Monday Menu Planning

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Week 3 of the Pantry Challenge and I have two exciting things to share. First my children have decided to stalk my blog to figure out what we are eating!  Second we don’t have any night events this week!  And finally, we have managed a three day weekend with only our scheduled meal out!  We will be using up left-over sides for most meals this week.

Breakfast- Saturday- bacon, sausage, eggs and toast, Sunday-left-overs Monday- pancakes and sausage, Tuesday Wednesday and Friday- find it oatmeal, omelets cereal and milk, French toast sticks, bagels, breakfast burritos and pancakes. Thursday- homemade bagels or baked oatmeal.

Lunch- Saturday-Everything pigs in blanket and cucumbers Sunday-Panda Panda, Monday- Quesadilla and Mexican street corn, Tuesday Beef liver and onions, Wednesday- sandwich or roll up, Thursday- taco soup Friday- out to eat

Dinner- Saturday-Beef ribs, baked beans, 7-layer salad green beans and corn bread.  Sunday- Potato Sausage Soup from Freezer, Monday-Broiled Fish, and green beans Tuesday- Shake and Bake Pork Chops   Wednesday- Hamburger Helper, Thursday- Kielbasa and Rice Friday-Grilled chicken and pasta salad.

 

Weekend Wrap Up

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This was a rare weekend at our house for a couple of reasons. First it is a long weekend, with Monday being MLK day!  Second other than Kendall’s swim meet on Friday night we do not have any major plans or projects that need to be completed. My goal for Saturday was not to go outside of the house!

I did manage to meet my goal for Saturday. I spent part of the day, organizing and inputting the information into a tax program.  This also allows me to organize and declutter my office. As part of my office declutter, we went through all of the extra cords and things in on a shelf and placed everything in bags that are labeled.

We are currently in a pantry challenge, so meals were important.  We had beef ribs for dinner and then make 10 pints, 2 quarts and 2 half pints of beef broth, which I canned and put in the cabinet.   This also means that I have used up all of my empty canning jar except for the 1/4 pints that I will fill on Monday with jelly! I also spent some time to inventory my freezers.  I am finding food that I thought was long gone such as fish that Zach and Matt caught two years ago and packet of grilled chicken.  I honestly and beginning to think that we can do a three-month pantry challenge buying only what we are out of and not have to purchase any meat during the entire three months.  Yes I understand that it will likely cost more to refill my freezers and pantry in the future but at this point it makes the most sense to try and use up what we have because who knows what the future holds?  I also strongly feel that we will be more financially comfortable in the future when these purchases have to be made!

Small but important chores that we have completed included cleaning the dryer vent, chicken coop duties, and cleaning cars.  I also wanted to get to more organization in the pantries including the shower room, but I also spent time just watching Youtube and tv!

 

5 Things Friday- Pantry Challenge Update

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  1.  One of the things that I had given myself prior to the pantry challenge was that if 2L Diet Cokes went on sale for under $1 I would plan to stock up.  If you have been around here for any length of time you know this is my drink of choice. Late Friday night I received a text from my Mom that Food Lion was having a one-day sale on coke products.  After a swim meet, we (Matt, Lily, Zach and I) went into Food Lion and each purchased the limit of 10. Matt actually purchased Dr. Pepper, so I have “only” 30 Diet Cokes.  This puts our grocery total up to $50.46.
  2. One of the reasons, I have heard several people use for participating in the Pantry Challenge is to discover where you have holes in your pantry.  The very first hole was toothpaste.  That is now on my Amazon subscribe and save list. Yes, I am paying for toothpaste for the first time in almost 10 years but hopefully we will not run out again. The awesome thing about subscribe and save is once I get stocked up I can cancel and restart if needed or simply skip for 6 months. The second items that we discovered needed to be on subscribe and save was liquid soap. The good news is that we had enough credits on Amazon that this was a no cost item!
  3. A pleasant and fugal surprise this week was discovering 9 eggs in our chicken coop. We decided to enjoy these on the day they were discovered. This meant we switched up our menu plan for the week and had breakfast for dinner!
  4. My master list of repeat dinners has grown to nine!  The goal is that after we have eaten a meal if everyone enjoys, we can add it to our master list, and these can become items/meals we repeat at least once per month.
  5. I went grocery shopping in the freezers today. We are doing excellent with eating and re-arranging. Zach is a little concerned, but I think we are doing well!  Second biggest accomplishment of the day/. No Amazon deliveries scheduled until the 28th!

