For those of you that don't know, I became a full-time-stay-at-home-Mommy on May 4th. It has been an exciting adventure. As a family, we decided that I should quit my part-time job as a photographer and spend my time with the kiddos. When we found out we were pregnant with baby #3, this seemed to be our best option. I was having trouble keeping up with two kids, an abundance of laundry, dinner each night, a working husband, etc. I couldn't imagine adding another human to this family. I am so thankful I have a hard working husband that has given me this gift-- I love my life watching my babies grow up! I love making breakfast in the morning! I love making yummy dinners in the evening (and I think the husband is growing quite fond of it too!)
Since I'm a stay at home Mommy now, part of me feels that I need to learn to BUDGET.. especially when it comes to our grocery list. Our bills are budgeted, but that's one thing I always go crazy on! So, I knew I needed to buckle down. While shopping the past few weeks, I have wrote down the prices of every item I typically buy. I have it on a spreadsheet and now I spend Tuesday-Thursday making a grocery list, calculating the total, recalculating, moving meals around, etc. I enjoy doing it... it's fun to see what dinners I can make for as little money as possible!
I decided to start blogging my weekly grocery adventures in hopes that I'll be accountable--- eat at home more, eat out less! That's the goal! I was spending $100 a week at the grocery and we were still eating out 3 times a week-- ridiculous! So, hopefully this will help me be accountable to all of you readers!
So I made a grocery list this week of all of our essentials and then I found recipes and changed things out/put things in until the grocery list was about $75.00.
I made a chart of our meals. Saturday we will plan for lunch and dinner (we won't be here for breakfast), Sunday we will plan for breakfast and lunch (we won't be here for dinner), and then Monday-Friday, I am planning out our dinners (the girls and I usually have sandwiches, soup, rice, etc. for lunches every day.)
Saturday: LUNCH- tomato soup/macaroni and cheese/grilled cheese/peanut butter and jelly
DINNER: Veggie Quesadillas (I usually make green pepper/onion/spinach quesadillas seasoned with cayenne pepper and taco seasoning) and I make a dip with sour cream (mixed with taco seasoning too!) Everyone seems to love it and it's really cheap!
DINNER: Veggie Quesadillas (I usually make green pepper/onion/spinach quesadillas seasoned with cayenne pepper and taco seasoning) and I make a dip with sour cream (mixed with taco seasoning too!) Everyone seems to love it and it's really cheap!
Sunday: BREAKFAST- Hashbrowns (I make my own with red potatoes), over-easy eggs (I love to dip!), bacon, and toast.
LUNCH- French Toast with sausage links. It's a breakfast day apparently!
LUNCH- French Toast with sausage links. It's a breakfast day apparently!
Monday: DINNER- Italian Chicken. This was a hit last week at our house and has been requested for two dinners this week LOL! I found the recipe on Pinterest. HERE is the link. It's AMAZING!
Tuesday: DINNER- Cheesy Chicken, Broccoli, Bacon, and Rice. It's another Pinterest recipe, folks! I knew as soon as I read it it would be something my husband would LOVE. Lets hope he does! Link is HERE.
Wednesday: DINNER- Pizza Quesadillas. Okay, guilty. Another Pinterest recipe. I'm really excited to try these-- mostly because I think the girls will be in heaven. HERE is the link for this recipe :) It's super simple!
Wednesday: DINNER- Pizza Quesadillas. Okay, guilty. Another Pinterest recipe. I'm really excited to try these-- mostly because I think the girls will be in heaven. HERE is the link for this recipe :) It's super simple!
Thursday: DINNER- We are doing Italian Chicken (from Monday) again! Ethan's request :)
Friday: DINNER- We are breakfast people in this house! We are having hashbrowns, eggs, toast, and sausage gravy. Simple, but a favorite!
So, that's 9 set meals and some snacking (it's all on my grocery list) for $75.73 :) I really want to stick to this and not eat out at all next week... fingers crossed!
