Matt and I decided to try and cut our grocery bill in half for the next two weeks. We normally budget $100 every 2 weeks. This $100 is for not only our food but also our household items.
First I looked through items that we already had in our pantry and freezer. It is amazing what accumulates there and what you already have that you are able to make meals from. I knew we wouldn't be eating something fancy every night, but who really needs to eat that way anyways?
This is my meal plan for this week and next...
Saturday-
Breakfast- Pancakes from scratch.. no Bisquick needed:)
Lunch- Sandwiches and tomato soup (we still had lunch meat)
Dinner- We had chicken tacos w/ homemade tortillas and cream corn that I made from a can of corn and a little cream cheese that we already had.
Sunday-
Breakfast- Eggs and breakfast potatoes
lunch- Sandwiches and chips
dinner- sausage, red pepper and spinach frittata w/ apple slices (we already had the sausage and spinach in the freezer)
Monday-
Breakfast-leftover frittata w/ toast
lunch- ham and cheese tortilla w/ chips and salsa
dinner- Beans and cornbread
Tuesday-
Breakfast- a little splurge- Matt had Bible study w/ a couple guys at McDonalds this morning so he brought me something home:)
Lunch- leftovers or another sandwich
dinner- mixing leftover beans w/ some potatoes and cheese to make burritos w/ rice (not the fancy kind... just plain rice:))
Wednesday-
Breakfast- eggs, bacon and toast
lunch-leftover burritos
dinner- Chicken stirfry w/ veggies and rice ( already had some veggies in the freezer)
Thursday-
breakfast= cream of wheat
lunch- leftover stirfry
dinner- shepherds pie w/ homemade biscuits ( 1/2 beef used for the pie and the other 1/2 for our pizza Friday night- a lot of times you don't need to use a whole pound for meals.. even only using 3/4 a pound and putting a little bit back each time will add up for future meals)
Friday-
breakfast- eggs and leftover biscuits, maybe bacon
lunch- leftover shepherds pie
dinner- homemade pizza w/ hamburger and maybe some red pepper and onion (had a few onions leftover still)
Saturday-
breakfast- probably pancakes again.. normally what we have on Saturday mornings
lunch- leftovers or a sandwich or sometimes just a snack depending when we have breakfast
dinner- probably will eat out, my dad will be in town... we usually eat out once a week
Sunday-
breakfast- something fast most of the time.. I might make muffins from what I have in my pantry since my dad will be here..
lunch- usually sandwiches or again something easy..
dinner- chicken and rice w/ either a veggie or bread
Monday-
breakfast- cereal or cream of wheat
lunch- leftover chicken and rice
dinner- Breakfast for dinner! depends on what we have at this point- maybe eggs, biscuits and gravy..
Tuesday- again probably cereal or cream of wheat.. or maybe some waffles I have in the freezer
breakfast- oatmeal or something similar probably- possibly leftover biscuits
lunch- peanut butter and jelly and some chips or fruit
dinner- chicken pot pie w/ homemade bread ( I made homemade chicken pot pie last week and froze half of it.. so we are going to eat the rest of it)
Wednesday-
breakfast- eggs and toast
lunch- leftover chicken pot pie
dinner- pasta w/ veggies and chicken, homemade garlic rolls (I will be making the pasta as well and the sauce will come from some tomatoes I have frozen in the freezer)
Thursday-
breakfast- cream of wheat
lunch- leftover pasta
dinner- I'm on my own.. I'll probably just look around, maybe have some scrambled eggs:) Matt is going out of town and I'm not that particular:)
Friday-
breakfast- probably cream of wheat again.. lol can you tell we like that stuff?:)
lunch- not sure.. my mom will be here! since I will be going to the grocery store the next day this is when I usually just start looking around and eating whatever.. Since I don't have any children eating yet I am still able to do this without feeling to guilty:)
dinner- probably out
~So.. basically I plan on making a lot of my bread items from scratch- pasta, pizza dough, rolls, biscuits, tortillas.. although I did buy one bag of tortillas just to have around for roll-ups or snacks...
~We just buy bags of white or brown rice and eat that.. sometimes I fancy it up and sometimes I don't...
~I make my beans from a bag of pinto beans and this recipe from Pioneer Woman.. DELICIOUS! and such a cheap dinner!
~also, make use of your freezer!! stock up when frozen veggies are cheap or chicken or whatever... freeze extra muffins, breads, dinners, soups.. its so nice to have in a pinch or when you decide to try and stretch your budget!
~also.. we don't buy a bunch of junk food or pop.. I do always buy tortilla chips b/c I love chips and salsa! I also like to have crackers on hand to have w/ some peanut butter for a snack or granola bars, yogurts, popcorn, fresh fruit..
~in my freezer I also usually have extra desserts such as cookies or as of late little mini homemade apple pies.. SOOO GOOD!
Here is what the rest of my grocery receipt looks like:
eggs- $2.08 (18.. and we still had some leftover from the last shopping trip)
tortilla chips- 1.78
tortillas- 2.18
can of pineapple- 1.14 (for a pineapple upside down cake I'm making for our church group)
Applesauce- 1.42 (snacks!)
pizza sauce .92
cream of mushroom .88 (more than I normally pay!)
tomato soup .58 (always have tomato soup in the cabinet for a fast meal!)
milk- 3.08
sour cream - .94 (I have the best recipe for sour cream pancakes.. they are delicious! I'll post sometime)
cheese- 2 packages @ 1.98/each
grapefruit- 4 for .33/each
bread- 1.38 ( a price match deal!)
apples- 4 lbs for .69/lb (another price match deal!)
2 red bell peppers (2 for $1- price match)
flour- 1.28 (price match)
potatoes 1.88 (10 lb bag of russet- price match)
maple bacon 2.50 (this was a price match also.. but I usually like to pay no more than $2 for bacon)
bag of frozen chicken breasts- 3.88 (price match- great deal!)
can of corn .38 (price match)
In addition we spent about 8 dollars in household items...
our total came to 46. 56 leaving us just few dollars to pick up some extra hamburger at our local meat market.
This post is huge so I'll leave it at that for now. Hope it was somewhat helpful!
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