Last week I had $2.05 to carry forward to my weekly target of $67.50. I spent $69.25, at Aldi's, but then splurged on Reames egg noodles for the huge crock pot of chicken noodles soup, at $6 and $2.15 on laundry soap, so now I am down $7.85 for next week. I should be able to cook from the pantry and freezer for well over a week, so hoping next weeks shop will be tiny for groceries as we will need non-food items as well, a challenge to my balance of $59.65. We have all been bulking up on fruit and vegetables. Cold and flu season is already starting and if we can improve our chances of staying healthy by just eating better, I'll give it a go. From last weeks shop, we cooked up a hug package of chicken legs. Yesterday I deboned it all and have ingredients for both a pot pie and made chicken salad for sandwiches. I made the huge batch of chicken noodle soup. It is amazing how far you can stretch inexpensive chicken. Meals for the week, rough meal plan include:
Pizza-already eaten Friday night
Chicken noodle Soup and crackers (last night plus lots of leftovers and a second meal)
Vegetable curry and rice
Chicken Pot Pie
Turkey Meatloaf
Tuna noodle hotdish
Hamburgers and curly fries
Turkey meatballs and mashed potatoes
Penne Pasta with red sauce and steamed vegetables
Vegetarian Chili (didn't make last week when planned)
At least two nights of leftovers
I'm cheating my rules a bit in that we spent $30 at the orchard on pick our own apples and fresh cider, but I look at the day at the orchard as entertainment. I'm sticking to that, but if I can skinny a few more dollars from the budget for the month, that would be good to off set the pricey produce. I feel like we have eaten well in October despite trying to be lean on the grocery budget. I've used less ready made ingredients and more fresh produce. The cooler weather sure is helping to economize as the comfort foods are budget stretchers.
DD1 will join us for curry tonight. I'll have something else for DH, maybe a grilled sandwich and potato wedges as he doesn't like curry. I've got baking to do and hopeful my depleting baking supplies will be enough. Using things up in Minnesota today.
I think almost everything is better with curry.
ReplyDeleteIt wasn't spicy enough as I was to the ends of my jar. Need to stock up.
DeleteI think you are doing great. It is kind of fun to see how far you can stretch the budget using what is in food storage. I truly think we could eat for 5 months easily if we were not being picky about what we ate, just from eating food storage foods. (Of course the only "fresh" produce would be sprouts from mung beans, but even that would be a little crunch)
ReplyDeleteIf just me, no problem. I'm less picky.
DeleteI love curry, do you have a recipe?
ReplyDeleteIt's sort of a made up version somewhere on my blog. I'll look.
DeleteI think you are doing very well! And you seem to be able to get a decent variety in your meal plan to boot! We went to the apple orchard this morning and spent $35 - which I am considering part of our "fall entertainment" budget too! =)
ReplyDeleteIt adds up but I like supporting local.
DeleteI just love the meals I get out of one chicken! Especially if I can get a chicken that's been de-boned and flattened. Our budget amounts are similar - I try to stick to $70/week. For everything - paper products, cat litter and so on. It can be a challenge but most of the time I come in under that amount.
ReplyDeleteMy budgets so low now because we overspent October 1st. I'm trying to even out to hit a $400 monthly target.
DeleteLeftovers rock. Having leftovers takes care of the question, "What's for dinner?" and of course heating something up is faster than cooking! Thanks for posting.:-)
ReplyDeleteI've got a few days this week to not cook!
DeleteIf you froze one serving of a meal, hubs could eat that one meal when he does not like curry.
ReplyDeleteThat's what usually happens-he eats leftovers of some kind, or as I thought, just a grilled sandwich. It was a football day so he was happy with that.
DeleteLove curry! We need to get back into the swing of things, as I was out of town this weekend. Now I'm behind on meal planning. My husband made a big batch of burgers, so we will start off with that, and see where we end up.
ReplyDelete