Menu Planning Printable - Help yourself cut your grocery budget

Hey guys.

I've been hard at work planning and making this printable for myself to share with everyone.

So in an effort to have a solid menu plan and shopping plan in place before heading out to the store I plan to start doing my shopping on Saturday's. My ad circulars come to my mailbox on Wednesdays or aren't available on any apps until late Tuesday or until Wednesday. I usually head to the store having maybe looked at an ad or two for a few minutes and tend to miss things. Like lets say eggs were on sale for $1.89 at Aldi's, not bad, but if I had really taken the time to study all the circulars I would have seen that they were 99 cents at Albertsons. So the extra time will help me avoid making those kinds of mistakes. Another reason I think it will work better for us is because we are all home, there's no need to rush home to get ready for work or to pick up my daughter. This way we can run all our errands on the same day, visit multiple stores to snag the best sales for the most savings without the added pressure of having to be back home at a certain time.

So as promised I wanted to start menu planning. I had been trying to menu plan on a regular piece of notebook paper but I found I was just kind of throwing things on there that in the end didn't make sense. So the more I tried paper after paper, I said to myself I need to find a better way. I searched the internet for a printable because I really wanted to create a successful plan where nothing would end up forgotten or going to waste.  I feel proper organization is necessary for it to be successful. Plus who doesn't want a super cute printable. But everything I found was just not fitting the criteria for me. So I set out to create my own, which wasn't easy with my browser freezing twice creating the same template a total of three times #TheStruggle. I wanted a place where I could plan for breakfast, lunch and dinner for all 7 days of the week. Log what I had to work with, like what was in the pantry, fridge or freezer? What needed to be used right away? What was I missing? What did I need to go shopping for? I also needed a space to give myself reminders a bit of a to do list to prep ahead so I wouldn't forget to do something that was necessary for a dinner I had planned. Like defrost meat or soak dry beans overnight etc. I need that, I mean it, after having these kids I swear I am honestly lucky to just remember my name. So a reminder list is crucial to me so I don't ruin my plans and throw off the whole menu planning.

Because I didn't find one that worked. I made my own and decided to share with all of you incase it would be useful to anyone.

Download your free printable using the link below. For my printer I had to set the image to 49% to fit the entire page. You may have to adjust for your printer in your settings.

Happy menu planning.

Click HERE for your free printable. Download through dropbox.

Here is my real life example of how well it worked for me. I used a highlighter to cross off things after I had incorporated them into the menu. I tried to make use of all the perishables especially.

Hope you guys like it. Speak to you next week. 

Week 3 - Update - Cut Back Grocery Shopping

This week we took advantage of Aldi's meat special. of 1.89 a pound for ground beef. They also had chicken thighs on sale for .49 cents a pound but by the time we got there they were none and if any of you know Aldi's, once they're gone they're gone. What can you do, you win some you lose some right. We went ahead and grabbed ourselves two packages of the ground beef (they come in 5-lb rolls)  and a pack of green peppers priced at 4 for $1. We also stopped at Kroger and used my $2 off $10 meat coupon to buy some boneless skinless chicken thighs making them $1.32 the pound and got a little over 6lbs Not as good as Aldi's, but what can you do. I usually try to get my meat at $1.99/lb or less so in my book it was still good. Plus it was convenient to not have to debone them and remove the skin my self. Which is what I do most of the time and then save the skin and bones to make chicken stock.

Remember I said I wanted to plan my meals a little better. Well I didn't plan pre buying the meat (in fact the meat was kind of a spur of the moment buy) but when I got home I figured I have to do something better than just popping it in the freezer as is., so I planned ahead quite a bit. It took a few hours because I didn't go in with a plan and came up with all the recipe ideas as I went along but I think its better than not having a game plan at all.

See here is what I did.

