Like this one: http://www.holyspiritledhomeschooling.net/2011/12/once-a-month-grocery-shopping-list-monthly-meal-plan-f-a-q/
and this one: http://quickeasycheaphealthy.com/2011/08/how-to-make-the-most-of-your-grocery-budget-dollars/
The only snag we hit with this is we hardly have any storage space in our fridge/freezer as it is, and that is just shopping a week at a time. Also we eat fresh produce very regularly and the first post I referenced mentions how they go to applesauce and canned fruits after using their fresh produce but I don't really like that idea. So we compromised, using our Google Calendar I came up with a meal plan of 14 meals. Looks like this:
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| Please ignore our lack of balanced meals...we're working on that!
The top line is breakfast, middle is Phillip's lunch, bottom is dinner. I eat the same thing for lunch every day so I didn't feel the need to add it. We also make a smoothie every morning, hence all of the frozen fruit & yogurt.
Based on our month-long menu I put together a shopping list of staples/things that won't get icky. I'll go in once a week to pick up our produce/milk, all of which can be picked up at Aldi. If I can stay out of Walmart I won't spend nearly as much!
Here's the rundown:
Aldi:
Strawberries: $.99 (x3)
Cucumber $.39
Tomato Sauce .29 (x3)
Milk 2.89
Toaster Pastries 1.89
Jalapeno Peppers 1.19 (x2)
Mozzarella 1.79
Neufchatel 1.19
tortillas 1.19 (x2)
Lemonade bars 1.99
Frozen Blueberries 2.49 (x2)
Mixed Frozen fruit 1.99 (x2)
Parmesan 2.39
Total: $30.09
Wal-Mart
Bacon 2.68
Ham Steak 3.08
Chicken Breast 8.98
Butter (real, sticks) 2.68
Queso Melt 3.78
32 oz plain yogurt 2.38
Greek yogurt 2.78
Water 35 pack 4.84
Flour 2.38
Jumbo Shells 1.68
Pizza Sauce 1.00
Bagels 2.50
Sub Rolls 2.88
Olive Oil 4.74
Corn on the Cob .25(x3)
Bananas 2.25
French Bread 1.60
Black Grapes 2.37
Apples 3.94
Total: $57.29
Grand Total: $87.38
Not too bad, now if we can stick to our schedule we should be good to go! We are also going try not to go out to eat at all this month. We overdid it last month, I'm kind of nervous about looking at last months transaction report and seeing how much we spent!
We bought a really large package of chicken breast. Right after we got home Phillip went to work splitting up all of the chicken into portion sizes and putting them in freezer bags. We now have a nice stack of frozen individually wrapped chicken! This makes it a lot easier for me to cook it for dinner and since it's already pre-packaged and frozen it's not going to funk up our fridge. Nope, no funky chicken here.
They had a less expensive/ounce package but the package stated that they were injected with "up to 15% chicken broth solution". That doesn't sound sketchy right? We bought Tyson All Natural, a little more expensive, probably still a little sketchy, but it made me feel better about buying it.
I'm rambling...I just worked my 7th day in a row and I have 2 more before I get a day off. I should probably shut up and go to bed :) G'nite!
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Are you shopping at the Walmart across from Aldi or the new Maryville Walmart? The new Walmart is more expensive - just an fyi. Also, if you want noninjected meat, buy your meat at Food City.
I'm facing a shopping challenge since I'm adjusting for one less person in the household. My shopping lists are really weird lately. Trying to readjust so we don't have so much waste. It's been hard.