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.
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