Thursday, February 7, 2013

What's for Dinner?

I research and create a menu plan for each week, thank you Pinterest. I often come across these sits that have like " one month of meals for 100$" or something like that and I'm like "ohh yes! anyway to save!" however 99% percent of the time.. they actually only cook one meal a day,Dinner(or Supper as some call it) most families have older kids who go to school or the parents work so they aren't home to eat 3 meals a day . But in our house, we do eat three meals a day and especially when my husband is home I have to cook REAL, full meals, not like a sandwhich and a small side of mac n cheese.
Also Audrey doesn't eat what we eat, I know some parents say if you don't give them a choice they'll eat it, however Audrey is stubborn like me and if you don't give her what she wants, she just won't eat and I'd much rather her have chicken noodle soup everyday than eat nothing, she doesn't like candy or cookies but does like tomatoes and peas so I really can't complain too much.
Anyway what I'm saying is, I have to plan for at least two big meals a day while Justin is home. I can get away with eating soup or leftovers for a few days when he's gone, but my budgeting really has to be smart when grocery shopping. I used to spend about 120$(it used to be more before I discovered meal planning) for a week and half worth of food(this also included soap, toilet paper, household items) but I really felt like that was just too much. I just can't get into coupons, and price matching just takes more time time than I've got. Luckily there is an Aldi store right by my house, and boy do I love that store now. Seriously, 90% of the stuff is at least 20-30% cheaper than Wal mart. I can't always find everything on my list there, but I rarely have to get more than 3 or 4 things somewhere else. I've gotten bread for .39 cents! How can you beat that?!

I also have found that since it's just a grocery store I'm not tempted to buy things I don't need , I have no clothes or toys or makeup aisle to wander to and find something I have to have(not)
I can spend 60-70$ at Aldi for the exact same meals I was buying before.
Now, not ALL things are cheaper, like TP is like 1.47 or something like that, at Wal-mart I can get it for 1$, and being that the Walmart is two parking lots over from Aldi, it's not out of my way to save a few more cents if I have to go there anyway like for shampoo or diapers.
However I will spend the extra cents on TP to avoid wal mart if I can, like I said ,temptation!
So Whats For Dinner This Week? Here is my menu list for Friday til Tuesday when Justin leaves and I do a different type meals for myself.

Friday
Lunch-Hamburgers and fries
Dinner-Chicken Spaghetti(a 7$ bag of chicken breasts at aldi can make me 3 different meals)

Saturday
Lunch- Tacos and rice
Dinner-Date night(eating out)
,
Sunday
Lunch- Hot Wings and Fries
Dinner-pork chops, mashed potatoes and homemade mac n cheese

Monday
Lunch- Pizza
Dinner-Pancakes and eggs with meat( I've got syrup and eggs I need to use up)

Tuesday
Lunch-homemade soup
When Justin goes to work, he also has to buy groceries so I try to be extra cheap, two separate grocery bills can be expensive. I'll post an example of that before I go shopping again, which will be either Monday or Tuesday.

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