Grocery budget

I didn't stick to my $25 grocery budget when our family was down but I'm back on track again. I've also been packing the girls lunches everyday and making sure they eat breakfast at home (and not at school). It's been an adjustment for them but they are doing good with it overall.

A friend of mine decided to come on board with me and do the $25 a week challenge and she says she is doing well and has about 5 other people who have joined the challenge. Very cool!

A couple tips on stretching your meals is left overs.

1. Make sure to keep your left over vegetables. Even when you only have a few left, place them in a container in the freezer and just add them each night. When you have enough you can pull them out and use them in vegetable soup or stew. Even those small amounts add up pretty quickly.

2. BEANS BEANS BEANS. They are very cheap and they really are so many things you can do with them. You can put them in the crockpot the night before and let them cook all night or you can boil them on the stove. I like to make a large batch of beans so they are already cooked for ease and they freeze well too! You can make beans and ham hock (yum), Chili beans, plain ol' okie beans, Mexican beans that can be left whole or refried (I have a great recipe for this and it is soooo easy). You can make a casserole and add beans (great filler). And using cornmeal and making cornbread from scratch is very easy and very good. I add honey to mine and the kids LOVE it, they prefer my homemade version over the boxed/bagged cornbread I used to buy and it's much cheaper from scratch.

3. We are still doing our breakfast for dinner one night a week. The kids love it. Pancakes are a great hit and very cheap.

4. My sister is saving a lot of money using coupons. You can look up the store you go to online and it will show you their sell ads and it will also (many times) give you printable coupons. Some stores have double coupon days, or will match other stores coupons. Great way to cut back if you have more time than money. =-)

My brain is dead today so that is all for now but I will back on more often, things are getting back to normal soon (hopefully). LOL

Take Care!