Hello all you lovely menu planning gals! Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend and is ready to get their menus organized and posted.
I’m still working on getting my weekly grocery bill down, I’m feeling inspired by Crystal’s $35.00 menu plan. I enjoy reading Crystal’s two blogs (Biblical Womanhood and Money Saving Mom), she is quite an inspiration and I just can’t get over the fact that she is only 24 years old! Her Homemade Pizza in less than 30 minutes recipe from last week was terrific by the way.
I don’t think I’ll ever get my bill down to $35.00 (due to my son’s food allergies) BUT anything below $150.00 for our family of 5 would be nice. I live in a small community where coupons are pretty scarce unfortunately so I’m going to have to concentrate on $$ conscious recipes. If you feel like sharing I’d love to hear how much everyone else spends on groceries each week and your best tips for how you stretch your grocery $$.
So here is what I’ve figured out for this week:
Monday: Meatloaf, potatoes and squash
Tuesday: Slow Cooked Thai Chicken served with rice and broccoli
Wednesday: Three Cheese Kielbasa Bake (Simple & Delicious Sept/Oct 07)
Thursday: Leftover Buffet
Friday: Fajitas
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{ 63 comments… read them below or add one }
Looks like a good week for you. I on the other hand am slacking.
Thanks for hosting.
MJ
I use The Grocery Game for some of my shopping. But I do the bulk of my shopping at Wal-Mart. I hate going there but the prices just can’t be beat. I spend around $90 a week for 2 and a half of us. Right now my DS doesn’t eat much…going through a phase. My old trick was to make soup once a week and freeze the left overs for another meal. But now DH is taking Campbells microwave soups in his lunch and won’t eat soup again for dinner.
Sounds yummy!! We are trying hard to cut down on our spending this month…no eating out and no grocery shopping for fun!! I am planning my menus based on things I have in the house and for the past 3 weeks, I’ve only needed to buy 5 or so items in order to prepare our dinners!! At the end of the month I will compare this month with last month on my blog and see how we did.
Hi Laura,
We just had the Thai chick tonight and it was fabulous!! I too would like to lower my food bill :) Have a great week.
Wow! A $35 menu plan is inspiring!
over the past couple of years, i haven’t been very cost-conscious, and i’ve been buying lots of prepared foods. i’ll be interested to see what others are saying about cutting their grocery bills.
have a great week, laura! thanks, as always, for being such a terrific host!
I try to keep my menus as low-costing as possible. Sometimes, they aren’t the most exciting dishes, but they get the job done.
Right now, so many of our expenses are fixed. Since the grocery budget is one thing I can control, it makes sense to save as much as I can in that department.
As you can see by my menu this week, my dinners will cost $11.13 for two adults. Lunches are usually made from dinner leftovers or sandwiches, and breakfasts are simple–oatmeal, cereal or reheated pancakes/waffles.
Oops, I just realized I linked to my homepage not my MPM. I’m soooo sorry! It’s late and I’m on a natural high from the Red Sox win tonight. I’ll do better next time. Thanks for hosting!
Great menu you have! Yum! Thanks for hosting!
thanks for hosting;)Sounds like a yummy week.
http://frugal.families.com/blog/3-meals-that-feed-your-family-for-150-or-less
My friend Mary Ann’s frugal living blog just had a post on the “cheap eats” idea that has re-inspired me to cook from my pantry and freezer this week! I haven’t been reading long enough to know about the allergies but good luck!
I can’t believe I’m only #30 instead of #130. ;v)
I need to check out those links. My grocery budget is higher but then I’m feeding 3 teenagers and 6 dayhome kiddies in there too, so I can’t make a comparison budget. But boy, any hints to bring my budget down are well worth checking into for me.
Thanks, as usual, for hosting! Have a delicious week!
Thanks for hosting!
The food budget thing always gets to me. We have dietary restrictions in our house that make true budget eating a less likely reality. Just our farmer’s market spending this week was $30!
I go to Walmart to buy my things and other cheapie places like Aldi’s etc. I spend $150 every 2 weeks for a family of 5. I think that is pretty good considering that includes toiletries etc as well! :) Although, i am truly blessed that my inlaws own a meat market…so we get our meat for free! Thank God!
