Preparing my 1st Weekly Meal Plan

One of the biggest 'unexpected' I want to avoid is living on a reduced household salary during Mat Leave and going into debt because I'm not managing my food budget, as I talked about previously. So I've decided that with 4 1/2 months left before I'm slicing my wage in less then half, I'm going to start living like I have less to spend on food already.

Currently I have our food budget set at $550/month (this includes restaurants, take out, coffees from Starbucks & Tims, as well as our groceries). I went over this 'budget' by $200 last month but I want to cut it down to $350/month in April, for a year. Obviously I'm doing something wrong right now and this future budget is unrealistic based on our current purchasing habits.

The biggest problem is I don't plan and prepare grocery lists and meals a head of time. I'm constantly reacting to my stomach's cries for food at the last minute and never feel 'in the mood' to make dinner for D, so I'm resorting to takeout, restaurants and packaged frozen dinners (pizzas) from the grocery store.

Yesterday I decided to take charge and break this habit. D was going to the grocery story anyways so I had him pick up a few items I needed to make dinners for the week from stuff I have on hand in my pantry and freezer.

This week's meal plan (Monday to Sunday) looks like this:

• Monday (I'm home late because I have my Sparks meeting until 8pm)
• Breakfast: Cereal, Toast, Bagels or Oatmeal
• Lunch: Leftover Chinese Takeout(D packs his own lunch from stuff we have in the house)
• Dinner: Crockpot Chili (start it before I left this morning)
• Tuesday (I'm home late because its our first week running payroll with a new software)
• Breakfast: Cereal, Toast, Bagels or Oatmeal
• Lunch: Chili leftover 
• Dinner: Lasagna & salad (made Monday night, D can put in oven when he gets home)
• Wednesday (I'm home late because its our first week running payroll with a new software)
• Breakfast: Cereal, Toast, Bagels or Oatmeal
• Lunch: Lasagna leftovers
• Dinner: Bean Enchiladas (made Tuesday night, D can put in oven when he gets home)
• Thursday
• Breakfast: Cereal, Toast, Bagels or Oatmeal
• Lunch: Lasagna leftovers
• Dinner: Garlic Teryaki Stir Fry
• Friday
• Breakfast: Cereal, Toast, Bagels or Oatmeal
• Lunch: Provided by employers - every Friday is catered
• Dinner: Tortellini with Alfredo Sauce
• Saturday
• Breakfast: Cereal, Toast, Bagels or Oatmeal
• Lunch: Soup & Grilled Cheese Sandwiches (not home until after 1pm though)
• Dinner: Veggie Breaded 'Chicken breast' with Vegetables & Potatoes
• Sunday
• Breakfast: Cereal, Toast, Bagels or Oatmeal
• Lunch: Chili leftovers
• Dinner: D's parents

I want to try a weekly budget of $75 max for the two of us, which means I will start relying a lot on the food we already have on hand and reducing spoilage of the perishable items. I don't want to say that this is a 30 day challenge though, as I think the real test will come after the 30 days once I've used up a lot of my stockpile in the freezer. I'm curious to see if I can stay below $75/week ($300/month) and not leave my cupboards bare or start eating unhealthy.

One of my biggest challenges in meal planning is I need to rely on crock pot and prepared casserole dishes every Monday and Tuesday (aside from this week, this is the day I normally meet to do group assignment work for my CMA program) but with D being a vegetarian I find my choices are limited as veggie meats for the most part don't hold up to slow cooking all day (with the exception of ground round) so I'm stuck rotating only a few options. Any one have recipes they want to share that are meatless for my make a head nights?