We get to eat FANCY!

So since Friday, I've been working with my Financial Queen friend on totally revamping our budget.  Without going into too much detail, we've been feeding our family of 5 on about 75 dollars a week, budgeted.  But in reality, it's been more like $75 one week $40 the next, back to $75, etc.  So not much.  

And it sucked.

It took a LOT of planning

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.

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scrimping

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putting yummy stuff back

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next to no convenience foods (like box mac and cheese or sliced cheese)

My oldest and I would often play a game where we'd watch other people's carts and decide if we would want to trade carts with them.

He always chose the carts with chips, cold cereal, and snacks.

I was envious of the ones with loads of fresh fruits, veggies and meat.

BUT, we reworked the budget, and upped the grocery budget to $95 a week!

We're eatin' like KINGS now!!

Breakfasts and Lunches are the same--on an alternating schedule

Dinners are FANCY!

M: PW's Chicken Spaghetti (premade and frozen from last week), broccoli

T: Sour Cream Chicken Enchiladas, salad

W: Beef and bean bake, green beans

Th: PW beef stew with mushrooms (I skip the thyme).  YUM!  Fresh baked bread.

F: Homemade pizza, salad

S: tacos

Su: French dips, fries, veggies

M: Stuffed shells, garlic bread, broccoli

T:  Crockpot Chicken Gyros, homemade pita bread, salad

W: Italian Baked Bowties, salad, green beans

Th: Beef and broccoli loMein, rice, egg rolls

F: Homemade pizza

S:  Mexican cheese casserole

S: Rigatoni in the crockpot from Fix It and Forget It, pg 125

I had $190 to last the two weeks.  I'll still have to go back for milk and fresh veggies, but so far right on budget with buying all the prep food I need for these two weeks for $136.41.  

I'll be spending some at Costco too, but man, is it WAY more fun to shop with a realistic budget! 

Whoooo Hoooo!

Now on to pre-prep prep.

Pre-prep Prep

Okay, I tried to pre-prep 2 weeks of meals (well, MOST of them).  The easy and quick prep ones I will just do the night of.

First I started with Garbage Soup.  YUM.

LOLL Not really, this is all the scraps from the veggies added to water and chicken breasts to make chicken broth while cooking the chicken for the other meals.

A super frugal way to do it is to throw all the peelings from carrots, wilted celery, limp green onion tops, etc into the water.  Stuff you'd throw into the compost bin anyway (all washed of course).

Toss in some chicken breasts and boil away.

While that was boiling, I cooked all three pounds of hamburger and part of it went to a green bean and tatertot casserole.

I shredded a partially boiled chicken breast to sear till well browned in the skillet. This will be for chicken salad sandwiches, or salad topping, etc.

The stove bubbling with makings for Chicken Spaghetti, lunch shredded chicken and beef and bean burritos, which I'll freeze for quick grab and go meals.  Y.U.M.

Chicken. Finished.

Cheese added to beef and bean burritos and when it's melted I added to tortillas, rolled up and froze.  This is good stuff.

and the final results of 2 hours work (including clean up time!)

2 small pans of chicken spaghetti (going to the freezer)

1 filled veggie tray (fridge)

lunch chicken (fridge)

Steak bites, ready to broil for our anniversary next week (freezer)

Beef stroganoff (to the freezer)

Tater Tot Casserole (freezer)

Nacho Bake (freezer)

9 beef and bean burritos (to the freezer)

and one small container of taco meat (for lunches and salads--to the fridge)

Now I'm exhausted.  But feeling like I acutally accomplished something today!

Menu Plan Monday--May 9th

This week I'm doing a 2 week menu plan, and I'm TRYING to do it for under $90 for my family of 5.

That means I'll be doing A LOT of baking (which I really REALLY don't enjoy).

And a LOT of cooking from scratch.

And squeezing in some meatless meals.

AND reminding myself that if I'm busy making ends meet here, PLUG THE HOLES elsewhere, 

or it's all really an exercise in futility!

And I don't want this hard budgeting and baking to be futile!

So...

Here's the plan.

1- pre prep as much as possible, to avoid the "I really don't feel like cooking tonight" or the even more popular "ACK! I ran out of time to cook dinner!"

2- write my meals out (including breakfast and lunch) and follow the list--with flexibility of switching around if I feel like it.

3- eat all lunches at home.  Man, I REALLY struggle with lunches. I don't want to cook, but I cannot continue to eat garbage or run out to grab something from the $1. menu.  Those add up to one huge hole very quickly.  Does anyone else struggle with the lunch problem?

WEEK ONE:  

Breakfasts

-Homemade McGriddles

-homemade lazy granola and yogurt

-muffins and eggs

-waffles, eggs, fruit

-breakfast burritos

-monkey toes, eggs

-cereal or granola

Lunches

-salad

-sandwiches (regular or grilled)

-chicken (pre prep chicken by grilling with BBQ sauce) with rice or on salad

-pasta with sauce (precook pasta and store in fridge) serve with cheese sauce or marinara

Dinners

-alphabet soup and bread (meatless)

-Japanese Mum's Chicken, rice, broccoli

-creamy clam chowder, bread (meatless, and I use 1 can of clams)

-tacos (or taco salad)

-home made pepperoni pizza with veggie tray

-Simple crockpot beef stroganoff (pre prep by slicing meat and mixing with sauce)

-nacho bake (pre-prep: assemble and refrigerate or freeze)

WEEK TWO:

Breakfasts:

-McMom's sandwiches

-eggs and bacon with fruit

-breakfast quesadilla with yogurt or smoothie

-granola and yogurt

-pancakes and eggs

-French toast

-cereal

Lunches:

-salad 

-sandwiches

-homemade pizza

-soup

-homemade mac and cheese 

-egg rolls and rice

-tacos or frozen bean burritos  (these freeze fabulously)

Dinners:

-spaghetti (meatless)

-baked chicken and rice

-Broiled Steak Bites and baked potatoes (fancy dinner for our anniversary! 15 yrs!)

-tater tot casserole or tuna casserole --depending on my mood

-Homemade pizza

-tacos or bean burritos

-crockpot sloppy joes, home fries

So far I have all the ingredients I need (plus the items I had on hand) and spent $77.04 today.  I will need to buy more milk next week ($10) and probably a few more things.

BUT I have most of it for now, and am feeling pretty good!  I'm going to go preprep and make some freezer PBJ's and sandwiches for grab n go lunches.

I'm linking my plan up to Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.

Ready..... BREAK!