Wednesday, April 25, 2007

More on Frugal Meal Planning!

Update to this post: Frugal Living Journal also linked to this amazing lady who spends $25 a week on groceries for two (click here). (And all of the comments by Mrs. B are actually not from me!) I am fascinated by this. I have recently started doing the finances for the Butts home and I'm amazed how easy it is spend money - a little here, a little there. Even though we feel like we are pretty frugal. Thankfully, Pastor Steve of Heritage Baptist did our pre-marital counseling and got us started with a really awesome Excel template and worked with us to get a budget going. Keeping it is the harder part. :) We're trying really hard to get our grocery and entertainment (and book!) budget down. I have several ideas, but this link is really helpful. I've tried the homemade granola thing, too. One more idea, for anyone interested:

It's really terrific, or so I'm reading, to find things from your pantry and plan your meals around that. If you have pasta and tomato sauce, there's a meal. If you have some veggies in your freezer, use them up. Do you have the ingredients to make a smoothie? If you can just buy one more thing and have a meal because you have MOST of the ingredients, this is a million times better than planning to make a new recipe with random ingredients while your pantry is already full. And you can get a really cheap week in AND clear out your pantry/frig/freezer. :) So... that's what I'm doing for next week. Maybe I can get it under $25. Who knows?

Here's my latest question. What do my friends who read this do to save money on groceries? Do share.

4/25 - Dropped by Frugal Living on my break, (6 more conferences down) and was surprised to see a recent post dedicated to responding to one of my comments about budgeting/meal planning. Have a look see.

So much to learn... I welcome any tips. It's amazing how many helpful sites there are online for freezing things ahead.

Whistle while you work.

6 comments:

Mary Ann said...

Thanks for linking to my post! :-)I don't have a lot of extra money-saving food tips to share, except to not be afraid to try new recipes and experiment (and practice)with making different things from scratch instead of buying them pre-made. The worst thing that can happen is that it will flop, but at least you will have tried.:-) And of everything that you try, at least a few experiments will turn out and end up saving you money.
Blessings!

Unknown said...

Fasting!!! It's the best money saving techniques ever!!! hehe.

Jay Scott said...

your husband's gotta check my blog, he'll be jealous

Heather said...

I know this may sound crazy but it helps to make a list and send my husband to the grocery store. He is great about sticking to the list and buying only what I deem necessary for the week.

sarahdodson said...

good one, Chad and Heather. I never thought about that idea. hmmm...

Jamie, I need lots of help in this area. I think since we don't HAVE to be really frugal that I take it for granted, and I need not do that!! I do want to cut my spending down and I do the best when I make a menu, buy the food, and stick to the menu. so often I don't make a list, or forget my list, which means several trips to wal-mart and more money spent. yuck. thanks for sharing!

Jamie Butts said...

Thanks, all. One more discovery of sorts. Head to Jason's Deli and order off the kids meal. Load up on the complimentary part of their salad bar (mini muffins and fancy crackers) as well as the free ice cream. You can walk out spending $3.50 or so and feeling very full!