Welcome to Week 3 of the Grocery Challenge! July 27, 2009
Posted by dailysavingsfromallyou in Money-saving tips, Week 3.trackback
It’s the halfway point! How did everyone’s Week 2 go? 
In your email today, we gave you our favorite food-related tips. In case you missed it, check them out below. Now we want to hear from you! Have you created any delicious recipes from your pantry so far? Are you planning your menu at the beginning of each week, and has it helped at all?
Buy basics: Canned beans, soup, tomatoes and broths are inexpensive core ingredients that can be used in dozens of meals. Canned fruits are a great option as well—just make sure they’re packed in juice rather than syrup, which is loaded with sugar.
Phase out frozen meals: If you regularly purchase frozen dinners, you’re paying a premium for what amounts to a fairly small amount of food. You’ll save more by freezing individual portions of entrées made from scratch, such as casseroles and lasagnas.
Swap pricey ingredients for cheaper alternatives: If the recipe calls for red wine, use pure cranberry juice instead. For white wine, use apple juice. Macadamia nuts? Use walnuts, almonds or cashews.
Use weekends wisely: Cook at least one entrée on Saturday or Sunday that you can heat up for lunch or pull out on a busy weeknight. Stew is a cost-effective meal, especially if you use less pricey cuts of meat. To save even more money, go meatless once a week with a veggie-based meal, which has less saturated fat, but plenty of vitamins and fiber.
Count on calcium: Milk is the most cost-effective source of calcium—it’s cheaper per ounce than yogurt or cheese—so include more of it in your family’s diet. Calcium is central to bone health. Be sure kids get four servings daily, and adults get three.
Sources: Lisa Bakewell, freelance writer; Elizabeth M. Ward, registered dietitian.
I bought 20 pounds of pinto beans at Walmart for $13. I cook huge batches of these in the crockpot and then put them in serving size freezer bags to pull out and make refried beans. I include these in any of my mexican cooking and cut out half of the ground beef. Less expesive and beans are super healthy. http://savinitup.blogspot.com/2009/02/holy-beans-batman.html
Since I started making things from scratch I have saved big time on my grocery bill. Plus it lets me control what I use in the recipe so I can control the health factor. When I make pasta or a casserole I will intentionally make more so I can use these to to containers for my hubby and me to grab and take to work with us.
Thanks for the info. Just last night I was wondering how I could make my own refried beans.
awesome tip! I make my own refried beans too (I call them “faux fried beans” lol), LOVE them!! So much better than the ones out of the can, right?
my recipe is here: http://projectdomesticbliss.blogspot.com/2009/03/faux-fried-beans-my-version-of-refried.html
We just returned from a trip to Minneapolis where my eldest daughter competed in an important swim meet. These trips get expensive with the hotel bills and all the restaurant meals, but I was able to keep the costs way down by planning ahead. I used the potatoes, pasta, lentils, deli, bakery and fruit purchased in Week 2 to prepare all of the meet food and lunches for the trip. We also used my hubby’s points to stay for free at a very nice hotel that served a complimentary hot breakfast AND had a free buffet each evening that served foods like tacos and spaghetti. We ended up treating ourselves to one restaurant meal on the way home, even though we didn’t need to. The restaurant tab and my Week 2 grocery bill still added up to less than $100!
Planning ahead, cooking from scratch, and using all the resources available to you really make a difference in the quality of life on a budget!
Grocery shopping went well, we spent $65 of our $100 budget for week 2. And that included stocking up for this week with split chicken breast at $0.99# and salmon fillets at $2.99# Last week, I grilled chicken, salmon, and steak and used the meats during the week. We did not have to eat any leftovers since I made sure I was only making enough portions for that meal. The biggest budget buster I have found is waste. So if I make a big batch I make sure to go ahead and freeze what won’t be eaten right away.
Making food from scratch like Brenda said is a great way to be frugal. But when I find convenience food that is healthy and cheap (like Kashi frozen entrees for FREE) and I get to save electricty and time. That makes extreme couponing really worth it to me.
I am having a great time with the challange. We are going to have BLT’s for dinner tonight. Bacon is on sale at all the store so I am going to really stock up this week. Not a very healthy meat but great for adding to salads or bake spuds.
Question: Many of our local stores are starting to limit internet coupons. Will not take ones for free items or give over that amount if the item is on sale. I anyone else running into this issue?
Sort of….most of my local stores don’t allow for overage (say you have a coupon for $1 for an item on sale for .99 cents). In this case, it’s best to know your store’s policy on coupons (check the internet for this information). Most stores, will adjust the price of the coupon to match the sale price. I think this is a hassle for most cashiers, though. They might say they cannot do it.
Hi Jill, I too hsve been having a problem with internet coupons.
Same here. My local Waldbaums will not accept internet coupons. I found this out the hard way about a year or so ago. They had been accepting them for months, then one day – no way. No sign, no info posted anywhere about the change in policy. I had a very nice talk with one of the store’s managers about the need for a sign at the entrance where shoppers could see it BEFORE they started shopping. She was really nice about it and agreed that they needed one. But that’s why I don’t bother too much with online printable coupons these days. I can’t really use them.
This week will be a challenge for us!
My #2 son turns 4 tomorrow and I have a birthday on Thursday!
Doing birthdays at our house are pretty fun. Once a year, we go to a huge party store and buy the supplies we will need for everybody’s birthdays. I can usually get the boys (I have 3) to agree on a “theme”. I pick up a tablecloth (and reuse) and plates/napkins to last through all 3 birthdays. We also like to buy an assortment of goofy party hats. We recycle these for about 18mos or so. We also recycle our blowers and silly party toys. When all is said and done, we usually spent under $20 per child per year on party stuff. And the children just LOVE waking up from their afternoon naps to find the dining room table transformed into the birthday spot!
I will post more tomorrow,
Kate in Las Vegas
I know the challenge for keeping within your grocery budget while still throwing a birthday party! I have two sons that had birthdays on July 16 & July 17. My oldest turned 7 on the 16th and my youngest turned 4 on the 17th. We threw a birthday lunch for them with family members on Friday the 17th. I baked “train” birthday cookies out of a plain cake mix, which was from stock already on hand, in a gingerbread mold and had that for my son who turned 7 on the 16th. My mom visits a local senior center a few days a week and they are always handing out surplus bread and food items donated from local grocery stores. Wouldn’t you know it, they where handing out already decorated cakes for FREE! She got two and gave to me. I stored them in my freezer and defrosted one the night before the party. We had a hot dog lunch the day of the party. All food items were already on hand and my mom brought over additional food items. I also reused my Curious George mylar balloons from a previous birthday party and only had to pay for the helium to fill them up. So, we were able to have a nice party without breaking the bank! The boys are still young enough to celebrate their birthdays together, so I save a nice chunk of change by combining the birthday celebrations! It’s so nice to watch the excitement in our kids eyes when they get to celebrate their birthdays and hope you have a wonderful time!
Esther in Owosso, Michigan
My kids get a birthday budget of $100 for their party. They have to figure out decorations, plates, food, invites, activities, etc. They have to invite sibs and other relatives (including a 4 year old cousin) They have to make smart choices about what to spend it on (DO I go to a fancy party place and only get to invite 4 kids or have it at home and invite 10??)
Yes, definitely planning a menu ahead of time. That avoids the last minute pizza delivery because I didn’t plan accordingly. I’ve recently made pot roast, pork roast and a new reipe for Mexican stuffed green peppers – basic ingredients as regular stuffed green peppers, but used salsa, celery and onion and ground turkey instead. That was Sunday night’s meal. I also made oat pan rolls. The house smelled wonderful – my DH was working in the garage and the heavenly smell of home-made rolls made him come in and ask what I was baking. If you want to put a smile on DH or children’s faces – simply bake. Well, they say a way to a man’s heart is thru their stomach – must be true.
I’ve had some good fortune lately. I have been listening to the radio while I am working on saving money and have noticed a pattern for “station giveaways”.
All you have to do is be the correct caller.
Last week I won $50.00 gift certificate to a local restaurant and today I have won a $25.00 gift card to Martins Grocery and a $20.00 gift card to another local restaurant. How cool is that.
Wow! You are on a major winning streak. Sounds like you may have this thing in the bag.
Time to relax and read all your great ideas
After the kids went to bed tonight I have been working on freezing corn. Nothing beats Iowa sweet corn. Local farmer had birds get into his corn and peck on the tops. He gave it to me for free. I cut off the tops and but the rest in the freezer. If you are willing to pick your on produce lots of farmers let you pick your own when they are done picking all the “sellable” stuff. Ask around at the local farmers market.
Green beans are ready this weekend. I can’t wait to fire up the canner. Does anyone else can produce? I would love ideas for beans or anything else.
I’m interested what everyone hear looks for in “healthy food.” Is it organic? low-cal? vegetarian? For me, it’s lots of fresh produce. I’m also trying to cut out processed and fast food as much as possible.
Hi JJ
My rule of thumb for healthy foods is to make sure any packaged food does not contain hydrogenated oils or corn syrup. Organic is always best but sometimes that is just not possible, then local comes in second (they don’t have to do as much to it to keep it fresh for the long journey). That is my basic plan, and I am pretty healthy!!
Hi JJ,
For us, we’re not super concerned about the organic-ness of our foods… But I’m diabetic so I try to cook from scratch most of the time because I find that when I eat pre-prepared food (frozen, or from restaurants), my sugar responds differently. I think it’s because I don’t know what goes in frozen food or restaurants even if they have nutrition labels.
Like you, I think generally lots of fresh produce is “healthy” and since it’s summer, I’m enjoying the bright colors of the fruits and veggies in the market
Great deals out there on produce too!
Some of my family members are allergic to gluten and face some of the same struggles as you with frozen food and restaurant food. Gluten is hiding in everything. Even some popsicles have gluten.
For my family, “healthy food” is whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables and lean meats. We are working to avoid fast food, and this challenge is helping greatly in that respect. We don’t worry much about organic, but we avoid trans fats and excessive salt and sugar whenever possible.
The biggest challenge is avoiding nitrates, which are in lunch meats. My husband brown bags his lunch each workday, and when the kiddos are in school, so do they. My husband likes a meat sandwich each day, while the kids don’t mind peanut butter or soup. I wonder if anyone has any suggestions for keeping a “meat and potatoes” man happy AND healthy when it comes to giving him healthy alternatives for his brown bag lunches?
Tina, one way I get around the nitrates/nitrites is to roast turkey breasts or beef roasts. I stock up when they are on sale. After they are cooked, I cool them completely and refrigerate overnight. It’s much easier to slice them thin once they are completely chilled. I even got a small home meat slicer that was fairly inexpensive, and it works pretty well (though I’m not in love with cleaning it!) There is always a little bit at the end that is hard to slice, so it goes into fajitas or soup or something. Hope that helps you!
Would your husband eat tuna, egg, chicken, or turkey salad? Not exactly lunch meat but not pb&j either–usually I can make chicken salad cheaper than I can but lunch meat
Laura and Melissa, thank you both for your ideas. You would think I would have thought to bake a turkey breast and slice it for lunch meat myself. Somehow it never crossed my mind!
I love egg salad and tuna salad sandwiches. I’ll have to see if Dh likes them too. Aside from having nitrates, packaged lunch meats are also salty, which I’m trying to cut back on with my family as well.
For our family, “healthy” would be mostly organic (or at least making sure we buy Dirty Dozen fruits and veggies organic) or organically grown (as is the case with our farmer’s market) fresh fruits and vegetables, local, grass-fed beef, pastured pork and free-range eggs, whole grains that have been properly prepared (ie. sprouted or soaked), traditional fats (butter from grass-fed cows, olive oil, cold-pressed, unrefined, extra virgin coconut oil) and avoiding additives – HFCS, refined sugar, trans fats, dyes, MSG, ingredients that could be GMO and basically anything we can’t pronounce! I’m working to increase the amount of raw and fermented foods we eat. Simple, whole and organic is what I aim for 95% of the time
Interesting…I use butter rather than margarine, but I NEVER thought about making sure it was from grass-fed cows. (FYI: we generally don’t eat red meat). How do find out the source of butter?
JJ – Since I haven’t found a local source for dairy (yet), I use Kerrygold Imported Irish butter. You can find it at most grocery stores, but I’ve found it cheapest at Costco, Trader Joe’s and Whole Foods.
http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2008/06/more-on-kerrygold-butter.html
We do eat meat, but also include several meatless meals on the menu each week, for variety and to help keep the cost down. My husband and I decided we would rather eat less meat in order to afford what we feel is a better quality of meat.
This is the biggest challenge of the challenge for me! I admit we don’t eat very healthy so I really wanted to become more aware of that aspect of our diets and I think I’m improving, thanks to the challenge
I don’t specifically look for organic because most of the time it just costs too much for my budget but I have really upped our produce intake in the past two weeks and I’ve also really gotten away from the pre-packaged meals. Before the challenge I admit me and the kids had boxed mac n cheese 3-4 a week for lunch but since the challenge has started we have only had it twice! That’s a huge improvement I think. I’m also so excited because the local farmer (within walking distance from our house) just opened up for the season yesterday. We went today and got peaches, green beans, and a cucumber for $5. We also walked there so we got some exercise in the process 
I think it’s easier to eat healthier in the summer b/c farmer’s markets are open and fresh fruit is so plentiful and so varied. I love, love, LOVE fruit. I have a harder time eating produce in the winter because I do NOT like most vegetables. That’s seems to be whats fresh and available in winter.
Awesome job! We didn’t start out with eating all organic either. The first step for us toward healthier eating was learning to make foods from scratch and slowly eliminating the boxed, convenience foods. Baby steps
Hi JJ! Healthy food to me is what Dr. Kolbert calls “living food”. The farther something gets from it’s original living state, the less healthy it is. I try not to buy packaged foods too much. We eat whole wheat breads and pastas as much as possible also. Dr. Kolbert says “The whiter the bread, the sooner your dead”
I remembe seeing Dr. Oz on Oprah and he said we’re raising a nation of “white kids”–white bread, white rice, white potatoes (french fries)…basically, we’re stripping all the nutrients out of food.
I totally see eye to eye with The Working Home Keeper on the grass fed beef, dirty dozen organics, cage-free eggs, traditional fats and buying local. I’m only 24, and have been married for 4 years, and only recently started truly shopping this way. I am very excited that I will have my children grow up with these nutritious foods! I am just started to learn about “sprouted” grains, but I LOVE the idea. Pretty much the only thing I’ve done my self is sprout alfalfa seeds- And it was GREAT for sandwiches.
But one day, we will increase the budget just a little and get all the organic, “living food” we can.
Eating healthy means eating things with the most nutritional impact per calorie. Local, sun ripened produce picked as close to peak as possible. Grass-fed beef because its leaner and more nutrient dense. It also means avoiding things that harm your body, even just a little bit over time- Things like high fructose corn syrup and overly refined sugars, hydrogenated oils, pesticides, hormones, MSG (Uck!), nitrate/nitrites, artificial preservatives and other manufactured “non foods”.
We are still under major transition here- As we need to keep our grocery bill very low while we get out of school debt, save up an emergency fund and save for a house to buy. So instead of buying all natural, say, turkey breast for lunches, we buy all natural chicken leg quarters and make pulled chicken sandwiches. Sure, maybe its higher in fat, but its also higher in vitamins and minerals. Instead of pine nuts and pecans we buy bulk sunflower seeds and peanuts (because I get coupons for those
“Living Food” — I love that! Thanks Margie!
I really enjoyed everyone’s take on “healthy”! I totally remember when MY idea of healthy was a Lean Pocket! LOL
We try to also buy meat close to home. We buy half a cow in the winter from a local farmer who grass feeds his cow and does not give them hormones to make them bulk up faster. Many farmers are selling directly to families and avoiding big meat companies. They make more money this way and you know all about the life your cow led. It is about 2.oo a pound for us and we get it cut up the way we want it.
Our family also has chickens. They are so cheap to keep and don’t need a huge farm to live on. Eggs are always fresh and hormone free. Chicken are also great about eating all the food you just waste. Peelings, kids leftovers, and stale bread.
If you must eat out go to the drive through and stick to the “dollar menu” or “value menu”. The items are smaller and so is the cost. Less calories and less cash! I can get a cheese burger, small fries, and a drink for $3.oo. Even better, take it home and have a drink from home. Then it is only $2.00 for a meal. With our family of 5, we can feed everyone for $10.00 if we have drinks at home.
My kids like having a choice between hamburger, chicken nuggets, or a chicken sandwhich.
Chelsi, I had a lunch date with my daughter, my best friend and her daughter. We met at a local park, so that kind of meant picking up something to eat on the way. I planned ahead and brought drinks for both of us and pretzels for a side. Then we went to Subway and got a footlong sandwich using my saved up points, so it was free. We split the sandwich and had a great outing!
You are so right about the cheaper food, smaller portions, and thus lower calories using the dollar menu. When in need for fast food, that is a good option sometimes.
I am finally using up some of my stock pile and freezer meals that I kept pushing aside. I have a no waste attiude. I just can not bare to throw food out. If you throw it out because you did not use it you might as well have just thown out $$ it is the same thing.
I try to be creative and use things before they are about to go bad. If my bananas are mushy but still good. I will make a smoothie. I save left over bread to make croutons. I even make my own microwave popcorn.
We also have claim it nights for left overs. We rotate who gets first choice at the left overs. This just makes left over night fun.
I have spent very little the past two weeks. I have bought just mostly produce and milk. Even before this contest started I only spent $40 a week for a family of 4 and yes I do feed my family healthy food. Have you ever look at a price of a bag chips ( about $4 ) and compared it to how much that would buy in fresh produce. You can buy a lot of apples for $4. LOL! I really think it is cheaper to eat healhy foods.
I, too, am very good about not wasting anything. In fact, that is my husband’s #1 pet peeve – throwing out food is like throwing out money, he says. You’re both right and I’m trying my darnest to not even throw out left-overs but sometimes it’s hard
Ditch the junk – in with the healthy fruits and vegetables. I agree, but those darn potatoe chips taste sooooooooo good.
I think, pound for pound, fruits like apples are much more filling than snack foods like chips. It’s all that fiber. Can anyone ever eat more than two apples at a time? But I know that I can polish off a bag of chips all by myself. I think a temptation is that you can often get chips (and other junk food) for free when you use coupons. I’ve never seen fresh fruit come with a coupon. If you’re really watching your pennies (and you are a coupon user), it’s tempting to get the free junk rather than spend a little on healthy stuff.
Fresh fruit does come with coupons if you know where to look. I picked up free bananas yesterday with a coupon…buy 2 fresh express salads ($1 each) get up to 2lbs free bananas…that I found in the grocery store. Also, cruise your local liquor/wine aisles. Depending on what state you live in, you may be able to find a wide variety of coupons there that DON’T actually require you to buy the alcohol…read the fine print. I live in IL and many coupons attached to the hard liquor say “NO alcohol purchase required in IL” in the fine print. I currently have several $3 coupons good on produce.
Beth, that’s awesome. I never look for coupons in the liquor aisle!
I guess I have seen some fruit coupons. One of my stores was running a coupon for save $1 off $10 produce purchase. However, their produce was highly priced (nothing on sale, really) so it was cheaper to buy fruit somewhere else. Most weeks, the stores will have some kind of “loss leader” on a fruit product so that’s where I’ll shop.
My husband, Mr. Thrifty and I have been really looking for ways to find more free product coupons and using up some of our stockpiles.
This year we have grown our own Victory Garden and it has really produced providing us with lots of great vegetables. Our corn has recently started to sprout ears. I can hardly wait to eat it. You really can save money growing your own vegetables with the added plus that they are chemical free.
Week two was great. We only spent $57.41 for our family of four (my husband, me, our eight year old and our five month old). I was worried during week one when all we had left at the end of the week was $1.18. It really made us look at how to manage our meals for the following week. We ate out less and had light meals which were great since the weather was hot. We cut meat out of our grocery list a year and a half ago and it is healthier and easier on the purse. We will eat meat if it’s served at other’s homes, we just don’t buy it for ourselves. We have replaced meat with beans in most recipes we make.
Whew – Week 2 is done. We spent $75 of our $100 and didn’t go out to eat once. (Bummer) This was an odd week for us because in addition to our regular CSA pick-up, it seemed like we needed every “essential” in the pantry – so I made a run to Costco and picked up vegetable oil, vinegar, frozen broccoli, milk, and cream. I about choked when I spent $31 there! But, I know these are the best prices in town for these items and I will not have to purchase them again for a really long time.
I’m pretty sure that I’m going to BLOW it in Week 3 since I have a weekend trip with some girlfriends. In our defense, we are staying in a condo with a full kitchen and plan on having breakfast and lunches there – it’s the part about alcohol being part of the $100. Um, yeah. That’s the part that could make it interesting.
