So Far So Good in My Janaury Household and Grocery Challenge

I ended last week with $262.23 for household and grocery (H&G) balance for the rest of January. Since last week I added  $49.39 in H&G spending, leaving me a balance of $212.84 for the last 16 days of January. It has been an expensive week otherwise, with many irregular purchases. I had a cosmetic purchase and added $60 to DD2's lunch account. DD2 registered for a second ACT exam for June and two AP tests, totaling $202. Still, thrift and resourcefulness was in play. I utilized $10 Kohl's cash to get DD2 a needed pair of slippers and a pair for my sister along with a Godiva chocolate bar to go with the hand cream and lip balm set I bought last week for a thrifty, but nice birthday gift that only ended up costing me out of pocket $3.58. You have to love using the perks and freebies earned on items you already needed to buy, towards new things you need to buy. I don't know what, where, or how much DH might have spent on meals out for lunch, but I spent zero, zilch, nada, not so much as a morning coffee this last week.

Here were our dinners the past week. As you might recall, I don't do a formal meal plan, but list a variety of options we might choose from.

• Sunday:Egg wraps and smoothies-Sunday brunch and a take out chicken dinner using a due to expire voucher.
• Monday-Leftover Sloppy Joe's, salad, sandwiches
• Tuesday-Super nachos, with taco meat, refried beans, rice and cheese
• Wednesday-Vegetarian chili and bread sticks
• Thursday-Beef ravioli (DH found a bag of frozen ravioli in the freezer I didn't even know we had)
• Friday-Tuna Noodle Hotdish
• Saturday-DD2 and I packed sandwiches and concession items, DH leftover  tuna hotdish and anything else he decided he was hungry for. He may have ended up out with friends as his best friends step daughter is also show choir and his wife was at the same place I was.(He has lunch delivered by the company on Saturdays)

 We may need a few things during the week before I do another weekly shop next Friday, but I am confident I can pull a weeks worth of meals from what is in the house,leaving the bulk of the $219 balance in tact until Friday. Today is DD2's birthday and she has requested an all out Indian Curry type meal. I tried making naan once and spinach paneer, but neither turn out great so I will be making a run to buy both of those, along with jello and butter to make her special strawberry rhubarb cake, produced hidden just for her cake. Here's the rest of the options, again with repetition from meals not made from last weeks options. *Means  a second meal will be reserved for later, not counting standard leftovers.

Indian Curry Meal-Ala Skint Dad UK
*Bean Soup and home made biscuits
Turkey Meatloaf, au gratin potatos, and mixed vegetables
Crock pot pasta prima vera
Pasta Alfredo and mixed vegetables
Goulash with green beans
Cheese and spinach rice crust quiche
Homemade cheese pizza (or we have a frozen pizza)  
Risotto with carrots 
Hamburger gravy over mashed potatoes with green beans
black bean burgers or chicken codon bleu, Julienne potatoes, roasted squash 
Chili from last week and grilled cheese sandwiches (probably tomorrow night as I did not freeze this and will need to get eaten)

This plan is one part eating down the freezer and pantry and one part carefully shopping to not senselessly overstock. Of course, if I run into a great deal to stock up, I will do so, and spread the spending across multiple months in efforts to keep the overall yearly budget low. As always, your comments and particularly, links to your favorite healthy and thrifty recipes are appreciated and welcome!