A week's worth of meals... for less than $100.00

If I have not shared this before (my facebook people have heard this for sure) we are living the Dave Ramsey's Money Makeover.  That means that we are scraping and pinching every tiny bit we can to get out of debt as quickly as we can.  One of our biggest issues upon evaluating what we spent was our grocery budget.  We have taken that to heart and changed our ways... mostly.  LOL  Being a foodie I tend to like odd little treats in the way of food and drink when I can get it but I am learning to delay gratification in this realm.  I did buy a chocolate soda and a bag of gnocchi the other day but for the most part I have been a really good girl the past few months.

With culinary school and crazy work schedules I have been neglectful in the sharing of menus that we eat at home so I am going to start putting more of that here again.  So, without further adieu...

This week's meals include:

Taco Salad - lettuce, ground meat, tomatoes, avocado slices, grated colby/jack cheese, salsa, red onion or green onion and it all goes on a bed of tortilla chips.  YUM!

Whole wheat waffles with pecans and homemade strawberry or blueberry syrup and a side of Vermont Maple Syrup Sausage.

Beef Lasagna with broccoli and garlic toast

Chicken Fried Steak and homemade mashed potatoes with a big side salad and dessert is peanut butter pie for a birthday boy's complete favorite meal on Saturday evening!

Baking a cake for church dinner and cutting up fruit as a side and this will all go with everyone else's contribution to the meal

Grilled Chicken with veggies

Roasted Pork Tenderloin (on sale this week and gonna get two big meals out of this one) with rice and veggies

Breakfasts include homemade granola with yogurt or milk, breakfast egg burritos, a variety of hot cereals, toast and fruit.  We do not eat cold cereal in our house anymore... WAY too pricey for the budget.

Lunches are usually leftovers, big salads or sandwiches and there is always fruit for snacking.

Another key to making sure you stay under budget is to check the sale fliers and circulars and STICK TO YOUR LIST... do not buy something that is not on it.

So, that is what a week of meals looks like in our house.  Sometimes there is more vegetarian stuff and in hot summer months lots of cold meals are a hit.  In the winter there are lots more soups and comfort type foods.

If you need a little help getting started there is a great resource on the left-hand side of my blog.  It is a link straight to E-mealz.com and it gives you a week's worth of meals at a time and a shopping list to keep you on track.  Once you get the hang of it you can do it yourself but it is a great way to start off and get it under control quickly.  Go check it out!  :)