Meal Plan Monday & Deals

Another fall week is upon us. Fall is my favorite time of the year, it is a time to counter your blessings, sometimes twice, and thank God for the bounty he has given us for the year. I have been realizing I have not been the best steward of the things God has given us this year. I have realized he has given us so many opportunities and although I have good plans and ambitions, things are just not following through. I need to use the things He provides us wisely and not fret about the things we do not have.

That being said I need to really stretch out budget as far as possible from now on. We use to eat out more times each month then I would like to admit. We have been better this month with only eating out once a week. This past Saturday we went out to dinner at the outback. We spent $33 which included our tip. Although it was very yummy and we each took leftovers home for lunch on Sunday, spending that much money on a meal was not setting easy with me.

If you calculate it, even $30 once a week is still $1,560 a year! wow!

We could pay of Mr. P's car with that, go on a vacation, do some more repairs on the house, etc. So that being said I am bound and determined to try some new things.

Here are some things I am changing in our household;

1. Not buying snacks on a whim. Making our own or buying them only with a coupon.

(We tend to stop at the tiny store near by and buy over priced chips, candy etc. several times a week just for the heck of it. Not only is it not healthy in the least, it is costly.)

2. Not buying pop, juice, etc. on a whim/as often. Going to be using crystal light from the stockpile we got for free and brewing our own ice tea. (Trying to get Mr. P away from this is going to be hard, but it is just going to have to happen. His .99cent drinks he likes add up to about $200 a year!)

3. Making more things from scratch. (Making hot pockets this week, and English muffins I have time)

4. Having meals in the freezer/refrigerator for the weekends when we are busy. (This is a big one for me. We decided to have sandwich's for dinner Sunday night instead of ordering pizza was good)

5. Less trips into town. Combine trips for work, groceries, etc. (The gas tank does not replenish its self!)

What changes have you made in your house to cut corners and stretch pennies besides using coupons?

So to start off on our new changes I stopped at Meijer Sat. night after eating dinner since we were already in town. I wanted to at least see if they still had their bulk food section like they did when I was a kid. All they had was a small section of nuts and candy over near the produce.

Mr. P loves trail mix, but I will not buy it already bagged since it is so costly.

We were in luck! Some nuts were on sale!

They also still had some of their nightly discounted lunch meat so I grabbed some of that. I needed meat for lunches this week, plus I figured I could make some hot pockets with the turkey. Everything below was $20 total

Here is what I got:

3/4 lb of Cashews

1lb of Dry Roasted Peanuts

1lb M&M's

1 Large 24oz container of Raisins (only used 16oz - save the rest for baking)

1lb Hard Salami

1/2 lb Pastrami

1.5lb Turkey

I mixed up the trail mix that same night. Using 1lb each of M&M's, raisins and peanuts. 3/4lb of cashews. The results I saved roughly $6

The results: Mr. P says it taste better then store bought, and the cashews really make it great!

Here is what I ended up with:

1/2 lb container of Raisins left for baking (or more trail mix!)

2 Small containers of rail mix for Mr. P to take to work (4 cups total)

1 Large container of trail mix for snacks at home (8 cups)

Here is what we bought at the farmers market this week, minus 1 cinnamon roll :)

2 bags of potatoes, 3 green peppers, 1 large can of pickled beets, and 2 Cinnamon rolls all from the local Amish. Going to be using the veggies this week in our meal plan.

Breakfast- Fend for your self! lol (Oatmeal, toast, cereal, etc)

Lunches - Salads, Sandwiches, and leftovers.

Desserts - Strawberry Pretzel Salad (I normally make 1 thing and it last us all week.)

Mon: Mediterranean Meatballs and Spaghetti & Salad

Tue: Turkey Burgers & Potato Salad

Wed: Spinach & Curry Potato Soup & Homemade bread

Thur: Chicken Broccoli Casserole & Salad (Making extra for the freezer)

Fri: Lebanese Shawarma Chicken & Salad

Sat: Enchilada Bake & Rice

Sun: Hot dogs & Mac & Cheese & Veggies

Linking this up to Org. Junkie - Where there is always tasty recipes to try!