The Frugal Family Grocery List

I don't menu plan for shopping, I mainly keep a full pantry and supplement with meats and other items on sale. 

The pantry list I use is from The Pioneer Woman's website. When I started the pantry cooking method, I just purchased as much as I could from Dollar Tree. It was a pretty inexpensive way to do so.

Our bread machine is responsible for keeping us provided with everything from pizza dough to French Baguette.

Breakfasts are either oatmeal or egg dishes.

Lunches are leftovers with fruit.

In terms of supper planning, I just posted yesterday about my new way to meal plan, but it essentially works like this;

Day 1: Meat 1 with rice and veggie

Day 2: Meat 2 with pasta and veggie

Day 3: Meat 3 with potatoes and veggie

Day 4: Meat 4 in sandwiches

Day 5: Leftovers

Day 6: Pizza

Day 7: Soup

I do one huge batch of cookie, bar, brownie or cupcake recipe per week. 

Our drinks are filtered water, coffee and lemonade/limeade.

Simplistic, yes, but easy enough to tweak and experiment to keep it interesting by searching recipes on Pinterest , most importantly, staying on budget.

7 Ways to Sunday

My new plan for menus is to still stock a hefty pantry, but have recipe ideas ready to go. The plan is simple; 4 meats prepared 7 different ways= a month of meals. Yipee!

Here is my new method:

1. Create boards on Pintrest of simple meals; a board for each meat/bean.
2. Pre-cook 4 different meats and/or beans.
3. Portion out for 7 meals, each.
4. Freeze.
5. Thaw and create a masterpiece using pantry goods!

There will be a terrific rotation of meats/beans and the chance to try new recipes.

It seems this could be the simplest attempt for me yet!

Living Well, Spending Less Round-up

As part of the Living Well, Spending Less No Spend challenge, I committed to posting computer screen sticky notes for every item purchased, from where it was purchased and how much was paid for it. Having to keep track like that is enough to make one not want to spend, to be sure, but I did it.

Here is what I learned from this experience.

1. I don't like running to multiple stores to get good deals. This month I shopped at Costco, Target, Walmart, Dollar Tree and Econo Foods. 
2. Not every store has the brands my family enjoys.
3. Shopping once a month is NOT realistic for my life.
4. Many items I need can be purchased at the dollar stores.
5. I frequently buy too much of some items and not enough of others.

How I plan to deal with these issues.

1. Since Walmart does price matching and we need the pharmacy, if I wish to only shop at one or two stores, Walmart and Dollar Tree are them.
2. I will come up with alternatives to the items or make my own from scratch.
3. Once I do a huge stock-up to replenish, I will shop bi-weekly, keeping a running list of things needed.
4. This was a HUGE epiphany! I knew I could buy many things at the dollar stores, but when I realized I was paying 2, 3, 4 and even more times the amount on things at Walmart, like spray disinfectant (Lysol) it was time for a change. I can keep a can of the spray in the rooms I use it most rather than having one bottle. I call that awesome!
5. Seeing the repeat purchases of things like salsa (this stuff is like water to my family) allows me to buy sufficient amounts, rather than running for it more often.

Now, all I have to do is keep two lists; one for Walmart and one for Dollar Tree.

That's not to say I won't ever step into another store, but for the majority of food and household needs, I will be able to manage at just the two stores.