Money saving ideas!

Wow, it has been forever since I have posted on here! I have many new recipes for cheap meals to post on here very soon! I have some great money saving ways to lower your grocery budget!

1. DON'T BUY BAGGED SALAD! We all know that buying premade salad in a bag is just convenient, I myself have fallen into the trap. The problem is, while it is the perfect mix of what you want in a salad, they greens wilt faster than you can eat all of it many times. At the beginning of the week I make a "salad bag," it lasts waaayyy longer than the bags at the store and stays fresher. You just buy what you want to put in, lettuce, cucumbers, etc. and throw them all in the bag. That way you have it ready for meals during the week or to take to work for lunches. It really does save on costs in the long run, just make sure you buy ingredients that are on sale and not too ripe.

2. MEAL PLAN!!! I do this to a T! Before I go grocery shopping I sit down with adds and see what's on sale, mainly meat sales. I will plan 2 weeks of meals, writing down their ingredients and what sides I would like to have with them. Than I go through my cabinets and circle everything I don't already have on the list of meals. That way I have a list when I go to the store and I don't stray from it!

3. DOUBLE UP ON MEALS: This is something that follows right along with meal planning. For example, I made a crockpot chicken meal the other night with veggies that used a whole chicken (great for a cheap meal, you can get one for $4). There is a ton of chicken left over when you make this meal so the next night I made a huge delicious batch of spicy chicken soup (which hubby LOVES) and used the leftover chicken. The soup makes a huge pot so we had it for the next 2 nights. I spent maybe $7 for 3 nights of meals because I did this.

4. COUPONS: I love coupons... BUT, BE CAREFUL!!!! Coupons are great, unfortunately, many times you can spend more using them. Check the sales and see if when you use the coupon you are getting it cheaper than the store brand. Some people are die hard brand name users, I used to be as well until I stepped out of the box and tried the Food Club Brand, now I won't go back to the other unless it's cheaper! If you look at the manufacturer, many times they are the same. Also, just to throw this out there, A member of our financial peace class took her family to the Mayfield Dairy farm for a tour. While she was there they were bottling Walmart Great Value brand milk. The lady guiding the tour said that they bottle it in a different jug and the cows that drink that milk eat regular hay from a pasture so they have to send it through an extra machine to get the taste of wild onions out. Ummmm... I don't know about you, but I think I would prefer my milk cows to eat a natural diet.... Okay, so back to the coupon thing... haha I have quit buying the newspaper and started clipping online. Great websites are; coupons.com, redplum.com freeflys.com afullcup.com and make sure you subscribe for offers from P&G brandsavers and other commonly used brands in your household! Good Luck!!! :)

So these are just a few tips... More to come along with some delicious and cheap recipes!

Yummy Italian Chicken and Veggies Meal for $3!!!!

This meal is super easy, super cheap, and literally takes about 15mins to cook!!!



Many of these ingredients are pantry staples so there are very few that you will have to purchase. Your ingredients are;
* 1lb of chicken breasts halved
* frozen veggies of your choice (let them thaw a little)
* 1/4 cup of Italian Dressing
* 1/2 tbs of garlic
* 1 tsp of basil
* ground pepper



Combine the dressing and garlic in the skillet, cook about 1 min. on med. heat. Next add the chicken breasts and sprinkle with a little ground pepper and about half of the basil (keep the rest for the other side of the chicken). Cook the chicken 4 to 5 mins on each side until done. Sprinkle the other side of the chicken with a little pepper and remaining basil. After chicken is done, add your veggies and cook until they are tender and done. Than ENJOY!!!



Since many of these ingredients are staples in your pantry you probably really only have to buy the frozen veggies and the chicken! I watch sale adds and buy chicken in bulk and freeze it when it is on sale for about 1.99 a pound. Also, my Steamfresh veggies that were in the picture, were on sale for Buy One Get One at Food City plus I had a coupon so I got them for only .94 a bag!!!
So your total:
* Chicken Breast- 1.99
* Mixed veggies- .94
= $2.93!!!!!!!

Skillet Lasagna

This meal is super easy and is a great alternative to spaghetti in case you ever get tired of it.
Here are the ingredients you will need, I already had the pasta on hand and the cheese on hand (these are always in my pantry staples). So you will need:
1lb. of ground beef
spaghetti sauce
half a box of bowtie pasta
about a cup of water
and mozzarella cheese



Brown the ground beef and drain off any grease. After you drain off the grease reduce the stove to med/low and add sauce, pasta, and water. Stir well and cover to simmer. Make sure to stir every once in a while cause the pasta will stick to the bottom. Keep cooking until the pasta is tender (about 15-18 mins). Move to a cool stove eye and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and cover to let it melt.



After cheese has melted serve and enjoy with whatever you like.



My total on this meal was:
$4.37
But, I already had the pasta, cheese, and bread left over from past meals and I got my bag of salad on sale for .99 because it's sell by was in a few days.
If you were to buy these ingredients it would be:
Pasta-1.25
1lb of Beef-2.49
1 can of sauce-.89 (BTW, Food Club spaghetti sauce in a can is great! Try it!)
Mozzarella cheese- 2
water- FREE!!! :)
--------------- The total is... $6.73!

Welcome!

So my husband and I started Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University a few weeks ago. It's funny, when people hear Dave Ramsey, they automatically think... "Oh, bless their hearts, they are having a hard time." LOL The point of Dave Ramsey is to "Live like noone else, so later you can LIVE like noone else"-Dave Ramsey, so don't feel bad for us!
The reason I started this blog is because I have people ask me all the time, "how do you spend less than $40 on groceries a week?" A lot of times, they also say... "Well, it's just two of you right now so that's why." Really, we cook full recipes for every meal, meals that are intended for 4 or more people at a time. This blog will show you how I do it and hopefully give you some ideas for cheap, yummy, wholesome recipes to add to your kitchen! :) Enjoy!