This week I started something new to help us stay on budget. One of our biggest expenses is the grocery store so I am trying to find ways to cut back on the bill. So this is what I am trying for a while....
PLANNING A MENU for the week, and only getting what I need for the recipes from the store...along with milk and eggs and the other essentials !
So this week I used these 2 cook books to get some ideas from:
These 2 cook books are from pampered chef I LOVE them because they have a picture to go with EVERY recipe (as all of there cook books do) so you know what you are getting into before you even start, and most recipes are VERY budget friendly. This week my menu is:
Monday: Blackened Fish Tacos
Tuesday: Chipotle Shrimp Scampi
Wednesday: ground beef Ground Turkey, broccoli, mac and cheese bake
Thursday: Cheesy Chicken Chilaquiles
Friday: BBQ Chicken salad pizza
I had a few things for some of these recipes like the standard oil, spices, and things like that, but most of the ingredients I bought today I spent $108.28...I did have 3 coupons though and I bought a few things not for the recipes like yogurt, lunch meat, and Buy 1 get 1 nuts and a few other things. So lets say all 5 recipes cost around $80.00.
That breaks down to $12.00-$16.00 a meal and since I always make enough for Steve to have lunch the next day that 4 portions at about $4.00 a person. Not to bad if I do say so my self.
Our normal weekly grocery bill is most of time close to $200.00 so I feel I cut down at least half.
I will also being doing a recipe review on 2-3 of the meals from this week and I am going to pick one of the recipes for Tickle your Taste buds Tuesday tomorrow. Any picks on which recipe you want me to post?
What are ways you cut back or save? Do you have a inexpensive recipe you want to share?
Leave a comment on this post with either a money saving tip or a budget friendly recipe before 10:00pm on Thursday night and you could win a Pampered Chef Cook book of your very own(i will let Steve randomly pick one entry)....but if you don't win and you still want one you can get 10% of your order if you mention my blog when you place your order with Jenn. (Just click her name to get to her website and all of her information is there. Be sure to CALL her to place your order if you order direct from the website you won't get the 10% off!)
Good Luck and Happy Saving!!!!!
Budget friendly recipe--grilled cheese and tomato soup...add some ham to the grilled cheese if you need protein:) Money saving tip--buy everything generic. At least you don't have to pay for a heating bill. Now that's outrageous.
ReplyDeleteWhen I do this (make a grocery list based on recipes) I almost always cut down my grocery bill dramatically. Especially if you choose recipes that share the same types of ingredients that you can buy in bulk. (like the giant bag of shredded cheese)
ReplyDeleteKudos to you!
my budget friendly tips are:
ReplyDelete-make a menu every week (like you did this week!)
-shop in bulk at sams/costco & keep pantry items stocked & put meat in freezer
-make extra & eat leftovers for lunch the next day or put in freezer for when you don't feel like cooking one night!
i primarily cook out of COOKING LIGHT magazine & they use alot of the same ingredients/spices over & over again so once you stock your pantry you dont have to buy them again :)