If anyone is interested in playing along, here is what I have planned for our family for this week. Personally I enjoy reading others' ideas and seldom follow them exactly, it tends to get my creativity going, maybe I can do the same for you.
Breakfast and Lunch at our house is are very much "free range fridge" meals. With an all adult household each on their own schedule this is just more practical. I add to the stockpile when things are on sale that I have coupons for and bake easy to heat things as needed.
SO starting out this week stockpiled items available for breakfast, lunch and snacks: Milk, yogurt, cheese (Parmesan, American, cheddar, cream), eggs, lunch meat, peanut butter, roasted almonds, tuna, strawberries, raspberries, apples, canned fruit (mandarin oranges, pineapple), broccoli florets, tomatoes, potatoes, frozen muffins (will be baking some more this week, almost out), cold cereal, oatmeal, waffles, pita pockets, tortillas, bagels, granola bars, crackers, popcorn.
And suppers
Pork roast (save left overs for Tuesday), mashed potatoes, gravy, steamed brocolli
Grilled chicken (save left overs for other meals); Yellow rice; Tomatoes, green pepper, sweet onions in raspberry vinaigrette dressing
Pork fried rice (I'm using rice cooked last week because the secret to good fried rice is to start w/ cold rice will use up left over roast, any leftover veggies, add additional veggies as needed)
Italian beef (make extra for the the freezer) on crusty bread w/ coleslaw
Tuna melt in pita pockets, grilled tomatoes w/ parmasaen cheese
Macaroni and cheese, smoked sausage, green beans
Eating on $25 per person a week, is it possible?
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The short answer is "Yes it is" and I know that because I have been doing it for years for the four adults living in our home.
The big key to being able to serve varied, nutritious meals on a small budget lies in pre-planning! At the beginning of the week (for me this happens on Wednesday because that is when the majority of grocery ads come out in my area) plan the menu based on what is in your stock pile (if you haven't got a stock pile yet that is fine, you can begin building one) and on what is on sale in your local stores. The goal is to avoid paying full price for anything! Once you have planned what you are going to serve, write your shopping list--for me it helps to put a "c" beside every item I want to use a coupon for so I don't forget while I'm at the store. I also start with a list for each possible store all on one piece of paper along with prices. That way I can decide which store would be the better place for me to shop or if it would be wiser to shop multiple stores. All of that will depend on the amount of saving potential, the amount of time it would take (your time IS worth money) and any extra transportation cost. When you get to the store be aware of "what" you are planning to do with the items on your list and be prepared to substitute if you see something that would be equally good and is at a better price. For example, if you had planned on serving steamed green beans as a vegetable and fresh broccoli were on sale for less than the beans and your family would be equally happy with steamed broccoli it would probably be a good choice to change up the menu.
The big key to being able to serve varied, nutritious meals on a small budget lies in pre-planning! At the beginning of the week (for me this happens on Wednesday because that is when the majority of grocery ads come out in my area) plan the menu based on what is in your stock pile (if you haven't got a stock pile yet that is fine, you can begin building one) and on what is on sale in your local stores. The goal is to avoid paying full price for anything! Once you have planned what you are going to serve, write your shopping list--for me it helps to put a "c" beside every item I want to use a coupon for so I don't forget while I'm at the store. I also start with a list for each possible store all on one piece of paper along with prices. That way I can decide which store would be the better place for me to shop or if it would be wiser to shop multiple stores. All of that will depend on the amount of saving potential, the amount of time it would take (your time IS worth money) and any extra transportation cost. When you get to the store be aware of "what" you are planning to do with the items on your list and be prepared to substitute if you see something that would be equally good and is at a better price. For example, if you had planned on serving steamed green beans as a vegetable and fresh broccoli were on sale for less than the beans and your family would be equally happy with steamed broccoli it would probably be a good choice to change up the menu.
Hello Fellow Coupners!
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I am very pleased and excited to be posting on Champaign County couponing! Thank you SO much to Jazzrib for allowing me to participate. The site is going to have a bit of different slant than what you are used to for awhile because I need to start out with what I have background on before I'll be able to branch out. Please leave comments about what you like or don't like and we'll try to build the site the way it will be helpful to the greatest number of people.
By way of introduction, I am a very new blogger but a very experienced couponer and grocery shopper (you will note I did not use the word "old" ;-) but put it this way I remember couponing with my mom when we would cut out coupons for 5 cents off from the newspaper). I started couponing on my own as a young adult thinking I would quit when I had enough money that I didn't need to do that anymore. A marriage and two grown children later I realized that I would prefer to coupon and spend the money we save on things I would enjoy having and doing than on groceries!
I am currently participating in a contest in conjunction with All You Magazine where the challenge is to feed your household delicious and nutritious meals for $25 or less per person per week. I thought I'd share here some of my ideas and menus along with sale match ups from the local stores. Eventually I can embed links to coupons as well but as I said, I am a very new blogger and haven't learned to do that yet.
By way of introduction, I am a very new blogger but a very experienced couponer and grocery shopper (you will note I did not use the word "old" ;-) but put it this way I remember couponing with my mom when we would cut out coupons for 5 cents off from the newspaper). I started couponing on my own as a young adult thinking I would quit when I had enough money that I didn't need to do that anymore. A marriage and two grown children later I realized that I would prefer to coupon and spend the money we save on things I would enjoy having and doing than on groceries!
I am currently participating in a contest in conjunction with All You Magazine where the challenge is to feed your household delicious and nutritious meals for $25 or less per person per week. I thought I'd share here some of my ideas and menus along with sale match ups from the local stores. Eventually I can embed links to coupons as well but as I said, I am a very new blogger and haven't learned to do that yet.
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