It’s nearly the end of the month… meaning it’s nearly the
end of my monthly budget, and my grocery budget is down to the wire!
Some months I am good about looking for coupons and sales – but
sometimes I’m just not. Sometimes I am motivated to really enjoy cooking and
try new recipes with expensive ingredients I don’t normally keep on hand, and
sometimes I’m lazy and buy expensive frozen meals instead … and sometimes I do
both. Sometimes I convince Eduardo that it’s ok to have a meatless meal once in
a while – but not usually. Sometimes I follow my meal plan to the letter – and
sometimes life gets crazy and food expires before we can eat it. It seems that we
had “some” of those times a lot this month!
I am thankful to have plenty of wiggle room in my budget for
these types of months, but I don’t want to give up just because I know I’ll
fail to stay on budget. So even though there’s a week left and I have only $7
left in my grocery budget, I’m just going to do my best.
I need to make 10 meals before the end of the month – 8
dinners (today through next Tuesday, excluding date night on Friday) and 2
lunches (Saturday and Sunday). I will also need staples like milk and bread,
and some snacks to supplement the leftovers I will have for lunch all week
(crackers, fruit, dessert, etc).
I know one of the best ways to save money is to shop your
pantry, fridge, and freezer. I often look around my kitchen and feel that I
have literally nothing to cook. I was surprised to realize how many meals I can
make by buying only 1 or 2 ingredients! In many cases I only needed to add a
fresh veggie to round out a meal. I wonder how often this is the case?
I also know that meat is almost always the most expensive
part of a meal, so during my kitchen-shopping I looked for meat first.
Here’s what I found:
4 chicken breasts
1 lb ground beef
2 tilapia fillets
1 lb leftover BBQ pulled pork
1 can of tuna
That’s enough for 6 meaty meals to please Eduardo!
Next I tried to find recipes and sides to go with those
meats that either require very few ingredients, or require only ingredients
that we already have. I already had everything for 2 recipes because I meant to
cook them last week and had to change plans at the last minute.
I chose:
Balsamic Bruschetta Chicken with pasta and a veggie
Crock Pot Teriyaki Chicken & Veggies with rice
BBQ Pork Nachos
Tuna Melts with chips and fruit
Meatloaf with mac & cheese and a veggie
Lemon Butter Tilapia with rice and a veggie
Once I had done that, I still had a few gaps, so I racked my
brain for a few meatless meals that Eduardo and I both enjoy:
Pancakes and Eggs
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Thankfully we usually have everything for those on hand too.
Finally I only needed to plan 2 more meals. I’m confident
that we will have some leftovers by the end of the week, so those can cover 1
meal. And since I’m feeling so good about my progress so far, I went ahead and
planned 1 “reward” meal for all the scrimping we will do all week – meaning I
will actually have to buy meat and several other ingredients for it. I chose
Raspberry Cream Chicken with potatoes and a veggie because it’s a favorite and
it doesn’t require too many ingredients that I don’t have on hand.
Here’s my shopping list along with which meal each item will
go with:
Milk
Bread
Fruit
Chocolate chips to make cookies for lunches
4 veggies (sides for 4 meals that don’t have veggies in them)
Cilantro (BBQ pork nachos)
Canned Corn (BBQ pork nachos)
Pickle Relish (Tuna Melts)
2 Chicken Breasts (Raspberry Cream Chicken)
Heavy Cream (Raspberry Cream Chicken)
Potatoes (Raspberry Cream Chicken)
What do you think of my plan? How much do you think I will
spend? Certainly more than $7 but I don’t think I’ll do too badly. I’ll be sure
to give an update after I go shopping!
