchini

Grilled tilapia with mango salsa, mashed potatoes, veggie

Chicken enchilada quinoa bake

Chicken Broccoli quinoa casserole, salad

Fish tacos, lime rice, beans

Turkey Italian sausage bake

Roasted Chicken and Potatoes

Turkey spaghetti

Chicken and asparagus penne

Pesto pasta with sundried tomatoes and roasted asparagus

Ricotta and ham stuffed chicken breast, broccoli

BBQ chicken Cobb salad

Chicken gyros, rice, zucchini

Greek Roasted Talapia with rice pilaf

Mango Chicken beans and rice bake

Chicken with Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Parmigiano-Reggiano

Dessert Ideas:

SF Jello/Pudding

Frozen yogurt

Creamsicle cake

Grocery List

Canned

black beans (2)

chili beans

corn (3)

crush tomatoes

diced tomatoes

enchilada sauce

green chilis

kidney beans (2)

peaches

pineapple

pinto beans (2)

chopped tomatoes (2)

tuna (2)

Bread

pita bread

rice cakes

tortillas

whole grain bread

whole wheat tortilla

Meat

andouille sausage

bacon

chicken (13)

chicken drumsticks

chicken pieces

ground turkey (3)

London Broil

pork chops

pork tenderloin

Salmon

turkey italian sausage

Boxed

brown rice (2)

cereal

couscous

granola-lowfat

mashed potatoes

orzo

pasta side

penne

pretzels

quinoa

refried beans

Rice pilaf (2)

ricearoni

shells

spaghetti (3)

white rice

Whole Grain swirl pasta

popcorn

Deli

ham

turkey pepperoni

Drinks

coconut water

fiji water

almond milk

small reg. milk

diet orange crush

coffee

Coffee filters

Frozen

broccoli (2)

corn on the cob

edamame

frozen yogurt

light whipped frozen topping

onion

peas

strawberries (sweetened)

Sweet potato fries

tilapia (2)

veggie side

waffles Shrimp

Jar

Salsa

balsamic vinegar

BBQ sauce

garlic

lowfat pizza sauce

mango salsa (2)

mayo

Parmesan (3)

peanut butter

pesto

raspberry vinaigrette

salad dressing (kens $1 off)

spaghetti sauce

sriacha

sun dried tomatoes

syrup Produce arugula asparagus (3) avocado (2) bananas basil blackberries (2) carrots celery (2) cucumber (2) grape tomatoes green pepper (3) gold potatoes (2) lemon (4) lettuce (4)  lime (3) mint olives onion oranges raspberries spaghetti squash Spinach squash (2) Strawberry Sweet potato tomatoes (9) zucchini (3)

Dairy

butter

coffee creamer

cottage cheese

egg substitute

eggs

feta

Greek yogurt

light sour cream

LF cream cheese

mozzarella (3)

plain yogurt

ricotta

sf jello

sf pudding

shredded cheese

string cheese

Baking

almonds

chicken broth

chives

flat leaf parseley

flour

ginger

Honey

olive oil

oregeno

pecans

SF yellow cake

sugar or substitute

thyme

Now Obviously since we just moved we need to purchase items like flour and spices but chances are you already have a lot of things in your pantry that you would not need to re-buy. Also, something to note is when there is a # next to an item it indicated how many meals it's for so I can get an accurate amount. I haven't actually made it to the store yet to buy these items but when I get there I'm going to probably substitute an fresh veggies I can frozen just so they stay good the whole 28 days. I clipped my coupons from the Sunday paper and then I also went to coupons.com to print off some more.

** Update:
Ok so here is my list. As you can see by the highlighted portions, I forgot a large amount of my items and spent $381!! My coupons only saved me about $20 which is great and all but for all the time and effort I spent finding them and clipping them it was probably not worth it. My advice is this...DO NOT TRY TO SHOP WITH A TODDLER IF YOU WOULD #1 LIKE TO STICK TO A LIST AND #2 WANT TO STICK TO A BUDGET.