January Shopping- Mission Accomplished

So I just got back from the grocery store and I'm pretty excited I must say. I got everything from my list ( which should be enough for the ENTIRE month of January for ......$153.xx!!!!! I must say I am pretty excited. I even got several things that were not on my list but were good deals. I got several non food items also that we need like an air filter, toilet paper and a really cute Christmas candle that was 75% off!

A few observations:
- we eat a lot of recipes that include tortillas, I really must leran to make these. I've made a few before, but I need to start making them in bulk. We eat a ton of tortillas, and that ate up about $12 of my grocery budget for the month.
- I'm ready for spring and summer when we can actually grow more ourselves, I spent probably $20 this month on fresh produce. I really wanted the fresh parsley, but I have so much that we dried ourselves that I had to pass....
- It's been so long that I've bought that much at the grocery store at one time, and $153 really fills up a cart
- My husband insists on vitamins for the girls since they don't eat meat. I can't argue with him, so that was about $10 of my monthly budget. They had a Buy one get one sale on the vitamins we like, and I had coupons, so it worked out nicely.

I still have about $120 left for the month!!! I know I'll have to pick up maybe another gallon of milk in a few weeks but that honestly should be all. Any money left over will go directly into savings for something special.

EGGS!

We love eggs. We honestly do. I have a 5 year old and 3 year old and they both adore eggs. It's great because we get them from our chickens, free range of course. And even though we love our eggs and use them for fried eggs, egg sandwiches, scrambled eggs, quiches, breakfast burritos and more, I still would have a lot of eggs that I didn't know what to do with.

I give some away of course to family and friends, I have one neighbor who will only take 3 eggs per week, she says that is all she needs.

But something else that I have started doing that we like is on Saturday I will take about a dozen eggs and hard boil them. The girls help me peel them, and I'll stick the in the fridge for the week. Sometimes my husband or even my 5 year old will have one for breakfast. I slice them up and put them in a salad, or pack one in our lunches. It's a great utlization of the eggs, and the key is to get them all finished at once, and prepared for the week. It is so much easier to boil 12 eggs at once, then to just do them whenever you would like one.

My January Menu

My January Budget for 4 people ( 2 grown ups, a 5 year old and a 3 year old ) is.......
$275
I'm hoping that posting my menu and such will help me stay accountable and within budget....

So as promised here is my January meal plan. Just a few notes,
1) our chickens are still laying, so we get our eggs there
2) I make our own bread and snacky things such as cookies, muffins, pretzels etc. There are also a few things not on my list such as yogurt, that I buy for snacks.

So I think the easiest way to do it is to list how many breakfasts we need ( weekends) and how many lunches we need ( weekends only , and my husband and I will bring either leftovers or homeade soup to work) and then of course dinners which is the bulk of it.

Breakfasts

1. cereal or oatmeal

2.cereal or oatmeal

3. cinnamon buns

4. cinamon buns

5.Scrambled ( or fried for hubby) eggs, toast
6. pancakes

7. waffles

8. pancakes

9. French toast
On mornings that I work I typically grab a peice of fruit, or do a bowl of oatmeal. I make hubby scrambled egg sandwiches.

Lunches

1. Spinach Artichoke lasagna

2. leftovers

3. sandwich, chips, salsa

4. Soup

5. Soup

6. Homeade Pizza

7. Noodles of some sort

8. Veggie Heaven ( normally consists of 3-4 veggies, canned, fresh or frozen from our garden)

9. Veggie Heaven ( normally consists of 3-4 veggies, canned, fresh or frozen from our garden)

Dinners

1. Breakfast burritos, toast with jelly

2. stirfry with brown rice

3. tuna casserole

4. tuna casserole

5. Spaghetti ( will probably include deer meat to satisfy my hubby)

6. Pesto Pasta

7. Alfredo Pasta

8. Chili

9. Soup/ Grilled cheese

10. Leftovers

11. Leftovers

12. Non- breakfast burritos ( normally just beans and cheese, plus jalepenos and onions for me and hubby)

13. Quesadillas

14. Homeade pizza

15. Pb&J

16. Quesadillas

17. Tuna Casserole

18. Tuna Casserole

19. Pesto Pasta

20. Alfredo Pasta

21. Spaghetti

22. Tuna casserole

23. Tomato Tortellini Soup

24.Chili

25. Quesadillas

26. Alfredo Pasta

27. Veggie Heaven ( normally consists of 3-4 veggies, canned, fresh or frozen from our garden)

28. Veggie Heaven ( normally consists of 3-4 veggies, canned, fresh or frozen from our garden)

29. Veggie Heaven ( normally consists of 3-4 veggies, canned, fresh or frozen from our garden)
30.  Out to dinner ( husband got a NICE gift card for Christmas to a local restaraunt)

