Money Matters
brij2006
member
Dear Community,
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Meal Planning
Anyone meal plan this week?
What's on your menu?
Or what are you doing to keep the grocery budget in check this week?
What's on your menu?
Or what are you doing to keep the grocery budget in check this week?
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)
Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com
Re: Meal Planning
What's on your menu? Leftover eggplant parm from Saturday should get us through tonight. Tomorrow is pot roast in the crock pot and depending on when that lasts til, I might make jambalaya on Friday.
Or what are you doing to keep the grocery budget in check this week? We usually buy off-brand for everything and sale stuff when we can. I won't lie, we don't try especially hard with being cheap with food but I stick to a meal plan to keep our restaurant budget in check and so we can stick to healthy life style.
Saturday: Meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy
Sunday: Grilled BBQ chicken drumsticks with cornbread
Monday: Grilled steak and baked potato and cake. It's our anniversary, and our bakery is providing a free 6" cake that resembles our wedding cake. I got the steaks, bone-in NY strip at a small store near my work, for 4.77/lb. They do crazy meat deals at this store, and it's good quality stuff.
Tuesday: Grilled garlic lime pork chops from Skinnytaste, grilled mini peppers, cilantro lime rice.
Wednesday: Cheeseburgers with tater tots (H requested this meal LOL)
Thursday: Hawaiian pork tacos with pineapple salsa/grilled pineapple and any leftover cilantro lime rice. I have the meat left over from a crock pot meal from 2 weeks ago, so I froze it then to use now!
Friday: Undecided yet, I get paid Friday so we may order a pizza or go out to eat.
Geesh, we're not doing so good with the whole eating veggies thing...
ETA: I forgot I also will be making some pasta with pesto and turkey smoked sausage, not to eat for dinner, but for me to take for lunch this week to keep me from buying lunch and/or having my coworkers buy me lunch (they do this all the time), which is usually junk.
Anyone meal plan this week? Kinda!
What's on your menu? We have picnic food leftovers so that will be tonight and tomorrow-Burgers/hot dogs/tuna salad/regular salad. Then after that probably shrimp over pasta w/butter, regular pasta night, then chicken with a side and veggie.
Or what are you doing to keep the grocery budget in check this week?
We went shopping Sunday and didn't spend much due to leftovers so that helped! We just need to clean out the fridge....
What's on your menu?
Monday: homemade mac-n-cheese, broccoli, chicken
Tuesday: panko breaded tofu, salad
Wednesday: breakfast for dinner (eggs, waffles- love our waffle maker!, turkey sausage, fruit, sweet potato fries). We have DD#1's open house at 6:30pm so we need a quick dinner.
Thursday: chicken burrito bowls- rice, grilled chicken, corn, cheese, peppers, lettuce, avacado
Friday: homemade pizza and salad
Saturday: usually have dinner at DH's parents house
Sunday: pesto pasta with lemon, feta, vegan italian sausage, asparagus
Or what are you doing to keep the grocery budget in check this week? I don't monitor our grocery budget that closely- we're a family of 4 that eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner from our home every day. I buy organic and the fridge is usually bare by Saturday afternoon. As long as we eat everything, I don't mind spending the $.
@julieanne912, I love leftover Mexican food turned into breakfast. I either make it into a scramble/omelet or bake it with some eggs for a breakfast casserole.
Haha, I used the term "leftover". I actually don't need the excuse of leftovers to make a Mexican inspired breakfast.
What's on your menu?
Yesterday - Lunch: Gyros Dinner: herb garlic grilled chicken breasts, homemade roasted garlic mashed red potatoes, and corn.
Tonight - Crockpot scalloped potatoes and ham. I also added some green beans from the garden that I had canned but didn't seal right.
Tomorrow - Stuffed green peppers
Wednesday - Something with the leftover mashed potatoes. Maybe a shepards pie.
Thursday - Leftovers
Friday - Probably leftovers again since we'll likely have a lot.
I also prepped salads for each of us for the whole week for lunch. I have leftover gyros for 2 days and made some broccoli cheddar soup that I'll take the remaining 3 days.