Monday Menu Planning

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Week 2 of the Pantry Challenge is guaranteed to be more complicated than the first. This week we have two swim meets.  Which means figuring out how we can work around and eat at home for at least of these evenings.  I am also trying to think ahead and make sure we use up the fresh veggies that are here already. Last week, we had enough left-over pork fried rice to use for my lunch this week.  I also have 8 meals on my list to repeat in February so far!

Breakfast- Saturday- chicken and waffles    Sunday-Pear sauce bread.  Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and Friday- find it oatmeal, omelets cereal and milk, French toast sticks, bagels, breakfast burritos and pancakes. Thursday- homemade bagels or baked oatmeal.

Lunch- Saturday-sliders    Sunday-Olive Garden, Monday- left-overs, Tuesday salad, Wednesday- sandwich or roll up, Thursday- taco soup Friday- out to eat

Dinner- Saturday-Mexican snack feast Sunday- Potato Sausage Soup from Freezer, Monday-Salisbury Steak, mashed potatoes and green beans Tuesday- KFC bowls using mashed potatoes   Wednesday- Eat on the way to or from Swim meet   Thursday- Beef and Broccoli   Friday-Leftovers or grilled cheese sandwiches.

This is another easy week for us!  I am so glad!

5 Things Friday- Budget

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  1. We practice a zero budget, which means that we plan where each of dollars go prior to the month beginning.  One exception is the Verizon phone bill, I budget to pay this entirely each month however several family members are responsible to pay their own portion. This money is not budget but I usually add to the fun money or purchase other items that are needed but not budgeted for.
  2. Several of our monthly expenses are fixed such as the mortgage payment and Tahoe payment.  I am choices at this point to only pay the required amounts as the interest rates are 2.75% and 3.49%. This allows us to focus on debt pay-off with fun thrown in as well.
  3.  For our utilities, we actually just lowered our internet bill to $49.99 a month, electricity budget is $300 and water is $44. If we manage to keep these lower than anticipated, then that adds money in for debt reduction.
  4.  This year we have increased both our grocery and gas budget. I currently have $975 for groceries and $600 for gas.  I am using any money left over even during the pantry challenge to work on debt as these are the categories that for 2022 we were most over in and we ended up using other monies to cover.
  5. Two budget categories that I rarely talk about but have been a part of our budget for the last several years are Pool Dues / Summer Fund at $50 a month and AAA/ Insurance at $150 a month.

Pantry Challenge – The Details and Week 1

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I first mention this challenge (#3RiversPantryChallenge). My goal is to share at least once a week about this challenge in order to help keep me accountable.

I stated that my only rule was that I would not buy anything until I was actually out of the item.   Unfortunately, I have already had to order/ buy toothpaste. I was going to try and use the ‘travel size ” tube I found but Lily came in and told me that she was out of toothpaste as well. So, $10.38 was spent on toothpaste for the next couple of months. I also added this to my subscribe and save list!

I have now re-done my budget and if I can survive and complete the challenge, I could possibly add around $1800 for the months of January and February!  This is a huge motivation for me. Along with the pantry challenge, I am also going to try and limit my spending for the month, especially from Amazon.  It has become so easy to just order from Amazon if we think about it.  So far, we are doing great with this part of the challenge, no Amazon deliveries in three days. Kendall ordered and received a new bible but that does not belong to me.  The one exception is that I am going to continue with my subscribe and save planned for the month. Most of these items are for lunches. Currently all five of us, take our lunch at least 4 days a week. If the kids had to switch to purchasing lunch that would be $30 a week. By keeping my Amazon subscription coming in I am actually probably saving money.

