What's For Dinner Monday

Since I stocked up on a few items, last week my grocery totals ended up at $38.10. This week I'm at $7.98 so far even though I haven't technically been grocery shopping yet.

Here's this week's plans:

Monday

Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Grilled Hot Dogs, Chips and Fruit

Tuesday

Lunch: Grilled Cheese, tomato slices, grapes
Dinner: Pizza Night

Wednesday
Lunch: Tuna Sandwiches, Carrot Sticks
Dinner: Chicken Broccoli Divan, Mashed Potatoes, Rolls

Thursday
Lunch: Quesadillas and Salsa
Dinner: Baked Garlic Parmesan Chicken, Herb Potatoes, Green Beans

Friday
Lunch: Chicken Sandwiches with leftovers, Oranges
Dinner: Out

Saturday
Brunch: Turkey Bacon, Eggs and Toast
Dinner: Grilled Pork Picnic, Potato Salad, Pasta Salad

Sunday
Lunch: Shredded Pork Tacos with lettuce, tomatoes, Spanish Rice
Dinner: BBQ Sandwiches

Snacks: Carrot sticks, grapes, strawberries, oranges, popcorn, cheese and crackers, PB&J

Dessert: Ice Cream, Brownie Sundaes, S'mores

For more recipes and ideas check out Meal Plan Monday.

My Meijer Shopping Trip this Week---Worth the Effort!

I was more than pleased with my grocery trip to Meijer this week. Of course, I wanted to share. :)

My total before coupons: $73.85

Coupons and catalinas used:$ 50.40

Total after coupons and catalinas: $23.45

Plus I still have a $3 catalina for next week!

I shared all this to say... many people tell me that "I don't have time to coupon." I say, " I don't have the money not to coupon." Was the 40 minutes it took me to print, clip and organize my coupons worth it to me? DEFINITELY!

My Kroger Trip!

I was quite overjoyed with my Kroger shopping trip last night. I mainly got the items from the March to Savings Event. Here's the breakdown:

Total before coupons: $108.58
Promotional Savings: -$16
Coupons Savings: -$65.73
Out of Pocket Total: $26.85

Kroger sent me a coupon for $5 off a $50 purchase so I used that. They also sent coupons for free Crest Toothpaste and free Energizer Batteries which I used too. Check out this post for the other coupon match-ups at Kroger this week.

Add my Kroger total and the $6.77 from Walmart (for fruits and veggies) plus $5 from my Meijer trip at the end of last week...our grocery totals are at $38.62 for the week. I little bit more than we've been spending, but not bad for stocking up on some items. :)

.55 Shopping Trip and Grocery Totals for the Week

I wanted to share my shopping trip to Meijer this week.

Chex Mixes-4 bags @ $1each (with a rain check)
Used several .50 off 1 printable coupons from here and here
After doubling of the coupons, all 4 bags for free

Dial Hand Soap .99
Used $1 off 1 Dial printable from here
Free after coupon

Snyder Pretzels-2 bags @ $1.69 each
Used (2) $1/1 Snyder's Of Hanover Pretzel Sandwich Bag, exp. 4-30 (SS 2/21/10)
.69 each after coupons

Ore Ida Frozen Fries or Tater Tots- 2 bags @ $5
$1/2 Ore-Ida Frozen Potatoes, exp. 3-31-10 from February 2010 All You Magazine
After coupon $3 for both 

Ground Round $3.62

My total was $20.04 and after $6.50 in catalinas (from my last grocery trip) and coupons...my total was only .55!!  


I picked up a few more items at Walmart for $9.82 so all together our grocery total for the week is only $10.37. YAY!!

What's For Dinner Monday

  What's for Dinner?

Update on Last Week: We stayed on track for most of the week except Saturday night. My hubby ended up pulling an all-night work shift which made our day really hairy. So we ended up grabbing a little something Saturday for dinner. So Saturday's meal got shifted to Monday.