I’m back again with healthy foods. I have never really budgeted my food expenditures. I’m with justkc; it’s really hard to eat a limited diet or organic on a budget! The stuff that has the least nutritional value seems to be the cheapest. If we just ate beans…
TM
Thanks for inspiring me to plan!
Hi Laura
Looking at some of the budgets make me realise that we are very blessed living in South Africa because food is a lot cheaper. Or I’m cheap. Our budget is R1200 per month. Sometimes, we stick to it, sometimes we don’t. Oh, that’s about $171. BTW, that is very good by our standards too.
Personally, I feel that lots of people waste a lot of food. I know people who won’t eat leftovers. I save money by always cooking double and freeze the second portion for another night’s meal. I also like to have at least one vegetarian meal every week, like my spaghetti with kidney beans pasta on Thursday this week.
If any of your readers want to ask questions, they’re welcome to email me with more ideas.
Organising queen and
Marcia’s take charge blog
Good morning! Great list going here.
:)
I gotta check out her blogs! How does she do $35?!?! I’m proud of myself for getting out of the grocery store for $120! Ha! I gotta learn her ways!
Good Morning. I spend $200 every 2 weeks….the key is to go with cash no check book or debit card…and we eat alot of generics….but there are certain things we have to have name brand like toilet tissue, ketchup…you get the point. Your menu sounds great. Have a wonderful day.
GREAT looking menu… Wow! A $35 menu plan is inspiring! Thank for sharing, this is something I really need to do…HAVE a Wonderful week! Many Blessing
Great list! I haven’t spent only $35 on groceries in ages, but I really need to get back to budgeting!! Thanks for hosting this great menu planning monday!
Mine is up!
I’ve posted mine, too. Lots of great ideas, thanks!!
I don’t see the Mr Linky!
Wow, $35? That’s inspiring. Ours has been around $50/wk lately, but DH is deployed so it’s just me and two tiny girls. And the commissary is a huge help for the budget!
I don’t see Mr. Linky either! Was reading through earlier comments and don’t see anyone else having problems. So it must have gone away sometime in the past few minutes. I have tried reloading and everything, and he’s still not showing up.
Well, my menu plan is up at http://scottdomain.servehttp.com:8080/lwordpress/?p=513
I’ll try to get back here later to add my menu to Mr. Linky, but it’s baking day, and I’ve got a lot of baking to do today.
Sounds great. Thank you for hosting.
Mine is up, too.
Ever since I stumbled upon Kacie’s blog (Sense to Save), I feel very determined to slash our grocery budget in half. What frustrates me the most is that healthier, fresh foods DO cost more! :( It seems so unfair to me.
To save money, the best we do right now is incorporate 2-3 meatless meals each week. Rice & beans, veggie quesadillas, meatless whole wheat pasta, vegetable ka-bobs. Looking at them, too, the mealtess meals tend to be healthier, so we’re not losing on protein or anything, either.
I can’t see Mr. Linky either
Hi,
We are currently a family of 5 at home, although on college breaks we become a family of 6 at home. I do my “big” shopping every two weeks, and then fill in with bread, milk, produce as needed and fits the budget. Our main shopping every two weeks, including cleaning products, is roughly $140. On weeks where I have to purchase a good deal of meat this may go as high as $180. I probably spend another $20 – $40 on the milk and produce. So, roughly $90 – $110 per week total. If I break that down it is $18 – $22 per person. I use some coupons, but often buy cheaper store brands. And, you don’t often find coupons for eggs, produce, etc. which makes a large portion of our budget. I have just been connected with an “egg person.” So I will now be able to buy beautiful cage free, hormone free, brown eggs for just $1/dozen.
When possible we try to buy organic. And, during the Farmers’ Market season we try to buy local. It doesn’t always work, but we do what we can.
BLessings, Kim
Mine is up, too!
I try to be frugal, but sometimes I just don’t quite do as well as I think I should. I’ll definitely be checking out these blogs… thanks for sharing!
Hmm… Three Cheese Kielbasa Bake? That might be one I’ll have to find the recipe for… I’m always looking for new Kielbasa recipes, since Kielbasa is ONE meat that I regularly get at a great price! :)
Thanks for hosting!
I can’t see Mr Linky, either.
Here’s my menu link: http://toomanyrecipes.blogspot.com/2007/10/menu-plan-monday-1022.html
We eat a lot of generics, I buy in bulk, and I try to plan menus around what’s on hand, not planning for anything that involves going out and buying extra ingredients. Still, I can’t imagine getting down to $35!
