Menu Planning (again)
I'm really bad at this whole menu planning thing. I manage it for a couple weeks, and then I fall behind again. Of course, I keep hoping that it will magically help save some money, and it doesn't seem to be helping much because I'm terrible at figuring out the whole coupon thing. My pantry staples are starting to run low, and I'm hesitating to stock up because I'm worried that the next week will be the week that everything goes on sale. Anybody want to help me figure out the whole coupon thing so I can start actually saving money? (No, the Grocery Game doesn't work for me, because it seems like everything it tells me to buy is stuff that I wouldn't normally buy, but I feel like I *have* to buy it because the Grocery Game told me to, lol).
Anyway, here's this week's menu plan a little late. I really like my crockpot this week. :)
Tuesday - Crockpot Spaghetti sauce with meatballs and angel hair pasta
Wednesday - Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken (still figuring out the veggies)
Thursday - Cheese-stuffed Hotdogs with sauteed onions (Rachael Ray recipe)
Friday - Hashbrown-topped Chili (Rachael Ray recipe - I thought it sounded kind of strange until I realized that I like baked potatoes with chili on top)
Saturday - Crockpot Breakfast Casserole
Sunday - Crockpot Pork Ribs (debating between barbecue or Asian)
Anyway, if anyone has any suggestions on how to save money with menu planning AND/OR coupon shopping, I'm all ears. I can save a little money just by avoiding going to the store every day, but I seem to be struggling with snack/lunch items and cereal - it's frustrating how much more expensive groceries are out here.
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I have no idea if this will help but we do a couple of special things with our meal plan...
1) we have meals that repeat every week for example
-taco Tuesday
-pizza Saturday
(once we get tired of something we switch for the next month but it helps because you can use leftover ingredients from the previous week and don't have to buy them every week)
2) we have a 10 dollar meal limit
(this one is so hard but it helps me decided which coupons and sales to go to and what to splurge on)
3) we only buy exactly what went on the list
(this is really helpful because we can't impulse shop and you use up everything you buy)
We have been doing the meal planning for about 11 months now and just in the last 3 months or so we finally got to the point where we only spend 200 or less on groceries a month .. But if you really want you could just move back to UTAH .. .come on you know you want to !
Miss you guys!
-sarah
Sometimes I really really wish we could come back. Doesn't really work with the current job/housing market, though. :)