Friday, July 15, 2011

Menu Planning with MARTIN’S Ad

Menu planning and saving money really can go hand-in-hand. It is important to realize that you can still enjoy some of your family’s favorite meals by menu planning with a sales flyer, you just need to be flexible.

I am including ideas and recipes for four meals. I have found that I really only cook on average four meals a week and that we end up having at least one left-over night, one meal out, and something easy like homemade pizza or breakfast for dinner.

Coupons mentioned in this post that do not state where you can find them are listed in my weekly top deals post. Feel free to check it out for deals on other items that you can pick-up to fill your refrigerator or pantry for less.

Curried Chicken Salad in Lettuce Cups:

I made this chicken salad this past weekend for a reception that I was in charge of at our church.  This recipe was so delicious and really easy to make – even when I made it for 200 people.  I cooked bone-in chicken breast (because they were on sale last week), but you could use the Perdue Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breast that are on sale this week.  The sweetness of the raisins and the crunch of the almonds really added to this chicken salad. 

I don’t use a lot of curry – if you don’t either make sure you grab the $1/1 Sauer’s coupon from the 6/19 RedPlum insert.  One tip for finding herbs and spices for less is to look outside of the grocery store.  I needed a lot of curry to make this recipe for 200 people and when I looked in the grocery store it seemed expensive.  I went to an ethnic market and found a 1/4lb container of curry that was less expensive than the small bottle I saw on the spice aisle in the store.

Feel free to substitute the Romaine Hearts that are on sale this week for the Boston Lettuce or just serve this on your favorite cracker or bread.  

Salsa Chicken Burrito Filling:

I made this recipe this week in my crockpot and it was super easy and delicious.  I had about two pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast and made a few slight changes, instead of using the salsa I used a can of Rotel tomatoes that I had in my pantry and even with double the amount of chicken I only used on packet of taco seasoning.  The Chi-Chi’s salsa is only $1.50 after sale and coupon if you want to try that out. 

We enjoyed ours with some of the leftover lettuce I had from the reception and a side of black beans and tortilla chips.  If you want to make burritos or soft tacos don’t forget that you can grab the Chi-Chi’s tortillas for $0.50 after sale and coupon.  I pulled out our normal taco toppings and everyone (even little Michael) liked the filling. 

Honey-Orange Marinated Salmon:

I have made this recipe before and it was really easy and tasted good.  I tried to boil and reduce the remaining marinade and use it as a sauce and instead ended up with a huge mess.  I actually wrote about it in this post.  (By the way the pan did finally get clean with a lot of soaking and scrubbing.)

This is a really easy dish to pull together with the fresh salmon fillet on sale this week for $9.99/lb.  The majority of the marinade ingredients are items that most people keep on hand, and it really does taste great with some easy sides like rice and steamed vegetables.

Barbecue Pork Chops:

I got a bunch of the Budweiser Barbecue Sauce that was part of this awesome deal this past week.  (By the way I made sure to leave plenty on the shelves for others.)  I am now on a mission to find ways to use my supply of sauce.  I saw the bone-in center cut pork chops on sale for $2.49/lb this week and think that grilling up some pork chops and slathering them with barbecue sauce for the last few minutes would be a quick and easy dinner.  This can also be a great meal to keep your kitchen cool in the summer.  You can steam some vegetables either in your microwave or on the stove and add some baking potatoes wrapped in foil to the grill before the chops.

Happy Menu Planning!

~Ann

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