Menu

After my grocery receipt post, Singingmommy commented and asked for info on how I turn those sorts of transactions into a menu for the week. I've also been asked that question via email, so I thought it warranted a post on the subject! If you aren't into bargain shopping, please stay tuned for a post with a different topic tomorrow!!

As you saw yesterday, this week I mostly took advantage of the buy 10 get $5 off order deals at Kroger. So my menu mostly reflects items from my stockpiles or that I purchased last week week because a) lack of great food staple deals for our family this week at the store and b) I wanted to use most of my budgeted money this week on things like SHOUT for Kate's clothing stains, health & beauty products at great prices, baggies we needed to help with my stockpiling, and to start compiling things for my holiday treat cooking!

And now, here's what we'll be enjoying this week...

Breakfast:
Weekdays - Poptarts that I stockpiled from Target for FREE in September (deal expired, but explanation), Breakfast bars I stockpiled from Kroger for nearly free in late September, fresh fruit, and English muffins bought this week
Weekend - Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls from Kroger a few weeks ago for about .25 a tube with fruit and the next day we'll have Grand's biscuits from Kroger for same price, bacon, scrambled eggs, and cream gravy

Lunch:
Cody - here's the plan, but may change throughout week if necessary with work needs: 3 days hot dogs from this week's purchase, $1 bag of Cheetos from Target a few weeks ago, 1 day dinner left overs sack lunch from home, off on Fridays
Kate & Amy - Sandwiches when at home or when we go somewhere we can pack a lunch like zoo or picnic at park - lunch meat from Kroger special last week at about $1.50 a pound, cheese slices from this week's deal, PB&J from deals this summer, and Kroger brand wheat bread with $1 Cheeto bag from same Target deal as listed above; quesadillas from cheese and flour tortillas from last week's purchases; leftovers from dinners this weekend; and for lunch time desserts - dried & fresh fruit, granola bars, chex mix bars, instant pudding, or Rice Krispy Treats (all these items from previous deal shopping except fresh fruit from this week); and to be honest, we usually take a break from our bargain shopping and check out ChickFilA or Corner Bakery or something similar one day a week for a treat!

Dinner:
There weren't any spectacular deals on meat this week, so we'll be depending on our freezer stockpile for meat selection. Thankfully it's about to start feeling like fall in Texas this week so we're going to celebrate the colder weather with:
Chicken & Dumplings - Boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale last week at Kroger for $1.99lb, so I got a few packages; chicken broth was on sale a couple weeks ago and I had coupons; and I'm going to use the rest of the flour tortillas I have left over from last week's burritos before they go bad; green beans; crescent rolls purchased on same Pillsbury deal previously mentioned; and salad from a head of iceberg lettuce that's usually about $1.29 or so at Kroger
Potato Soup - Last week I bought several pounds of Russet potatoes that were on sale for around .30lb (we made baked potatoes for dinner last week for the cheapest dinner EVER) so we'll use another few of those for this; milk bought this week; butter bought for free at Kroger in September; fry up some fresh bacon from the package I got for our weekend breakfasts; and cheese from last week's Kroger special of 3/$5 on Kroger brand already shredded cheeses left over from our burritos as well as our baked potatoes last week

I'll make enough of both of these dinners to have for at least 2 nights, Wednesday night we usually eat light because of church (sandwiches, hot dogs, mac & cheese, etc), we usually eat out one weekend night, and Sunday night is typically popcorn dinner for us (I keep my eyes open each week for good popcorn sales to combine with coupons... there are always popcorn coupons out there!) with a grilled cheese or PB&J with fruit for Kate.

One of the greatest money saving strategies I've found is to be more mindful of my weekly menu so I can fully use what I buy. Before I started bargain shopping, I'd buy a pack of flour tortillas to make my burritos with and after we were finished with our burritos the rest of the pack would just ruin until I threw it away. But now I buy the big pack of tortillas so each one is cheaper, learned that I can keep them in the frige to last longer, use them for the burritos as originally intended, and then make Kate quesadillas (one of her favorite foods), use them to make dumplings, use instead of a hot dog bun around sausage or hot dogs (Raider Wraps!), and anything else a girl might could think of to use a tortilla.

Also, when I'm thinking of what to cook for the next week I try hard to think about what ingredients I have left over from last week that I can just buy a couple things to go with for this week instead of buying everything each time. Stockpiling things I cook with frequently that are at great prices is also key for reducing my overall grocery bill - especially broths, cream of mushroom or chicken soups, meat, canned or frozen vegetables, pasta, tomato sauce, cheese, rice, etc. If I find a good deal I'll pick two or three up even if it isn't on my menu that week and then be sure it's on the menu for the next week.

Desserts: Cody has a definite sweet tooth so I always need to work in desserts into the menu!
Cherry upside down cake is one of this week's treats -- bought cherry pie filling (part of this week's buy 10 & earn $5 sale) and cake mix both on sale this week, butter from previous deal
Brownies -- Duncan Hines & Betty Crocker always have good mixes available on sale + coupons

Snacks: Goldfish, popcorn, raisins, Chex Mix packs, Rice Krispy treats - or whatever else is in the good ole stockpile

Drinks: Cody loves cokes which can get expensive even when you feel like you're getting it on sale, but I struck gold with this sweet deal at Target back in August (thanks to Amanda E!):
Dr. Pepper, A&W, Sunkist, Canada Dry, Big Red 12-packs are on sale 5 for $15
Buy 5 and use 5 $1/1 Target online printable coupons
Spend $10 out of pocket
Get $5 Target gift card back
$1 per 12-pack after coupons and gift card!!
And I repeated this deal as many times as possible that week, so Cody still has several 12 packs in the garage to work through before we start working coke deals back into our grocery list. In addition to the cokes, I also can at least once a month find great deals on Powerade or Gatorade at CVS or Kroger for him. Kate drinks mostly milk and water, but when I find Juicy Juice on sale I stockpile that with coupons. My main personal splurge is coffee and creamer for the mornings. It's much cheaper than Starbucks, but even with a good sale + coupons it isn't as cheap as water :).

Hope this answers some questions and gives life to how I'm making the $35 to $40 dollar a week grocery budget work for our family. But every family is different and everyone has those special things that are important to them (like coffee and creamer or prepacked hot dogs are to us!) - being frugal definitely doesn't mean being miserable or suffering through beans and rice every night. To us it just means taking more effort to think through purchases, clip coupons, search out good deals, and try to get the most for our money!

Any additional questions or comments are always welcome as always.