Monday, April 7, 2014

Monday Money





Recently we purchased a new old car. We always pay in full for cars and this one was no exception. We talked the seller down a little because the car needs work. Things like tires, hopefully not things like exhaust systems. 

The side effect is a return to careful budgeting. Not that we're wild and crazy spenders during a normal month but budgets can get out of control when you aren't looking. 

Part of mindful spending is meal planning. So last night D checked our freezers and we looked over sales flyers for deals on inexpensive yet healthy meals. 

In the past this is when I would seriously coupon. Unfortunately I can't seem to coupon here as well as I did in the south especially compared to some store brands.  However we do make it a point to purchase as many sale items and sale meat (sometimes just to go straight in the freezer) as possible. 

The really hard thing is cooking enough! D made ham last week, and the next night ham and beans.  I had one bowl and D and Fi split the rest of the pot. Can someone explain mathematically how my super skinny girl ate so much, and then asked about dessert not a half hour after dinner?

Today I'm going to be looking for more recipes that make greater volumes of food! Also considering upgrading my cookware to restaurant sizes. 

Any readers have suggestions for good, hearty, kid friendly meals? We already do chili, Mexican dishes and a few soups. I've got chicken and wild rice down to a science!

If you're looking for a good printable to use for meal planning there's a great one over at The Project Girl (here). That link will take you to a pdf that is just like mine in the photo, boxes at the top to write out your menu and a nice sorted list below to write ingredients. 

1 comment:

The Life of Mel said...

I would recommend lots of frozen veggies. You can throw a bag or so of frozen veggies in a meal and it goes further--so say, chicken and rice casserole? Throw in 2 bags of veggies. Big soup? Add lots of veggies and rice pasta that can fill you up. For those without the gluten sensitivity--some big baguettes with the meal. Bread fills me up, and though sure, some of it is not as great for you, you could always do whole wheat/grain if you were worried about all the white stuff. Heck, though, I grew up on the white stuff on occasion and it's not super bad, but can be filling.