February Food Spending Week 1, Meal Plan February Week 2

*I am taking part in Precious' MONEY SAVING CHALLENGE again for 2012.  You can find her blog FRUGAL MAKES CENTS and a list of other participants and their blogs  HERE.

Check it out.  You might find some new ideas for incorporating frugality into your life there!*


I love searching around for old photos and advertisements featuring kitchens from years gone by.  These are mostly the kitchens from my youth in the 1960's or earlier. 

This week I have NO vintage Kitchen pictures.  Working on my Decluttering project has left me no time to search around the Interweb for more kitchen fodder for these posts.

Oh well.  Maybe next week.

Enough of that, onward to the Meals and Food Spending. 8-)


Last week's meal plan is in the books.  Here is what actually happened....

SUNDAY--Italian Sausage Sandwiches, Cauliflower

MONDAY--Taco Bell(I'm having leftover Chicken & Dumplings)

TUESDAY--Homemade Pizza, Salad w/Fruit

WEDNESDAY--Tacos, Corn

THURSDAY--Tilapia, Sweet Potato fries, Brussel Sprouts

FRIDAY--Leftovers or Burritos
SATURDAY--Homemade Pizza(Hubs out of town)

Pretty much had what was planned, except the Lasagna, which moves to this week.  I had Hubs pick up 6 fresh pizza dough blobs at Price Chopper(as it was Buy 1/Get 2 free)and we used 3 over the course of the week and put 3 in the freezer for later.  The local grocer has Fresh Express Salad Kits for $1.99 ea. last week.  I bought 8.  I had 1 for lunch every other day.  I rather enjoy them, plus it's a healthier option for me for lunch and at $2 a pop, a good deal, so I pick those up when they are that low.

I also had a chicken breast(leftover from when I made Chicken & Dumplings)still, so I bought some grapes last week and made chicken salad.  I got 4 sandwiches from that(3 lunches for me and Hubs took a sammie to work one day).

For the week's menu I picked up salad greens and salad kits, grapes, pizza dough and milk.  As for other shopping...

*I hit the bread store, as we hadn't been since December and were out of everything bread related.

*I hit the local grocery for lots of salad greens and frozen veggies early in the week and then on Sat. for more greens(for This week) as well as a slew of Mexican type items like tortillas, taco shells and enchilada sauce, canned chili(for the menfolk to have with their burritos), whack biscuits, celery, sliced deli cheese and sour cream.

The weekly spending was $84.37(including the Rite-Aid OOP).  Pretty high week for me, huh?

1 Week in and I've spent $84.37 of my $300 February food budget.  $215.63 left for the month plus $92.32 leftover from January that didn't get spent.

Going into February Week 2, we have a little homemade pizza leftover but that's it.  All the other leftovers got eaten for lunches last weekend or on Leftover Night.

This week's menu.....

SUNDAY--Subway Sandwiches(Hubs Super Bowl request)

MONDAY--leftover pizza or grilled cheese and soup

TUESDAY--Lasagna(with some shredded veg), Tossed Salad

WEDNESDAY--homemade Boston Baked Beans, Cornbread, Green Beans

THURSDAY--Enchiladas, Mexican Rice w/peppers

FRIDAY--Hot Dogs on rolls, Potato Salad, Carrots and Cauliflower
SATURDAY--Leftovers

This menu gives us I night of take-out, 2 night of leftovers and 4 home cooked meals this week, of which 2 are meatless.....well the beans are meatless except for the bacon in the dish.lol

Items needed for this menu are...maybe a red bell pepper as I haven't check if I have any left in the freezer yet.

I have spent $6.80 on Sunday already.  I also plan on buying on sale this week....corned beef hash(#2 son's request), apple juice, a bag of oranges and croutons(I have Qs for them).  If I get up to Price Chopper this week, I'll be doing the Full Circle Catalina Deal.  Plus milk as #2 son sucks it down during the course of the week.  I'm figuring on $40 or so for this week's goodies including what I've spent already this week.

So what is everyone else eating this week?  

Sluggy