I also cut up a ton of fruits and veggies for snacks to take to work. As well as cut up cheese for us to grab and go.
Or what are you doing to keep the grocery budget in check this week?
Saying no to H if he wants to eat out. Lol. We haven't been so great with that so far this month.
Then I also meal planned around what we already had in the house. I plan to go through the pantry and plan for next week as well so we can eat some things we already have.
We budget $600/month for groceries and toiletries. My goal this month is to only use $400.
TTC since 1/13 DX:PCOS 5/13 (long, anovulatory cycles)
Clomid 50mg 9/13 = BFP! EDD 6/7/14 M/C 5w6d Found 11/4/13
1/14 PCOS / Gluten Free Diet to hopefully regulate my system.
Chemical Pregnancy 03/14
Surprise BFP 6/14, Beta #1: 126 Beta #2: 340 Stick baby, stick! EDD 2/17/15
Riley Elaine born 2/16/15
TTC 2.0 6/15
Chemical Pregnancy 9/15
Chemical Pregnancy 6/16
BFP 9/16 EDD 6/3/17
Beta #1: 145 Beta #2: 376 Beta #3: 2,225 Beta #4: 4,548
www.5yearstonever.blogspot.com
Mon - Mystery shop takeout dinners from the local family type restaurant
Tues - Mystery shop takeout dinners from same restaurant, different location
Wed - We have leftover pasta from a restaurant in the freezer. Reheat that with salad.
Thurs - Fend for yourself night. I'll probably have a big salad and H will find something in the fridge/freezer
Fri - Grilled turkey steaks and salad or frozen veggie
Sat - Not sure, maybe go to a pub for dinner or pick up a mystery shop
Sun - Not sure yet, maybe grilled chicken and salad/frozen veggie
By about Wednesday of last week (party was on the previous Saturday), both H and my scale were like NO MORE MEXICAN FOOD... I was making nachos and burritos and tacos and quesadillas like crazy.
Tonight we're having spaghetti (H) and zucchini noddles with meat sauce (me). (If you haven't tried zoodles, do it. They're amazing!!!)
Tuesday and Wednesday we'll have steak, corn on the cob and mixed veggies.
Thursday is baked fish and pasta salad.
Lunches for me are always a bagged salad, and H eats either a frozen burrito or Costco chicken sandwich.
Meal planning definitely keeps me from overbuying at the grocery store, since I have a firm grasp on what's already in our fridge, freezer and cabinets.
I've been meaning to try this! At least for me, noodles are just the vehicle to go with the meat sauce...which is the best part. So why not create them out of something much healthier and lower calorie. Like veggies.
I even bought one of those little machines that will turn veggies into noodle shapes, but I am dubious about the quality of it, lol.
Meals for the week:
I cook breakfast for the week on Sunday. So it's two whole grain pancakes (Kodiak Cakes--so delicious), 3 pieces of sausage, maple syrup and activia yogurt. I buy all of it in bulk at Costco. Total cost of breakfast: 78 cents.
Lunch:
Bought a $4.99 Costco chicken this weekend. I usually get about 6 meals out of it because we divy up the breasts for four meals, and then two thigh/leg combos.
Then, I turn it into different meals like: spinach/kale salad with chicken, chicken tacos, chicken noodle soup, chicken and rice. Total cost for 6 meals: $8-$10.
So for the week for lunch and breakfast, and I will spend about $14. So average of $1.40 per meal.
DH--either eats leftovers from dinner or a very simple lunch of a ham sandwich, apple sauce and cheese stick.
Dinners: depends on what I pull out of the freezer for the day. Usually decide every night. Most times, I will make 4 servings for dinner and save leftovers for lunch the same day.
We typically spend about $250 or less per month on groceries. Then, we spend another $100-$150 a month eating out.
This week we are having pork chops with loaded baked potatoes, BBQ sandwiches (pre-made BBQ) and corn, and a taco bake.
We will probably go out Friday night and we are hosting friends for a football game on Saturday night so we will be providing snacks and drinks which will up our spending this week a little bit.