I didn't need a ton of groceries this week. My grocery bill is at $19 for this week. I still need to pick up a few fruits and veggies at Walmart. Here's the plan for the week:

Monday
Lunch: Croissant Ham Sandwiches, Chex Mix, Apples
Dinner: Parmesan Chicken Calzones with Marinara---I'll share the recipe tomorrow with pictures-yum!

Tuesday
Lunch: Omelets and Toast
Dinner: Crock pot Pork Roast with Mashed Pototoes, Carrots

Wednesday
Lunch:Mac and Cheese with Green Beans
Dinner: Pork Sandwiches w/leftover roast, oven fries, salad

Thursday
Lunch: Grilled Ham and Cheese, Tomatoes
Dinner: Chicken Casserole, Veggies and Rolls

Friday
Lunch: Italian Bread Pizza
Dinner: : Leftover Casserole and Veggies

Saturday
Breakfast: Sausage Biscuits and Gravy, Eggs
Lunch: Sandwiches and fruit
Dinner: Chicken Broccoli Alfredo and Garlic Toast

Snacks: Chex Mix, Jello, PB & J, Carrots, Apples, Bananas, Cheese, Quesadillas

Dessert: Cookies, Cheesecake

What's For Dinner Monday

What's For Dinner Monday

Participating in the Pantry Challenge last month has encouraged me to continue with my meal planning. I've been meal planning for a while, but over the holidays, I slacked off on actually writing it down every week. I think there is something to be said for putting things into writing. It's definitely more concrete.

In lieu of making myself a little more accountable, I thought on Mondays (I'm a day late this week) that I would start posting our meal plan for the week. I will also be sharing recipes both frugal and just plain yummy ones. :) Maybe this will also encourage my readers to continue meal planning or maybe to start meal planning. If you're one that needs lists and charts to get things accomplished, check out Mom Advice for a simple printable meal planning spreadsheet. (She has all kinds of cool spreadsheets.)

We spent under $28 on groceries this week. So that's the groceries that I have to work with and here's what meals I've come up with:

I'm not going to meal plan breakfast because we usually eat: Cereal, Eggs, Toast, Fruit, Waffles or Fruit and Yogurt through the week. I let the boys choose what they want.

Monday:
Lunch: Fiesta Eggs
Dinner: Grilled Chicken Tenders with Dipping Sauces
Rosemary Red Potatoes and Green Beans
Toast

Tuesday:
Lunch: Turkey Salad with Celery
Dinner: Chicken, Brocolli, Cheese Soup with Crackers--I'll post the recipe later in the week.

Wednesday:
Lunch: Leftover Soup and Grilled Cheese
Dinner: Chili Dogs

Thursday:
Lunch:Chicken Nuggets and carrot sticks
Dinner: Pizza Night [Maybe the Heart Pizza from Papa Murphy's?]

Friday:
Lunch: Leftovers and apple slices
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Garlic Bread

Saturday:
Breakfast: Heart-shaped Pancakes with Sausage
Dinner: Homemade Chicken Enchiladas(Since Valentine's falls on Church Day, this will be our Valentine's Dinner...one of hubby's favorite meals)
Spanish Rice
Refried Beans

Sunday:
Leftover Enchilada Casserole

Snacks: cheese, crackers, celery, carrots, apples,oranges, Chex Mix, Quaker Rice Snacks, Goldfish crackers, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or crackers

Dessert: Ice Cream, Cupcakes...I'm making Rolled Sugar Cookies with icing on Friday. Yum!

Update On This Week's "Eating From the Pantry Challenge"

My Stuffed Pepper's Dinner this week.

                                        
Well, we successfully made it through the week with no grocery shopping. I didn't even end up paying out of pocket for milk. I decided to pick some up at CVS with a gift card from a prescription transfer. So our grocery totals for the month ended up being just under $76. Yay! It's really hard for me to believe that we were able to spend so little. And although my stockpile is smaller, it's not depleted.

