Okay, so I've really had enough of spending so much money on groceries! We try and set-up budgets for all of our spending, but we almost never can stay within our food budget. We don't eat out a whole lot, so I guess it's okay to spend a lot of $ on groceries rather than eating out. But seriously there are two of us and some months we can easily spend $400-500 on groceries. The worst part is, I don't feel as though we are splurging on anything at the grocery store! We try to buy bulk and hardly every buy name brand stuff! We usually go to the grocery store once a week too. I hate going shopping and then coming home and having no idea what I should cook.
The basic weeknight dinners we always cook are: tacos, burritos, salads, chicken curry, some sort of pasta dish and dan makes egg burritos. Pretty boring. However, we both LOVE to cook and I think we cook at home a lot more than other people our age.
Track season is the worst though, because I'm tired and sometimes I'm gone on weekends or get home at 9pm or later....I hardly ever cook. Dan does most of the cooking from late Feb-mid May. In fact, I'm not even sure I eat a full dinner most nights. So where is that $$ going?
Now that track is over and school will be out soon, I've decided to try and menu plan shop. I'm hoping this will either a) save us some money or b) at least help us spend our money on nice meals that we actually like.
Today I looked through my Real Simple magazines (love them!), my crock pot recipe book and then got creative and made an excel spreadsheet with my menu and grocery list. I wish I could post it on here, but it won't work. :(
So here is the menu for the next 2 weeks or so. I didn't plan out what to make each day, because I anticipate that sometimes I won't feel like eating a certain meal or that there will still be times when we don't feel like cooking (or we'll be eating leftovers!), but at least I know that I'll have the ingredients to make these dishes.
- Avocado Cheddar Burgers (Turkey or Beef)
- - Crockpot Baked Beans
- Basil Spaghetti w/ Cheesy Tomatoes
- - Fresh garden greens salad and bread
- Shrimp Salad
- Pork/Steak Fajitas
- - Radish Slaw (garden)
- Cheesy Talapia w/ Rice and Veggies
- White Bean Soup w/ Andouille Sausage
- BBQ Chicken Sandwiches
- - Green Beans and Cheddar Stuffed Potatoes
- Columbian Chicken and Potato Soup
- Mac n Cheese (sausage?)
- Lund-Harris Chicken Tacos
- (side dish ) Lemon-Mint Potatoes
- Fresh Spinach-Basil Stuffed Manicotti Shells (I made this today for a church family and had leftovers and it's delicious!)
- Homemade pizza (dan)
Most of these dinners are recipes that I've made before or are very similar to other recipes that I know we love. There are a few "splurge" items on this menu (shrimp and tilapia), but we haven't purchased them in months and at least we'll have yummy food to jump start cooking after "my busy season."
We also recently found a local produce shop that appears to have cheaper, local produce. I think we'll give it a try. Plus, our garden is helping out with lettuce/salad greens. :)
Let me know if you have any tips, good recipes or the same trouble we have.