We have a pretty generous grocery budget so we haven't had trouble staying on track, but we could be doing better with the last minute impulse items. I've not been going to Aldi as much as I used to, when I have a short list it is just easier to make one stop to get everything.
As the weather cools down and we start eating more soups and "heavy" meals I will get back to doing two week meal planning and shopping at a time.
What's on your menu?
We had grilled eggplant and tomatoes with pasta last night.
Monday - zucchini noddles with ground turkey bolognese
Tuesday - veggie burgers, grilled potatoes, salad
Wednesday - artichoke, sundried tomato and goat cheese pizza, salad
Thursday - kale and white bean soup
Friday - gumbo over rice
Or what are you doing to keep the grocery budget in check this week?
We don't work particularly hard on the grocery budget, it's mostly on autopilot at this point at $90-$100/week for the two of us. I cook a lot and we only usually get takeout or go out for one meal per week, so I don't see us cutting back much, if at all.
I don't have a set grocery budget per se, but I know what we typically spend and it's an amount I'm happy with. We eat out as part of our "entertainment" budget so I don't include it with the regular food category.
http://www.thepinningmama.com/hawaiian-chicken-bake-recipe-easy-dinner-idea/
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/17025/slow-cooker-sweet-and-tangy-chicken/
I try to meal plan, usually for a week or so in advance, but I don't have a set grocery shopping schedule/routine so quite often we're stuck eating whatever's in the pantry or eating out (we're not very good at cooking at home if it's not planned ahead). This is something we need to work on big time.
Tonight is leftovers/randoms, and I'm making homemade pasta sauce so tomorrow we'll have spaghetti. Then if I have the motivation tomorrow night, I'll make cabbage soup that we'll have on Wednesday (I have half a head of cabbage left to use). Anyone have a favorite cabbage soup recipe? The rest of the week is unknown at this point...
We go through a pound of spinach and two pounds of brussels sprouts each week. We go through a Costco-sized tub of hummus every 2 weeks. I go through a bag of cereal every 7-10 days.
On the weekends we do cook when we have time, but neither of us has the energy to pull together a real meal during the week. Whenever we make something easily scale-able we make extra for leftovers, but that's about the extent of our active meal planning.
I have stopped worrying too much about my grocery budget, because it's mostly a Costco budget, and there are always other things we pick up. This week we probably spent $50 on prenatal vitamins, cold medicine, tylenol, breathright strips, and socks/underwear at Costco. It's too much work to categorize that sort of thing separately, so I call all of it groceries. We budget $600/month for Costco+Publix, and we are usually under, even with the random stuff we buy. I am also trying to (slowly) stock our liquor cabinet from Costco whenever we have a light run, in anticipation of the holidays so we can host people properly. Our Costco liquor store is coding as 5x points on my Freedom card for the rest of the year, and Costco has by far the best prices.
@hoffse, oh! You're making me miss free work food, lol. A previous company I worked for had it all the time. Plus we had "generous" vendors who would stop by all the time with treats.
There was one woman who showed up mid morning, every Friday. She was smokin' hot AND brought pastries/muffins/bagels. You'd see an uptick in guys "casually" strolling by the lunch room/front office area in anticipation of her arrival. And when she arrived, it always reminded me of the BBQ scene in Gone with the Wind, lol. Where Scarlett is eating her lunch surrounded by a group of men hanging on her every word.
Apparently pre-fab, modular buildings for an oil rig is a fascinating subject
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Yes! I actually use "Plan to Eat" which is super easy to use, stores recipes, and makes my grocery list for me.
I don't have it in front of me but I made beef stew in the crockpot for tonight. Tomorrow is quick sandwiches (soccer night), tacos, turkey burgers... I don't remember what else for the week.
Or what are you doing to keep the grocery budget in check this week?
The meal planning site makes my grocery list for me. After I print it out I look through the pantry and fridge to figure out what I already have a cross that off the list. Pretty easy! We're not too picky on most brands.
Our grocery budget is so out of whack. We spend almost nothing one week and then $200 the next. I haven't found a way to level it out. We buy mostly fruit and almond milk nowadays, but the weekly swings are annoying to me.