Budgeting and Menu Planning (9-15 July 2011)

So the goal this week is to eat whats in the freezer and minimize what I have to buy at the store. And to use coupons when I can.

Breakfasts: omlets, scrambled eggs, coffee
Lunches: salads, leftovers, roastbeef or ham roll ups, veges
Snacks: cheese, protein, full fat greek yogurt, berries, apples, peanut butter
Dinners:
Saturday - not sure, since we have a birthday party at 4 and have to be at Lifeblood at 7 to set up and music practice
Sunday - taco salad w/homemade taco meat/seasoning, pepperjack, salsa
Monday - chicken breast sauteed with broccoli & cheese (freezer, need cheese)
Tuesday - CI Group - crockpot-pot roast w/celery, onions, beef broth, carrots, salad (freezer, need-celery & salad stuff)
Wednesday -sauteed snapper with green beans or broccoli (freezer)
Thursday - CI Group-  Leftovers
Friday - Out!

Saving Money :)

So, I love reading blogs on how people save money at the grocery store and how they find all these great coupons on the internet. One really cool blog I read is couponing & budgeting. This blog has links to some other really good webpages, too. This woman went through some really awful times at an old church - serious spiritual abuse stuff - but that is another blog.

Home Cooked Meals - Week 3

Another week of staying on track by cooking at home. I am actually enjoying trying new recipes and stuff. Goals for this week are the same as last week, and they are already met, with exception of actually cooking them.

SAT - Shrimp Gumbo Casserole - Paula Deen
SUN - Out
MON - Stuffed Peppers
TUE - Crock Pot BBQ ribs, mashed potatoes, sauteed snow peas
WED - left overs
THR - chicken stew, crusty bread
FRI - leftovers

Budgeting Part 2

So, last week went pretty well. We cooked and ate at home three of the five days, which is doing good for us. Of the two days we ate out for dinner, one was for our son's girlfriend's birthday and the other was we just didn't have time between work and a meeting to come home and cook dinner.

The "B" Word

Ah, yes. The dreaded "b" word. BUDGETS. As I was looking over our acutals we spent in January, I confirmed my suspicions that we are spending way to much on eating out and groceries. Which means if we keep doing this, my clothing budget will have to expand too :(  So, for February, I am going to attempt to reduce drastically these two areas of our budget.