I do plan my meals, sometimes weeks ahead of time! I use the menu planner at http://www.mealsmatter.org. It allows me to use their recipes or I can incorporate my own into the menu plan, then I can create a shopping list from that.
I have a well-stocked pantry and I’ve managed to create great meals from what I have. My family has commented that they’ve been eating great for the past two weeks!
I sat down several months ago and wrote down every possible meal that my family of 7 will eat and enjoy. To plan meals, I first take stock and make a written list of edibles in my freezer, fridge and pantry. Then I’ll sit down and put together meals from what I have, then I’ll make up meals from what I have PLUS what’s on sale that week, then I have a list of less expensive meals to fill in my meal plan. Using Meals Matter menu planning tools, I’ll print out what I’ve decided on for the week or weeks that I’ve planned, then keep that posted on the fridge. It really helps me to see what meals are coming up so that I can be prepared. For instance, tonight we’re having grilled chicken legs, and in a couple of nights we’re having chicken Alfredo (uses chicken breast meat). Today I thawed 3 chickens and then cut them up myself. I have enough chicken legs for tonight and enough chicken breast meat for a couple of meals, AND I’m cooking the carcasses to remove the rest of the meat for even more meals! If I hadn’t printed my menus out then I’d be panicking at 5 p.m.! I can also switch meals around as the family’s schedule requires.
I love to dress up side dishes, like drizzling butter & honey over cooked mashed sweet potatoes and sprinkling them with cinnamon before popping them into the oven alongside a meatloaf or roast chicken. Tonight we’re having carrot souffle, a big change from eating just sliced cooked carrots. I get a lot of my recipes from http://www.recipezaar.com.
We also have some meatless meals like taco soup or bean burritos. The family doesn’t even realize there’s no meat in them and I love the fact that they’re tasty, quick and inexpensive. I have a great recipe that I haven’t tried yet for sloppy joes using lentils and one for meatloaf made from cooked lentils. They sound yummy!
I am finally relearning the fact that variety can make me happier. I have been VERY lazy since moving into a home of my own last December. The past two weeks, I have actually cooked several times. My youger daughter used to spend weekends with me, but at the end of May she moved across the state. There went my main cook! Now, my uongesr son comes over a little more, and he does some cooking, but not nearly enough. So, I am trying to learn to cook for one without it getting boring. Packaging meat in single serve poritions when I bring it home helps a lot. I plan to get around to making up pre-cooked basics, such as ground meat for spaghetti, chilli or casseroles soon. Right now, I am Playing with cooking enough four my weekday lunches over the weekend. This really helps me, as I work long hours.
A suggestion for all of you with families is Once a Month Cooking. I tired it a few times when two of the kids were still at home. There were a lot of interesting and different recipes. It helps by giving you not only the recipes, but the shopping list and what containers you will need. It claims you can cook a month of dinners in one day! I know I cooked about 18 meals in 2 1/2 hours, with only a little help from my youngest.
Had a great shopping day only spent $15. (2 people) started the day with a free coffee at McDonalds (I usually don’t do fast food, but couldn’t resist FREE) Bought fresh fruit, didn’t need bread or milk had left over from last week- got my FREE Jennie O turkey sausage and Tyson chicken legs with $1 off coupon that was doubled to make them only 50c for a pack of 4. When my sister and I got home I helped her pick her green beans and that is what we are having for supper. Creamed green beans and potatoes, summer squash on the grill and some fresh baked rolls (just a few cents with a coupon a few weeks ago). My brocolli is almost ready in the garden and I can hardly wait. This week we will be going out for our anniversary, so I will be making lots of those meals using up what is in the pantry!!
Last week went quite well. We had plenty of money left in the budget at the end of the week, so my husband was able to buy a 2 liter bottle of soda. To be truthful, he really only wanted the bottle, because he was making a rocket launcher with our 6 year old that used a 2 liter soda bottle, and we hadn’t had soda in so long that we didn’t have any bottles lying around.
I think planning meals ahead of time, but allowing for flexibility, has been vital for us. For example, I planned a week’s worth of meals by matching coupons to sales at King Soopers, but then also came across a roasting chicken on manager’s special, so I bought it as well. While I spent a little more that I thought I would (about 78 dollars total for the week for my family of four), I was still well under budget for the week and bought many items that will last a long time. I was also able to include items for my local food pantry and some extra produce to take advantage of all the lovely local fruits and vegetables that are available this time of year.
I love finding ways to use leftover roasted chicken. Here’s a favorite:
Chicken Curry
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
1 Tbsp. curry powder
(1 cup leftover chicken gravy, if available, or 1 cup chicken broth + 3 Tbsp. flour)
2 cups leftover chicken, cubed
1/2 – 1 cup milk, cream, evaporated milk or coconut milk
1 cup frozen peas or other vegetables
Cook the onion in the oil in a saute pan until the onion is tender. Add ginger, garlic and curry and continue cooking 1 minute. Add gravy or broth/flour mixture and stir well. Allow mixture to come to a boil. Reduce heat. Add chicken, milk, and peas. Cook until heated through; serve over rice. This is great with mango slices on the side!
Week two was going great until the weekend hit, and now I’m out of the contest by about $6. I spent $33 on groceries, but then my friend and I had a Lady’s Fun Day and my husband wanted to get fast food pizza so that he could feel special too. Setting a limit is harder than I thought. I usually don’t set limits because my couponing and stockpiling usually allows us to eat out every now and then without totally emptying our wallets. I knew I was going to go over the week’s limit, but, at that point, I didn’t mind leaving the contest. It’s gotten me to think healthier, be choosier, and try out homemade watermelon sorbet (which is delicious), but I saw many other people who deserve that prize more than I do. Good luck and have a great time!
Renee, I like that you have a positive attitude despite spending too much last week. That’s a bummer, but I commend you for staying honest.
If we all finish this contest thinking healthier, shopping choosier, and cooking more at home, then I think we are all winners. Maybe we’ll all need to go out and get smaller clothes when this is all done. I know I probably will!
Menu Plan Monday 7/27
menu plan monday
If you want to save money on groceries, meal planning is key. Every weekend I plan out my meals for the next week. When I have my menu planned for the week, I save money and I save time. I share it with you, to give you ideas of how we eat on a limited budget. Hopefully, this inspires you to plan your own menu for the week.
This is going to be a tough week. I went back to work today and hubby is home with the kids. That means that he will be doing the cooking. So, I am 100% sure that the meal plan will not be strictly adhered too. I can dream though, can’t I? Here is my meal plan for this week:
# Monday
* Breakfast – pancakes (leftover from dinner Saturday), fruit
* Lunch – canned pasta, fruit
* Dinner – panninis, green beans and pudding
# Tuesday
* Breakfast – cereal / oatmeal, fruit
* Lunch – peanut butter and jelly on homemade bread, fruit
* Dinner – we are going to my mom’s as soon as I get out of work, so we will either eat with her or go out to eat down where she lives
# Wednesday
* Breakfast – strawnana muffins (made a few days ago and froze), fruit
* Lunch – grilled cheese, fruit
* Dinner – ham steak, veggie, maybe a potato or pasta salad?
# Thursday
* Breakfast -cinnamon toast on homemade bread, fruit
* Lunch – dinner leftovers, fruit
* Dinner – cheeseburgers on grill, corn on cob, maybe a side?
# Friday
* Breakfast – cereal / oatmeal, fruit
* Lunch – canned pasta, fruit
* Dinner – homemade sloppy joes, tater tots, pudding or jello
# Saturday
* Breakfast – fake quiches, fruit
* Lunch – peanut butter and jelly on homemade bread, fruit
* Dinner – leftovers
# Sunday
* Breakfast – homemade waffles, eggs and toast
* Lunch – grilled cheese, fruit
* Dinner – tuna casserole with peas (I will make a double batch and freeze one), fruit dessert
Well today I went back to work – for the first time in 2 1/2 years. the house was not wrecked when I got home, and hubby actually did wash up a small batch of dishes. Although dinner was not made, but oh well. The kids ended up eating a late lunch a little bit before I got home at 4, and I have a migraine so when I am done typing I am going to go lay down. Hubby took the kids to the garden to work on it so I will have peace and quiet!!
That said, with hubby being the one making the meals during the week I have had to do some extra prep (and will have to do some tonight once my headache is gone). For him a meal plan is essential. I made it up for the week, posted it on the fridge and told him it didn’t matter if he made them in the right order. I don’t always go by my meal plan exactly either. Especially with 2 little ones, I have learned I have to be flexible. Tonight I have some ground turkey that my mom gave us yesterday that I will need to cook up and freeze. I cook these in 3/4 of a pound portions, let cool and put them in quart freezer bags. When I have a recipe that calls for 1 pound of ground meat I just thaw it in the micro for about 11 minutes and throw it in my pot.
I also make homemade bread at least once a week, three loaves at a time. This keeps us from buying store bought bread – not only saves us money, but also the breads at the stores often times have high fructose corn syrup and preservatives. I also made up extra bread dough last week and froze it. Also made a double batch of strawnana bread (recipe link is on my blog: http://www.couponqueenofcorning.com ) and put half of them in the freezer with 6-9 in a bag – one of these 3 bags will be eaten for breakfast this week.
Have you created any delicious recipes from your pantry so far? Since just about everything is from my pantry and everything is, of course, delicious, then the answer is yes! LOL. But seriously, I try my best to make new recipes and try new meals. Sometimes they turn out, and sometimes they just don’t. Like sloppy joes. I have tried several recipes so far and all of them are just too sweet. We eat them, of course, but I don’t make that recipe again. Anybody got any good recipes for sloppy joes?
As much I would love to type more, I must lay down. Have a good night everyone.
P.s. if you haven’t done so already, come check out my listing of blogs from All You Grocery Challenge participants. If you aren’t on the list, please leave me your link in the comment section.
http://www.couponqueenofcorning.com/2009/07/words-of-week-wednesday-715.html
I have a recipe for sloppy joes, Copycat Manwich, on my blog http://rhondashomestylerecipes.blogspot.com/ We all love it!
Here is the recipe I use for making sloppy joes with grass-fed beef on sprouted, whole wheat buns. It is on the sweeter side (because that’s how we like it!). But the link for the original recipe is listed on the post and includes vinegar and worchestershire sauce which cuts down on the sweetness.
http://carolinamomma.blogspot.com/2009/04/summer-like-sunday.html
The sloppy joes taste great with my Better than McDonald’s Oven Fries
http://workinghomekeeper.blogspot.com/2009/06/skip-drive-thru.html
Do you make the sprouted buns, or buy them? Please share the bun recipe if you make them! I’d love to try it! Buying them (like the ezekiel bread ones) is too expensive for me
frugalmegan – I buy sprouted buns (the Ezekiel ones) since I don’t have a grain grinder to grind my own flour from sprouted grains. An alternative to using actual buns would be to just use sprouted bread. Our Trader Joe’s carries sprouted bread for only $3.49 a loaf.
I am definitely proud of myself last week. We only ate out 1 lunch and that was on our trip to Costco (love their pizza and their prices can’t be beat). So my total was 65.42 out of 75.00 budget.
For tonight we are planning deli meat flatbread sandwiches, fruit, and chips. I do have a couple of errands this evening, so a quick meal was planned. Lunch was leftovers and breakfast was granola bars, fruit, and milk. Which I do need to go to Winco tonight and get more milk and a couple of things.
This challenge has really been good for me. Plus I am enjoying it.
Okay, so I spent more this week but I stayed under the budget and will send in for a $10 rebate. With a trip to Costco I stocked up on shredded cheese that I will freeze in two cup portions and frozen fruit for yummy smoothies. We have my brother in law visiting so I bought extra milk and bread this week.
Taco soup is one of my kids favorites. I have all the canned items in the pantry (corn, tomatoes, beans, and green chiles) so all I need to add is seasoned ground beef.
On Sunday I put chicken in the crock pot with cream of mushroom soup and onion soup mix before church. When we got back I added a little sour cream. Some broccoli and a side salad finished off the meal. Easy, tasty, and healthy!
I’m doing that $10 rebate too.
Last week went pretty well for us. I spent $37.56 for the family of 3, and that included 4 gallons of milk (three of which are now in the freezer for future usage), about 15 lbs of ground chuck and meatloaf mix, and a fairly hefty portion of fresh produce (since I’d taken most everything fresh I had to my mother-in-laws house the week before).
I notice that they mention making stews as a money saving tip for this week. To save even more money on a stew I keep a storage container in my refridgerator that I put all of the leftover veggies in that we don’t eat at a meal- that couple of tablespoons of corn that no one wanted, or the excess carrot sticks that are starting to dry out- anything that isn’t enough to keep and make a sidedish for a meal of by itself. If I have any meals that have gravy with them I will also dump that in there (which helps to keep it all from drying out). Then at the end of the week I throw whatever is in that storage container into the crock pot with whatever cheap cut of meat I have on hand and add in enough additional veggies, broth, and sometimes a whole grain pasta to make a stew that my family loves. It’s one of the best ways I’ve found to eliminate a lot of the waste and save some extra money. Sometimes in the summer I’ll freeze the contents of the storage containers- that way when fall comes around, and we’re in more of a stew mood I have all the ingredients close at hand.
Tonight’s meal: Chicken Ceasar salads made from last nights leftover grilled chicken, and some homeade croutons from the loaf of bread that went stale while we were out of town last week. Spritz on some of the wishbone salad spritzers that I got for free with my coupons a couple of weeks ago, and I should be up to my 5+ servings of fruits & veggies for the day.
Sae (pronounced Si, like Hi) arrived from Japan yesterday. I have my first grocery bill as a household of six and it ran $77.57. I will have one more for the week – bananas are on sale! I’ll stock up & make some banana bread probably early August. The steals on our list were
–mailed coupons from Roberts (I need to check online to see if I can get on an email list too)
–Dannon yogurts for 29 cents (Yes!) I got 10, and then they took another $1.00 off.
I’ve planned menus for the week, and they help. This week includes a lot of chicken & rice (making our Japanese friend smile!) Yum!
Jennifer- Robert’s has a website that has web coupons. Currently it is $.40/1 Sour Cream, but it will change periodically. HTH.
Thanks Kelly. I did go out to Roberts site & saw that I needed to register for the coupons. No stretching required.
Tomorrow I’m preparing to make 1 chicken soup, 1 chicken casserole and some meatballs to store in the freezer with my mother-in-law. The recipe for Chicken Wild Rice soup is freezable and delicious – and wild rice is another high fiber food (working out the digestive track & filling your tummy for long, busy stretches!)
We’ve spent $234.12 for the 5 of us on food for the past 3 weeks. I’m excited that averages 78.04 per week and about $16.00 per person. It really helps to keep things stocked and work from there. For example, anything under a $1.60/# is my “buy” price for butter. I bought 20#’s of butter for $1.50/# last spring and threw it all in my freezer. It got me through the whole stretch of higher food prices this last year where I rarely saw butter (other than an in ad coupon – limit 1) for less than $2.50/#.
So, I sign off with excitement for cooking tomorrow (my mother-in-law trades food for dishes!)
I just wanted to add something. A few weeks ago, we got home late after we went somewhere and I knew I had to make something fast. I had two of the Knorr rice sides (I think it was broccoli and rice?) well anyways, I used 2 of those, added 1/3 of a bag of frozen broccoli (thawed out first) and then threw in some cut up cooked chicken that I had in freezer (about 1/2 pound or so). It was on the table in the less than 15 minutes and the kids really loved it! They’re on sale at a local store for $1 until Wednesday this week, so I plan to go get some more (of course I have coupons too!).
We had knorr pasta as a side dish last week (chicken pasta). I used 2 bags because that is what it normally takes for our family of 6. It really could have been a main dish, especially if I added chicken.
I agree that these can easily be made into main dishes! I bought a bunch of them when Meijer had a great sale a while back and am in total love with their chicken fried rice one! Seriously I could eat it every day LOL! I add some chicken in it and a dash of soy sauce and I have a great, easy lunch
Week 2 went great for me. Spent $59.54 of my $100. That included a very large thing of coffee that will be lasting me a while. Tonight we had a chicken dinner in the crockpot. There are enough left overs for lunch tomorrow and I threw together a chicken pot pie for later in the week. Have not gone to the store this week yet. Don’t need much so I am think I should do good. I mentioned before that my husband gets paid once a month. To save I shop 1x for the month and than just pick up the needed weekly (milk, juice, bread) when needed. I plan my meals around what I already have and what is on sale. Very rearly do I buy something that is not on sale. I am always looking for coupons in the paper and online (my favorite is couponloop).
This challenge is awesome! Thanks to All You! What a great idea to promote frugalness and help us navigate through this rough recession!
When I got married, I took over the responsibility of primary grocery shopper/chef. I still remember my first time shopping. I was so proud of myself, with coupons and sale circular in my hand. My father is extremely frugal and an expert at saving money on groceries…so I thought I was prepared from years of watching him.
Well, when I added up the month’s total and saw it was $400, I fell off my chair (literally). I was shocked.
I turned to the internet and found wonderful websites where wonderful people share their weekly finds and frugal tips. My fav is hotcouponworld.com and slickdeals.net and allyou.com right now. There are so many resources now..there are hundreds of blogs, forums…so much to read and learn!
I started “extreme couponing” using the tips I had learned.
I cut down my bill from $400 a month to $0 a month in 2007 and 2008. WOW! This year I am aiming for under $50 a month as extreme couponing is time consuming.
It can be done. There are so many wonderful people out there willing to share their tips. This website and All You magazine, for example, is chock full of fantastic tips. I LOVE it!! I have learned so much.
It has changed my life. And it is quite fun too!!! It is like a game trying to match sales to coupons, or find new ways to save money.
I have a freezer and a chest freezer totally completely definitely full, a full pantry, and my out of pocket expenses for food and household items is so low, it is liberating.
Good luck everyone. Even if you don’t win….trying to follow along in this challenge is such a wonderful experience, it will change the way you think about things, and open your experiences to think differently about the way you shop. Best of luck everyone….you can do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Looking for new and inovative recipe’s has been one of the funnest parts of this contest. Every day I dive into my freezer, sift through my cupboard, and then rummage through my cookbooks along with surfing the internet for ways of combining whatever I find and making it both appealing and good. My latest find is a recipe for blue cheese cornbread (I found a block of frozen blue cheese and I always keep cornmeal in my pantry). It was actually very good. Along with home canned chili from last fall and fresh lettuce from our garden, it made an easy weeknight meal without any fuss. Here’s the recipe:
BLUE CHEESE CORN BREAD
1 (8 1/2 oz.) pkg. Jiffy corn muffin mix
1 egg
1/3 c. milk
1/2 c. crumbled blue cheese, about 2 oz.
2 green onions, chopped
1 tsp. pepper
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8 inch square baking pan. Combine all ingredients in medium bowl and mix until blended. Spread in prepared pan. Bake until firm to touch and golden brown, about 30 minutes. Cool slightly. Cut into squares and serve hot.
Enjoy!
I’m trying to plan ahead for this week since we’ll be on vacation for part of this week into next (Th-M). Today we’re having lasagna w/ Italian sausage and spinach. I’ve been using a lot of forgotten meats & veggies from the freezer lately which is good. We’ve been supplementing with fresh produce from the farmer’s market.
As for our vacation we found a hotel for rather cheap which also includes a free hot breakfast buffet. Since it’s a family reunion, dinner will be at my hubby’s uncle’s cabin so that will be free as well. For the days we’re out and about, we’ll have to think of lunch. I do plan on bringing packable snacks (ie -Kashi bars I got from CVS for CHEAP) and our water bottles to save money on unnecessary things…I’m hoping for the best!!
I have a neighbor who raises beef cattle. In exchange for helping her bottle feed the calves, she always gives us a bunch of different beef cuts when they take a cow to slaughter. The beef is very lean and fresh and we feel safe about eating it because we know what they are being fed. I fixed a beef roast in the crock pot on Sat. night and we are still eating the left overs fixed different ways tonight. Sunday, I threw in some more veggies and made a beef veggie soup. Tonight we are eating roast beef sandwiches.
Also here are some web links that I stumbled across:
on http://www.foodlion.com: Food Lion is running the “buy 6 gallons of milk each week and get a 7th gallon free.” All you have to do is save the coupon you will get and cash them in on week 7. We never turn down a chance to get free milk.
My husband happened the local Bottom Dollar and they were runnin Michelina TV dinners for $1 each, so he picked up a couple of microvable TV dinners just to have something quick for him and the kids on nights that I get tied up working late. At $1 each, we couldn’t really beat that for some TV dinners. I know the Lean Cuisines and Stouffers are running about 3.50$ or more each, as well as the Health Choice (which are not all that healthy when you read the labels and see how much sodium is in one dinner.)
