Well, as you can see…I’m still here. No move yet! We shall see, and I’ll keep you updated through facebook {at least} when things do start happening. :)
Crockpot Lemon Chicken via The Queen Bee’s Hive
Shrimp Scampi Bake /2 via All Recipes
Date Night… Gift Card-ing it, Woot! Happy Vday to us!
From the Freezer… Crockpot BBQ Chicken via Fork in it {from last week}
Hubby helped me yesterday afternoon, and we amazingly knocked out FOUR meals in TEN minutes… Believe it or not.
I told you already we seriously SLASHED our grocery budget. Slashed it so brutally that we aren’t even sure it is going to be feasible, but we figured we were up for the challenge of trying it.
From the Two Week Spending Freeze, we realized that our Basic Weekly Staples were about $10. That’s the barest of basics. And, gulp, we are going to see if we can do coupon stock ups and lunch/dinner ingredients for the week for another $30.
I know. That’s kind of like pocket change when it comes to a weekly grocery budget for a family of five. It’s not EVEN CLOSE to what we were dishing out weekly at Walmart, fyi.
But like I mentioned last week, our Spending Freeze really opened my eyes about needs vs wants, and how much we are conditioned in thinking “If I want, I MUST have it.”
Especially when in our minds, we’re JUST talking about a $3 jar of pickles. Or whatever else says “Get in mah belly!”
After a very long, 3+ year coupon hiatus, I made a list, clipped, and planned my first week back out in the couponing craziness in an effort to achieve our crazy goal.
Four stores later, our totals were:
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Harris Teeter… $13
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Bilo… $6
{I spent $19 and saved $27 at those two stores!}
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Walgreens… $3 for milk
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Walmart… $20 for staples and meal ingredients for THIS week
Soooo… dun, dun, dun… We spent $42 for the WEEK, people!! Woot!!!!
We know it ain’t gonna be easy, and we may not always meet our goal, but hooray for initial success, right? :)
Do you wanna take a stab at a stress free dinnertime? Click for more info on how on earth I do it. {Did I mention I ♥ it?}
Anyone with any couponing tips to share? What are your favorite coupon deal sites? Are we cah-razy for shooting for such a S-M-A-L-L weekly budget?
Another yummy sounding menu this week :) I regularly slash my budget by cutting down on buying anything except the barest of essentials in a week (for me that is usually some dairy items and veggies/fruits). I make recipes that call for only what is left in the house that week. I am always surprised at how much food there really is in the house when I force myself to look carefully and use up things I have forgotten are even there. Good luck with your budget this month :)
I have been working on cutting down our grocery bill, I started planning out meals a week at a time. Yesterday I was crying at the end of the shopping trip, I failed to stick to my budget and I felt that no matter what changes I make I am still going over. I think I really need to sit down and do what you did a want vs a need for my next trip. Question for you: when using coupons is it better to stick to one store or to visit two or three stores in order to get the best deals?
Good luck with your budget it looks like you are doing fantastic
If you have a Lowes food near you they are having Super Doubles coupons Feb. 8-14. Harris Teeter is having super doubles Feb. 15-21. Don't forget to sign up for store electronic coupons. Also, not sure if you know this but Harris Teeter always has boneless skinless chicken breats for $1.99 a pound in the butcher case.
Yes, you are so right! Shocking what meals you can put together with what you've been ignoring in your freezer/pantry!
Planning your menu really is half the battle. If you do that you at least know that you are going to be covered for dinner for the week so no last minute running out to the store or for take out.
It helps too to make sure the rest of the fam is on board with the plan, otherwise it just won't work.
As far as coupons and sales, you'll always do better the more stores you visit, unfortunately, since that's such a hassle!! In my past cpn days, I always got the best deals at Harris Teeter, but they can be pretty expensive when you aren't buying what's on sale. So for me that means having to go to Walmart or maybe Aldi's for my basics and meal ingredients.
Coupons aren't all that hard, it just takes oodles of time. :)
I just read that a little bit ago! Woot! Hope I'll have enough coupons to get some good stuff!!
Those pictures look super duper yummy. You've got me craving shrimp scampi.
Everything looks so yummy, can I come over for dinner too??!!!
yay for cutting your budget! $40 can be done but with 3 kids might be hard :) you might find you need $50 but you can always adjust.
we do $40/week for us. And some of that includes meals I prepare for church too (breakfast in SS every other week, etc.) AND we rarely eat out (like maybe 2-3 mo. with coupons and gift cards) even for lunches so that means I am buying a lot more at the grocery store. Plus I don't plan a menu as strict as I should :( so I don't always maximize what I have in the pantry/freezer/or fridge so sometimes buy something else when I had everything on hand to make xyz. Strict menu planning helps you cut your budget too.
Do you have Aldi? you can price match their prices at Wal-mart. So that might help you save on your staples/milk/bread/veggies/fruit.
Good job on the coupon totals too! And as you know as you do it longer the more you will stockpile and have on hand so you very well might be able to keep it at $40 :)
The lemon chicken looks good! Great job on getting your groceries down so low, I am very impressed! My grocery bill is out of control, so I am definitely going to tune in and hopefully get motivated to get it down at least some!
And, thank you – got rid of the white boxes on my blog, easy peasy with your instructions!! :-)
Wonderful goal! I've never used coupons; where do you get them? How do I sign up for electronic coupons? We don't spend the money for newspapers, and our stores are limited: Aldi, Save a Lot, and Walmart. The cheapest (without coupons) is definately Aldi! My baking staples are acquired at a Bulk Food Store. These stores are very low priced, especially on spices, oatmeal, dried beans, jello, etc.
You can get them from the Sunday paper, and there are lots of printable coupons too. SouthernSavers.com lists printable coupons with the deals available at stores which is really helpful!
The Lemon Chicken looks yummy…but where can I find the recipe? I’m trying to get us on a budget and have been doing well making bi-weekly menus…yep, payday to payday lol I’ve actually gotten pretty good at it since the last menu lasted two extra days than expected. Now if I could just get the cost down, we usually end up spending almost $300 on groceries :(
We have found the local meat market which is helping a bit. I’m just limited to our meals since I’m still learning to cook. That’s what brought me to your blog, searching for super easy recipes that even someone like me can’t mess up. Your Parmesan Tilapia just went on this menu :)