Week 2: 1/7--1/13/2012

Since I botched last week, I thought I would try and spend as little as possible this week. I ended up going to Wal-Mart and price-matching bananas from Michoacana Meat Market--they always have stellar prices on bananas.

http://www.lamichoacanameatmarket.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=category§ionid=5&id=8&Itemid=21

I ended up spending about $5 on bananas, they were on sale for 3lbs for $1. So 3 X 5 is 15. So I have about 15 pounds of bananas. Hopefully it will help in a pinch. I need to make it a regular habit of going to the meat market every week.

Sat: Steaks & Baked Potatoes; Fish & Rice plus a vegetable. We got Omaha steaks for Christmas for husband and I and we gave the kids fish and rice.

Sun: Chicken, mashed potatoes, peas. Used what we had.

Mon: Slow Cooker Lentil Rice Casserole pg: 79 Everything Beans Cookbook
(I bought an ebook a while back--making use of it)

UPDATE: The Lentil Rice Casserole turned out wonderful! It comes from an ebook that I bought, it has lentils, brown rice, chicken broth, canned tomato sauce, I used cut up sausage instead of the shredded chicken that it called for, didn't have taco seasoning mix already made up so I put in some hot sauce and some cumin--even with my tweaking and subbing in stuff it turned out great, definitely have to start the recipe notebook and put that one in.


Tues: Spaghetti

Wed: Chili--pg 39 in Everything Beans Cookbook

Thurs: Hawaiian Haystacks--we don't have any cream soup, and I am trying to eliminate buying it, so we'll use this recipe:

http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2010/02/hawaiian-haystacks-chicken-sauce-reinvented.html

Fri: Homemade Tomato Soup and grill cheese sandwiches
I am going to try this tomato soup recipe:

http://budgetbytes.blogspot.com/2011/04/super-quick-tomato-soup-240-recipe-040.html

That's it! If I stick to my menu, I should have everything I need or I can substitute something else. If the recipes work out I need to add them to a binder or put them in a special folder or something. I have been wanting to make a recipe book for like 8 years--better late than never.


...addendum...

Just spent $31.50 for 2 baskets worth of produce from Bountiful Baskets.

http://bountifulbaskets.org/

I don't pick it up until Saturday which is the start of a new week. I will count it towards this week since the money comes out of the account now, but I won't have it until the start of next week. So this week's total: $5 in bananas + 31.50 Bountiful Baskets (2 baskets) brings me to 36.50-- so far so good. Better go make tonight's dinner!

Week 1: 12/31--1/6/2012

The first thing I did was plan my menu and then I looked around to see what I would need at the store.

Sat: Lasagna
Sun: Lasagna
Mon: Special Tacos
Tues: Chili
Wed: Spaghetti
Thur: Hawaiian Haystacks
Fri: Homemade Pizza

Need:
Cottage Cheese
French Bread x 2
Milk
Bread
Eggs
Salad

I ended up spending about $23 on Saturday and then went back on Monday and spent another $25 or so on produce at Food Town and milk and yogurt at Kroger. I think I went over this week. I did not keep track of my spending like I had planned. Plus yesterday we had a hard day at school and ended up getting frozen pizzas and going to the park. So this week is a bust. I think New Years threw me off a bit staying up late and then Tuesday trying to get school going again. This is a short work week. Next week I will put all of my receipts in one place, I need to go early and get the shopping all done and not get distracted then come home and record it all right away. This week I was distracted by Christmas clearance, plus I felt kind of spacey, I need to eat breakfast and exercise. Next week I need to plan every meal. My time is just as valuable as my money so I need to manage both better. I just have to try try again. Tomorrow is a better day, next week will be better--I can only go up from here!