Also on http://www.foodlion.com: Click on the MVP card logo to the left of the main page and you can register for a $200 give away of Food Lion brand products. You register daily until the drawing.
Another tip is to check out places like Walgreens and CVS that run rebates. Sometimes you can find rebates on food items like soups and quick fix type menu items.
Hope these tips can come in handy for someone. I have also set up a designated day for grocery shopping-usually Wednesday or Friday. If we run out of favorite things, then we just have to make do until grocery day.
At our house, my kids have always had trouble knowing the difference in “there is nothing to eat here and there is nothing I like to eat here.” There is usually something to eat in any given household you walk in.
Hey everyone!
We had a pretty good week. My budget total came to $45.16 for my two-person household. This week, we enjoyed a steak dinner, had friends over for lunch, bought smoothies at one of our favorite coffee shops, and just all-around enjoyed our meals! If you want to see our menu from this weekend, you can visit my blog here:
http://wontbesoonbeforelong.blogspot.com/2009/07/grocery-challenge-meals-weekend-edition_27.html
I’m excited for week 3!
WEEK 3 CHALLENGE
Day 1, July 27, 2009
Breakfast-Cereal, English Muffin.
Lunch-Leftover Paella for hubby. I went to play Bunco and had wings, celery
& carrot sticks, Nacho dip.
Dinner was Lasagna (made in May & froze), Brussel sprouts, garlic bread
Snacks-Lorna Doone cookies, plum
Today went shopping and spent $41.11 of a $50.00 budget.
WALGREENS-3 (1 gal) water @ 69 cents, Small boxes Of Nabisco Oreos,
2 Nutter Butter, Chips Ahoy 4 @ 99 cents=$3.96 minus $1.50 coupons=
$2.46. Total spent $4.53.
Will probably go back and pick up 4 more of the small boxes of Nabisco for
I have 2 coupons left.
WINN DIXIE- Spent $36.58. Bought 2 pkgs of cod fillets B1G1F (make fish
& potato stew), 2 bags of 40 oz. Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts B1G1F
(Curry Chicken/Grill), 1 jumbo chicken legs (divided into 2 pkgs), 2 pkgs
bacon, 1 pkg yellow corn meal, 2 bags dry Pinto Beans (cooking tomorrow in
crock pot w/leftover ham from Easter), 1 bag white rice;, 1 box instant rice
(like the easy way sometimes), 4 bags yellow rice (coupons exp 7/31), 3 lb.
bag onions, 1 lemon, 1 pkg strawberries, 2 avocados, 1 cantaloupe and 2 green
peppers (will make salmon croquettes for I have canned salmon in pantry).
On my order I used $3.30 mfr. Coupons and a $10 off $50 store coupon. Then
I got another $10 coupon generated for next week. Really like when they do
These coupons for we don’t have double or triple coupons.
I know I will go over the $50 budget this week for I still have Publix & CVS to
Go to for I want to pick up sodas for my husband drinks root beer and I drink
Diet coke and they have a good sale on it. Also there’s a couple of other things
That I want to get. But I will continue to read the blogs and finish the
Challenge for I think we are all learning something from this. And I have
Never blogged before and am enjoying it!!!
So, Week 2 didn’t go as well as I thought it was. I was super happy with myself to stay within $1.10 of my $75 budget, while including 27 lbs of cherries for canning. Unfortunately, my husband, despite being told the rules, didn’t think his stop at the gas station for a snack counted. We ended up going over budget by about $3.
I was really bummed about going over until I realized the true meaning of the challenge. It’s an excellent lesson in how to use a budget. I have tried budgets before, but have always given in if there was something we wanted. This challenge has showed me to buy only what is necessary if there is no extra money in the budget. I actually put back two boxes of cereal at the store so I wouldn’t go over. I also have always used budgets by spending any extra the next week. With the challenge rules, I have learned to not carry over the excess. This gives my family another avenue of saving for a trip, car expenses, ect. I love the spending log and will probably keep using it after the challenge!
Stephanie, just so you know, my husband respects your honesty. As he said, “How would ALL YOU know if you ‘lost’ a couple of receipts?” Thanks everyone for sticking to the honor code.
Thanks.
I second what you said to Stephanie, JJ. Honesty is important here. I highly respect Stephanie for being honest, and admire her for seeing that using this method of shopping and cooking can be a great way to save money in a household’s budget for other, perhaps more pressing needs.
Stephanie, I’m sorry your husband flubbed things for you. I hope you can continue to use what you have learned here so far to your advantage.
I read in one of the blogs about freezing bananas. Is this when they are over ripe??? Also what do you do with them??? Do you have to defrost them??? I had two that was getting overripe where the skin was getting black and just put them in the freezer. Please let me know for I have never done this before. Thanks!!!
You can take them and let them thaw a little so you can get the skin off. You may need to use a knife to cut it off if you don’t want to completely thaw the bananas. Once the skin is off you can throw them in the blender with a little milk (thinner) or yogurt (thicker) and make a smoothie. Feel free to add some other fruit…frozen or not too. You can also use them to make banana bread once they’ve completely thawed out.
Frozen bananas also work great for Banana Bread. If truth be told – I prefer the frozen banana because I think it is sweeter than a just ripe one for bread.
I just pop the frozen banana’s into the microwave for 10-15 seconds then it is really easy to peel. I use them all the time in things. Lately I blend a banana with chunked pineapple and mandarin oranges. Then I use that for my water and oil for a cake mix. I add eggs and throw it into a bundt pan and bake. I call it a tropical fruit cake. Best part is NO OIL so lower in fat. I take whatever is left of the fruit mixture and boil it down to half and pour it over the cake. YUM
I have used applesauce for oil but love the banana idea!
Week 2 was great in our house. I forgot to post last week that Kroger had ground white turkey in chubs for 99 cents a lb. That is such a deal! It works great as a ground beef substitute. I bought 24 lbs. Week 3 looks like it will go well too. I did half my shopping at Publix today and spent only $20, mostly fresh produce. Kroger will be on Wed., more produce and a few staples we’re out of. I will get some free milk at CVS using my gift card from transferring a prescription. Then a little at Costco, a few things at Aldi, and I should come in well under last week’s total of $96. We’re allowed $175 for seven of us.
Ruby,
Frozen bananas, without the peel on them, can be used for smoothies or banana bread, or banana muffins, or banana pancakes. In just about any recipe for a baked item that calls for a fruit, you can substitute bananas. Freeze your over-ripe, brown ones that nobody wants to eat. Peel them first, because they are really hard to peel when they are frozen (I know, I tried!). For baking, you should thaw before using. For smoothies, just toss into the blender still frozen. It makes the smoothie thicker.
I need your help! Come over and encourage me! My deep freezer quit while we were on vacation and I had stockpiled tons of meat from a huge meat sale. Most of my meats were All Natural. I need your encouragement to keep going in the contest!
I’m giving away Uncle Sam Cereal and Organic crackers on my blog too!
I am so sorry. The smell must have been horrible!
Yikes! What a disaster. Don’t give up Bargain Lady Shopper.
You can do it!!! Just 1 1/2 weeks to go!! Simply eat more meatless meals until this is over, and then you can go in with someone on that grass fed beef! LOL. YOU CAN DO IT!! Shop sales, use coupons, and go to Trader Joes!
Check with your insurance provider, sometimes freezer contents are covered by insurance. You don’t have to have an exact list of what was inside, just an idea of how much in meat, vegetables, etc. My dad’s power went out for a week when an ice storm hit last winter, and his insurance paid about $400 for the chest freezer contents that were lost.
I like to keep these basics on hand to create a variety of meals.
Rice White/Brown, Spaghetti, Macaroni, Egg Noodle, Pasta, Potatoes
Canned or Frozen-Green Beans, Corn, Peas, Spinach, Mixed Vegetables, Mushroom
Dried Beans, Canned Beans and Baked Beans, Tuna
Canned Fruits Peach/Pear, Pineapple, Cattail, Tropical, Apple Sauce
Tomatoes Whole/Diced, Tomato Sauce/Paste, Tomato Stewed/Jalapeño
I’m not a creative cook. I could never combine bacon and marshmallow and start a new food trend. However, during this contest, I’m discovered that I’m craftier than I thought. I’m pretty good at recycling leftovers . I’ll also improvise or substitute as needed.
Here’s an example from tonight. I made Chimichangas using a recipe from http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/ . The original recipe is below with my modifications in parentheses.
Ingredients:
-1# ground beef (20 oz ground turkey)
-¾ c chopped onion
-2 cups taco sauce
-1 tsp. cumin
-1 can refried beans
-8 burrito size flour tortillas (+ 6 taco-sized tortillas, all whole wheat )
-2 cups shredded cheese of your choice (3 cups)
-1 tbsp. melted butter
-(1 diced green pepper left over from last week)
-(1/2 can leftover black beans)
-(1/2 can leftover corn)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (No can do…oven is not heating.)
2. Brown the ground beef (turkey). Drain grease. Add onion, taco sauce and cumin. (and green pepper, black beans, and corn)
3. Spread a thin layer of refried beans on tortilla, then add beef mixture and top with a layer of cheese. (My additions made a lot of beef mixture so I used extra tortillas)
4. Roll up the tortillas and place them seam side down and brush with melted butter. (Top with remaining cheese and salsa).
5. Bake 30-35 minutes until browned. (Microwave on high 10-12 minutes)
The whole dish turned out great! It was much more filling than the original recipe and I emptied a few leftover containers from my fridge.
I also modified the “Red, White and Blue Parfaits” from the July issue of All You. We had it for dessert. It wasn’t as pretty as those pictured in the magazine, but it made my kids happy. I alternated strawberry Jello with low-cal Kool Whip (instead of pudding) and topped with the blueberries. Also, I made a whole batch of Jello at once and then cubed it for layers instead of individually preparing each layer.
Yes, and black beans are an excellent source of fiber & can stretch ground beef in most mexican dishes – wah la!
I did better in week 2 than in week 1. I saved up my dollars until the last day, knowing a new Target was opening. New store sales + store coupons + manufacturer coupons, yay! Target made me happy last week. Plus, my Publix is doing B1G1F (buy 1, get 1 free). When they do that, they accept 2 coupons: 1 for each item. I got some really incredible deals.
I like to dress up a green salad by adding unusual mixes. For great crunch, I sprinkle in some raw cole slaw mix, tortilla chips, or shredded broccoli. Instead of adding meat, I add cooked beans for protein. I may toss in corn for sweetness, or salsa for a kick, or edible flowers for intrigue. I like browsing the pre-cut mixes at Wal-Mart. Every couple of days the prices are marked down. My favorite salad dressing is Greek; it’s tasty but has very low sodium & low calories.
Week 2 went just fine for us. I do meal plan, but I leave some wiggle room too, for using up leftovers. For instance, we had steak for supper last night, and today at lunch I sliced up the leftover steak and put it in quesedillas. I baked a couple of extra baked potatoes last night and used them in tonight’s supper, broccoli-potato-cheese soup. Planning makes it easier on me, because I can cook some things ahead, and I know it saves us a lot of money as well. Plus, I really hate not knowing what I’m going to make!
Week 2 was great. I spent a little over $32 ( I did not have to) and I got a lot of free stuff from publix.
Menu of 7/28:
B: egg and cheese sandwich, milk for DH, cereal and OJ for me
L: we will both have one of those free smart ones entrees, chiquita bites and OJ to drink
S: Fruits, celery sticks, frozen yogurt
D: Birds eye voila frozen entree( I am thinking grilles veggies penne), house salad, steamed veggies, Diet coke
We will have fruits and Ice cream for dessert
Hello My frugal Buddies,
Week 3 . I think since this contest started I’ve been out to eat just like normal. My mom and mother in law have paid for most of it. My daughter and I went out for dinner tonight for $18.19. This was at a Abner’s chicken and fry place. We had grilled chicken wraps with fries. The fries where gross. My daugher picked at her wrap. What a waste of money. We will still stay on budget for the week though. I have plenty of freezer stock to use up.
To answer the question about planning meals for the week. I do that but it never fails plans change. My mom always wants to go out to eat when she is in town (6mths at a time) My waist really needs her to go home. Going out to eat is so bad. I went out to Chic fil a recently and afterward I went home and looked up the calorie count and I had consumed 950 calories in one meal. I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich meal.
Tip of the Day: Kraft and Publix are doing a mail-in offer check out the website.
Question for the All You staff- We are doing this mail-in rebate offer and one other rebate for Kelloggs. We will be getting back a total of $40. Do we subtract this amount? Of course it will take 4-6weeks to receive our gift cards.
Believe it or not, I didn’t need anything from the grocery store during week 2. We did stop at McDonalds twice though. There was a parade in town so we grabbed supper thru the drive-thru. Spent just under $8 for the 3 of us. Then we went to breakfast on sunday with the inlaws and spent $10.
I try to get my staples, like bread & milk, every 2 weeks instead of every week. Since hubby is lactose intolerant, milk lasts in our house. I buy 2 loaves of wheat bread every other week. Store brand is only .95 per loaf.
Unfortunately, I will have to go meat shopping during week 3 so we’ll see how that goes. I’m sure it will still be well under budget but I just hate to spend money.
I need to learn how to make a menu. It’s just tough since I work full-time & don’t get home till 5:30 every nite so I have to think of things that can be made fairly quickly.
I also work full time and don’t get home until 5:30, but I like to plan my meals for the week. My way to work around this is for one meal a week I plan something super easy, like heating up some pre-made veggie soup from the freezer, hamburgers, or breakfast foods. This is my husbands night to cook. While he is cooking, I am right there at the table to help him if needed, but he does the work. This gives me time to do the meal planning for the week.
For week 2 – I spent $47 of the $50 budget. Half of which went for things other than the weekly meal. One was eating out which was $20, and $8 was for spices. This year I planted pickles in our garden and was experimenting with different recipes to find a good dill pickle recipe. I now have six gallons of pickles soaking in the fridge waiting to be canned. Canning is a great way to have the highest quality of food for a low price. But don’t think you need to have a garden to can. We can more than just veggies, such as ground beef, or salmon.
My dinner menu for the week was:
Cajun shrimp on greens
Feta Burgers/Grilled veggies
Chicken salad w/ black bean salsa
Turkey & noodles on mashed tators
Eggplant skillet
Taco salad
Ate out
Week 2 totals – $129.21 for our family of six
http://workinghomekeeper.blogspot.com/2009/07/all-you-grocery-challenge-wk-2.html
I’ll post our Week 3 meal plan a little later on.
Hope everyone has a great day!
hi everyone,
first to kate, i used to love throwing b’day parties for my boys. one year, for my 3rd son we did a carnival in our yard. i rented a cotton candy machine, my husband made games(he’s the artist) etc. another year we had a hike through the woods in our yard. each kid made a walking stick and decorated it with feathers, beads. and i gave them each a bandana! family fun magazine has these great ideas! i also like to make up great goody bags. what is the $10 rebate at costco that someone wrote? i’m doing the kellogg $10 rebate i found online. yesterday, i went to a store called deals & steals. they carry all organic products that are leftovers. u have to know your prices, though. got cormeal(B1G1), flour tortillas(b1G1), bag of cereal,back to nature graham stix,moroccan couscous, 2 bags pappardelle pasta and box of hansen organic juice boxes for our vacation. all for $11.94! pretty good, but like i wrote in week 2, everything adds up, even when u know you’re shopping well.in a recipe i wrote in week 2, i forgot to add tarragon. that has such a great flavor.last night we had sausage/pepper/onion grinders with fresh yellow beans. its’ been very hot and humid.i don’t know about tonight.i agree with jj(i’m sorry if i got the name wrong, i’m not a creative cook either). i need to follow recipes, but i like to try new things and my boys are always willing to eat them!! i rarely have leftovers, though, they have good appetites.
I’m totally NOT sold on this couponing/savings visit to CVS. Okay, I used the toothpaste coupon I had plus the CVS advertised special. I did the same for shampoo and a BOGO styling product and Glade product. Well, after all said and done, I still spent $9.00. ARGH! No one said, you don’t get the immediate savings of $2.00, $3.00 and $1.00 but you have to use them for a future CVS visit. So what do people do, leave the store and walk back in? How tacky. Naw, this isn’t all cracked up for what it’s suppose to be. For one thing, IL doesn’t double coupons. Secondly, you have to spend money in order to save money. And thirdly, who wants to drive around to save a lousy dollar? I’m not convinced or motivated to do it again
And gas prices are on the rise, especially around here. I just don’t get how people spend .13c for 25 items. Must be doubling or something. I work full-time so this just work out for me. Very disappointed in IL. 
Couponing is a lot of work. I’ve been doing it for over a year now. I have never done CVS so I don’t know how that works but I have done Walgreens with the Register Rewards. I would do multiple orders using previous RR’s from the order before & pay next to nothing for tons of stuff.
Check out hotcouponworld.com or afullcup.com. Folks on both sites are awesome & you’ll learn how to really maximize your savings.
Karen, there is definitely a learning curve for using coupons effectively. My advice is to start out with very simple transactions (one or two items) until you start to get the hang of it. It IS very time-consuming and sometimes you will feel conspicuous and tacky. It’s definitely not for everyone.
In your situation at CVS, it sounds like you need to “roll” your Extra Care Bucks (that’s what printed out and is good on your next purchase. Think of it like money). First, purchase your toothpaste using your coupons. Pay for it and your ECB coupon to “roll over” into your next transaction. Then, buy the shampoo using your coupons and the ECB from your previous purchase. And so on and so on.
Once again, let someone else do the homework for you. Google “deal scenarios at CVS 7/26/09” and bloggers will tell you exactly how to purchase items for ultimately savings. I found this link: http://kingdomfirstmom.com/2009/07/cvs-5-dollar-challenge-week-of-july-26.html. It might help you see how other people “roll” deals. Good luck
Thanks – will do! Good advice
Thanks for the site tip JJ!
I agree with JJ, it takes time to build a stash of vouchers. I started 2 months ago with 1 item, now it is up to $50 per week and more free items than I need. I give the abundance. Here is what worked for me:
1) I registered the CVS card online.
2) A body wash was advertised at $2.99, “free after rewards.” I had a $1 manufacturer coupon, so I only paid $1.99. I got back the purchase price before coupons – $2.99 in rewards.
3) I did this with various other things, each time adding another $1 or more by using coupons.
4) I got emails with coupons for $4 off $20 … that is when I really started to “make” more than I was spending. (Here’s how: I make sure the cashier uses the $4 off $20 first, then I hand over the other coupons. I can spend $16 in past rewards to generate $20 worth of new rewards.)
I sometimes roll over the new rewards, and sometimes I spend them like cash. I rarely pay out of my own pocket …. but I usually leave with lots of items. I have extras of many items: a half dozen each of deodorants, shampoos, toothpaste, etc. In two months! For me, personally, I’d rather spend the time than the money.
I don’t get it?
Karen, I appriciate your comments and feel for your agrivation. When I was growing us I was always taught that the fastest and best way to save money is not to spend it!!! When I shop, I buy what I need when I need and I look for the best price at the time. Otherwise, I too get frustrated and agrivated at the concept that yes, you save money, but you HAVE to spend what you saved in our store.
We made it! I thought we might fall of the wagon since we went camping with my family and were responsible to make a meal for 18 people and went out to eat! But we actually got in under budget at $71 for our family of four (youngest is 11 months).
You can read all about our All You Grocery Challenge Adventure and strategy here: http://www.chachingonashoestring.com/2009/07/28/all-you-grocery-challenge-week-3/
Oh…and one of our favorite ‘Shopping in My Freezer’ recipes has been Roasted Chicken with Maple Walnut Glaze. SO easy!
Simply roast the chicken as directed. Mix maple syrup with crushed walnuts and melted butter and pour over the chicken as a glaze. YUMMY!
I just had an awesome idea! I’m going to keep track of dirt cheap, bargins and free items in a “college or bust bin” and I have a year to start collecting college related items for my oldest. She’s a senior in h.s. and in exactly one year, she’ll be heading off to college. My goal is to collect tolietry items at a bargin. I’m challenging myself to do this. Even if I have a .50 c coupon off a shampoo, I’ll add it to her bin. Then, next year, at this time, she’ll have all the detergents, shampoos, soaps, etc. needed for dorm life. I’m on a mission to save, save, save! I’m going to keep track of my savings and I hope I can do better at CVS. I think I’ll head over to the CVS during lunch and see if I could cash in those ECB’s that everyone is talking about. Maybe I could spend .12 c this time? Wish me luck!
