Monday Menu and Shopping

     When we moved into our house I started doing my grocery shopping at the Wal-Mart closest to us and if you know anything about Wal-Mart it’s that it can get so crowded and I despise going when it’s like that. We have a couple local grocery stores close by but I can’t always justify the higher prices for the smaller crowd so I just do my grocery shopping early in the morning at Wal-Mart. Not only early morning but on Mondays too, thus limiting the crowd even further. The times vary, sometimes I’ve gone at 7:30 and sometimes it’s more like 9:00, I’m a morning person so it works for me.

     After I get my coupons and sale adds on Sunday I sit down and finalize my menu for the coming week. I always try to plan at least 5 meals; sometimes I’ll even do 7 but rarely. The meals aren’t set to a specific day; we just decide what sounds good for that evening and do it. If we don’t stick to the menu and do something else then that’s ok too, I’ll just bump that meal to the next week.

     Cost this week is the total of what I spent this week to get the remaining meal ingredients and the total cost is the cost it would take if I had to buy every ingredient I needed for the meal. Basics like flour and sugar and items like that are not added into the total cost because most of us already have those around.  

    1. Crock Pot Mexican Chicken (Need: Garlic, Lime, Cilantro, Italian Dressing, Tortillas, Cheddar   Cheese)

                                Total cost: $8.20                                                Cost this week: $7.55

                2. Chicken/Pork Stir Fry with Jasmin Rice (Need: Broccoli, Carrots, Red Bell Pepper)

                                Total cost: $8.60                                                Cost this week: $3.38

                3. Ground Beef Quesadillas (Need: Black Beans, Sour Cream, Tortillas)

                                Total cost: $11.30                                             Cost this week: $4.58

                4. Baked Chicken w/ brown rice and green beans

                                Total cost: $7.00                                                Cost this week: $0

                5. Chili Dogs w/potato wedges or potato salad (Need: Hot Dog Buns, Chili)

                                Total cost: $7.90                                                Cost this week: $2.80

                6. Tomato Soup w/ grilled cheese (Need: American Cheese Slices)

                                Total cost: $4.20                                                Cost this week: $2.00

                Dessert: Chocolate Cream Pie (I’ll post the recipe soon) (Need: Sugar, Unsweetened Choc.)

                                Total cost: $7.98                                                Cost this week: $3.12

        My costs per meal were pretty cheap this week because I had all the meat I needed in my freezer. Our income is based on a commission only pay so it fluctuates a lot. During the good times I try and stock up on things we use often and definitely meat so that during the not so good times I can still put together some basic meals.

        As far as lunches go, we’ll do sandwiches, burritos (since I bought some tortillas for our meals), salads or just leftovers. My husband usually makes his own breakfast because he’s hungry way before I am and he usually does eggs, toast and bacon. That man loves his bacon. I do oatmeal and toast often. We also have quick things like cereal and eggo waffles.

        If I want to do a bigger breakfast like French toast or pancakes those are typically on the weekends and I’ll go out a buy a loaf of French bread the day before.

     This is not a normal shopping trip for me. I normally spend about half this much but I figured that I would pick up some extras while I had the chance.

An Idea Of How to Stretch a Dollar

  I don't know about you but I'm always looking for ways to get the most out of my money and one way I do that is dividing up my ground beef into smaller portions. With it being just the two of us here it's a lot easier to do this than if I was preparing meals for a family of four but everything can be tweaked to fit different lifestyles. This is just what works for us.
   Whenever I buy a package of ground beef, usually the one pound size, I cut it in half. If I'm planning on using some that night for a meal I'll leave half out and freeze the other half. If I buy a double size of ground beef then I'll just divide it into fourths. Either way you're getting about half a pound in each portion. I'll wrap up each section separately and put them all in a freezer bag in the freezer.
   I'll use half a pound of ground beef in my spaghetti instead of a full pound, or for taco meat I'll use half a pound and just half the pack of the taco seasoning ( which I also save for the next time ). To supplement the lost half pound of meat I'll add in extra non meat ( and cheaper ) ingredients.
   For spaghetti you can chop up some green bell pepper or mushrooms to help add in that substance that we all want in our meals. With tacos, nachos, quesadillas, etc... I'll add in a can of black beans. My husband and I have found that we actually really like the black beans and they're good for you too. We just buy a can of them for .92 and half the time we don't use the whole can so we end up adding it to another meal later that week.
   Adding in other non meat ingredients means I can serve two meals off a $3.50 pack of ground beef instead if just one. Plus it's a good way to sneak in extra veggies. If you have ways that you stretch a dollar I would love to hear them.

Pantry Before and After

  We bought our house September 2011 and moved in in October. Every wall in the house was painted yellow ( many still are ) except for the closets. Before we even moved in we painted our bedroom and the living and hall areas. Looking back on it I wish we would've kept going and painted the kitchen and dining while we were at it because they're connected to the living room, but you live and learn.
   After a few months here I was ready to tackle another space, my husband not so much.While he was out of town on work for a few days I seized the opportunity and got some projects done. The kitchen will have to wait, I'm not doing that by myself. I did however get some nightstands and our pantry done. The nightstands were the main priority but when I saw I had quite a bit of paint leftover I just had to do the pantry too. I'd been wanting to change it up just a little for a while.
    I did it in two days but it could've been done in one. I gave it two coats, letting it dry good in between. I would've loved some contrast between the shelves and walls but I had only one color and didn't want to make yet another trip to Lowes. The paint color isn't much different from the white that was there but it's right for me. You can't go much darker in there because then it'd be like a cave. Maybe one day I'll get around to changing up the shelves but for now I'm just happy it's not white.
   Getting new storage items for the food is a work in progress, I'm always finding new things I like. I love to group like items into baskets, the black ones at the top are from Dollar General.
  You might think there's not much food in there and there's really not, just the items I'm currently using. I have another hall closet that I use as a pantry also and that's where I keep most of the food. I lie to keep my kitchen one neat and clean so it's easy for me to find the items I need while I'm cooking. In another post I'll show that closet.
  Sorry there are no before ones, camera issues and not thinking to take the pictures are to blame. The white bucket on the floor is to hold my dirty dish towels until I take then to my towel hamper.