So how did everyone do on last week's challenge? I made about $100 this week by selling some old clothes, books, and some household goodies. I even gave away a whole box of $1 items that I didn't want to bother selling. I spent a lot of what I made on some shoes/clothes for the new baby were expecting in May and some "used", but new to me clothes. Most of the money I made went towards groceries for this week. Which leads me into this weeks saving money topic:
January is a super tight month for us. My husband is part salary/part commission and earns almost none of the latter in December, which means his New Years paycheck pays our rent, car payment and life insurance right down to the penny. For me, this presents a challenge - namely groceries, since thi means I have no money to budget for groceries until the 16th, when his mid-month advance comes in. Sure there is always the credit card, but we don't like using those unless we have to, so this week I put myself to work meal planning to see what kind of yummy things I could put together. Amazingly I put together 16 different healthy meals all with what was in our fridge/freezer and pantry. The saying is true that you always have more than you think you do. Here is just some of the meals I made this week:
Chicken/Bacon/Avacado Wraps, Tacos, Salmon/Rice/Veggies, Potato/Bacon/Leek Soup, Roasted Chicken/Potatoes, Homade Chicken Noodle Soup, Chili, Burgers, Beer Battered Cod and French Fries and finally we had Appie Night!
So this weeks topic is about using up what you have. I'm sure i'm not the only one that finds themselves tight on money at times. I thought it might be helpful if I shared some of the meals that we typically pair together to save money. The leftovers from the previous meals are a main staple for dinner in the next 2 days:
1. Roasted Chicken Dinner with Potatoes- use extra chicken and carcass for - Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup
2. Bacon/Eggs/Hashbrowns (Breakfast for Dinner) - use leftover bacon and chicken from above for - Ranch Chicken/Bacon Wraps or BLT Sandwiches - use extra bacon and potatoes from above for Potato/Leek/Bacon Soup
3. Tacos - use leftover hamburger for - Chili or Spaghetti - use leftover chili/pasta sauce for - Chili Dogs
Here are some other great ideas for cheap healthy meals to help you get by:
- Tuna Melts
- Fish and Chips (we picked up 5pieces of wild cod this week at the Superstore for $5.98!)
- Appie Night!
For those of you who followed my blog last year, you will remember that I cook and froze 30 bags of pumpkin (yes it was all FREE!). I also made 2 yummy Pumpkin Cranberry Loaves this week as well, which only cost me the cranberries (a great deal at $1.28/bag during Christmas at the Superstore).
Challenge: This week my challenge to you is to see how many meals you can create with just the stuff you have in your house. You may be surprised at how much this can save you on groceries..I figured I saved at least $100 this week alone (which is typically my grocery budget for 1 week).
Total Spent Week 2: $107.27 (remember my totals includ. diapers!)
Total Coupon Used Week 2: $8.00
YTD Grocery Total: $195.80
Coupons To Date: $32.03
% Savings to Date: 14%
No comments:
Post a Comment