One of my resolutions was to save money, a goal I plan to meet by slashing our food budget. I am doing this more loosely than lots of bloggers. I probably won't keep all my grocery receipts and know to the penny what we are spending. But through more purposeful planning I know we'll easily spend less because we've been going to the grocery store twice a week or even more sometimes. I buy stuff whenever I feel like eating it as opposed to when it's on sale. So I've planned for the month of January and we've shopped ($82) so I know we can have dinner every night without returning to the store. I will keep buying whole organic milk for Reese for $3 per half gallon and I will buy matchstick carrots for our salad at $1.79 per bag which is probably the equivalent of 3 carrots, and I will buy 10 packs of my beloved butternut squash ravioli at Costco when the asterisk that indicates last batch appears (it did this weekend, so hurry). But I didn't say Kyle lost his job and we were in dire straits. I just am going to bolster our emergency fund and this a budget area where there is room to trim the fat.So what are we eating this month?
For other people's menu ideas check out organizing junkie every week.- Stuffed Peppers
- Fajita Potatoes
- Chicken Brown Rice bake-- I follow the directions for baking the rice in the oven
- Chipotle Burgers -- I will make hamburgers using Arizona Gunslinger Chipotle Salsa mixed into the raw meat before we grill them
- Chicken Tetrazzini
- Curry Stir Fry -- This recipe is from Nutrition Action Newsletter. They have tons of great info about food. This is the first time we are going to try a recipe.
1 tsp curry
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp grated ginger (i'll have to use powdered)
1 large ripe tomato
2 cups+ veggies (bell peppers, cauliflower, onion, mushroom, peas, etc)
6 oz. chicken or 1/2 cup lentils cooked
1 TBls canola oil
1/8 t salt
1/2 cup brown rice cooked
this seems like one serving to me but the recipe doesn't really say
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp grated ginger (i'll have to use powdered)
1 large ripe tomato
2 cups+ veggies (bell peppers, cauliflower, onion, mushroom, peas, etc)
6 oz. chicken or 1/2 cup lentils cooked
1 TBls canola oil
1/8 t salt
1/2 cup brown rice cooked
this seems like one serving to me but the recipe doesn't really say
- breakfast for dinner using Aidell's Cajun Style Andouille Sausage--which is NOT budget friendly but very worth the splurge in our opinion, even Reese loves this
- Black Bean, Barley, Corn Burritos
- Homemade Pizza
- Fajitas using some carne asada we got at costco and I'm going to attempt homemade torillas using The Happy Homemaker's recipe I'll do this for the barley burritos too
- spaghetti and aidell's meatballs - the link is for our sauce
- shake n' bake pork chops with mashed potatoes/gravy and brown sugar kissed carrots
- stubbs pork chops, broccoli, some kind of rice dish...Stubbs marinades are pretty expensive but we think worth it.
- I have a stray box of stove top stuffing so we'll have a chicken, broccoli, stuffing casserole
- I'll also concoct a chicken, rice a roni, veggie skillet meal
- Our beloved Butternut Squash Ravioli-- i think it must be made for Costoc because the website doesn't list them as a choice but they exist I promise.
- Jambalaya--I use Jennie-O Turkey Keilbabsa and frozen shrimp
- Enchiladas--I use the recipe on the back of the Old EL Paso green enchilada sauce can
- Mushroom Lasagna--no ricotta cheese in the recipe, so an easy pantry meal (easy because I won't precook my noodles and I won't have to buy anything special)
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