31.  Out to dinner ( husband got a NICE gift card for Christmas to a local restaraunt)

 Another few things to remember, I will have some sort of side dish with most things. For instance normally the quesadillas will be cheese for the girls, then hubby and I add jalepnos. Sides will be refried beans and mexican rice. Chili will include a homeade bread , pastas include at least one veggie, sometimes two and a bread.  These are not necessarily in order, just the overall month. I think we will have leftovers more than I allotted for, but just wanted to make sure I had enough stuff bought just in case.

This is just an experiment, I am anxious to see how it works.

Once a month shopping???

A new year is upon us and I'm really going to try to do my grocery shopping once a month. There are several reasons I want to try this....
1) I have a monthly grocery budget and just going once per month should really help to detour "extras".
2) We don't live in town, it takes a while for us to get to town, go the grocery store and get home. We should save on gas also, if we just go once per month.
3) This will FORCE me to stick to my monthly meal planning lists.
4) More family time at home on the weekends which typically would be my "trip to town" day.

Also, before I divulge my Monthly shopping list and my monthly budget I think it is fair to tell you a few things about my deep freeze and pantry.
1) We only eat deer meat ( or venison as some people call it) and  fish ( Crappie and catfish are our faves), we will eat canned tuna occasionally as my 5 year old adores it. VERY VERY occasionaly , like if we go to the Gulf , we will bring home shrimp. The freezer is full of deer meat, but most days we are strictly vegetarians.
2) I coupon, and I have a very nice stockpile of rice, whole grain pasta,oats and a few other things. So you may notice that even though I may list oatmeal for breakfast, that I don't buy oatmeal that month, it's because I've got a TON of it already. Same with pasta. I have boxes and boxes of whole grain pasta I caught on sale and had coupons for. I will not buy pasta for a very long time, and actually will probably make it before I pay more than a few cents a box for it.
3) We can a LOT of our garden each year. You may notice things in my menu, especially things that are tomato based like salsa,diced tomatoes, tomato soup etc. that I never buy at the grocery store, it's because we can them. Same thing with pesto, jelly, jam, jalepenos etc. If you notice that it's not on my grocery list it's probably because I can it, ( or freeze it, like corn).
4) My girls stay with my mother in law part time and a private babysitter part time, so I don't buy food for them for breakfast or lunch during the week ( unless it's a special snack).

So.....
I have Staples that I will need to stock up on , and I have a list of Health and Beauty Aides that our family needs, but I should be stocked up on the majority of that also due to my couponing.

I will post my monthly budget ( which should help hold me accountable), tomorrow, and will also post my staples list and my menu soon. I plan to go grocery shopping this coming Friday, so we will see what happens.

I would love to hear stories of you all and your adventures in once a month shopping.

Home Made Pizza

I just had to share. This was so yummy!

I made the dough in my bread maker, super easy and fast. Then just topped it with cheese ( for the girls side) and on hubby and I's side I put peppers that we canned from last years garden and black olives. Made a delicious lunch! The pizza stone is my faithful Pampered Chef stone I've had for years and absolutly ADORE it.

Merry Christmas!


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Homeade Bread Crumbs - Yummy

Not only are they delish, but so easy! I started out with homeade bread, it was a couple of days old, but certainly not stale yet. I had made several new loaves today to eat during the holidays, so I thought I would make breadcrumbs with the older loaf. I put what I had on a cookie sheet ( yes I know it's ugly and I need a new one).

Then baked for about 15 minutes in 300 degree oven.


Take them out and tear  them into small peices and put it in the food processor, or blender or whatever you use.

Pulverize it, then you can either freeze it, put it in a mason jar with a lid, or put it in a Tupperware type container with a tight fitting lid.

Things to use your breadcrumbs on:
- venison parmisan
- breading fish
- breading veggies
- adding to fresh salad for a tiny bit of a crunch
- add to the top of lasagna, casseroles and such

What are some things you like to use your breadcrumbs for?

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Somehow I deleted all my comments on posts. I'm terribly upset as I really love comments. My apologies to all of you whose comments are now gone.....