Many blogs about decorating your house on a budget use the term "Shop the House". This means, using what you have instead of buying something additional. I love that. I have used it some in decorating (not that you can call my house "decorated" by any means).
This week, I "shopped the house" for our meals.
I started the year with the plan of spending $200 a week on my family's groceries. We are starting the envelope system in March and I wanted to make sure we could actually live on that. A challenge, for sure as we eat only hormone free meat and eggs along with as many organic fruits and veggies as possible. This means sometimes paying $3 a pound for the 15 apples my youngest child eats weekly. I really started paying attention to coupons and deals, but coupons for what we eat are hard to find.
So far, I have stuck pretty close to it. I have watched sales and stocked up my freezer. We also got a deer from a friend which has helped tremendously in the "healthy meat" department, which is actually our largest grocery cost. We have eaten really well. And I have gotten creative. I found out that my family likes meatloaf! Who knew! I have gotten really good at coming up with innovative (for me) ways to make chicken thighs. (Bacon wrapped anyone?)
This week, my husband and I shopped on Saturday and loaded up on chicken, which ate most of my budget. ( We utilized Earthfare's $10 coupon AND $.75 each package of chicken). So, as I cooked dinners this week, I had to be creative with what I made so as to not have to return to the store. Other than we ran out of apples on Wednesday and my poor daughter is in withdrawals, we have done well. Luckily, I keep certain things as staples in our house at all times. Frozen broccoli,various kinds of fresh gourds, sweet potatoes, taco shells and hamburger buns are a few of those things. My husband and I ate leftovers everyday for lunch and my youngest daughter ate PBJ's all but one day for her lunch. Not too shabby if you ask me.
Trying to live on a budget is new for us. We enjoy eating and feel that it is one of the greatest joys of life. Making those two things work together is a challenge I am up for.
Casa Swann's
shopping the house meals
Saturday: baked chicken and Greek salad (I baked two chickens as prep for Sunday)
Sunday: BBQ chicken sandwich,homemade sweet potato fries,grilled romaine salad with Grilled Feta
Monday: Tacos with ground beef and sauteed veggies
Tuesday: Bacon wrapped chicken thighs, spaghetti squash with olive oil and garlic, baked sweet potatoes
Wednesday: Pumpkin coconut soup (with leftover chicken for the carni folk)
Thursday: Spaghetti sauce with venison, oven roasted veggies (okra, acorn squash, yellow squash and broccoli)
With all that hard work, I deserve a night out...Taco Mamacita is calling my name!
Sometimes instead of baking my chicken, I boil it for a couple hours which gives me a lot of broth. Then, I can turn that into other soups. Cream of asparagus, cream of broccoli, etc.
ReplyDeleteOur budget is $200 a week as well... BUT I never can feed my family on that... I end up going back to the grocery store after 4 days....
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