I’m doing this on a smaller scale for my 3 elementary kids’ school supplies. Instead of buying the supplies all at once, I’m picking up one or two items each week. Staples has been having crazy deals–a box of pencils for 1 cent! So one week I bought pencils, the next erasers, and so on.
Karen
you can do it! My oldest is in college so whenever he comes for a visit I load him up with deodorants, toothpaste, toothbrushes, razors and shave gel, body wash plus lots of food–easy freezer meals that he likes, frozen pizzas, cereal etc. I know what he likes so its an easy way fro me to contribute and he doesnt have to buy as much for himself. Besides it helps me feel like Im still needed and he knows Im always thinking about him!! It is a joke around my house that when my next goes to college (in 4 years), I will travel behind him in a u-haul with his whole college careers worth of toothpaste, shampoo etc.
That’s great Melissa. Sounds like you had the same idea too! I bet he’s the best stocked kid in his school because of YOU. Way to go!
Karen, having 1 in college now (he’ll be a sophomore this month) I think this is a splendid idea! I did this about 2 months before my son left. We caught all of the “back to school” sales, so we saved a ton on the other needs too, such as bedding, towels, and storage containers. I get to do it again in another year when my 3rd son will be a senior in high school.
Have fun saving and getting your daughter ready for college!
Thanks Julie, you’re right. I will organize, try to get a system in place and give it a honest 2nd chance. Thanks for your tips. Well, not too bad at my 2nd attempt at CVS. I spent $1.29 and got 5 items. I got Palmalive dish soap with a coupon, Herbal Essences with a coupon and BOGO of a styling product free and a snacky type of food. With the coupons and Extra Bucks from my last visit, it totalled $1.29. Now my daughter has a shampoo and a styling product in her college bin. I think I’ll stick this couponing routine up, as long as it doesn’t get too consuming or overwhelming. For crying out loud, who needs 50 shampoos in a house?
Hi Karen, To answer your question “Who needs 50 shampoos in the house?’ You do. I teach couponing and I get this all the time. When you run out of shampoo and go to the store to by some you end up paying full price say $4.00 if you stock up you probably pay $1.00. Also you can sell them at garages sales, barter with them, pay with them ( like the babysitter ). I have my neighbors print out coupons for me and I pay them in toothpaste. With all the money you save what will you do with it? Im going snorkeling in St. Martin. Hope to see you there.
Susan
You can also donate your cheap and free toiletries to homeless shelters, Shelters for battered women and children… That is what I do when they start taking over my bathroom. I also bought my sister in law travel bags for christmas. With all the free toothpaste, deo, shampoo…. I am filling the it. It is a great Cheap gift. I think I paid $7 for the bags. You guys are going to laugh but I even put some of those things in the Adults Christmas stockings. ( I always do one for the In-Laws)
I need 12 bottles of shampoo (and 12 bottles of conditioner). I figured that I use one bottle per month and a 1-year supply on hand is plenty. I don’t have to think of hair supplies for a year. I also have a year’s supply of toothpaste, dental floss and shaving cream. That’s it for my hygiene stockpile. I’ve only been couponing for a few months, but I’m trying to be logical about it. I could have easily added another 50 tubes of toothpaste (for free) in the past couple of months but I chose not to. Have fun in St. Martin, Susan. I’m shooting for Disneyland.
I would not laugh. In May I gave my 79 yr old friend a bag filled with “stuff” for her B-day. She was so happy with the Venus razor I could not believe it. She does not drive so the extra shampoo, soap, body gel, body cream and other things come in handy when she can’t get out. She is the hardest person I know to shop for and this was the best gift I have ever given her. Your deals can sometimes make great gifts.
Food makes everyone happy too. I gave my dad 5 boxes of sheaded wheat last week when he came out to help build my swing set. I have never seen him so excited.
I did my weekly grocery shopping today. We hit three stores, two for groceries and one for meat and cheese. At Arnolds where I bought ground turkey, bacon and cheese I did a stock up. I don’t need two pounds of ground turkey, 5 lbs of cheese and 3 lbs of bacon for this week alone! But now I won’t need to go back there for almost a month.
At Stop and Shop I spent $30.33
At Big Y I spent $43.28
And at Arnolds I spent $17
For a grand total of $90.61.
That leaves me with less that $10 for the rest of the week. We aren’t planning on eating out at all and I have enough milk for the rest of the week. I did forget lettuce at the store, but if we stick with the menu and have blts I will just go out and buy that for 88 cents the day I need it. I have dough in the fridge for bread and plenty of ingredients to make more if we run out.
I do have a question, does anyone know if vitamins count as food? I bought my daughter’s over the counter vitamins becuase I had a dollar off and a double dollar off coupon, but even then they are still almost $6. I totaled everything including that, but if I don’t count them than my new total is $85.12
I would think NO. Vitamins are not considered a food item if you ask me although none of the 5 of us take vitamins. Vitamins are considered a supplement.
Well, I spent next to nothing last week (only $15.98 for our family of 4 – and that includes my dh’s forbidden trip to Taco Bell of $5.66), but that was because we didn’t have any money. It also helped that last week we were given some fresh fruit by my in-laws and some other food from other family that was going out of town. We ate a couple of meals out of the freezer. And on Sunday, we had a family birthday party, so all we had to provide was a salad and barbecue sauce – we left there with a lot more food than we brought too!
This week we’ll definitely be spending more, as long as my dh gets paid, that is!
Tonight, I am cooking hommade spaghetti sauce. I usually double the recipe to freeze a bunch, but I don’t have enough in my pantry. So, I’ll just make one recipe, which feeds us pasta for tonight, with some leftovers for dh for lunch, and one bag of sauce to freeze and use as pizza sauce later.
[...] From Rhonda Lynne: [...]
Here are the meals we will be enjoying this week
Dinners:
-Homemade meat sauce using local, grass-feed beef over organic, brown rice penne pasta, organic mixed greens salad & steamed green beans with garlic
- Salmon Patties with salmon & egg scramble over organic brown rice
-BBQ Turkey Meatballs (I’m making my first attempt at homemade BBQ sauce), organic brown rice & steamed sweet peas
- Homemade Whole Wheat Pizza with green peppers, onions & mushrooms & organic salad mix
-Lentil Shepherd’s Pie with corn on the cob
-Taco Style Lentils & Organic, Brown Rice served in organic, yellow taco shells, shredded greens, diced tomatoes, salsa & shredded raw milk cheddar cheese. Organic salad mix & fresh fruit on the side.
-Beans & Rice with Veggies (onions, sweet peas, mushrooms, spinach, carrots) in Red Wine sauce
Breakfasts:
-Scrambled free-range eggs topped with shredded raw, milk cheddar cheese, sprouted, whole wheat toast with butter and fresh cantaloupe and watermelon
-Soaked oatmeal
-Soaked oatmeal & blueberry muffins
Lunches:
We keep it simple by making sandwiches (usually PBJ) or eating leftovers
We’ve been living life as normal, to show that you can “splurge” and eat out, without breaking the bank. The first week we were on vacation, so we had to eat out, but we only spent $63.74 for a family of 6 by using up the food we already had, eating simply at restaurants (water to drink, small meals and no leftovers since we were traveling), and shopping wisely.
Week 2 we celebrated my daughter’s birthday, and I didn’t want to skip our normal routine of eating at Red Robin to celebrate just because *I* wanted to do the challenge. We even splurged a couple other times that week. But again, with shopping wisely, using coupons at restaurants, etc, we only spent $89.52 for week 2, well within our $150 budget.
This week my hubby and I have a date night planned and we’re going to Outback–his request–and again, *I* am the one who wanted to do the challenge, so I want to be able to show that you don’t have to deprive yourself or your family in order to live within a budget. We will be using coupons, ordering water to drink and having dessert at home instead of at the restaurant, which are things we usually do anyway, so this special night out won’t break the bank. And again, because I shop sales and coupons, I am confident we will still be within our budget at the end of the week.
Also, I’ve received comments that the reason I save money is because I don’t feed my family healthy food. This is just untrue, as any serious couponer knows. I’ve been posting my meal plans on my blog, and you can see that I serve fruits, veggies, protein, dairy, etc. The key is just shopping smarter, buying what is on sale, and using from the pantry and freezer stockpile when it’s not.
Sounds like you go out to eat alot?
If anyone is interested to see how our challenge is going, including menu plans and money totals, you can see all the All You Challenge posts here:
http://momforhim.blogspot.com/search/label/Challenge
Planning has made all the difference for me during this challenge. Before it started, I planned out a whole month’s worth of dinner entrees based on what I had on hand (12# of chicken breasts, 3# of ground turkey, 8 jars of spaghetti sauce, 3 jars of salsa, 6 cans of diced tomatoes, 8 cans of chicken broth, 4 boxes of Rice Krispies, 9 cans of tuna fish and about 15 boxes of assorted cereals).
I then timed out the entrees so we wouldn’t be eating chicken for six nights straight or suffering from marinara overload. I also played around with the menus a little bit so I could multi-task as much as possible. For example, on Sunday I cooked extra chicken for tonight’s dinner. Finally, I tried to keep “special ingredients” in the same week. I had two recipes that needed cream, so I scheduled them for the same week so I wouldn’t waste any cream.
I then made a master list of all the ingredients I would use for the month’s dinner entrees and double checked my shelves to make sure I wouldn’t buy something I already had. (I found out I had 3 jars of onion powder, but no onion salt!)
I plan my side dishes on a week-to-week basis using ingredients on sale. I’ve also been raiding my shelves for bits and pieces to use. I’m making risotto this week because I found Arborio rice on my shelf.
We mostly eat cereal for breakfast, so we were well-supplied for that. Lunches are usually sandwiches and fruit. I buy fruit and bread every week because I like to eat both fresh.
My grocery spending has gone way down during this challenge. Ironically, I’m spending less, but buying more. In the past, I avoided whole-grain and organic products because they seemed so much more expensive. I can do it on the challenge. I’m also buying a lot more produce than usual because I’m getting more creative with my side dishes and snacks.
Onion powder and onion salt are loaded with sodium. Tip: I use a regular onion instead – thus avoiding sodium overload which is bad, bad, bad
Onion powder should just be dried powdered onions, no salt. If there’s salt in the onion powder you have in your spice cabinet you’re getting less than low quality spices, you’re getting fillers in your spices. Check out penzeys.com for quality spices. Along with fresh produce, this is one area of my grocery budget where I’m apt to splurge–I love good spices!
JJ, if you already have onion powder, you should just add salt to it to make onion salt. Mix two parts onion powder to one part salt. Also, 1/2 tsp. onion powder is equivalent to 1/4 cup chopped onions (without the pieces the kids pick out! LOL). I prefer to use fresh onions also, but if you’re in a pinch, having dried minced onions in your pantry is a life saver.
Elisa, you’re a spice-savant!
Just got a coupon for free milk!! Just go to http://www.hip2save.com (my favorite site) and scan to the bottom, click on “older posts” and it should be the first one on that next page. Click on the coupons.com link and use the zip code they recommend and print out two coupons for FREE milk. Even if you don’t use many coupons, this is one worth doing!!
Thanks for the tip Pam! I got 2 free milk coupons.
Thanks, Pam. My kids will love you for this!
Thank you so much! I won’t be able to use it during the challange because it is with a $100 grocery purchase. That is my entire budget. But I will use it later.
I have not shopped much at all this week. Yesterday I did use a Kraft coupon which entitled me to 2.00 off poultry when I bought two Kraft BBQ sauces. I did not have coupons to lower the price of the sauce but got the chicken for free because it was only 69 cents per pound and was packaged in packages that cost 1.08 and 1.04. Therefore I only paid 12 cents for 3 lbs of chicken thighs. An added bonus was that the coupon machine at the cash register shot out a 1.00 off coupon on any grocery purchase as a thank you from Kraft. I went in today bought 2 more bottles of sauce used another 2.00 off poultry coupon and the 1.00 off coupon from Kraft and received more free chicken.In addition I had a coupon for 1.00 off on any type of hot dogs when I purchased 2 pkgs of Wonder buns. My favorite hot dogs a local variety were marked down to 2.99 lb which bought the hotdogs down to 1.99 lb Wonder buns were marked down to .99cents .Total savings amounted to 8.12 . My total came to 6.46. My receipt stated that this was a savings of 56%.Also the machine shot out another 1.00 off any grocery purchase from Kraft coupon. I know what I’ll being doing again tomorrow!
Today was shopping day for me, I spent $64 (including a $4 pair of shoes, yippee!) and we will be good through the rest of the week.
My pantry always has the basics, like pasta, pasta sauce, diced tomatoes, beans, olives, and olive oil. I love olive oil like I love chocolate. I find that whenever I buy anything like hamburger helper I don’t end up using it. My recipe for hamburger helper (which is tastier and a lot healthier) is as follows:
1 lb. ground beef or turkey
6 oz. (1/2 package) elbow macaroni or any other small pasta
1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 tsp. dried parsley
1 small onion, chopped small
1 clove garlic, put through the press
4 oz. shredded cheese
1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
Brown beef or turkey, adding garlic and onion when beef is about done, drain. Cook pasta according to directions. Add parsley and tomatoes, let simmer for about 10 minutes. When close to serving time, add cheese and sour cream, being careful not to let the sour cream boil.
Oh, I forgot! We ALWAYS have cereal!! We don’t just eat it for breakfast, we eat it ALL the time! It makes a perfect snack and is cheaper than buying prepackaged snacks!
Oh, I didn’t see this posted but for anyone who likes pop tarts, they are a steal right now at Target!
http://sites.target.com/site/en/spot/page.jsp?title=btc_coupons_2009&ref=tgt_email_RC907230
http://www.poptarts.com/moms/#/section/coupon
You can combine Target coupons with manufacturer coupons, so these should be really cheap, around $.25/box!
I went shopping today but only spent $1.72!!! I love coupons!!!
Today’s dinner is ham steak with Roasted beets & Sweet potatoes on the side. It’s actually my first time trying beets…hopefully it’s good. If the recipe comes out well, I’ll post it on my blog
My daughter and I stopped at mcDonald’s for lunch, because we were out shopping for school supplies. So, we spent 9.55. Other than that only school supply money. I have to take some art work to 2 gallery’s tomorrow, each one about 30 min. out of town, but on opposite sides of the town. So, my daughter and I will probably stop for lunch again.
Tonight for dinner I took a package of Chicken w/Red Potatoes out of the freezer and we will have that with veggies and fruit. and probably some breadsticks.
I have a big freezer, but am considering getting one more a bit smaller. Still doing research.
Can you prepare a brown bag lunch before you leave? That will save you restaurant money.
I didn’t this time. But, yes, that is a great idea. I need to get in the habit of doing that. I’ve been in the habit of eating out between errands for too long and need to break that bad habit.
I tried a new side dish last night and we LOVED it. Should have seen the kids’ faces though, when I told them what was in it, they thought it was dessert! LOL
Carrot Souffle:
* 2 lbs. carrots, peeled and sliced or 32 oz. carrots (I used some of our home canned carrots)
* 3/4 c. sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 tsp. vanilla
* 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
* 1 tsp. salt
* 1 cup light cream or milk
Topping:
* 1 c. crushed cornflakes (I think it would be great with wheat flakes too!)
* 1/2 c. brown sugar
* 1/4 c. chopped pecans (optional)
* 4 Tbsp. melted butter or margarine
* 1 Tbsp. flour
Cook carrots until soft. Put into food processor or mixing bowl. Add rest of ingredients and process or mix until smooth. Pour into casserole dish. Mix topping ingredients together and sprinkle on top of carrot mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
this sounds like a sweet potato souffle that i make, except for the corn flakes. the recipe came from a friend that used to live in Alabama. talk about good southern food!
Planning dinners ahead worked great when my children were small. Now that they are older and often cook for themselves, my ingredients for a planned meal seem to disappear before I cook. I find it far simpler for me to plan my meals around what I have in the freezer or refrigerator and pantry. This eliminates unwanted last minute trips to the store to pick up non-sale items. I love allrecipes.com because I can just type in the ingredients I have and find a recipe that fits. Then I sort the recipes to find the ones with the highest ratings and choose one of these. If I’m missing an ingredient or two, I simply improvise by substitution. I rarely get complaints.
have u tried the chicken/cashew stir fry or the chicken with edamame? they were in allyou mags. really delicious and easy. another one was a good glaze for ribs in the crock pot. tonight a made a meal with cavatelle(already in the freezer),pint of grape tomatoes(.99), and 3 yellow squash. saute squash with garlic in EVOO about 4 min. add all the tomatoes (halved) and cook til they breakdown. it took longer than the recipe said. recipe called for gnocchi, but i only had one bag and actually i should have used 2 bags of cavatelle. cook pasta and save about half cup of cooking water. add pasta and cooking water to the veg. with the cooking water to make a sauce. add 1 T butter fresh basil (i only had dried) and par. cheese. DELICIOUS!! once again, no leftovers. and no milk coupons for me. it’s against the law in MA. boo
I dream of the day when my kids can cook for themselves.
I guess I taught my kids how to cook at a very young age…my 10 year old can now make dinner by herself and my 5 year old can make brownies or cookies form a mix (I do the oven part).
Hi Kathy. Why are Milk coupons against the law in MA?
i have no idea and it irks me. i’m missing out on all the deals!! but i can use choc. milk coupons and u can use soymilk coupons.
We did our big grocery shopping for the week and I think I did very well. About $66 at Meijer (I have to take out a mop though), I got plenty for the week and have lots of stuff for “stockboy” (MY DH) to stock (put in the stockpile in the basement)
Even with 4 kids in tow, I think we did pretty well. Meijer is having amazing sales including free butter, cookie mix and biscuits (after coupons)
Our freezers are full so I will need to stop stockpiling for a while.
A couple PP wanted some tips on saving $$ while traveling. Here are my few tips that I have not seen mentioned yet.
- Buy a BIGI free card for a favorite chain. I bought one for Subway and we can easily feed all 6 of us on two footlongs. (Total $7 or so)
- Stay at a hotel that not only offers a breakfast but during the week a managers reception (free appetizers at night)
- If you are going to a city, check out the Moms like me web site for the city. For example, ours in Cincinnati has a huge section on eating out.
- Eat out at lunch with kids or go early (early bird specials) for dinner.
Does anyone know how I would handle this situation-I am participating in a coop for Miracle Noodles (so excited!) but I had to pay today, even though I will not get the noodles till the end of August! So do I need to count the $60 towards my weekly totals even though I won’t get the food till after the challenge is done? If I do then I’m at my max for the week already and I need to buy more milk towards the end of the week…….
I would not think it would count, but I guess I can’t say for sure!
Halfway mark! That’s fantastic!
We’re doing great, so far. Staying well in budget, and being healthy and trying to be creative all at once!
Yes, I’ve been planning a weekly menu. I find that it does help to know what I CAN make, or have on hand, but I really only complete about 1/2 of what is planned. Tonight, for instance, I had a pasta/chicken dish planned, but something came up (I just HAD to take a nap with my 6-week-old baby)…so when I got up, DH was already cooking spaghetti.
Having a ‘flexible’ menu works really well for me. I can rebel if I feel like it, and we all still get fed!
I’m sure this has been mentioned, but here’s a tip for saving money that we used today:
Saving money takes a little time and a little forethought. We had a bunch of errands to run today after the dentist appointment, so I made sure to pack ’snack bags’ with pita chips, raisins, and nuts to eat in the car. That way we avoided stopping to buy fast food and spending money for convenience, AND we avoided a drop in blood sugar which equals cranky kids!
Good evening my Frugal buddies, it was a good day. My DH went out to lunch today and he will again one more day this week. This challenge has helped us alot. I believe we will stick to a food budget after the challenge. I think I’ll do a $35 a week per person though. I like things like crab,sushi and going out to eat. But let me tell you if I win this challenge we are going to see just how far a $1000 can take us. I have a garden, stock in freezer and in pantry. With the money I’ve saved so far I went Christmas shopping yesterday. I’ve got two family members already done. Yah! During the holidays I will be able to enjoy myself.
We had homemade banana bread for breakfast, lunch we had pasta, dinner we had iceberg lettuce wedges with BLT quesadillas.
Hi Susan Rife and everyone else! Susan’s blog gave me this great idea. You ALL seem to be such great bloggers and money masters. I thought it would be fun to know how much $$ in merchandise the winner could end up getting with the $1000.00 gift card (over time of course). If the winner would set up their own blog we could all keep track of how their spending it and maybe learn even more tips from the Grocery Challenge Winner.
How long would it take the winner to spend $1000.00? It might take a while for someone who spends $30.00 on two car loads of groceries like Katrina.
Or….
How much is a $1000.00 gift card really worth?. I’m convinced that someone, like JJ or shelleybeaches (by the way, I love your name shelley!), who knows how to combine their coupons and roll their ECB’s could generate quite alot of $$ in free stuff.
