Monday, March 25, 2013

Cutting my budget

My goal: cut my food budget by half.  Seems daunting...but I know it's totally possible.  Here's what I'm doing so far:
1) Meal planning--at least three weeks but maybe more.  All dinners written out on a calendar posted on my fridge.  Not only can I see it, but my family can see it which they have been loving.   There were so many days when I didn't have a clue what we were having for dinner so knowing is a huge deal.
2) Go grocery shopping less-- I went grocery shopping last week for just about all my meals for April.  I spent about $200 at Sams club and about $200 at Walmart.  Since I don't yet have an additional freezer, I will still have to buy milk and bread through out the month.  The less I go to the store, the more I save.  Most people have a hard time going into a grocery store for milk and only coming out with milk.
3) Eat leftovers--this is a big one and self explanatory.
4) Eat what you have--When I started this goal in March, I pulled everything out of my pantry to see what exactly I had.  I made my meal list, made a list of everything I would need for those meals and then I checked of everything I already had.  Things can easily get hidden on pantry shelves and that does not save you money.
5) Double recipes and freeze--I love this one because of all the time it saves me.  This last time I made and froze two of each of the following: Chicken and spinach enchiladasBBQ pineapple pulled pork, and ranch pork chops.  I will also be freezing two lasagna's. These meals are also all big enough that we can eat them the next day for leftovers.  
Other meals will be:
Scrambled egg sandwiches
Chili cheese hot dogs
Grilled cheese
Breakfast like waffles or pancakes
Cabbage and sausage soup
Beans and rice
Beans and cornbread
Lemon garlic chicken

It feels so good to have my month planned.

***ranch pork chops--6 pork chops, 1 hidden valley ranch dressing mix, 1 can cream of chicken soup.  I threw it all together in a freezer bag.  When its time to eat I'm throwing it in the crockpot!
***Update: this was a great meal my whole family enjoyed.  I ended up also adding a cup of water to it and it turned out great!

1 comment:

  1. Those pork chops sound delicious. Ranch dressing always makes anything taste so good. Love your blog.

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