One thing that I feel like I need to share upfront is that I always take my mother grocery shopping because she reliant on a walker.  She also eats with us around 4 times a week.  She enjoys and insist that she treats my kids with certain items when I take her shopping. This week she purchased pickles, apples, raspberries, Oreos, chocolate chip cookies and strawberries. This makes the kids and my mom very happy so it will continue.  I honest think that it balances out because we share meals and meat with her on a regular basis.

One really positive that I have started this week is that I am making a list of dinners that we are currently enjoying in January that we can easily repeat in February. My goal is to make my life easier this way.

One other addendum is that Amanda brought over a case of chicken nuggets this week that she was given at work. She knows I never turn down free food so hey that should help with the pantry challenge as well.

 

Monday Menu Planning

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I know that in order for me to stay on top of the pantry challenge I have got to plan for all meals.  This week is fairly easy as we have a swim meet on Saturday so we can eat both before and after. I also wanted to make sure that I am using some of the “non-preferred” items up front.  In order to make lunches easier for me I have decided to try the following Leftover meal. salad meal, soup and either a sandwich or roll up.  This should keep me on track as long as I get lunch made the night before!

Breakfast- Saturday- bacon, sausage and pancakes   Sunday-toast.  Monday, Tuesday Wednesday and Friday- find it oatmeal, omelets cereal and milk, French toast sticks, bagels, breakfast burritos and pancakes. Thursday- homemade bagels or baked oatmeal.

Lunch- Saturday-Nachos   Sunday-La Caretta, Monday- left-overs, Tuesday salad, Wednesday- sandwich or roll up, Thursday- taco soup Friday- out to eat

Dinner- Saturday-Snack feast for New Year Eve,  Sunday- Baked Ziti, Monday- Bacon/cheddar burgers and fries Tuesday- Chicken enchiladas- with a second pan to freeze for later, Wednesday- spaghetti and garlic bread   Thursday- Pork Fried Rice   Friday-Leftovers or grilled cheese sandwiches.

Everything has already been pulled from the freezer so it should be pretty simple and straight forward!

2022 in Review

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2022 was an interesting year. Matt started the year unemployed, and I ended the year with only one job. We have adjusted and continue to achieve the balance of enjoying life and making memories with debt management and saving. This year has been the most balanced so far. We can definitely do better but I am hoping for another nice balanced year.

Groceries– budget amount is $700 I was able to meet this goal 5/12 months. Inflation is hard and especially felt at the grocery store. We are currently averaging $975 a month. This is the largest amount ever, including the years I had 2 in diapers.  I am going to make a couple of changes for 2023. First, I am going to increase the grocery budget to $975. With 3 teenagers in the house, I need to be realistic about this goal. However, I am going to attempt to participate in the pantry challenge for the month of January and February.  I will only be purchasing items we are completely out of during these months.  I am going to estimate $100 for each month. But depending on Diet Coke sales this may vary.

Auto/ Gas. My goal is $400 a month. Again inflation and we did use the camper for 5 long trips this year including two trips to Florida.  The average was $619.85 a month. This is another category that I need to increase. I am setting the amount at $600 a month with a strong hope that gas stays at less than $3.  a gallon. I will re-adjust this in June if needed.

Cash Envelope system- Goal Met!  This is currently a way of life so I am actually not going to include it next year.

Blogging- 15 post per month.  I have consistently blogged 11 or more times a month 11 out of 12 months. I also exceed my goal in August with 17.  I am going to leave this goal for consistency.

Exercise days-   This continues to be a struggle but not really a strong priority.

No Spend Days-No idea! I am wondering if I should eliminate this as long as we are using cash?

2023 will bring change for sure but I am hopefully that we adjust to the change without a roller coaster ride!