16 meals were produced from the proteins that were purchased. Two didn't make it into the picture, oopsies.  I made sure to use ingredients that were already in my fridge, freezer or pantry plus the peppers I had just purchased. I also made sure that they matched with sides I could make at home from things I already had on hand as well, such as potatoes, rice, pasta or frozen vegetables.

The good thing is that because it was divided into so many meals I was able to use throughout the remainder of February and about a week into March or longer if I continue to add meatless meals into the mix in between.

The meals are:
1. BBQ chicken thighs - mashed potatoes and frozen vegetables
2. Curry chicken thighs - with white rice and beans
3. Honey garlic ginger soy chicken thighs - with white rice
4. Lemon cilantro chicken thighs - inside homemade pitas with fries from freezer
5. Thighs for making chicken salads sandwiches - on homemade sliced bread
6. Fajita Chicken thighs - on homemade flour tortillas
7. Beef stew - with white rice
8. Taco meat - homemade corn tortillas, onion and cilantro
9. Sweet and sour meatballs - with white rice
10. Beef - added to large elbow macaroni
11. Sloppy Joes - with homemade buns and fries from freezer
12. Salisbury meatballs - with homemade brown gravy and mashed potatoes
13. Hamburger patties - with homemade buns and fries from freezer
14. Meat loaf - with potatoes and frozen veggies
15. Thai Beef - with white rice (not pictured)
16. Thighs for grilled chicken salad - with lettuce, peppers, onions, tomatoes, cucumber (not pictured)

In the end I would say this cut back grocery shopping was a half success. While we did far less trips to the grocery store than usual and spent less money on each of our trips we still spent more than I was hoping for and went out more than even intended, at some point it kind of fell apart and I was a bit disappointed. Okay, ok a lot disappointed.  I do think however that next month we can do an even better job with our budget and making even less trips. There were times where because my husband is practicing his driving for his license we ended up near a shopping center or at one and kind of just went in for a few things, like lets check out the clearance and oh lets get milk and made some impulse buys we didn't NEED. We certainly made use of them or stored them in our fridge or pantry but we really could've gone without because we had all our needs met already. My husband sometimes says "lets go out for a drive and/or get this one thing" and though I try to convince him lets just put it on a list and get everything we need on one day so we have less temptation and waste less gas on needless trips but convincing him doesn't always work or maybe I am not trying hard enough.

We have started using Mint.com and I think this will also give us a better idea of where our money goes and help us keep a closer eye and tighter leash on things, I think its already helping hubby see that these spur of the moment driving adventures are not helping us stick to our budget and we are both promising to keep one another in check about it. Hopefully next month we can do even better and continue to grow from there.

I plan to start menu planning based off the weekly ads and whatever is currently in my pantry, fridge or freezer. I shop Kroger most of the time with the occasional trip to Aldi, Albertsons or Walmart and my beloved Dollar Tree. I will often make a day of shopping since all these stores are within 10 minutes of my apartment and just hit them up in order from furthest to closest depending on what sales are available. Walmart usually only gets used for when we have more than just food shopping to do which is rare. Dollar Tree on the other hand we end up in way too often and yes everything is a $1 but when you fill up your cart with $1 items eventually it really adds up to surprising amounts.

Thank you all for joining me on this challenge. I hope we can all learn something from what I may have done right to what I may have done wrong. I think we started off strong and committed and fell off track. I hope to see more of you enjoying my page. Join me next month as we attempt to really get on track with getting this budgeting thing to work and as I integrate menu planning into our lives to hopefully add to our savings.

Leave a comment below if you have any thoughts or tips to share with us. Appreciate it, until next week.

Also check back soon for a little mini project I have in the works for Free printable to make Menu Planning easy and hassle free.

Homemade bread

This is a super easy recipe I have been using for homemade bread after much testing and seeing what works best after some just ok, then some pretty good loaves I adapted and found what works best. This makes a 1-lb loaf if you want to make a two point loaf simply double this recipe.

Here it is.

