Monday, February 2, 2009

Menu Plan Monday


For Christmas Chris and I received a year membership to Costco. SO, Saturday we decided to go and see if there were some things that we could stock up on at a cheaper price. We found Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast, Bananas, Cheerios and Napkins at a great price! SO this week we went over our budget on purpose. I am hoping that for the next 4 or 5 weeks I can keep the budget between $50 and $55 because of the stocking up! We will see how it works.

At Costco we spent $46.41
At Aldi we spent $11.68
At Kroger we spent $43.07
For a total of $101.16

I was very pleased with this - I was expecting to spend double the budget!

My friend Kathy does a menu plan for a month. I am wondering if I could do that and shop at Costco and really come out cheaper. I am contemplating trying it. What do you think?

OK OK OK ..... Finally ..... Here is the menu:

Monday: Tuna Helper, Lima Beans
Tuesday: Chicken Enchiladas, Spanish Rice, Mexicorn (wasn't able to do this last week)
Wednesday: 4 Can Black Bean Chili
Thursday: Parmesan Crusted Chicken, Squash Casserole, Green Beans
Friday: Frito Salad, Leftovers
Saturday: Soup and Grilled Cheese
Sunday: Supper at the Church Building with Edification Team!

To see other's menu plans check out Org Junkie! (There are lots of ideas there!)

3 comments:

Carrie Sparks McClain said...

I've tried the menu plan for a month, but I didn't stick to it very well. I was just thinking about giving it another try. This time I might try planning for three weeks and then the last week can be full of the stuff I didn't get around to fixing before. We used to shop at Sam's, but I have been focusing on buying sale items that I have coupons for so I can double up and stockpiling those items (I got two boxes of Pizza Rolls at Kroger for free this week), while buying for my weekly menu plan. Then every once in a while I have enough piled up that I either have a slow week or I don't have to shop at all. It actually saves on my budget in the long run. I get help with the coupons from another blog called "Proverbs Wife". Hadias is the queen of stockpile and coupons. Just my two cents.

Kathy said...

Since I work full time, I don't like to go to the grocery store every week, so that's a big reason that I make my menu for the entire month. Also, I use the menus from menus4moms.com I almost always end up leaving out some of the meals that I had planned on for a month and then move them down to the next month. I'm still trying to fine-tune my frugal food budget though...I like the tips from Carrie Mc...maybe I'll implement some of them next month. FYI - triple coupons at Harris Teeter from 2/5 - 2/7!!!

Melissa said...

WOW, It is hard enough to menu plan for a week, I couldn't imagine a month. One thing Brian and I found that helps us save on our grocery bills is we buy every 2weeks wal-mart, aldi and BJs, yes some weeks are more expensive than others depending on what you need to stock up on. This week at Aldi I spent $48, and wal-mart $95 which is a little higher than normal ($15-$25 at Aldi and $50-$60at Walmart and that lasts me 2 weeks)I will go to BJs this weekend. I am going to have to check out this menu4moms website. Good Luck if you try the monthly planning! I can't wait to hear how it goes for you!