$1000.00 might end up being WAY more to a sale watching, coupun clipping, ECB rolling, Rebate submitting, savaholic. I find you All very inspirational and would love to see what a $1000.00 could do in the hands of the winner.
Penny for your thoughts on this….and we all know what you can do with those pennies…. SAVE MORE PENNIES!
If I win the gift card, I’m buying a really fine bottle of wine. It would be free, right?
Hey, that sounds like fun … now I’m all curious. I hope the winner does this!
What a great idea. Many of us have a blog set up, so when it is over – hopefully we can go to the winners blog and she will share all her great spending plans for the big bucks!! And we can still share our thoughts.
I think that sounds like an awsome idea. Though I do need to add that the sentence was 2 CART loads instead of 2 CAR loads full of stuff, though I have been able to go to walmart and get a carload for nothing, with them paying me when I go out the door, But I just wanted to clarify that and I really do like that idea. I would read the winners blog or if I won I would post. Thanks for the great idea!
Hi Margie, Great idea!!! I hope it’s like one of those credit card gift card things, not a gift card to a specific store, that way the winner can use it at any store that accepts credit cards
I shop in ethnic markets as well as regular supermarkets (Ralph’s is my favorite 
) so it would be handy!
Oh I would totally do that! SO fun! How could you not? So many people would want to know. If I just used it just for groceries, it would last over 2 years at our current budget. You all would get BORED! LOL. But then, like JJ, I would have to get a bottle of wine (or two). To celebrate!
“$1000.00 might end up being WAY more to a sale watching, coupun clipping, ECB rolling, Rebate submitting, savaholic. I find you All very inspirational and would love to see what a $1000.00 could do in the hands of the winner.”
That’s for sure!!! It’s amazing how much more food one can get for the same amount of money, if they are super conscientious about it! I love spending pennies on the dollar!
As the song goes “don’t count your money til the dealings done!” No one knows who the winner will be? Who has inspired us most? Gave the #1 tip? Or astonished the judges most?
I think the winner, and it states “$1,000 in grocery cash” should spent it how he/she wants. I think the prize is that, a prize, and should be relished and shared with your family and maybe spurge on whatever they want. Maybe for one it’s re-stocking their pantry because of a lost job, or giving food away to a charitable cause? Maybe for another, it’s giving to family who doesn’t have much, now don’t we all have family that’s unemployed? I have 3 in my family! Maybe the winner wants to buy items that they normally have bought in the past? Maybe the winner just wants to buy the normal groceries for themselves and no one else.
Whoever it will be????????????????????????? deserves to spend it how they want!
One more week to go – WHO WILL IT BE?
I forgot the Tip of the day: This Sunday there are 4 coupon inserts. You here about people buying 20 papers. This is the weekend to do it.
Susan
I do you find this info out?
Hi Angie, I get this info on http://www.refundcents.com its my favorite site. I pay about $4 for 3 months. Its well worth it. I’ve only been frugal for about a year and a half and Im stocked up on bathroom/hygiene supplies because of the info on this site. Please let me know if you like it too. If you click on wife swap(the tv show) I think you can get on the site free.
susan
http://www.taylortownpreview.com and http://www.couponclippers.com and http://www.clippityq.com all generate free previews as soon as they know what the coupons will be. IMO, taylortownpreview is the earliest and most accurate for my area. And the sites are free. You can sign up to receive and email from ttp.
All YOU question. What time zone is this challenge in?I went shopping Sunday evening and it was about 10:30 in Florida. Does this bill go for the next week?
If anyone is interested in seeing how we’re doing this week, click on my name above to link to my blog devoted to the grocery challenge.
Tonight for dinner we had bbq ribs, grilled corn on the cob, whole wheat baguette (that I got for free with a coupon today at Safeway) and caprese salad.
I’ve spent 91.33 this week for a family of 4, but plan to not spend a penny at the grocery store next week since we’ll be out of town for a few days and will eat out for dinners. I’ll pack lunches to take with us and the hotel we’re staying in includes breakfast in the price of our room which helps.
I’m going to need to make a few things with zucchini in them tomorrow since I picked 4 today. Every time I turn around I have a bunch more to pick. Does anyone want some? I also picked all the lettuce left in the garden last week (it was starting to go to seed), washed, dried and bagged it and we’ll be having lettuce a lot in our meals these next few weeks. I’m hoping to have a tomato or more by the end of the week and maybe some green beans too (they got a late start). Cucumbers and cantaloupe are starting to shape up too. Can’t wait.
hi elisa,
i’ll take some! where do u live?? haha. you’re probably across the country. i’m in MA
Yes, I’m at least half way across the country in Colorado. If all else fails, I’ll ding-dong ditch the neighbors after placing some zucchini on their front porch. LOL
Elisa,
I’m in Colorado too! I’d take some of that zucchini off your hands!
Well it’s time to say goodbye. I went to Publix and spent $54.79. I bought a 2 gallon jug of water, 5 12 packs of A&W root beer, 2 kiwis, papaya, blueberries, bananas, 2 Breyers ice cream, box of Sugar free popsicles, 6 bottles of Kraft Dressing, 2 bottles of marinade, 2 Smuckers Jam, carrots, 2 cukes, Ground Chicken, Pork Steak, 2 ICBIN Butter, 1 pkg. of Turkey Breast & Whitewheat bread. The root beer was 5 packs for $12.00 and that was a good buy. The fruit I combined with the strawberries and cantaloupe I picked up the day before to make fruit salad – gave some to my two neighbors for I did a big bowl. For dinner made a big pot of pinto beans in my crockpot. So they got some of those too!! I have a crockpot that has 3 different bowl sizes that fit in it so when I want to make something to share I use the biggest size. Well I ended up spending in two days $95.90 going $45.90 over the budget of
$50.00 for the week. But I think that most weeks I could stay on the budget but there is going to be weeks that I won’t especially if the sales are good and I need the items or am low till the next sale that comes around. Anyways good luck to the winner!!! I still will enjoy reading the blogs!!!
Ruby-You have a great attitude. Stick with us to see who comes out on top. It’s been great blogging with you.
The roasted beets & sweet potatoes that we had last night for dinner were delicious!! I posted the recipe for anyone who’s interested –
http://confessionsofathriftymama.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/all-you-challenge-menu-week-3/
I’m also super excited today…at some point I mentioned how my backyard was covered with tomato plants and that we have no clue where they came from…well, I noticed this morning that some of them have little tomatoes on them now!!! Yay, for free veggies!
i’ll be checking out the recipe. my kids love beets! i’ve seen recipes for roasted root veg. before, but never really tried them. thanks
You can roast almost anything! I “broil” summer squash, zucchini, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, even cherry tomatoes- All super yummy with some extra virgin oil and a bit of sea salt. From what I have read, it keeps more nutrients in the veggies than steaming :-0 (as long as you dont over cook/burn them)
The only thing I haven’t quite gotten it to work on is fresh green beans…
Does anyone know how to contact ALL You with questions about the challenge? I tried sending the question via their contact link but it would not go through-I need to find out if my miracle noodle coop cost needs to be counted in this weeks totals, even though I won’t get them till the end of August. If they do make me count it then I’m in the position of having to go without milk and produce for the rest of the week to stay in the challenge
I really hope they would not make me count it since I won’t get the food till after the challenge ends but I want to double check with an official-but can’t figure out how to do this?
Hi thriftylivingmama~ I too have had no luck with contacting them about several questions I have had. I’ve just decided that I will count any questionable costs towards my budget $$ and tough it out. In a way, by using our previous stock we are using $$ that were spent before the challenge. I guess it’s only fair that we count $$ we’ve spent during the challenge on stock that will be eaten afterwards. This is what I’ve decided since I’ve had no luck reaching All You. This way I avoid disqualification. Sorry about your dilemma! I wish I could help more.
Hi thriftylivingmama & Margie,
I wondered about that too… if an All You representative is reading all these comments, would you let us know how to get in touch with you guys? A family member asked me what the rules of the challenge is and honestly, all I can say is $25 per person per week, eating out counts, paper goods don’t count. I would like to know how you will determine the winner! I guess I just like clear, written rules
And Margie, I agree with you. My goal is to end up with as well stocked fridge and pantry at the end of the challenge as I do now. It makes sense that since All You allowed us to use stockpile items, we should count all stockpile shopping we do now, in the challenge budget
I hope you get an answer soon thriftylivingmama!
Wow everyone is doing so great! I have not had time to make menus for the week, but we are still using items out of our stockpile. I am still buying stuff for the week though. My local foodland is having a super 10 for $10 sale and there are a lot of great deals that are going on this week. Between wic and the sales I was able to get 2 cars full of groceries for $30.00 If anyone wants to read up on the deals I get and how I get them you can read my blog here at:
http://kandksbloggingdays.blogspot.com/
I am having a great time reading everyone elses!!
My tip for today is to go “thift store hopping” My mother and I did this the other day and saved loads of money. We left the kids at home with my mother and were able to get so many nice clothes, gap, u.s. polo, oshkosh, hanna montanna. We both spent under $20. I was able to score about 6 outfits for each of my 3 kids (18 outfits) for less than $20.
Hi Katrina! Sounds like you are doing great in this challenge! You go girl!
thats supposed to be 2 CARTS not CARS i just read my mistake.
wow so many typos today and i can’t edit….sounds pretty funny that i went shopping with my mother while leaving the kids home with my mother…supposed to be husband LOL.
Heh heh … with deals like that, the excitement is understandable!
Margie Mahoney’s Tip of the Day:
Kenny did some Handy Man projects for his sister, and in return she gave us a Food Saver Vacuum Packaging System. We use it to package many of our dry goods and freezer stock. Did you know the oxygen and moisture in air is what causes foods to degrade and lose flavor and nutritional value? The Food Saver protects your food from these enemies by sealing them airtight and it keeps them fresh up to 5 times longer than traditional methods. It also prevents freezer burn. The food Saver saves you $$ at the grocery by keeping your food fresh longer, so it kind of pays for itself over time, and that makes the Food Saver a smart choice.
Yes, I have used mine for years. that is how I prepare and make 6 months worth of food for my freezer at a time. Every Jan. and July I do my 6 month cooking and planning menus. The Food Saver makes it so the food tastes fresh. i haven’t had a case of freezer burn, yet. Also, guests or people at potlucks can’t even tell the meal was from the freezer.
For anyone who doesn’t want to shell out the dough for the food saver- I have another way!
Fill up your sink with cold water. Bag up all your chopped veggies, separated meats, premade meals, etc (doing a lot of things at once saves water!). Keeping the open end OUT of the water, submerge the bag. Allow all the air to escape and close bag. Voila! Instant “air tight”. Ok, im sure its not AS good as the food saver, but I have yet to get freezer burn! Woot! Plus, with coupons you can get zip bags under $1 quite often- So no pricey, special bags.
Hello everyone!
My 3 year old boy is now officially 4!
Needless to say, yesterday was a very busy fun-filled day.
First thing in the morning, we drove out to an orchard with some friends and picked apples, pears, eggplant, tomatoes and squash. The squash we picked were about 4 pounds each- they are monstrous! I can’t wait to stuff them for dinner tonight. My children picked everything themselves- they had such a blast!
I got out of there with about 15lbs of produce for only $7.05 !!
At noon, we went to PinkPeas (a place were women come together for prenatal care, knitting, baby wearing, crafting, breast feeding help, bradley method, and much more!). On the last Tuesday of each month, I teach a free class on frugality. This month, we used our hour online surfing the blogs and writing out our deal ideas for the week. I was able to provide the women with coupons from my stash to anable them to go get the deals they were seeking. One of my favorite online blogs is at http://www.moneysavingmom.com – there are always tons of ideas there!
Then, we went out to lunch. We went to CiCi’s Pizza. It is a all-you-can-eat pizza & salad buffet. There are many great things about this place. For one thing, it’s buffet style. They also do custom orders at no extra charge. This feature is especially great because my 2 year old has a milk allergy and can’t have cheese. I also found out they make a weight watchers pizza for 1 point each slice. YUM! Another neat thing is the drink cups. Right now they are offering to-go cups for about 10 cents more than a normal drink. The best part is that they have peel-off game thingies with prizes to win. My friends and I have found that about 1 in every 4 wins a free buffet!
I know what you are thinking- how much $$$ did it cost?
Well, I am glad you asked. I bought lunch for a total of 3 adults and 5 children. My total cost was $3.87!! Lucky for us, a few months ago when my particular location opened, we went on opening day, stood in line for 2 hours and received a punch card for each of us. The punch card is for a free buffet everyday month for a year. All I bought yesterday was drinks for my family! My children (especially the birthday boy) were pleased to go out to luch for pizza. This time I also gave them $3.00 worth of quarters to play in the arcade. And I was sure pleased to get out of there so thriftily!
Then last night, we had the family over for cake and ice cream. My boy got to choose the what type of cake he got. Let me describle it to you- he has quite an imagination! Chocolate cake, retangular, filled with whipping cream and crushed oreos, vanilla frosting, striped with chocolate, with oreos on top and a happy face on top. Then, around the edges he wanted chocolate covered strawberries- first dipped in dark chocolate, then striped with white. Can you beleive this kid??? Good thing his mommy loves him, I gave him just what he wanted. The downside of last night was that my husband and I realized at the last minute that I hadn’t bought drinks. Oh, I felt so dumb!! He went out and bought some. From the looks of it, it wasn’t cheap. I haven’t been brave enough to ask for the receipt yet though………. Boy those last minute trips just kill don’t they?
Have a good one everyone,
looking forward to my stuffed squash tonight!
Kate in Las Vegas
Mmmm! Love the sound of that cake!
My kids read cookbooks too!
Week #1 was the ultimate “challenge” at our house. I was grocery shopping for our 6 day camping trip. At first I was frustrated because I realized I was trying to spend $175, for the seven of us, for both week 1 and week 2. Once I realized what I was doing it worked out better. I was able to squeeze in just under $175 for week one and decided to get most of my fruits and veggies because the store near the campground doesn’t have good selection and is expensive. It also helped that I planned a menu for our camping trip so I knew each day what our meals would be and what I needed for each meal.
Week #2 went a lot easier for us as we were still camping the first half. This challenge has been exciting and very rewarding for us. My husband is even glad that we are staying within a budget (something he has been wanting to accomplish since Jan 09).
I am so excited I had to come home and talk about my amazing shopping experience. Today I went to Publix and I purchased 8 boxes of cereal, 6 boxes of pasta, 2 boxes of Pop Tarts, 4 boxes of Kraft Deluxe Macaroni and Cheese, 2 boxes of disposable Shick Quattro razors, a tube of toothpaste, and 3 packages of Jello-O puddings (6 ct.) and all I spent was $23.19! Isn’t that incredible! I’m so excited.
You can shave, make jello, put the toaster going for Pop Tarts then brush your teeth all on the same day, hee-hee! Just kidding – great bargins. Keep up the good work!
Good for you Brenda L.
The last day of the first week I had 30.70 left in my budget. So I ran out with my meal plan for week two and bought what I could with the extra money. When I checked out I spent 36.73. I was sure I was over budget. So I went home and took out my calculator and subtracted the non-food items. Can you believe it I spent 30.69!!!! One penny under. (I know I mentioned this before) It still amazes me because I was sure I was over.
With my extra shopping on week one it helped me a lot for week two. We had more out to eats. I took the kids to Arbies on a Freebie Weds. Then out to lunch on Saturday. MIL picked up the tab! Then Sunday night we went to a ball game. We ate dinner before we left. When I got to the game I found out that it was $1 hot dog and taco night. We could have eaten there if I had known. So I came in $22.21 under my $100 budget for week two. We got home at 11pm so I didn’t want to go out to the store and stock up for this week.
Now it is Weds and I have been shopping to two stores this week and spent a total of 49.31. I still have to go out and buy fish for tomorrow nights meal. I think this week will be easier because we are camping with the Cub scouts on Friday and Saturday nights. So most meals will be provided we just have to bring snacks. I stocked up on those monday.
Here is my dinner meal plan for the week.
Monday – Red Bean and Rice with Turkey Sauage and Tossed Salad
Tuesday – Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Wednesday – Chicken Taco Salads
Thursday – Fish steamer packets with rice
Friday – Bertolli Skillet meals, Garlic toast and Tossed Salad
Saturday – Scout camp… What ever they serve!
Sunday – Crock Pot Ribs, Corn on Cob and Tossed Salad.
Even though I have tried keeping my grocery bill to about $50 a week for 2 of us (since beginning of February), and I’m usually pretty good about that, I decided that I’d try to be even better for this challenge. So far, for week one we spent $14.41 (granted, we went out of town for a few days and we either ate at the hotel’s complimentary buffet, or at family and my FIL paid for dinner one night), and week two we spent $37.50 (not as good as I wanted, but I got some staples like yeast, and we also splurged on some snow cones too cool us off in this hot TX weather!). But you know, at the end of last week, we had a delicious part of a brisket (cooked in the crockpot) that had been in the freezer, I bought about $5 worth of potatoes to make potato salad, and rounded that out with some deviled eggs (which I already had the eggs). We had that for four nights — we have NO issues with leftovers. I’ve been surprised that we CAN make it even for less that $25 per person. I’ve really been craving some veggies and will probably hit Sprouts next week (they seem to have the better prices overall for produce).
I found a new resource at the library: “Greatest Secrets of the Coupon Mom” by Stephanie Nelson. I think this is a good book for coupon-user newbies. She uses strategies that do not require massive stockpiles of food or coupons.
Her website is http://www.CouponMom.com. Registration is free. She has a state-by-state listing of grocery store deals. This site was a bit limited—it only listed one grocery store for my state—but if you live in the right part of the country, this could be a goldmine. I thought her printable web coupons page was the best part of the site.
Finally, she started a program called “Cut Out Hunger.” It’s a way to give all those great deals to charity. I know many of you blogged about that possibility last week.
GREAT shopping day today~!! and hit the farmers market!! looking forward to a nice spaghetti baked dinner tonight with salad and other fixings. gonna be delicious. I have been playing things by ear lately and cooking a bit more to what people are feeling like eating. Which works fine since i have a lot of the basics needed for MANY meals already in my pantry and stockpile. Time savers like cooking all the ground beef and putting it in 1 pound rolls and freezing works great for me and my family.
Good grief! I just had a free-for-all at the Farmer’s Market and spent almost my entire weekly budget, it was awesome. Everything is all ripe and pretty.
I BOUGHT:
3 ears of corn
4 yellow squash
3 zucchini squash
6 small tomato seconds (not pretty but fine for me)
2 green tomatoes (for fried green tomatoes!)
1 tiny butternut squash
1 cucumber
1 yellow onion
4 medium tomatoes
1 button squash
10 medium new potatoes
TOTAL: $21.03
As far as meals, I’m going to be a veggie eating queen! I’ll be eating my wild blackberries for breakfast, veggies for lunch, and veggies for dinner, and out of my pantry (beans/rice) and homemade breads for the other dinners. I love to slice squash (any kind) and roast it in the oven or toaster oven and then put butter and salt and pepper on it, yummy!! Sliced tomatoes and cucumbers with some vinegar and oil and spices is filling and tasty too. Sauteed potatoes, carrots (leftover from last week), and onions are a special dinner treat too.
This week I’ll be making blackberry cobbler with blackberries from our pasture, corn bread, and homemade bread with sweet cinnamon butter to have with meals.
This contest has really made me pinch my pennies and think twice about every single purchase, not just food! I can’t believe the money I’ve saved in the last 2-1/2 weeks. Now I stop and ask myself “do I really need this, do I really need that?” It is really easy to spend, spend, spend, but it takes a lot of brain power to stop the money leak and stick to a budget. I thank All You magazine and Knorr so much. Regardless of who wins this contest, we have all learned some valuable budgeting lessons.
I hear people say over and over again that you can’t eat healthy on a budget because healthy foods cost so much money, but I find that I can stay to a very tight budget while purchasing all fresh fruits and veggies, and baking breads, etc., all from scratch. It is the convenience foods, sodas, and snacks that put me over budget.
It does take me a little bit of time to make bread from scratch, but the more I do it the better I get at it, and I can make TWO LOAVES OF FRESH BREAD from scratch, start to finish, in under 3 hours (very little hands on time). Scratch CORN BREAD takes minutes to mix up and get in the oven. I can mix up a batch of MUFFINS from scratch and have them in the oven in about 10 minutes, they bake in 20 minutes, and they are pennies a muffin.
The best part . . . I feel such a sense of appreciation for food that I make from scratch, and it gets a big bang when I serve it to others.
