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| This is last week's acorn squash and kale soup - it was divine! |
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| Stuffed bell peppers from last week's menu: they looked beautiful, but only tasted fine. I may try again and tweak the recipe. |
Happy Halloween, everyone! Here's what's on our menu for the week:
Monday: Halloween cheeseburgers, veggie skeleton, spicy sweet potato wedges, mini monster pudding cups
Tuesday: Crockpot orange chicken, broccoli
Wednesday: grilled cheese sandwiches on artisan bread, creamy cauliflower soup
Thursday: Moroccan chicken and couscous
Friday: tacos
Saturday: spaghetti, green salad, crusty bread
Sunday: Roasted chicken with onions, potatoes, and gravy; green beans; snickerdoodle cake with brown sugar cinnamon buttercream
I'm delighted to share the results of my money-saving efforts on groceries this month. For our family of 5, our total bill was $440! That includes most of the things we need for this week's menu and represents a savings of $237 compared to last month. A big thank you to Mary Ostyn, author of Family Feasts for a Week on $75, whose book inspired me to
- evaluate my food spending
- set goals regarding our food budget
- make a price book of foods we commonly use to get a grasp on prices at the different stores I visit
- plan meals and grocery lists and then stick to them, which led to fewer grocery store trips and fewer impulse buys
- make bread rather than buy it
This week I'm adding a new aspect to my meal planning - making sure I know what's for lunch. My kids traditionally eat school lunch, and my husband usually buys lunch at work, but I want to see if we can shave off more money from our food budget with homemade lunches. It's theoretically less expensive and more healthy. My husband is happy to eat leftovers; we just have to make sure he remembers to take them. I've found some great ideas for realistic lunch ideas for my kids over at Mel's Kitchen Cafe, which has quickly become one my favorite food blogs!
Another of the things I'm going to try this week is making fruit leather. Or I may try it this way. We always have frozen strawberries around. I think the kids would love it!
What other tips do you have for saving money on your food bill?
EDIT 11/2/11: Turns out that on Halloween afternoon, my husband showed up with a leftover pizza from a departmental activity. We gobbled that up for dinner instead of the adorable meal I had planned. Oh well. At least I know what we'll be eating next year for Halloween:)
2 comments:
Menu planning is the biggest thing for me.
It has helped me plan my shopping list better and has also helped me reduce what I have on hand, which keeps me more organized. I also freeze a lot of food. I make double what we would eat and freeze half for another week.
When we lived closer to my husband's parents, we would often stop by right around dinner and they would take us out! That was a good money saver for us! :)
i shop once a week and shop the sales and use coupons and stock up
then i plan with what is here and pick up extras, like sour cream or fresh veggies for a specific meal
Here is a link to my Menu Plan/Question of the week
I would love if you stopped by to check it out
I know the week is over but it takes me all week to browse the menus
Enjoy your sunday:)
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