This month has allowed me to be a little more creative with my cooking. And instead of running out to pick up something that needed to go with our dinner, I would see what I could whip up or make from scratch. It's been fun and a challenge.

The good thing that has come from this is my hubby and I have determined we can probably shave at least $10 off our weekly grocery budget. That's a $40 savings a month...we'll see.

So far I've spent only $22 on next week's groceries. Since I cooked my turkey today, we should have enough meat for a least 3 more meals. We may be able to make it through another week of very little grocery shopping.

Waffle Recipe

I mentioned in my "Pantry Challenge" that I recently was able to try out my friends new waffle machine. I absolutely loved it! The recipe we used was quite simple and pretty frugal...so I thought I would share. (Thanks, Kim and your mom-in-law for the recipe!)

Quick Waffles

3 eggs

1 cup milk

1/2 cup melted butter

1 Tbsp. vanilla

2 cups of flour (we used 1 & 1/2 cups of self rising flour and 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour**so we omitted the salt and baking powder)

**1 tsp. salt

**1/2 Tbsp. baking powder

2 tsp. sugar

Beat whole eggs in a bowl until thick. Beat milk, melted butter and vanilla into egg. Combine remaining ingredients. Mix well. Makes 6 -8 waffles.

We did this recipe times 4. We added freezer jam in part of the batter, and chocolate chips in another set of batter for variety. Yum!

If you're in the market for a new waffle recipe, give this one a try. We divided and froze the waffles, and reheat them in the toaster before serving.

Enjoy!

Eating from the Pantry Challenge Update

Well, we made it successfully through last week without too much turmoil. At the start of the week, I wasn't sure that my littlest guy was on board with us. One afternoon I asked him what he wanted for lunch and gave him the choices I had listed. He answered, "No I don't want that...I want a hamberger." After a little convincing, he accepted something on the meal plan. :)

Here are the grocery totals for last week:
$8 at Meijer--- that I mentioned previously
$3 for milk and yogurts
Grand total of $11 for last week.

Then, I stopped at Walmart Saturday night and picked up more yogurts, fruit, veggies and cheese for this week.
Total of $10 for this week
But, I still have to pick up milk for this week(probably around $3).

Here is our meal plan for the week:

Sunday
Out

Monday
Breakfast:
Cereal
Lunch:
Leftovers
Dinner:
"Cracker Barrel Breakfast"---Sausage Biscuits and gravy, eggs, leftover Hash brown Casserole

Tuesday
Breakfast:
Waffles
Lunch:
Grilled Cheese, Chips, Bananas---Salad for mommy
Dinner:
Potato Soup in Crockpot and crackers

Wednesday
Breakfast:
Eggs and toast
Lunch:
Tuna Salad, Pears
Dinner:
Leftover Soup

Thursday
Breakfast:
Cereal
Lunch:
Quesadillas, Apple Slices---Salad for mommy
Dinner:
*New Recipe* Stuffed Green Peppers ** ( with frozen peppers from my friend's garden), Mac n Cheese, Corn on the cob

Friday
Breakfast:
Waffles
Lunch:
Chicken Nuggets, Carrot sticks
Dinner:
Honey Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry **(I'm adding extra broccoli) with Brown Rice

Saturday
Breakfast:
Oatmeal and Toast
Lunch:
Sandwiches or leftovers
Dinner:
Turkey Dinner (cooking a turkey that I've had in the freezer for close to a year), mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing
***I'm really excited about the turkey because I should have some left for meals next week. :)

Desserts:
Jello, Pudding, Break and Bake Cookies, Warm Delights, Hostess Cakes
Snacks:
Chex Mix, cereal, PB & J sandwiches/crackers, yogurts, apples, oranges, bananas, pears

**If you haven't noticed All Recipes. com is my favorite online recipe resource.**

I'll give the final update at the end of the week. So how has your family done with their grocery budget this week/month?