Last week, I talked about my goal of creating meals using food from our freezers + fresh produce from the grocery store. My goal is to stay under $150 for groceries for the month of February. Total spent so far: $66.28. I just need to pick up a few things this week, though, so I think we’ll be in good shape.
I made a HUGE pot of delicious Chicken Tortilla Soup on Monday that ended up stretching into quite a few leftovers. And over the weekend we made the most amazing hamburgers I’ve ever put in my mouth (Are you making your own hamburger buns yet? It just might change your life.) so I’m repeating a couple meals that we didn’t get to last week.
Here’s what’s for dinner at my house this week:
Monday — Spaghetti, Roasted Broccoli From the Freezer: Roasted Marinara Sauce
Tuesday — Shredded Pork & Pineapple Tacos, brown rice From the Freezer: pork roast, corn tortillas, cooked brown rice
Wednesday — Leftovers with Fruit Smoothies From the Freezer: berries & bananas
Thursday — Slow Cooker Honey Garlic Chicken, Roasted Butternut Squash, brown rice From the Freezer: chicken breasts
Friday — Dinner Out
Saturday — After a bad experience in 2005, we don’t go out to eat on Valentine’s Day anymore, so I’m thinking something fun & Valentinesy at home with the kids? Dinner and a movie or… Any brilliant ideas??
Sunday — Multigrain Waffles, eggs, bacon, Peach Smoothies From the freezer: bacon, peaches
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How many people are in your family? I wish I could do $150 per month!
There are 4-6 people in our household. This is not a normal grocery budget for us, just a one-month challenge (and notice I picked the shortest month). 🙂
We go to an afternoon movie if it’s a weekend and eat an early dinner someplace reasonable. During the week, we just stay home and don’t do anything. We’ll do dinner the following weekend when it’s not crowded.
My kids are getting older, but our special stay-at-home family celebrations from younger days are memorable to them because we got out the good china, candles, etc. and decorated the table for the event. Minute Maid Raspberry lemonade concentrate mixed with 2 litres of lemon lime pop make a fizzy pink punch that is extra special served in wine glasses or other fancy glasses and fits the theme!
Very good dinner ideas:). Thank you- btw- you are very creative with your meals! This is our VDay tradition… (Highly recommended btw):))…. I ask family what they would like for their annual sweetheart dinner and desert. I then go out and buy the ingredients and make a trip to the dollar store for decor for the table- my six year old helps me make the sweetheart dinner and desert and then we decorate the table with fake rose pedals, candles, confetti etc…. Then we all get dressed up fancy and eat our sweetheart meal by candlelight! Very romantic and very fun!
I love all these Valentine’s ideas! This one would be very popular with my 4 & 6 year old. They will love that it is “fancy” and I love that it is simple. Going to try it Saturday night. Here’s to new traditions!
For Valentine’s, I’m throwing a “Mad Hatter tea party”
for my hubby and daughters (ages 11 & 2)… Complete with tiny homemade scones and teacup cupcakes, freshly made tea with strawberry pineapple skewers and miniature heart shaped pb&j sandwiches, we’ll be snacking happily. A DVD of Alice will round out our family friendly day!
I agree–Valentine’s Day out is overrated. We can make a way nicer dinner for way less money at home. The kids love it when I put candles on the table. They think that’s fancy. We usually watch a movie as a family after we’ve eaten.
Our Valentine’s Day tradition is family fondue night. We have cheese fondue for dinner with various veggies, meatballs, and French bread broken up. Then dessert is chocolate fondue with berries, marshmellows, etc. We look forward to it all year.