MY FAVORITE RECIPE : Sweet Cinnamon Butter is wonderful on fresh baked bread or plain muffins. I just mix together about 1/2 cup butter or margerine, 1 packet of Splenda, and about 1 tsp of cinnamon (this is a guess, I just keep adding cinnamon until I like the taste). Everyone loves this recipe, kids and adults!
Have a wonderfully frugal day!
You’re eating the rainbow this week. Good for you.
I agree with you Dawn! I think the key to eating healthy on a budget is cooking from scratch.
We are doing well with staying in our budget during the challenge. The only thing that is hard is that I never counted our restaruant trips into our food budget before. I usually plan what nights we would go out to eat and take it into account when I was food shopping, but I never counted it into our budget.
This week is super hot and muggy in MA. We don’t have central air so cooking dinner is NOT fun. Last night I REALLY wanted to go out and sit in an a/c place and eat, but I didn’t budget for it so we had sloppy joes instead. Thankfully it started to cool down around 5 and we don’t eat until 6ish so it wasn’t so bad. I think we may do something on the grill tonight to keep the stove off. I steam my veggies in the microwave so if I plan it right I will not use the stove at all tonight! Thank goodness.
hi melinda,
it sure is hot here. i noticed your blogs and mentioning big y, s&s and arnolds. i’m in chesterfield. anywhere near me? last night it was an easy pasta meal that i found in a martha stewart cooking mag.
oh thanks for the tip about using target coupons w/ manf. coupons. i tried it today and it worked. i had a $25 giftcard from xmas, so i bought 4 boxes granola bars w/2 $1 coupons and target had a promo to get a free box of quaker bars free. also, 2 boxes poptarts $1 coupon w/ .75 target coupon and 2 boxes of mac & cheese. all for 0! these will be snacks for vaca. not the greatest, but we’ll be on vaca. i wish my target was a super. there was a good coupon for bulk apples. still have $ left on the gift card. and bag of tortilla chips. i wish i could stay out of the store. still have to pick up tilapia and limes.
We are in Springfield MA. I’m not sure how far away chesterfield is?
I don’t have my own blog, but I like finding frugal recipes made from scratch on two of my favorite websites. Check them out when you get a chance!
1. http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com (a website dedicated to frugal cooking and living)
2. http://www.greatdepressioncooking.com (The lady that does the cooking is a 93 year old grandma and she is a hoot to watch! My kids love the “Poorman’s Meal”
P.S. I just got back from a Kroger shopping trip and saved 68% on my grocery bill! My out of pocket was $37.16 and I saved $76.17. Yeah, I love those freebies I get with my double coupons!
Have a great rest of week!
Esther in Mid-Michigan
Esther, thanks for the links. I love cooking from scratch, and I love getting recipes from others’ blogs. I BORROW my creativity!!!
Thank you so much for the greatdepressioncooking website, Esther! I have seen Clara’s videos before and she is awesome, I just didn’t know she had her own website now. You have made my day!
Brenda, loved your post – I shopped Publix too. They had a B1G1F (buy one, get one free) offer on the 4-pack of Bumblebee tuna. I had a coupo for $1 off 2 items, for being their Fan on Facebook. Final cost? $2.69 for 8 cans of tuna.
A few days ago, I had a moment of whimsy. I pulled a cut of beef out of the freezer, then put it into the slow cooker. I added potatoes, an onion, a cup of water … and a meatloaf seasoning mix. It came out really great! I served it with broccoli.
I buy butter and margarine and use both depending what recipe I’m baking/cooking. I just happened to hear on the radio yesterday that Uni Lever Co. will be eliminating the trans fat from MOST of their products starting soon. Hallelujah – it’s about time. I guess “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” is the worst one with it’s trans fat. I’ve been buying un-salted butter and Imperial mostly. The Aldi brand is gross – yellow tub knock-off, like Moove Over, yuck. They taste so artificial
I think butter tastes the best but you have to limit how much you use. As with anything, moderation is the key!
Butter is still safer for the arteries than the hydrogenated oils that are in margarine. I use only butter, but don’t overdo – a little goes a long way. The hydrogenated oils are a big source of the junk that clogs up the arteries.
We use real butter here (as well as other traditional fats). Love the Kerrygold Imported Irish butter!
http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2008/06/more-on-kerrygold-butter.html
Oooh Kerrygold… yummm… I wish it’s cheaper so we can use it for everything
I buy Costco butter and they’re pretty good… One giant package (consists of 4 1-lb boxes, divided into 4 sticks each) lasts us almost a year even with all the baking I do 
A great web site for health related info is http://www.mercola.com He is a Doctor and you can search any word and find some pretty good articles. I love the info he digs up. If you are curious about a food, just check his site for more info
I’ve been busy in the kitchen! Yesterday, while getting dinner together, I made a pot of homemade BBQ sauce for the turkey meatballs we’re having later this week. My first attempt at making my own sauce! Here’s the recipe from Cheeseslave’s blog:
http://www.cheeseslave.com/2009/06/16/homemade-kansas-city-bbq-sauce/
Also made a crockpot full of homemade yogurt. Tonight I will strain 2-3 cups of the yogurt in cheesecloth and collect the whey (which I use for soaking grains) and flavor the remaining yogurt cheese.
http://jane4girls800dollarannualbudget.blogspot.com/2009/01/homemade-yogurt-in-your-crock-pot.html
Dinner tonight is one of my Momma’s recipes – Salmon Patties with salmon & egg scramble over organic brown rice. Very tasty but also simple and frugal!
http://carolinamomma.blogspot.com/2009/06/mommas-salmon-patties.html
If you love baked potatoes try this recipe. They’re light and fluffy on the inside and nice an crispy on the outside. They’re so delicious, you’ll want to eat the skin as well, which is good, since that is where alot of the nutrients are at. Follow these Seven Simple Steps to….
Perfect Baked Potatoes
1. Scrub your potatoes really well
2. Dry potatoes
3. This is the fun part. If you have kids, they’ll love it. Take 1/4 stick margarine and squish it in the palm of you hand. Now, rub al over the potatoes getting them well buttered.
4. Wash hands
5. Cover baking tray with Reynolds Release wrap (this will protect your pan from those ugly stains) and put potatoes on the tray.
6. Salt your potatoes well on all sides
7. Bake at 425 degrees for 1 hour or until done, for very large potatoes. Decrease time for smaller potatoes.
Enjoy!!
**By the way all you gardeners out there, when you dig up your potatoes, don’t leave those itsy bitsy new potatoes in the ground. This is a Yummy way to prepare them. They make great poppers that kids especially love. My husband digs a few of his early just for this purpose.
Of course, these tiny potatoes are also good in green beans.
My kids love baked spuds so we will definitely try this…thanks!
We also love the Edamane dish from all you but have trouble finding Edamane (preferably shelled) that isn’t really expensive. Anyone have any great ideas on that one???
I think the cheapest I’ve seen edamame was at Trader Joes- I know Sam’s Club carries it too (but I know its not shelled). I had to stop eating it, since I have a thyroid disorder
Too estrogenic for this Mama!
Hi Pauline,
I’d find an ethnic Asian market near you. If you find one, they have edamame (shelled or unshelled) for really cheap at times!
OOH thanks for the idea about an Asian Market, Trader Joes or Sams. I have looked/asked at our Sams and they had no clue what I was talking about!
My son (age 6) found a recipe that he wants to make, so I sent my husband out with him to our local discount store to buy some of the ingredients we didn’t have on hand. They spent 10 dollars, so I’ll keep that in mind when shopping on Friday, but I don’t think it will bite into our budget too badly. I like to let them “splurge” every once in a while to give my son the satisfaction of being able to cook or bake whatever he’d like. He’s convinced he’s going to open a restaurant one day! He’s the only kid I know who likes to read cookbooks as bedtime stories!
One thing we love about the discount store is that they sell really good quality chocolate and coffee at amazingly low prices. 4 large Dove bars, 2 12-oz. bags of Starbuck’s coffee beans and 2 bags of gummy bears (yes, that’s for the cake…can’t wait!) for 10 dollars – I don’t think we could do much better than that!
My son Brett has made jello regularly since he’s been 3! He’s much older now but still cooks for his friends. His sisters too bake cookies and brownies regularly too. I have a very involved family of cooking which is neat. I mentioned in earlier blogs, that for his birthday, he got a panini maker. He LOVES it and makes sandwich creations for his buddies when they come over. I told him that he’ll make a great husband someday!
It is fun to see my kids getting into the spirit of the challenge. My kids have become very aware of eating out and that that really does make a difference. I am not the bad guy when I say we can’t go out, the “challenge” is!
Wednesdays meals
Breakfast- three berry muffins my daughter made from scratch
lunch- mix of stuff, fried chicken from yesterday, carrots etc.
snack-popcorn, mushrooms
dinner-Chicken salad and biscuits (.20 cents from Meijer)
We had 2 whole chickens last night and so I saved the leftovers.
I found the chickens 40% off at Meijer since they had to be sold by yesterday. Our chicken salad recipe is yummy and is a good way to get my kids to easily eat the rainbow and can use up leftovers.
Chicken
grapes
celery
carrots
Chop up all of the above and then add Mayo. I try to go heavy on the veggies. I have also done raisins or peas for a change of pace.
have you ever used the olive oil mayo for this? I LOVE it! It adds a great flavor- and is a liiiiittle bit better for you than regular. We add apples to ours- I’ll have to try peas!
Keeping on keeping on. My highlight for Week 2 was picking 9 lbs of raspberries at a local farm and making 21 8-oz jars of freezer jam. Looks like we’re set for the year on jam! My tomatoes are coming in here at home, so I’m looking at canning some tomatoes and salsa. Yum! Details of my week can be found here: http://nwdealseeker.blogspot.com/2009/07/all-you-grocery-challenge-week-2.html
I was SO excited (as in, more excited than usual! LOL) at double coupons this weekend!!! I was able to purchase fresh chicken breast tenders for under $0.20, Brie and Jarelsburg cheeses for under $0.20 a pack (i think they were all 1/3lb size), whole wheat flour for $0.50/lb, and I got FREE portabello mushrooms and eggplant. I love wine-tag coupons <3 <3
Total grocery spent last week: $47.95
Total spent so far this week: $26.01.
This is for the three of us- Check out more at the blog im "borrowing"!
http://thefrugalcountrymom.blogspot.com/
Hey, I have a question that ALL YOU hasn't answer for me (yet- I asked on day 2)
I have a baby who is 9 months old, and we don't use formula or anything expensive on him. Am I allowed to count him in the weekly totals? Like since there are 3 of us, I could spend $75/week? I couldn't tell if they were saying I didn't "have to" count a baby under 12 mo, or that I "could not" count him. Help? I have been playing it safe so far- But id like to know for sure. Maybe we could go out to eat since my mother in law is coming to stay with us for the weekend??
Tip of today: Trade for coupons you want. Join a trading site and get going! You can find coupons for things you don't currently have coupons for- Like winetag coupons for $2 off of meat, produce, seafood. Or rebates- for example, "get $10 back on $15 worth of snacks, cheese and meat". They are generally vague and you could buy organic or hormone free meat with them. Give it a try! There are lots of sites out there: hotcouponworld.com, tradingmama.com, http://www.mycoupons.com/boards/coupon-rebate-swap-crs
Just keeping up. We did end up going out for lunch today. Between the 2 art galleries and a stop at Michael’s Craft store we ended up at Dairy Queen for lunch.
Breakfast: muffins, fruit, milk
Dinner: rice and beef casserole in the slow cooker, green salad, fruit.
Lunch: Dairy queen 10.46
Super Doubles is finally over! I had a blast. Here are my totals:
Total from last week: $47.95
total from this week so far: $26.01
Total spent just at Super Doubles: $55.24
Saved with coupons during Super Doubles: $265.60 (this does not include store savings from sales- JUST coupons)
Lots of great, cheap stuff:
Portabella mushrooms and eggplant, used a produce winetag= Free
Brie and Jarelsburg Cheeses- Less than $0.20 each after a cheese winetag coupon
Chicken breast tenders- $0.20 after chicken/beef winetag coupon
Seventh Generation papertowels- Free
All Natural Snapple- Free
Wheat flour- $0.50/lb
See pics and more at the blog!
http://thefrugalcountrymom.blogspot.com/
Tip for today: trade for coupons you want! I’ve seen a few people saying they don’t ever find coupons they want- so this is a great way to get them! Maybe you have coupons others want. You can find winetags for $2 meat, produce or seafood. There are rebates you can get- like “receive $10 back on $15 worth of snacks, meat or cheese”. They are generally very vague, so you could use them on organic produce and all natural meats. Here are some sites you could join: hotcouponworld.com, tradingmama.com, http://www.mycoupons.com/boards/coupon-rebate-swap-crs
Go ahead! Try it!
Question! I have a baby that is 9mo old. Am I allowed to use him in the weekly total, or not? I read it as:” Since babies use expensive items like formula, you don’t “have” to include him/her in your allotments”. Is that correct? Not generally a problem, as our budget is lower than what the $50/week the two of us are allotted. However, my mother in law is coming in from out of town and i thought we might like to go out to eat. Does anyone know for sure? All You never answer when I asked
[...] Welcome to Week 3 of the Grocery Challenge! « All You Grocery … [...]
Oh, and if She pays for dinner, that wouldn’t count for our totals, Right?
Total Spent today: 19.68
$11.04 eating out for me with some girlfriends
$8.64 eating out for DH and children
That brings my weekly total to $35.91/$150 .
Today’s Menu:
B: (made by 9-year-old daughter) wholewheat pancakes, pearsauce, whipped cream
L: fast food for kids, out to eat for me
D: Pasta/chicken/broccoli one-skillet dish….yuuuuumy!
Tip for the day:
For creativity, you don’t have to come up with it on your own. Work SMARTER, not harder! Borrow someone else’s creativity!!! That’s what I do. It serves me well. =)
I love finding a good recipe online that has great reviews….and that’s where I found the recipe for our dinner tonight. It is delicious! Here’s the website:
http://mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/2009/03/skillet-chicken-with-broccoli-pasta-and.html
I left out the red pepper flakes and sundried tomatoes–don’t have any on hand. And I thought it might be overly garlic flavored, but it’s not! It’s perfect!
And I didn’t have parmesan cheese, but used a little mozzerella. Works great. I also use a little less meat and a little more broccoli. Try this, it’s delicious!
Our week 2 went great! I have been consistently under this budget amount for about six months now, so this hasn’t been too much of a challenge for us, since we already had quite the stockpile. My son’s birthday party is in a few weeks, so my challenge to myself is to start buying things early and setting aside. I’ve found that I can match up coupons and sales for things like paper plates, napkins, silverware, baking items, etc. Instead of just going out and buying it all at once when I need it, I pulled out coupons about a month ago that would go with these items that I needed. Then when I’m out shopping for other items, I just peek at their cost and see how cheap I can find stuff (but still be cute!). I have stayed way under budget by planning ahead and buying little by little. I found marked down hot dog and hamburger buns, marked down hamburger patties and I have a huge stockpile of hot dogs in the freezer from previous sales. It’s been really interesting to be creative and see what we can do!
I went a little over budget last week in out of pocket, but I will be submitting for a rebate, so I’m assuming it’s okay. I only went about $8 over budget, but will be receiving a $20 rebate. I’m going to keep plugging along with the challenge unless I hear otherwise. Rebates are one of the best ways I have found to keep our budget low, just requires a little up front money.
I always have ingredients for five or six staple meals in the house. I buy tons of frozen chicken breasts when they go on sale and separate them into individual servings and thaw as needed. I keep things like pasta, rice, beans, tomato products (sauce, stewed and diced, etc), taco/burrito fixings, grilled ham and cheese. This way when we are a little off the meal plan, I can just pull one of these quick meals and throw it together. I also keep an envelope of recipes that I generally have ingredients for close by the fridge and can pull from this. I am a huge fan of substitution. I don’t discount a recipe just because I don’t have an ingredient. I substitute something else or just omit. We’ve made some interesting creations this way.
I love some of the recipes that have been posted, thanks to everyone!
Margie Mahoney’s Tip of the Day:
If your ever in the middle of preparing a recipe for the oven and realize….Oh No!…I’m out of eggs! Don’t rush out to the store to buy eggs that are probably not on sale…Instead substitute. 1 Tablespoon of Real Mayonnaise will take the place of an egg in a recipe and you’ll never notice the difference.
Thanks, Margie! If I run out of anything in my house (which is unusual for me) it has got to be eggs.
week 2 was really awesome we have only been spending about half of our $100 buget. I have been making bread from scratch, breakfast from scratch (like cake donuts, pancakes, waffles, etc.) making my own tortillas….homemade soups, etc. All from scratch!
Its much more healthy and my family is LOVING it!!
Im excited about the store for this week, lots of great produce on sale (I wish I had room for a garden!!! Hopefully in my next house I will!)
you can track my progress with tons of photos and recipes at: http://projectdomesticbliss.blogspot.com
Good Evening my Frugal Buddies,
It’s been a good day. We had banana bread for breakfast and carnation shakes. We went to the pool. We had pasta for lunch. For dinner we had Fish and eggplant casserole I threw in our first squash out of our garden. After church we had melba toast with roasted red pepper hummus. Its really good.
Tip of the Day:Publix gives out 14 days of antibiotics for FREE. with a prescription of course.
Eggplant Casserole:
Take one eggplant and slice it. Spray each slice with cooking spray and broil until soft. Slice some tomatoes and put out on a paper towel and salt and let sit for 30minutes. Dap the top of the tomatoes with papertowel. Sprinkle bottom of 13×9 with herbs like basil, oregano and layer veggies and sprinkle with you fav cheese. Pour 1/4 cup milk on top and bake for 55 minutes. Be careful it will be very hot.
That sounds great! And a better alternative to Eggplant parm.
Good Evening, I just found out that Target is having their 75% off toy sale starting today. Im not sure if it’s all of them but here in Bama it’s on.
The target’s here in Sacramento always do their big toy sale the end of July, too.
I wish I knew how to garden…maybe when the kids are a little bit bigger we’ll embark on that together. For right now I’d just be chasing small kids around. =)
i’ve purchased shelled and unshelled edamame. i have a bag of organic in the freezer, but forgot what i paid. i do know it was on sale, though!
I am in the same boat-so this year I started really small and have a ‘patio’ garden-I bought a tomato plant and a pepper plant from a farmers market in the spring and planted them in larger pots and then put them on my deck-now i have fresh tomatoes and peppers! Its so easy and a great way to ease into gardening
Next year I’m going to do a bunch of them!
Wow, I love reading all the comments! All the savings and coupon use are so inspiring
Our week 3 starts out really well! We haven’t eaten out yet this week, which is a good thing. I might save some of our budget $ for a little ice cream treat or something this weekend.
So far, I’ve spent $30.65 out of our $50 budget. Two shopping trips were spent at Ralph’s. I found really yummy corn at 4 for $1, what a great deal and we love corn! I might have to go back and get some more
Most of our budget have been spent on summer produce. Usually summer time is when I stock up on frozen veggies/fruits that I like. With berries being super cheap this past week, I bought 3 packages of strawberries and 3 lbs. of blueberries last week and froze them all. I’ll be using them in the fall and even next spring, in smoothies or to make sauce for ice cream.
Our menu this week has been quite simple. This past Saturday I made pork steak and Sunday we were invited to eat at my in-laws’ house so we brought home some leftovers with us. The leftovers led us to leftover dining days on Monday and Tuesday. We just needed to clean the fridge up! But yesterday, after a quick trip to the supermarket to get some fresh produce, I served tostadas
The shells were from a few weeks back when our dinner hosts made us take leftovers with us 
It’s a good, quick dinner for a warm day 
Hope everyone’s week is going well so far
What is pork steak? Never heard of it. Pork chops? Or pork roast?
Pork steaks are cut from pork shoulder blade (Boston) roast. It is sometimes referred to as a Blade Steak. I generally season them with All Season and either bake or broil them. They can also be put on the grill. It’s a cheap cut of meat and when we have it leftover I put it in Oriental Noodles.
My younger daughter’s swim lesson was canceled for the morning due to cool wet weather. Not typical Colorado weather for July, but I’d rather have this than 90s and 100s any day! I’m thinking of doing something in the oven for dinner tonight and maybe baking some bread which I refuse to do during the summer since we don’t have AC.
I had a really nice compliment about my blog though my husband. Sounds like the CEO’s wife at my husbands work wanted to subscribe to my blog which is super sweet. Here’s the problem though-I only planned to blog for the duration of the grocery challenge and it’s over as of next week of course. Now I’m wondering what I should do. Any ideas? I must admit I am enjoying it more than I thought I would, but I really think that the more time I spend on the computer, the less time I could be spending getting things done around here and spending time with my kids. I’ve been slacking on cleaning and reading to my youngest lately and I think this is the reason. I wish I could just balance everything without staying up to midnight every night!
