Meal Plan Monday: week 3 of $300 grocery experiment

One trick to keeping a grocery budget low is planning ahead. As you probably know, Thanksgiving is next week. If you're buying a frozen turkey, you'll want to start thawing it no later than next Monday. I don't like to cut it that close or chance not being able to find the right size turkey, so I'm buying it this week. Now technically, I'm not in charge of the turkey for thanksgiving dinner, but many people are, so I thought it best to budget for it to show that you can even stick to a budget with the holidays. I am not actually going to buy the turkey, but I will pick one out at the grocery store and take a picture of it to report on this week's financial recap.
If you're just joining, check out my experiment explanation here.
Also check out the meal plan for week 1 here and week 2 here.

It snowed last night and school is cancelled today, so part of this week's plan reflects a winter theme. The other portion of this week's plan is based upon a request from some dinner guests we'll be having this week.


On the menu this week:

• oatmeal with raisins
• pumpkin pancakes
• cheerios w/ bananas and milk
• PB&J sandwiches w/ pretzels and fruit
• spaghetti
• BBQ pulled pork fries
• pork and pepper quesadillas 
• pizza 
• loaded potato soup
• 3-bean chili
• veggie stir fry with rice
• leftovers

This post is linked to orgjunkie.com

Oatmeal Pumpkin Muffins

 My kids love oatmeal muffins! I came up with this pumpkin version about 3 years ago and it has been a regular favorite at our house every fall since. We usually stick with the plain version instead of adding the craisins or chocolate, but I wanted to show you some fun variations. (yield: about 12)
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 To get started you'll need to preheat your oven to 350 F, grease a muffin tin, grab a big mixing bowl, and add in all the ingredients.

For the plain version, you'll need:
1 1/2 C rolled oats and 1 1/2 C quick oats (or 3 cups of just one- I prefer the texture from including both)
1 C brown sugar (gently resting, not tightly packed)
1 C pumpkin puree
1 C milk
2 eggs
1/2 TBSP pumpkin pie spice (I make my own- it's loads cheaper)
1/2 TBSP baking powder,
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla.

Mix it all up and divide it amongst your prepared muffin tins. Bake for 20 minutes or until completely cooked.
Enjoy!

Optional add ins(keep it between 1/2 and 1 C total):
chocolate chips
white chocolate
dried cranberries
pecans

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This recipe originally appeared on 10/27/11 @ oneincomefamilyliving.blogspot.com. I wrote, revised, and transferred it here.