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 – salmon was on the menu but got left in the freezer so we ended up eating out on our way home from the fair
Sunday – pancakes
Monday – I’m looking for a recipe for the salmon filets I didn’t use on Saturday
Tuesday – black beans and rice
Wednesday – pizza
Thursday – baked pasta
Friday – the husband and I are out, Grandma will be running the kitchen
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.
eating out – $174.50
grocery – $54.10
grocery non-edible – $6.53
Not pretty, but not as bad as it could have been. All of this eating out was because of our travels so there’s not much we could change there. Now we’re home and back to some semblance of a budget. I hope.
WHAT’S BEEN SAID