A big part of my keeping to a budget has been menu planning. Each week I take a look at what’s in the cupboard and decide what to make for dinner each evening. Breakfast is every man for himself and lunch is dependent on whether the husband is home or not. Planning dinners has allowed me to shop sales and make sure the food we buy gets used and not thrown away. Plus I love to find recipes and then ignore them when I cook, the menu plan gives me a starting point. So let’s see what’s on for this week…
Saturday – broccoli brown rice casserole
Sunday – we’ll be at Lampost Pizza – not having a TV means going out when certain teams are playing a certain game called football
Monday – brats, sauteed carrots
Tuesday – tuna casserole
Wednesday – pizza
Thursday – garbanzo beans and ? (I’ve never cooked with garbanzos, I’m not even a huge fan, but I’m trying to change both of those things)
Friday – creamy tomato gnocchi
We are using a system that is somewhat based on $80/week for grocery and non-edible and the $50 a week budget. Each week we calculate how much we spent overall and I announce if we are under or over budget.
Shopping in the cupboard and freezer has really helped again this week. I can only hope to see more weeks like this one at any time in the future.
eating out – $39.74
grocery – $35.46
grocery non-edible – $1.2o
Wow, I’m loving those numbers.
