1) I have a meal calendar on a white board in my kitchen where I plan out 6 weeks of meals. Zac and I pick 10-15 meals that we like and I arrange them on the calendar every 6 weeks. When I get ready to go grocery shopping I just look at the calendar and then at allrecipes.com to see what I need to buy. It is definately subject to change. But I love not worrying about what I should make, Zac likes knowing what is for dinner, and we waste a lot less food by planning the grocery list. Our goal is to spend $40 a week and I'm usually within $5 of that. When I don't plan out my week I spend 50 or 60. I am a HUGE believer in meal planning!
2) Fresh garlic is the only way to go. I have just started using it and it makes a HUGE difference. I get a 5 pack for $1 and it lasts about a month. I cut the garlic into tiny pieces, fry up the garlic with onions and butter for lots of meals like spaghetti, chicken pot pie, enchiladas, mexican chicken and pretty much everything we eat that I'd normally use garlic salt with. Everything tastes so much better with fresh garlic...and it's super cheap.
3) Chicken breasts (with the bones and skin) go on fabulous sales sometimes. Today I got a pack for $97 a pound. The bones and skin are kind of nasty to deal with, but if you just take an hour and deskin and debone them you can save a lot of money. Here is what I do: I take all the skins and fat off with my kitchen scissors, I use the scissors to cut the chicken off the bone in one big chunk. I of course don't get all the chicken, so I take all the bones that still have some chicken meat on them and boil them in water for 10-15 minutes. While the bones are boiling I cube the chicken breasts or put them in strips or leave them depending on what we are eating that week and put them in ziplocks and put them in the freezer. When the chicken on the bones is cooked I peel off all the chicken, shred it and freeze it. I usually get enough for two meals just from the bones. I spent $4.oo on chicken and got enough for 5 meals. It took some work, but it makes life easier later anyways.
Those are just a few things that i do that make life a little bit nicer. I seriously would love to hear any special little tidbits that you guys have about the kitchen.
5 comments:
you really spend only $40 on groceries a week??? that is radical! that is something i need to learn how to do. i'm jealous you can follow through such a scheduled meal calendar. i'm great with following my millions of lists, but i haven't mastered a meal calendar yet. i'm impressed.
i also wish we could eat out more often, but i try to save by making home made meals. heck, i've made my husbands lunch for work every day for nearly 6 years now. i know that's saved on money and health.
that's also incredible about the chicken! wow! i'm not sure of any other tips. my brain is dead. i do love winco though!
yeah... spending $40 a week for a family of 3 is incredible! that's some intense shopping.
we spend about that much eating out each week.
hope you guys are doing good. are you still coming up the end of april/may.ish?
I love your suggestions! $40 a week is super cheap, props to you!
My only advice is to shop the sales, look online for manufacturers coupons to use in congruence with store coupons, plan meals around coupons, and buy in bulk
I just signed up for pinchingyourpennies.com and I am learning the art of coupon clipping!
Good luck!
$97 a pound is great for chicken! Wow, sign me up! haha, sorry I couldn't resist. I have to say, I am so impressed with this, you are so organized, I think I am going to start doing this, because I definitely need to be organized. Very impressive! And scary with Teagan, I hope he is doing well today!
The only thing I have to add is that I make my own bread which is healthier and cheaper. Oh, and I only plan three weeks in advance, not six. You are definitely the queen of organization. :) Other than that, Allrecipes is my all time favorite and fresh garlic is the only way to go. And WalMart is definitely the place to shop for basics--way cheaper than any other grocery store I've shopped at. Way to go keeping your grocery bill less than $40/week! That's seriously amazing...but you never cease to amaze me. :)
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