January check-in/ February plans

I ended the month of January over budget by 23.65. Not too bad. Since this is the first month of keeping month long totals, I'm not sure if this is a reasonable goal for us or not. The next couple of months should tell.

Even before MSM and FishMama started talking about freezer cooking for February, I had already made plans to do the same. I stocked up on staples (meat, flour, vegetables, milk) right before the snow and made a list of things that I could prepare ahead and freeze. As of right now, I'm starting the month off having already used a hefty amount of our budget. But, I'm hoping that by having several meals and/or partial meals pre-made in the freezer that I'll have to go to the grocery fewer times. I frequented the grocery more last month than normal. By reducing the number of times that I go to the grocery, I'm hoping to reduce the amount of money spent at the grocery.

I haven't left the house since Friday morning, so I've had 4 days ( counting today) to work on my freezer cooking plan. It's been nice to spread the cooking out over a couple of days rather than getting up early on Saturday morning and slaving away for a couple of hours. It's been very easy work, because most things I've cooked in my crock pots.

Here's what I've got so far: 2 dozen corn bread muffins
1 homemade sausage, onion, mushroom pizza
1 homemade ham, pineapple pizza
pinto beans and ham
black beans
teriyaki chicken
shredded chicken
cooked carrots
pancakes
mashed potatoes


I've got most of my cooking done for the next two weeks. I'll have to cook some sides, but that will amount to maybe 15 minutes total to get supper on the table. If we're still off for President's Day on the 15th, I plan to do more freezer cooking over that 3 day weekend.

Menu Plan Monday 1-25-2010

Keeping track of this online is sooo much easier than writing it down somewhere and then losing the paper or forgetting where I wrote it down at!

Monday : fish, broccoli and cheese, mashed potatoes

Tuesday: penne pasta, sauce, homemade garlic cheese bread

Wednesday: on your own, leftovers (faculty meeting)

Thursday: chicken strips, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes

Friday: shredded crockpot steak, sauteed onions and mushroooms, onion rolls (to eat as a sandwich), mashed potatoes, corn

Saturday: chili and crackers

Sunday: leftovers, on your own

Fun in the Kitchen

rye bread

ham and pineapple hot pocket

Our favorite pizza - ham and pineapple.

This past weekend I used the rest of my Christmas gift cards and bought myself a breadmaker. I've wanted one and have researched different brands for quite a while, but never could really justify spending so much to get a top quality one. My mind was made up when I opened my email and found a Kohls coupon! I ended up paying very little out of pocket and am thrilled with my purchase:) So far I've made pizza crust, cinnamon raisen bread, and rye bread. All have been super yummy and easy to make. I've already got a list of ideas to try for next weekend and hope to research some recipes using rye this week.

Menu Plan Monday 1-11

Monday: country ham, mashed potatoes, mac n cheese

Tuesday: penne pasta and sauce, homemade bread

Wednesday: China Buffet

Thursday: vegetable soup and sandwich

Friday: Papa Johns

Saturday: shake and bake chicken, oven roasted potatoes and onions, pumpkin pie

Sunday: snacky supper, or out to eat for a late lunch

Best Deal in a While

I'm loving Walgreens today! With my new coupon system, it was so easy to find the coupons and match them up with sales in the Walgreens ad. Here's how it went:

Transaction 1: Electrasol Power Ball 20 ct. 3.49 sale price
-2.50 coupon from Sunday's paper
_________
.99 had to pay out of pocket
- 1.00 back in Register Rewards
___________
.01 money MADE on this transaction


Transaction 2: Special K Cereal sale for 2.50
Special K Cereal sale for 2.50
________
5.00
- 2.50 ( B1G1 free coupon)
__________
2.50
- 1.00 Register Reward from transaction 1 - these are used like cash
__________

1.50 paid out of pocket and received 2.00
back in register rewards

I made .50 on this deal!

Transaction 3: gallon of milk 2.19
string cheese for Hannah + .59
__________
2.78
- 2.00 in register rewards earned from
transaction 2
_________
.78 paid out of pocket

Not too bad for a quick 10 minute stop at the store!

Menu Plan Monday

Week of January 4th- 10th, 2010 ***updated*****

M: white beans, country ham, and cornbread

T: lasagna, salad

W: on your own, leftovers (faculty meeting)

R: chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, cheesy broccoli and cauliflower

F: pizza

S: fried country ham, biscuits, soup

S: leftovers, snacky supper, or out to eat for a late lunch

Eating From the Pantry Challenge

I've decided to take the Eating From the Pantry Challenge from the Money Saving Mom and Life as Mom bloggers. I tried a couple of different ways to get their button for this challenge, but my technology skills are lacking in so many ways:(

Anyway, here's how the challenge will work for me:

I will spend no more than 120.00 this month on groceries and household supplies ( soap, toilet paper, etc.). I'm aiming to spend no more than 30.00 a week, but some weeks may be higher and some lower. As long as it comes to under 120.00, I'll be thrilled.

I will plan my meals based around food that I already have and will then match coupons and sales to create a very minimal grocery list.

I'll post meal plans each week, my grocery totals, and what we actually ate (which sometimes may be very different than the plan!).

Since I'm headed to BG tomorrow, I'll actually shop tomorrow for what I'll need the first week of January. I'm really looking forward to this challenge and am hoping that I save some big bucks! I guess we'll see!