I'm going to try a little something just for this week and next - meal planning two weeks at a time? Just to see if it works. We've been doing this new budget {that's A LOT harder than I ever imagined} and to make our gas budget work I need to make less trips to the grocery store.. or anywhere. I'd prefer to shop once a week but if I can cut out that extra trip maybe I can find myself with something left over in my "gas" envelope?! =/
I hate budgeting.
If anyone has any tips/suggestions for making a budget work I'd be
Anyway.
December 5th - 11th
- Orange Chicken - I'm pretty sure this is one of my all-time favs!
- Cheesy Meat Loaf
- Buca Di Beppo Chicken with Lemons - we went to Buca Di Beppo today for the first time and had this chicken... I'm drooling thinking about it again. I'm SO glad that I googled and found the copycat recipe!
- Pizza - As always, I'll be making the crust :) Adam likes this white sauce, sauteed onions, mushrooms, bacon and either chicken or steak. You're welcome! :)
- Chicken Divan - I was looking for a broccoli casserole... this one made me drool - dang Paula Deen! At least the butter is minimal?!
- Crispy Cheddar Chicken
- Easy BBQ'd Ribs
- Ranch House Crock Pot Pork Chops - one of my new favorite blogs!
- French Dips - do you really need a recipe? :)
- Chicken Pad Thai - this was a good one from a few weeks ago but Adam was out of town or something. Since I can't get Adam to eat Thai or Chinese food out, if I make it home he at the very least has to try right??? :)
Bean Sprouts
Sriracha
Rice Noodles
Swiss Cheese slices
Roast Beef
Au Jus
Sandwich Buns
Ranch Dressing packet
Pork Chops {2 or 4}
2 cans Cream of Chicken
2 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese
Parley {bulk}
Ritz Crackers
Whole Chicken {I'll cook for another nights meal - not included above - and used leftovers on the pizza and Chicken Divan}
Bread Crumbs
Cayenne {bulk}
Curry Powder {bulk}
Sour Cream
Broccoli {calls for frozen, I'm buying fresh}
Chicken Breasts {I need 5 for the two weeks}
Mushrooms
Bacon
Parmesan
Butter
Lemons - 4
White Wine
Velveeta
Ground Beef - 2lbs
Green Onion
Orange
Oil {vegetable and peanut if the container isn't huge}
I think that's it?! Weird... because my list isn't much longer than normal, however my cupboards are so bare that I need almost everything on the list?! Stay tuned for how this goes!!! I'll try to update next week to see where I'm at...
Mmm. That chicken was delicious! And it was fun to see you and meet Landon!
ReplyDeleteHere are some tips for you, which work for us, but not everything we do is possible/enjoyable for everyone. First, we don't eat meat everyday. For example, tonight we're having falafel for dinner. Also, I started doing things like adding beans to our meat so I used less meat. So if I make tacos, I use only 1/2lb of ground meat and then a can of black beans. This eventually led to use having tacos that are entirely comprised of black beans, but I hate refried beans, so it isn't like double bean city.
I started asking around at the meat dept and found out the days they mark down their meat. So we stop by on those days to see if there's something we can use.
I bake most of our bread products-Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day is a great book!
I checked out some books from the library by cooks who just cooked completely differently: Heidi Swanson and Mark Bittman were great to help us start eating more veggies/less meat.
Qunioa is our friend. It's a complete protein and it's cheap!
We stopped eating boxed cereal for the most part. We have oatmeal 3 or more times a week, which is inexpensive and filling.
We buy some staples at Costco because they're cheaper: sugar, flour, butter, coffee, oatmeal, quinoa.
We buy mostly organic foods, so I try to make them stretch. Last week, I purchased one 8oz package of bacon which was used in three different recipes (One roasted butternut squash soup, one bolognese sauce and as a side with pancakes). Sometimes, using meat as a garnish is very helpful.
We make our own salad dressing. It's cheap! And it's really easy.
Greens like kale and chard can be really filling. I try to eat them rather than something like a salad. (But I'm not a huge fan of either option!)
There's a company called Zaycon foods that has these one day sales. I got 40lbs of chicken for $55 or something crazy in October. I split that with my sister in-law and a friend so we didn't have freezers bursting with chicken. It took some work on the front end, but it is handy to have stuff like that ready to go.
Okay, I hope some of that helped.