Here’s a tip I haven’t seen yet on these boards: Keep your fruits and vegetables separated in your refrigerator. Fruit produces ethylene gas which decays vegetables, so there’s a reason you have 2 drawers in your crisper area!
Have a great day everyone!
I plan an overview of my menus for the week. It is not something set in stone but gives me an idea of what I can use from my pantry and freezer and what I need to buy from the sales ad for groceries. What makes this work is my kids have never been fussy about meals. I never let them. My husband and I set the rules early that there is no fussing about meals. Sometimes we let them have some leeway if they have shown an effort to try something.
If some days are really busy and meals are going to be time-crunched, these days I need to plan ahead to insure that we have a healthy but quick meal. This week one day was going to be busy so the day before I started soaking dry beans for crockpot baked beans(family favorite) and that morning I put the ingredients in the crockpot. Total time spent about 10 minutes and I have enough delicious beans for three to four meals in an instant. Take about “fast food”.
Speaking of crockpot, it is a great tool for saving money. It can take a cheap cut of meat and make it tender and flavorful. It is a great for making all in one meal dishes using left overs. It just takes a little thought before hand.
This year for my child’s birthday party, instead of serving a whole meal to 24 relatives, I hosted an ice cream sundae buffet on a Sunday afternoon. We had just as much fun as a party with a full meal and the savings in money and time was substantial. I think that I might do this every other year.
Keep on saving!
Week 2 totals–94.15 out of 125.00! I cant believe week 3 is more than half over. I’ve been very busy–I teach Special Ed Preschool and I am piloting a new program for children with autism. I spent yesterday beginning to set up my room to meet the new requirements. This did not leave much time for frugal meal planning–although I am proud to say that I did make a “pantry meal” las t night after a day of moving furniture instead of getting take out. It’s a homemade version of tuna helper I guess–it’s good.
Skillet Tuna Casserole
1 pkg egg noddles
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can milk
2 cans tuna (I have used only 1 can when thats all I had)
5-6 dashes soy sauce
1-2 c shredded cheese (My family likes it cheesy–i usually use cheddar)
Cook noodles, & drain–mix ingredients together add noodles back in and heat until cheese is melted.
About menu planning–I find life goes much smoother when I menu plan for the week–meals can always be adjusted if leftovers need to be used or if schedules change. Menu planning also helps me especially when I am working beacuse Hubby gets home at least 2 hours before I do–if there is a plan he will help get things started which is really nice. When I plan I can also match meals with our schedules–quick & easy or leftovers for busy nights and new recipes or more time consuming ones for nights when I have more time. Planning ahead also allows me to get meat from freezer to defrost. Menu planning is a great time & money saver.
Today/tomorrow I will be baking for the junior high soccer bake sale (of which I am the President and coach). I am making the doughs for cookies to day and will bake them tomorrow. I am planning on making snickerdoodles (always an inexpensive cookie), PB cookies (I have a stockpile of 8 jars right now), and rice krispie treats (I have 2 boxes of cereal stockpiled–just need a couple of bags of marshmallows). I might make some pumkin bread (I have everything I need) and maybe brownies (I have 4 boxes stockpiled I got for .50 each).
I went shopping at Aldi’s yesterday for a few needed items and realized that a number of items I usually buy are not cheaper than sales and double coupons at regualr stores. For example I bought egg noodles for .99. Right now I have some $1 off c/o for light & fluffy noodles (I havent priced them)–could they be much more than $2? Sugar as well was .45 higher per bag than my local small grocery store who has it on sale 2/$4 this week. My best money saving tip–know your prices!!! I shop lots of differnt stores but shop as I do other errands to save gas and time.
Todays Menu
Breakfast cereal
lunch mac & cheese and grapes
dinner home made chicken strips, mashed potatoes, green beans (from garden)
snack Dibs snack bags
hi melissa,
i just read your blog after zipping to my local stores. my son is autisitc (asperger’s syndrome). he wasn’t diagnosed unitl he was 8 y.o. he is now 19. his team of paras and speech pathologists were just wonderful. what a great thing u r doing. children being diagnosed w/ autism if off the charts. he is a great baker and snickerdoodles are his specialty!!
Today we went to Big Lots to buy raisins that were on sale. They were out, but they had Quaker Oats on sale so I spend $3 and bought two containers. I also spend $1.70 and bought a bag of animal crackers for next week.
On a different note I am having a problem. I recieved our grocery flyers today and they have some AWESOME sales on some stock up items I need. However I need most of our food budget for next week for our vacation. I don’t want to not stock up on items that I need when they are at their lowest price ($2 for a gallon of milk, $1 for 10 ounces of frozen veggies, 99 cents a lb for grapes for example) for the small chance at winning this contest.
I talked to Jon and I think we will stock up on things like milk and veggies and a fwe other things that we honestly need Then we will take what is left of our budget and travel and do our best. We may make it, we may not. I know that vacation would normally put us over so I am okay wiht that. We budgeted for it when we originally planned. Then this contest came up and I thought we could still do it. But then these sales came up and now I really don’t know.
What would you all do?
Wish me luck!
i’m in the same boat as you, melinda. i just got back from big y and got 2 1/2 gals. of milk for $1.98. had to we were all out. my son is going to make homemade blueberry muffins and it calls for milk!! i got london broil at s&s for 1.79/lb because the sale ends tomorrow. it was $6.93 and i had a $3 coupon from buying the turkey hill ice cream! tomorrow i’ll get the grapes for our trip. they haven’t been that cheap in a while. i’m going to pack food for our trip, but i don’t want my budget to get in the way of having a good time, especially for my kids. if i go over, then so be it, but the experience of this contest has been great. i do shop frugally, anyway, but just talking with all these people has been wonderful!
I hope that All You reads all of the great comments here. What I would really like to see, though, is all of the websites that have been listed in the posts in a list of their own! That way, It would be much easier to access all the savings that are offered.
Hi Jeanne! I saved all the sites I was interested in on my favorites button. It makes a nice neat list that I can go back to later. This way, I can study each one of them at my leisure and decide which ones I want to keep or delete. So many sites; so little time.
Week 3 has been going well! Despite planning to cook a birthday dinner for my sister this weekend, we’re sticking to the budget. You can read my full update on my blog here:
http://frugallyblonde.blogspot.com/2009/07/all-you-challenge-update.html
Harris Teeter’s Super Double coupons definitely helped me out last week and this week, as did using our garden’s bounty of cucumbers, radishes, and herbs.
As regards the question about menu planning, yes, I definitely plan my menu each week. Menu planning is how I know what to buy at the grocery store; I only buy what I need for the meals for the week and then any exceptional deals I see to stockpile for future menus. Here’s my menu plan for this week:
http://frugallyblonde.blogspot.com/2009/07/menu-plans.html
One of my favorite “from the pantry” meals to make is an egg fritatta. I just scramble about 8 eggs with some milk. Then I add whatever cheese, chopped vegetables and/or meat, and herbs (fresh or dried) that I have on hand. I dump it all into my oven-safe skillet and cook it on the stove until the edges have solidified. Then I top it with some extra cheese and bake at about 400 degrees until cooked through. I like to make different “themed” versions, like Italian with mozzarella, sausage, basil, and oregano, or Mexican with corn, black beans, and fresh cilantro. It’s an easy, cheap, and healthy dinner!
i agree. i’m getting so confused!! the ones i keep using r hotcouponworld and freestufftimes. great coupons. i’ve needed more copy paper and i’m on the verge of new ink!!!
Week 1 I spent $5.77 for my husband and I and week 2 I have spent $5.19. I am an “exteme couponer” plus I stockpile. For week 3 I am holding at $24.92 and that includes $150.00 worth of gift cards to Wal Mart and a $25.00 gift card to Chili’s.
I just started a new blog on this contest:
http;//chrissgooddealsallyouchallenge.blogspot.com
Sorry, that’s http://chrissgooddealsallyouchallenge.blogspot.com
Wow Chris! I’d say if All You checks out your blog you’ll pick up quite a few points there. Nice strategies!
Thanks. I really am hoping to win! I live in a rural area where all we pretty much have is Wal Mart so I use it to my advantage!
July 23 was also our coupon party. At each party we all bring something (usually frugal to keep the theme going). I took sliced cucumbers out of my garden.
Wow, I laughed so hard when I read this (above) from your blog. I didn’t know cucumbers grew already sliced! Hee-hee – sounds hysterical. What brand grows em sliced – burpee? Too funny.
Neat blog regardless!
Chris, Loved your profile. You seem like a fun person. Hedgehogs? And yes, you are an extreme couponer!
Thanks! Yes, it is amazing that I can say “Coupons changed my life”. We eat better, live better, I am able to donate tons and tons of stuff to different organizations and just to individuals in need or “just because” like with my “changing the world one gift bag at a time” by going around and giving out gift bags to random people for no reason packed with razors, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, dish soap, home fragrance, etc. It is AWESOME and I am so glad GOD showed me a better way instead of public assistance!
An excerpt from my All You Challenge blog about week 3:
At the Flippin Wal Mart I spent $1.72 out of pocket and including tax.
I got:
2 1 lb Hiland butter,
1 whole chicken fryer,
3 T-bones steaks,
2.18 pounds red grapes,
2.35 pounds black grapes,
3.83 pounds cherries,
3 bell peppers,
1 package fresh mushrooms,
2 Salmon steaks,
1 pasta sauce,
1 gallon white vinegar,
1 package tilapia
Now the Mountain Home receipt is a little bit more complicated. I ended up paying $23.20 out of pocket including tax. With this total (not including all the other misc things I purchased), I got 3 $50.00 Wal Mart gift cards ($150.00 worth to use later in store or at their gas pumps) and another $25.00 Chili’s gift card. I only had $125.00 worth of Wal Mart gift cards on the counter but one wouldn’t scan and the cashier mistakenly grabbed a $50.00 card instead of another $25.00 like she should have. Either way I paid $23.20 and have all those gift cards to use!
I went and ate at Chili’s again and used the gift card I had gotten with overage. Also since my birthday is coming up Chili’s sent me a FREE dessert and I got that too. The dessert alone was worth $5.99!!!! The Mountain Home receipt is almost 5 feet tall and I saved $768.00 in coupons and only spent $23.20. This is by far the largest trip I have ever made!
Chris,
I have to say I’m extremely impressed and in awe. I do have a question if you’re up to sharing…..how do you do it at WalMart? I noticed on your receipt that you had a lot of 3.00 coupons. Where do you get coupons that take so much off? Our WalMart doesn’t double (I don’t think any do) and the only place that doubles has really high prices. Doubling the coupons doesn’t even bring many of the sale prices close to WalMart prices.
Chris-
What is Mountain Home and how do you get such great deals there? Thanks for sharing.
Pauline
Today was “If it is free it is for me” day! YEAH. My kids and I got really into what we could get for free today.
We go a gallon of Lactaid (lactose free milk) for my DH using milk coupons (you save 9 coupons from this store get 1 free) They expired today! (I found out from the store that they don’t really expire so I need to go dig in recycling and find the one that was expired.
We also got free Eggos. Kroger is having a 50% off sale today only on lots of Kellogs products. The eggos are .98 and I had 1.00 coupons. They won’t do overage but free eggos are filling my already pretty full freezer. We may need to give some away!
hi pauline,
save your receipt and the upc’s for the kelloggs $10 fuel for school rebate! i love when that happens. my stores haven’t had that price in awhile.
Thanks. I had actually already saved mine frome some Kellogs cereal I had purchased but I can’t get the rebate form to come up on the Kellogs website. I may have to try a different computer.
We were invited to a party yesterday. Dinner was free and we had B and L from what we had on hands.
Todays menu:
B: Cereals and bananas, soy milk
S: chiquita bites and nuts
L: smart ones frozen entrees, frozen yogurt
D: We had grilled chicken and salad, fruits for dessert.
Tomorrow’ menu:
B: omlette and bell pepper, toast with peanutt butter and jam, OJ
L: Chicken wrap with left over chicken and lettuce, diet coke to drink
S: home made smoothies, I have frozen milk and frozen fruits. nuts
D: I will make chicken Lomein. I am really craving chineese food but I refuse to pay $14 for the two of us. We will have chicken noddle soup and salad as sides. Starbucks ice cream for dessert.
I promised my daughter we would go see the Harry Potter movie before school starts. She goes back Aug. 12. We had a gift card from Christmas to use –we don’t go to the movies very often. Something I didn’t know is at the Cinemark theaters the first showtime of each movie is an early bird special and only costs $5.00 per person. So, we were able to splurge on popcorn and drinks–it only ended up costing $1.50 out of pocket. So I will have to add that to my total.
Breakfast: cereal, fruit, milk
Lunch: Sandwiches, fruit
Dinner: clean out the fridge night–Leftovers
Only $1.50 spent today.
Had a lovely night out and didn’t go over my budget!! Went to a restaurant called the Wrought Iron Grill – great old wearhouse that has been converted to a restaurant. The bill can really add up if you enjoy the wine and appetizers. Hey it was our anniversary, so we splurged. Had fresh water perch and HB had the ribs. Enjoyed their bread with great garlic olive oil for dipping. Had a piece of bread pudding for desert and the total including tip was $50.80!!! I used my restaurnt.com certificate for $25 off for a total oop of $24.29. Perfect cost I am still under my $50. for the week. Love this web site for extra nice restaurants and fast food prices.
Last week(20th-26)th went well for staying under budget. My total spent on food came to just under $74 ($75 being the weekly allotment for our family). That total included $34 spent on blueberries that we picked at a local farm and then cleaned and placed in our freezer for use over the next year. We have 16 pounds of blueberries! That weekly total also included about $7 spent on ice cream from Dairy Queen after our blueberry picking expedition.:) Our 2 year old had a coupon for a free cone from our library’s summer reading program, so we each got an ice cream with him to celebrate.
Our meals for last week looked something like this:
*Monday
Breakfast-bagels
Lunch-leftovers
Dinner-Louisiana red beans and rice (a totally kickin’ recipe, very authentic and very good!)
*Tuesday
Breakfast-eggs, toast
Lunch-leftovers
Dinner-Ravioli with marinara, salad, homemade garlic toast
*Wednesday
Breakfast-blueberry muffins
Lunch-leftovers
Dinner-waffles with homemade blueberry syrup, sausage links
*Thursday
Breakfast-cereal
Lunch-leftovers
Dinner-leftovers
*Friday
Breakfast-cereal
Lunch-Leftovers
Dinner-Pizza, salad
*Saturday
Breakfast-omelets
Lunch-ranch burgers, corn on the cob, chips and homemade salsa, veg sticks
Dinner-tuna salad sandwiches, pretzels
*Sunday
Breakfast-poptarts (a treat!)
Lunch-leftovers
Dinner-Leftovers (again, but we are preparing to put our house on the market, and we had a realtor come early this week, so we have been slowing up on our time spent in the kitchen)
This week (7/27-8/2) is also going well–$42.53. Our menu plan will include more new meals, both because we have now emptied our refrigerator and because we have finished our “getting the house ready to put on the market” projects.
*Monday
Dinner was Papa John’s pizza, because the realtor was coming Tuesday morning and we were in a frenzy. Fortunately, Papa John’s has a Monday large one-topping pizza special.:)
*Tuesday
Chicken fajitas and fried rice
*Wednesday
Roast beef Manhattans made with homemade bread, fresh grilled green beans
*Thursday
Breakfast-homemade strawberry banana bread
Lunch-leftovers
Dinner-Leftovers
We have been able to eat well and still maintain our stockpile so far throughout this challenge. Matching coupons and sales for incredible deals and then stockpiling during those opportunities definitely pays off!
Margie Mahoney’s Tip of the Day:
This tip is for Liz and anyone else who has been dreaming of starting your very own private food garden, but unsure of what to grow or how to keep it alive. This is to help you get started on planning for next year.
Don’t let the fact that you have kids keep you from starting a garden. That is the perfect reason to have one. Family gardening is a very educational experience for young children. I work in an elementary school and we are continually bombarded with tons of factual research based materials to help us understand and share with parents the different ways to help children perform well in school. Gardening provides children with necessary skills and information that can help them to do well in school and in some cases out perform their peers. There is also evidence that a child who spends more time in low stress outdoor activities such as gardening is less likely to become stressed and more easily motivated in a school setting. The site below has a nice range of activities that will help the whole family share in the joy of gardening.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/gardening_with_children
Why not plant your very own Eco- friendly, Victory Garden to fight global warming. This link will explain all about it.
http://www.revivevictorygarden.org
And this link is to a guide that will help you plan as you get started growing your own food dirt-cheap.
http://www.idealbite.com/guides/victory-garden
I hope these sites will help to encourage you to get started on your very own garden. Just think of the $$ you could save at the grocery and the fresh, healthy, antioxidant and phyto-nutrient rich foods you could be feeding your family. The bonuses are…it helps to save our planet by cutting back on food transport emissions and pesticide use…And… it will educate, de-stress and motivate your children to do well in school. Gardening is ALL good.
Its Friday and…This is your friendly reminder to get you FREE chocolate.
You can go to this site to get your coupon for a FREE Mars candy bar from 9am-noon on Fridays until September. Sometimes it stays open way past noon. You are allowed to get up to four coupons. I’ve got my four…now it’s your turn.
https://secure.realchocolate.com
hi pauline,
just read your reply this am. i got my rebate on freestufftimes.com/coupons. i think it was under the june ‘09. i was having trouble on the kellogg’s website, as well. if it wasn’t june, try july. there were a ton of coupons and they’re all listed by day of the month.
thanks for the reminder, margie!
its showing 20 minutes till it ‘opens’ so I’ll have to try it again in a few
You can only apply for 1 free chocolate coupon every Friday. You can get a total of 4 each Friday, but not 4 every Friday – clarification. I tried twice today and it declined it and I read the rules and that’s what it stated (in case anyone is interested).
That’s right Karen. One per week.
At the Flippin Wal Mart I spent $1.72 out of pocket and including tax.
I got:
2 1 lb Hiland butter,
1 whole chicken fryer,
3 T-bones,
2.18 pounds red grapes,
2.35 pounds black grapes,
3.83 pounds cherries,
3 bell peppers,
1 package fresh mushrooms,
2 Salmon steaks,
1 pasta sauce,
1 gallon white vinegar,
1 package tilapia
Now the Mountain Home receipt is a little bit more complicated. I ended up paying $23.20 out of pocket including tax. With this total (not including all the other misc things I purchased), I got 3 $50.00 Wal Mart gift cards ($150.00 worth to use later in store or at their gas pumps) and another $25.00 Chili’s gift card. I only had $125.00 worth of Wal Mart gift cards on the counter but one wouldn’t scan and the cashier mistakenly grabbed a $50.00 card instead of another $25.00 like she should have. Either way I paid $23.20 and have all those gift cards to use!
I went and ate at Chili’s again and used the gift card I had gotten with overage. Also since my birthday is coming up Chili’s sent me a FREE dessert and I got that too. The dessert alone was worth $5.99!!!! The Mountain Home receipt is almost 5 feet tall and I saved $768.00 in coupons and only spent $23.20. This is by far the largest trip I have ever made!
just got my free candy. can’t wait til the coupons arrive. pauline, go to freestufftimes.com/coupons. that’s where i got the kelloggs rebate! i posted this earlier, but not sure if u got it
Hey does anyone know if Tips are included in our food costs? I went out to Chinese food yesterday and spent$12 then tipped $2.50 should I include that?
We’ve been doing well during this challenge. I’ve been making menus from what’s in the refrig, freezer and pantry (I stock pile and keep a wide variety on hand and in rotation) as well as using fresh produce from the garden. Ours, AND the neighbors. This has kept our expenses way down which has been helpful. Last week we met a family goal and to celebrate DD chose pizza from her favorite pizza place. Since we’ve been coming in so low on the food budget we were able to do that with $$ to spare. We also had two short notice/no notice trips from home that required eating out. I simply grabbed drinks from the freezer (juice boxes freeze very well along with recycling water bottles filled 3/4 full with juice or water then tilted), grabbed the car snack box that I keep full of granola bars, nuts, fruit leather and other snacks and then we used the dollar menu. BK makes a mean $1 side salad!
We’re still under budget.
My chore this week was to chop/shred/freeze some of the produce the neighbors have been sharing in return for the fruit we shared with them LAST week (our apricots were ripe and ready!). I knew there was a reason I didn’t plant a zucchini hill. One plant can supply the residents of an entire street without any problems! I have 18 freezer bags, 1 cup each, shredded and ready for recipes in the freezer. That’s after peeling and coring. I froze 8 cups of blueberries, half a watermelon, chopped 3 large bell peppers and an entire head of celery (or is that a stalk?). And I STILL have veggies sitting on the counter. One neighbor brought over jars of jam she’d made along with rosemary and thyme to use fresh and for drying and I gathered up all the stale buns, bread and etc. from the bread keeper and the freezer and made bread crumbs to freeze.
