Eating Cheap :: Meal Planning When You Have Unexpected Expenses

We've had some car and health related expenditures this month which left our already thin food budget even thinner this month.
I'm sure some of you have been there, when the pot gets slashed and you wonder how on earth you are going to feed the troops with the pennies you have left.

Where to start?

Inventory
The first step, like in your normal meal planning, is to hit the kitchen and do some inventory. Check the freezer first for meat.
In my case, I had 2 (small) meals worth of chicken thighs, 2-3 meals worth of pork chops, some leftover cooked chicken in a freezer (enough for soup) and some pepperoni, enough for two pizzas (if I'm careful).
So all in all I could squeeze 7 meals out of it, if need be. Great! But I need enough for 9-10 dinners. And because of the rationing of the meat, there won't be leftovers (maybe some soup, which is only going to be enough for lunch).

In the pantry, I have 1lb of spaghetti (that two meals worth for a family of 4). I have a large loaf of bread, a couple tortillas, some peanuts and other things I can use in meals. I also have plenty of baking ingredients, like flour/sugar etc.

Once you have an idea of what you have, you get a better idea of what you need.

I know that I'll have my son (who I split custody of) for 7 of the next 10 days. So there's an extra mouth to feed for those days. It's also summer vacation, so I'll need lunch food for us both, as well as snacks.
I know I could squeeze 2 spaghetti dinners, one with meat and one without. If I get some angel hair, I could have a cheap meatless meal of the creamy pasta that my family LOVES.
With just a few things, I could round out what I already have and have enough food to make it to the next payday.

Fix a budget
I know I can only comfortably(or uncomfortably) spend $40. I know the market that generally has the cheapest prices in town. I will have to limit my trips to one store to save on gas too.
Now I can make my list of the essentials.

Make a Meal List
You need to do this with recipes handy so you know what ingredients you will need to round out the food you already have. I start with a list of the meat/main ingredient and then find recipes from there.

1. Chicken
2. Pork
3. Pasta
4. Chicken
5. Soup
6. Pork
7. Pizza
8. Gr. Beef
9. Chicken
10. Pasta

Then I decided, one by one, What recipe I'll use on each meal and evaluate my ingredient needs.

1. Sweet and Sticky Chicken (own recipe)
2. Pork Chops and potatoes
3. Creamy Pasta
4. Teriyaki Chicken and Rice
5. Chicken Noodle Soup
6. Pork Stir-fry (either fried rice or chow mien style)
7. Pepperoni Pizza
8. Tamie's Yummy Burritos (own recipe)
9. Roast Chicken Thighs and Potatoes
10. Spaghetti with Italian Sausage

Now I have a rough idea of what I have and what I need. I decided to get a tray of chicken legs to add more chicken and use less pork. I decided to get a tube of Italian sausage to add to the spaghetti. I have some ingredients left over from dinners not eaten from my last meal plan (we ate out more than anticipated), so it was a jumping off point to finding recipes that would work with the main ingredients I had.
Now that I have a meal list, it's time to buckle down and...

Make a Shopping List

With my $40 for 10 day budget in mind, I made a list of the things I would need to feed my family for the next 10 days.
I knew the baby would need milk.($3) I knew my son would need bananas($2) and string cheese($2). I knew we needed mayo($2) and lunch meat($3). I also knew I'd want popcorn($2). I'm already $14 in...
I also wanted a back-up no-brainer meal for a night that I couldn't find the energy to cook (or for a lunch). I chose hot dogs($2), but I decided to try making my own buns.
After buying what I needed...I walked out of the store spending $38.51 (thanks to a coupon on the jar of mayo for an addition $1 off).

My Receipt

Luckily for me, I had a good amount of food already in my cupboards. But if I had to improvise, it wouldn't have been too difficult to make a list with meatless meals using beans, pasta or eggs as a base ingredient.
9/10ths of the battle is won with planning and being creative with what you have in the cupboards. Flour is cheap and you can bake your own sandwich bread or buns.
Making do with what you have can be done if you're careful and you don't have to resort to eating crap to do it.
You can eat healthy, gourmet style foods on a shoestring if you take a bit of time.
The amount of time is nothing when you think about it. I spent around an hour planning the meals for 10 days, and I had to be extra creative this time.
Unexpected expenses happen. I know our next pay period will be tight as well with even more car related expenses coming, but I know I can plan around them and find a way to stay in my budget, even if that budget is only $50.