Something is down on the Mister linky side beacuse the links on my blog are not showing up either?
Great menu this week, thanks for the recipe!!
Since something is happening with Mr. linky I will post my link here.
http://yestheyareallmine.wordpress.com/2007/10/22/menu-monday-9/
Hi Laura!
For a family of four (and that’s three guys and me), we average about $150.00 a week, too. We don’t buy a lot of snacks, junk food or soda and I stick to a list. I make a menu for the week and then stick to it. It seems to work pretty good. And considering I’m feeding a grown man and two teenage boys, that’s not too bad, IMHO.
Good luck trimming the “fat” from your food budget!
I just posted my menu for the week. I have been following the menus and recipes from Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely and I LOVE it! I am saving tons of $$ just by sticking to a menu and not eating out.
One way I have saved $$ on groceries in the past is to plan my menu around the sale items. I am not using that method right now. because I am enjoying Saving Dinner.
We have 9 people in our family and right now I spend about $500 a month on groceries, plus about $50 a month on fast food. Last year at this time I spent $600+ on groceries and way more on fast food so we have cut down considerably. Using cash has helped out tremendously! That, and planning like crazy!
Hope that helps.
Julie
Mmmmm….fajitas!!!
We’re trying to cut down on the grocery bill a little, too. The result at our house? A not-terribly-exciting menu.
OK, I came back to check, and Mr Linky has magically reappeared. :)
Sounds like a good week! We’re having fajitas on Friday as well!
My plan is up! With the prices of food items going up it is getting difficult to cut costs but it doesn’t mean one can’t try too. Like others, I have talked about cost cutting in the grocery dept. on my blog. Here is a link to my five “frugal thoughts” posts. http://glimpseofsonshine.blogspot.com/search/label/Frugal%20Thoughts
i need to go shopping for this week. blah
This is my first time! I am not sure that the link worked but… I hope so!
We are a family of 7 and I spend $125/week which includes diapers and other household stuff. Thanks for hosting this! I’m looking forward to participating.
This is really helping me keep my grocery bill down. Thank you!!
I’m joining! Thanks!
MT Mommy
Would love to hear $$ tips as well as I am not a frugal shopper–but would like to learn.
I am enjoying the weekly planning and eating at home. Love sharing all the recipes!
We are having Meatloaf too!
I was very excited to find your site…I have been doing meal plans for a while, so will try to start posting them on Mondays too and join in the fun! Our meals are focused on eating local/organic on a budget…we spend around $200 a month (for 2 adults) on this.
Great Menu Laura :)
Hi! I’ve been reading your blog for a while (I love to organize also!!)….I noticed today, you mentioned your son’s food allergies. My son has a severe peanut allergy and I was just wondering what your son is allergic to.
Hi Krista, here is the link to a post I did on my son’s allergies
http://orgjunkie.blogspot.com/2007/05/food-allergy-awareness-week.html
Hope that helps!
Thanks for the link to your post. I have never blogged about his allergies, but I will be soon. It’s great to hear from other parents that are going through the same experiences that we are! Thanks again, krista
Boy, I’m late coming to the party this week, but I made it! Thanks, as always, for hosting Menu Plan Monday.
I’m a first timer here and I already picked up a lot of dinner ideas from all the posts. Thanks!
Hi,
I’m also trying to find ways to cut down the shopping bill, I’ve been trying to write a post about it for the last couple of weeks, but I have yet to have any inspiration :) So I’ll keep trying!
You menu for this week looks yummy btw :)
See you next week!
Rachel xxx
My first “official” MPM!! Thanks for the great ideas!!!
I look forward to this EVERY week!!
Hey Laura
If you are looking for some recipes that are easy and inexpensive to make you should get a Rachel Ray magazine she always has lots of yummy recipes in that are and then if you like her you can get one of her cookbooks I love her she is great.
Tasha
I enjoy reading everybody’s menu; gives me ideas for next week….sorry about 210-I goofed up. I invite everybody to view my blog. This is one of the best ideas I’ve seen on the web!
I never plan a menu but this all looks really good. I use my instinct.
Ok, I tried the thai chicken tonight and thought it was quite delightful! My husband, son and I want it again. My picky little 6 yo daughter was not overly fond but she is not a big pb fan anyway. Thanks for the recipe.