The last few months we've had a surplus in our account for various reasons and I have literally been living with no budget. Very weird but nice :)
Now that we have used up the extra money when purchasing our home, having a baby and all kinds of other expenses, we are now back to having a regular budget :) Don't get the wrong idea, we're not scrimping and are certainly blessed, but it just means I have a certain amount of money to work with now.
The main area I can help with this is in meals. I cooked so many beans and rice meals when we were scrimping that I came to loathe them while pregnant. So I have virtually cooked almost no beans and little rice in the last 9-10months. We just got burned out I suppose. Looking back I'm pretty amazed at how I stretched our food budget. The grace of God huh?
Yesterday I worked pretty hard and was able to buy our food, including things from the health food store for about $130. That sounds like a lot huh? I used to have to keep it under $100 or much less at times. I'm getting better that I was though. I'm trying to get back into making things from scratch, which definitely cuts the food bill.
Our menu, not including breakfast and lunch:
Monday- you saw that, chicken, rice, raw veggie salad
Tuesday- homemade sloppy joe on sprouted wheat buns, fresh corn on the cob and cole slaw
Wednesday- sprouted lentil/veggie soup, cheddar biscuits and jello salad
Thursday- shepherd's pie, salad, green beans
Friday- bbq chicken legs, oven fries, leftover slaw
Saturday- pizza and salad
Sunday- leftovers or ramen
Monday- salmon cakes, rice, broccoli
Tuesday- spaghetti and meatballs (frozen meatballs I bought awhile back) salad, garlic bread
Breakfast choices are: yogurt with homemade granola, homemade banana muffins, instant oatmeal packets or microwaveable sausage biscuits
Lunch is hit and miss right now...working on it- the girls generally take a sandwich on whole wheat bread, some raw veggies or fruit, something crunchy and salty or a sweet treat like a granola bar and a juice box.
So I bought 2+lbs of ground beef, 1lb ground turkey, and 1 large package of chicken legs, plus 1 can of salmon and a package of breakfast sausage links for my dh. I will make this for breakfast Saturday with eggs and stuff. Being the man he is he really likes a hefty breakfast when we have time, and since he's the only man in the house, I must honor that one thing and have mercy on him, lol.
I'm actually looking forward to using beans again and trying new things. I miss being a good innovative cook- she's been hibernating for a looooooooong time :) My husband will be happy too.
5 comments:
Your menus sound good. We need to start eating healthier. Are you still following NT, or just doing your own healthy thing?
Ugh... we just ripped through our cushion in our account, too. Sure was great to see something at Walmart and just get it, but now we've got financial whip-lash trying to figure out how it could have sifted through our fingers so quickly. Sure does go fast, doesn't it?
We're trying Dave Ramsey-ish approach. We don't have enough debt to do his entire plan, but we'll take his "babysteps" and apply them.
I just got out our menus and am having trouble sticking to them. WE've had a tummy virus here, so it all sounds gross :o)
Your baby is adorable!!
Heatherj
So glad to hear you're feeling good!!
Question: is the $130 for a week? Two weeks? More?
Just curious. We have recently cut out almost ALL going-out-to-eat meals/fast food and thus our grocery bill went up a bit (but not NEAR the amount we had been spending on dining out). So I'm trying to figure out what is reasonable and realistic.
Thanks~
Lori- it was for a week. But, I sort of have to shop at a more expensive store because my husband works for that grocery store chain. I could get by with less at walmart, but I generally go to the other store since it's like paying ourselves...sort of...
I went to the health food store too to stock up on raw honey, organic oatmeal, organic yogurt etc. I don't have to go there every week though.
Sarah- I'm still doing parts of Nourishing Traditions- I soak grains and legumes, do the kefir, whatever organic I can afford, but, I certianly don't do it like some people. I may never go back to what I was doing.
Sounds like a good menu. I've been gradually introducing more beans into our menu. My 2yo daughter likes them so much that she'll pick the beans out first if I do something like say a chilli.
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