We’ve also done a little menu splurging. Ice cream was on sale so we picked some up to go with fresh blueberry sauce, bought roasted unsalted cashews for cashew/spinach pesto chicken, snacking and to go into dark chocolate cookies. Gotta have a treat once in a while. So far this week we’ve spent $30.00 with $45.00 left for the 3 of us. I’ll be picking up milk and a couple of other small items and we’ll be good to go.
well, i have to regretfully withdraw from this contest. i knew what my spending was up to yesterday and i know today put me over. sales were good and i went a little crazy for our trip. but, at stop&shop, my bill was $58 and after coupons it was only $30!!! it’s been nice chatting w/ everyone, especially the people that answered my blogs personally. this was a lot of fun, so good luck to everyone and enjoy the rest of your summer. i’ll keep reading b/c it’s been a way of life for the past 2 weeks. can’t wait to see who wins.
We will miss you!
We are close to the line this week. I went to Big Lots yesterday in search of raisins that were on sale. They were out but the did have quaker oats for $1.50 for 18 ounce. I bought two since we use them for granola and oatmeal cookies.
That puts my total at $87.85 out of $100 this week. I also stocked up on bacon, cheese and ground turkey earlier this week (included in the $87.85). So even though I spent much more than I normally do on a weekly basis it was partly becuase of my meat and cheese run.
Tomorrow we will do our weekly trip to the mall for their children’s theater and spend $4 on snacks. That will be it until I do my shopping next week and then we are on vacation. I am still unsure if I will keep to my budget during vacation but I am going to give it a shot.
Just wanted to let everyone know that I am still in the running. I haven’t updated for last week, but came in right at $82.00. That included about $28 for my 17 year old daughter and I to eat out. I started to give her my typical NO answer, but then I thought this is her last school year and life is too short to not to take the time to enjoy things while you can. It also included a breakfast/snack for all of us, when we took a trip to pick up our new puppy. 2 1/2 hours away one direction on Sunday.
Last week I fed my four plus my dad 1 night and my next door neighbor 2 or was it 3 nights?? I don’t have my notebook in front of me. Anyway, I am amazed at how well we are eating and how little I am spending..
thanks, pauline. good luck!!
Four years ago, this August, my husband changed the way he was being paid by his company. As a result, we went without a paycheck for six weeks, instead of the normal two. It happened kind of unexpectedly, so we were left with very little money. I scoured the house for change and got together $100. I used that $100 on all necessary food, diapers, and health products for the month. I got very creative with my meals, but we cleaned out the cupboards and freezer. Guess what we made it and my husband was impressed by my frugalness. I was very grateful for that paycheck when it finally came.
I did learn though that a periodic shopping fast and food cleanout is healthy both on your wallet and your outlook. I do the same thing about every August now (usually because we spend so much on school clothes and supplies, it seems like a good time to balance it out). We are in the middle of our “shopping fast” now and things are going well. I love being resourceful.
Well it has been a tough week. The first half of the challenge (week 1 and 2) I was a SAHM mom and it so much easier to make sure that our family was eating healthy while we were staying on budget. On Monday I started working full time out of the home. I had been a stay-at-home mom for 2 1/2 years so this has been quite the transition. I make a list of breakfast and lunch so that hubby can follow it, but him doing it is another story. I keep telling him that no matter what, they need fruit with their breakfast and lunch. Trying to pound that in his head. lol.
On my first day, my supervisor and fiancee took me out to lunch. It was really good. The rest of the week I brought my lunch. Usually a ham sandwich on homemade bread or leftovers from the night before. I finally got to the store on Thursday night so I could get some more fresh fruit and yogurt. Needed some stuff to take to work with me! I spent a little less than $40 (but that wasn’t all food either – got some gifts also) and will post the exact numbers tomorrow on my weekly roundup. I plan to use the zucchini for bread and the squash to make breaded/sauteed squash. Hubby will be stopping at the store later to get more squash, corn on the cob and possibly some hamburger.
Our garden is doing well. We will be checking in on it either tonight or tomorrow. Need to pick some more lettuce, spinach and beans I am sure. Can’t wait to see if we have any actual broccoli growing yet. It was soooo big last time we were there.
We will be eating at my mom’s house tomorrow afternoon – so that will be lunch and dinner. They’re having a cookout. I made a double batch of chocolate chip cookie dough and will bake up about half for the cookout. 1/4 for us and freeze the rest. I am waiting until later this evening to bake since it is over 80 outside right now.
It sounds like you are in a similar situation to me. I work for my husband out of my home. He also works out of the home. And I take care of my two kids full time. It is tough to take care of kids, get work done, keep the house looking semi-decent and cook healthy meals. Yikes!
I wish you luck in getting used to your new routine!
We went to a really fun coupon exchange today! I learned a few new things and had a lot of fun.
We then ran through Meijer and got 11 items for 2.14 including
2 jars jelly
3 warm delights
2 cookie mixes
4 Grands biscuts
Here are our meals for the day
b-french toast, fruit
L-Boys had homemade skyline (Chili, speghetti , onion, cheese) and some carrots My daughter and I went to the coupon swap and got free pizza for lunch! YEAH
D- We had tuna patties (free tuna from Meijer) and biscuits. My recipe for tuna patties is simple and had almost all the food groups in one dish.
I can give some more exact measurements if they want but it is another use up what is in the fridge so each time it is a little different.
It is
Carrots
celery
bread crumbs
eggs
tuna
parsley
lemon balm (or whatever other spices you like)
Chop up the veggies. Beat the eggs. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl.
Using a spoon make into patties on a skillet coated with oil or non stick cooking spray.
Fry for about 5-7 minutes a side.
YUM
I was out of town last week and haven’t been able to update either. I am keeping on track at around 100/week. I decided this week I am going to really buckle down and preplan my meals. I do this a lot in the winter but not so much in summer months as I don’t like being in a hot kitchen! One thing I really wanted to do was use the seasonal veggies and fruits so here is a great lowfat/summer recipe I came up with from the items I purchased at the farmers market and the on sale fish I bought 2 weeks ago.
Grilled Salmon with citrus salsa
4 salmon filets (coat with mayo and herbs to grill – this keeps fish moist)
2 oranges in bite size pieces
1 Cup pinapple cut up in bit size pieces
2 jalapeno’s or another pepper that isn’t so hot
6 TBS orange juice
2 TBS diced red pepper
4 tsp sugar
2 TBS chopped fresh cilantrio
combine all ingredients expect fish and refridgerate.
Cook fish on grill until it flakes easily with fork
Well for me week 3 was extremely difficult. Prior to this challenge I always did my weeks Wednesday-Tuesday in accordance with the sales at my favorite grocery stores. Since the challenge started I have been following the monday- sunday week and had very little trouble doing so the first two weeks. However this week was the end of super doubles at harris teeter and the beginning of a great sale at Harris Teeter and Kroger (50% of kelloggs for one day only). I picked up the essentials for the week from Aldi on Monday at a total of $24.6 and then spent the rest of the week stocking up on the great deals at kroger and harris teeter. Harris Teeter had knorr lipton sides on sale B1G1 free and I had 18 coupons for $.60/2 so my final price was $.39 for two. I can only use three coupons at a time but I am hoping to make it there enough times to use all my coupons. My husband loves the mexican rice and my son loves the cheddar broccoli mac n cheese so this is a great stockpile opportunity. I also got dannon yogurts for $.11 each (on sale $.33 each -had a coupon for $.60/6 and a buy 6 get 1 free coupon. Kroger had an amazing deal from 8am-10pm on the 30th for 50% of kellogg and keebler products. I scored 4 boxes of eggos, 2 frosted mini wheats (big box), box of poptarts, 2 boxes of yogo’s, 2 boxes of special k bars, 2 packages of keebler cookies and 1/2 gallon of milk for $14.93 and I’ll get $10 back by mail for the kelloggs fuel for school rebate. So my total for the week is $71.77 but I have a FULL pantry and some great breakfast and snack options for a couple weeks!!
I wish I had cooperatives to grow produce or share meats or a group of friends to swap meals with because it would cut down even more on my families food costs, but given the fact that I do not have those advantages I am content staying within our budget of $75 each week and my husband says we have more food on a budget then before- probably cause we’re eating out less so we have more money to stockpile food.
I ran into a bit of a problem this week. My oven broke and I don’t have the money right now to fix it. So, I had to change my menu for the week and next week a bit. Thank goodness it is summer time. I now have to either grill, use the crockpot, use the stovetop, or no cooking at all. I only have had to change 2 meals for this week (was going to do shepards pie one night, and stuffed pork chops another night). The only thing I am really upset about was I got brownie mix on sale but can not bake them now!! Oh well. I only spent $55.94 out of my $100. I am very happy with that. This last week will be my difficult week. We are in the last week of the money my family has (paid 1x a month). So I have very little left for shopping. Thankfully I have stock piled meats in my freezer in the past and we received a gift of ohmaha meats from a family memeber so I should not have to buy much for meat. It looks like it will just be the neccesities for the week, and some lunch foods.
45. Margie – August 2, 2009
Hi everyone! I’ve been having a little problem and was wondering if it’s just me or if anyone else has been having this happen as well. On several occasions I have submitted a blog that just disappears and never shows up on the blog list of comments. I guess they’ve gotten…..LOST IN SPACE. Did anyone get my tip today? It should be dated August 2. I try to list a tip daily.
Anybody else having this trouble??
Same thing happened to me. Very frustrating. No idea where that great info went, just gone to outer space!!
I have not received any of the emails from all you-only the blog updates. I hope all my work is not in vain…
Anyway, i didn’t write as much this week because it was angel food week, and I didn’t buy anything until Wed. or Thursday, as I made two meals from that for Mon and Tues and had some leftovers I froze from last week that we used for lunches and such.
I mourn my lazy walks through the grocery store. I used to love an hour long cruise looking for new things and interesting finds, child-free. BUT I love my lack of dependence on food and shopping-I do spend more time prepping food because we have gone back to basics and are using more fresh food, but at least that’s time at home with the family, and they help.
I have also come to realize, as i mentioned in last weeks entry, I have to do things that will last. I can carve out two hours per week for four weeks to drive 30 minutes to a super discount store and clip coupons, but that is not something I can maintain as I start teaching again in 3 weeks, so I have also had to make choices regarding my store choices. I use Aldi and our local market during the week when I can, but use the thrift store, dollar store, and Fareway on the weekends, when we can work them into our errand schedule. I look at the circulars every Sunday, decide which store has the best deal on somethings like chicken or beef, then plan my meals around that and what I have left over. We continue to love angel food, as we can get fresh produce there too, so I spent a whole day chopping celery, carrots, and green beans to make a good veggie soup-I froze those parts in a big ziploc, and can use them later, so they didn’t go bad. I used the plums to make plum jam, which I used for cooking the pork I got last week. Corn from our CSA and tomatoes from our garden-we are feeling fresh and blessed this week. Heading into the final week having stayed within our limits.
I usually hold back and buy nothing I don’t need during the week, but then allow for something like a treat at the movies with my son-or dinner out-you just can’t deny yourself that sometimes. It’s like our Sat/ Sun reward!
We also had many picnics during the week, so lunch was PB and J made in a dumpling mold(like an uncrustable) and fruit and amish bread.
Two parties yesterday, so the kids got lunch for free and we got dinner for free! Gotta love summer parties!
Well, this was an easy week after all. Had a family reunion yesterday and made our macaroni salad from the pantry. I always have a few things on hand so I can make a dish to pass without needing to go to the store and pay full price. This little bit of preplanning always comes in handly and makes it easy to take something without stressing out.
Still hanging in over here-this last week is going to be hard because we’re getting ready for our big camping trip on the 16th and I need to start buying food for i-this week 24 pks of Pepsi is on sale for $5.88 so I’m buying at least one of those so it will come out of this upcoming weeks’ budget but we won’t be using it until we head out. I’m so excited to go though, 7 days away from the business of life-the only downside is no internet access-eek!
Finally get to sit down and catch up. We went out Friday and spent 22.46 plus 4.89. Got back yesterday and had pancakes, eggs, fruit for dinner. Tonight took some cooked frozen beef, some leftover veggies, some seasonings, a can of beans put it in the slow cooker for minestrone soup. Will add some pasta before it’s finished. Will have a green salad, fruit, and garlic bread with it.
Need to get my daughter’s hair cut tomorrow, school starts on Aug. 12. So will probably stop at Winco too.
I love Winco! We don’t have them here in Virginia, but that was on my “things to do” while visiting my sisters in California last month. In addition to their abundant generics, I also love their bulk section. I was in desperate need of sesame seeds. The only way I can find them here is the little bottles for $3-$4 in the spice section of the grocery store. I got half a pound at Winco for under $2! I use them for homemade bread and sandwich rolls. Yum!
http://dollydomestic.com/405/super-sandwich-rolls/
In addition to my spending, I’ve included two of my favorite recipes on my blog this week — meat loaf (a single recipe and a batch recipe for 7 meatloaves) and pizza crust. We’re big pizza eaters in this house. You can find these recipes and more at DollyDomestic.com/.
I’ve noticed that our grocery stores aren’t running the great couponing events that they have in the past, so I may have to go back to shopping at the commissary. For military dependents that aren’t going to clip coupons, the commissary prices can’t be beat. In my case its over 20 mile away, so I have to really need a lot of stuff to make the trip worth while.
I’m still going to plan to use my current couponing strategy. I’m looking forward to getting a dozen or two extra copies of the past 2 weeks’ inserts on Tuesday (recycling day).
Wow, here we are at the end of week 3 and we are all doing amazingly well. This is so much fun, and I’m learning quite a lot from everyone here, which surprised me. I’ve been couponing for some time now, so thought I already had it all figured out.
I have picked up some good ideas on menu items and eating healthier as well. Best of all, my family isn’t complaining about the things I am making them for our meals!
I am doing better than I thought I would budget-wise. I have a family of 6, so my weekly budget is $150. I have spent only $159.70 total for all 3 weeks combined. I spent $26.04 the first week, $78.14 the second week and $55.32 this week. I did some stocking up this week as well, and “splurged” on some peaches at a roadside stand. Oh, those were SO GOOD! Our store’s peaches have all been tasteless, mealy and either crunchy or mushy. I’ll have to go back and get more from this stand this week. My kid have really been enjoying them, as have I. I like to have them diced up on my breakfast cereal. Yum!
I hope everyone has a great last week! I’m going to crockpot a pork roast tonight for pulled pork sandwiches tomorrow night, and enchiladas the next night. I plan on making homemade pizza (a first for me!) this week as well.
HA, what a week!! No time to even get on and post to the blog!! My Sister in law was successfully and beautifully married on Saturday and life can return to normal!! I finally got my blog updated http://sirsavesalot.blogspot.com/ from week 2 & 3 and will catch up with money saving tips this week. I have enjoyed all the recipes and tips on this blog as well!
We did the challenge a little differently, as I’ve said before, and we started from scratch without any stockpile. For our family of 4, Week 1 we spent $98.07 and Week 2 was $91.67. Week 3 rolled in at about $73 (still waiting on an eating out total) and that was with a Mystery shop gone wrong and taking the kids to McDonalds to play with their cousins. This week the goal is only to buy some fresh produce and eat what we have. We have enough to last us easily this week (and next!!), so it’s been a great stockpile builder in and of itself!! Our fire challenge (starting EVERYTHING over from scratch) has us at $505, which is $5 over our goal but we’re having our quarterly yard sale to sell off stockpile and that should pull us back into our goal range. This has been so much fun and such a learning experience. I feel like I want to set a different challenge and goal for next month!! Maybe to have a grocery budget (including Health and Beauty) of under $100 for the month. We’ll see if I can get the DH to comply
It would be a great booster for the yearly budget, that’s for sure!!
On the menu for this week will be the shrimp and tomato pasta, chicken fried rice, Chicken spaghetti (hopefully because it’s one of my favorites!!), possibly onion mushroom crockpot porkchops (if a good cream of mushroom soup sale), and steaks that I ordered free from Schwan’s offer on facebook. Unless there’s a super great sale on something, our grocery budget should be next to nothing this week and that’s starting from scratch on the month. I’m proud of how we’ve done and I hope we’ll still be able to meet our goals after the yard sale!
Thanks All You for the inspiration
Onion Mushroom Crockpot porkchops
Even my kids will eat this one!!
Spray the pot with cooking spray and put porkchops or a pork roast in. Chop an onion and place on top. Use a can of mushrooms, save the juice, put the mushrooms on top too. Use the juice to cut 2 cans of cream of mushroom soup and an onion soup mix packet and spoon the mix over everything. Cook for 4-6 hours on low and enjoy with rice or pasta and the veggie of your choice
Shrimp and tomato pasta
Sauce: Shrimp, 2 cans tomatoes (drained), mushrooms (if you have them), veggies you have on hand (broccoli is spectacular in this one), garlic and onion. Sautee everything but the tomatoes and then add them. Add parsley and a little italian seasoning and heat. Serve over the pasta!
My vote for best tip is still the master baking mix, I think that’s a FANTASTIC alternative to the commercial baking mixes!!!
Oh, and for all out there who aren’t Schwann’s customers (or haven’t been in 14 weeks), get $10 free delivered to you!!
There’s other options as well, but I thought that was the best bang for the buck for us. Happy eating 
http://www.schwans.com/promos/freefood/freeFoodProgram.aspx?offer=MG
There’s eight 2 ounce steaks for $9.99 on there and it’s $0.05 after tax. Great price for a pound of meat
thanks so much for the link! I just ordered their funnel cake sticks and they were totally free! They got awesome reviews and they’ll be delivered right before we head out on our big camping trip so I’m going to bring them along as a special treat
Thanks for the tip. I spent a long time working on this this morning and couldn’t get it to work. BUMMER. I even called customer service! UGGG
I was hoping for a $0 week last week but I ran out of parsley flakes while making my spaghetti sauce and had to send hubby to the store….$.50 total for a container.
My family is LOVING this challenge because they CLAIM (ha-ha) that we’ve been eating the best we’ve eaten so far this year. I’ll admit that I’ve worked on the menus to better use what we have on hand in our pantry and garden while still keeping it healthy.
Our menus for last week:
Breakfasts: blueberry pancakes, nut & grain pancakes, high fiber cold cereals, scrambled eggs or oatmeal
Lunches: tuna patties, homemade mac & cheese, oriental chicken salad sandwiches, taco soup, chicken sandwiches, Ramen noodle casserole, ham/peas/leftover cornbread casserole, clean-out-the-fridge leftovers!
Dinners: grilled chicken legs/BLT macaroni salad/carrot souffle, chili/cornbread, chicken Alfredo/whole wheat & flax linguini/green peas, Swiss steak/rice/green beans, chicken & rice/steamed broccoli/tossed salad, Chicken Parmesan/spaghetti/tossed salad/veggie sticks & homemade dip, baked ham with Waldorf sauce/sweet potato casserole/peas & carrots/tossed salad/banana cake with caramel frosting (using bananas that were overripe)
I was amazed when I saw last weeks totals we were at about 106 for the week for 6 of us! AWESOME!
If you are near a Meijer, there is free tuna and Skippy peanut butter this week using Meijer mealbox coupons and manufacturers ones.
Anybody get their Welcome to week four e-mail?
got it this morning…..
I just did maybe 2 minutes ago!
Week 3—My biggest adventure this week would be going to Ingles with a small list and coming out with alot of marked meat deals! Now we are stocked with sausage, wieners, & lunch meat! The rest of this week we used what was in the house and bought milk & bread. Our total for a family of four—$29.21! My tip this week would be, make sure you have time to look around for deals that you could use with your coupons. Always have your extra coupons with you.
Revised week 2—WEEK 2-This week I didn’t need to buy much.I have a stockpile that I was digging in! I bought Milk, Bread, & Drinks.I bought six packs of Hillshire meat, Bilo had it marked down & I had some coupons which gave us 48 oz. of sandwich meat. So my total for this week is $17.68 for a family of four.Also my husband is growing tomatoes that he eats.
I found some more reciepts— my total should have been $48.59—In this new total I had bought Kashi cereal, trail mix bars & crackers & got them for free after coupons! Not only great for your pocket but great for your health! I love Kashi!
I live alone so I make dishes that I can have leftovers with which saves me time and money. I like to buy lettuce and produce in the summer to make healthy salads and I’ll buy pasta and combine it with fresh vegetables for an Italian dish. These are easy to make more than enough so I’ll save money, have some healthy food and great leftovers.