Ingredients:
3 Cups of Flour. *
2 Tbsp Oil (olive, vegetable or canola will work)
1 tsp Salt
2 Tbsp Sugar or Honey
1 Tbsp of Yeast
1 Cup + 1 Tbsp of Water (Note: You can also replace water with whey** or partially with milk)


Instructions:

Step 1 - Make your dough starter. Mix 1 cup of flour with your yeast, salt, sugar, water and oils in a bowl. Let that sit for about 10 - 20 minutes until doubled in size.

Step 2 - Add the remaining 2 cups of flour. If your dough is too sticky add dough until your dough clears the sides of your bowl. Knead your dough for 5-10 minutes on a floured surface. Allow to rise 30 minutes covered.

Step 3 - Grease your loaf pan. Knead and shape your dough into a loaf. Place into your pan. Allow your dough to rise in the loaf pan for 30 - 45 minutes covered with a light weight towel. Do not disturb or poke at your dough or all the height gained will deflate. If needed let rise longer until dough is at a good height, just above the pan is good as it will rise more when baking.

Step 4- Preheat your oven to 350. As the oven is preheating my stove top gets pretty warm and allows the loaf to continue rising a bit longer while it preheats. Once the oven is ready, place your loaf in the oven for 20 - 30 minutes.

Step 5 - Remove from pan and allow to cool on a cooling rack.

Or do what I do and have yourself a slice of that nice warm deliciously fresh bread with some butter or jam or even a sandwich.

Bread is my weakness!!! So is pasta and rice. Uuugghh all the stuff full of carbs... But thats besides the point.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and your fresh bread.

* You can use 1-2 cups of wheat flour. More than that ends up kind of dry/dense.
** Whey is by product of cheese making. I had lots left over last week from making ricotta. It gives bread a nice flavor. I will share the ricotta recipe soon. If you make it do not throw out your whey. Remember use everything waste less.

Note you can also use a food processor with a dough attachment.

Week 2 update - Cut Back Grocery Shopping Challenge

Here we are on week 2.

This Sunday was Valentine's Day. We had a nice day in at home and just spent it together as a family. As the homebodies we are, we're happy with that. Nothing is better than sitting at home and relaxing after a long week.

It didn't take long before I caved in and went shopping for flour since we ran out on Week 1 of this challenge. The kids and hubby were hoping I would bake some Valentines's Day treats and I knew it would come in handy for the rest of the week. I figured I would also cash in on some coupons Kroger had sent me about 2 weeks back since I was already going there. Free stuff??? Yes please, don't mind if I do! Free dozen eggs, free pint of ice cream and free bag of organic popcorn. Yes I know, I know. I said we were cutting back on junk but chocolate is my WEAKNESS. Plus I can't say no to free or cheap for that matter. Speaking of cheap, look what I found in my produce clearance section. Organic Veggies for only 99 cents. On the other hand though here is what I noticed, I went to the store for flour and freebies and came out with many unplanned things even if it was a good find.

Gallon of Milk - $1.49 after 50 cents Ibotta Cash Back rebate

Eggs - Free & 50 cents money maker after Ibotta Cash Back rebate

Simple Truth Organic Popcorn - Free

Private Selection Ice cream - Free

Simple Truth Natural chicken breast - $4.59 after Digital Coupon

Flour - $1.79

2 Organic Cabbage - .99 cents for both

2 Organic Eggplant - .99 cents for both

1 Organic Cauliflower - .99 cents 

3 Peppers - .99 for all three

Total: $ 11.33 

I got these chicken breasts because hubby wanted a "good dinner" since we weren't going out to eat at a restaurant, so I splurged a little.

Disclosure: Ibotta link contains my referral code. If you sign up using my referral code you will get $10 into your account and I will be rewarded with $5 once you redeem your first rebate. Ibotta gives you cash back on groceries at many store locations. Check them out for more details. Or feel free to ask me any questions and I will be glad to answer them.  In fact I may even make a post on my favorite money saving apps.

This week included lots of homemade goodies. Homemade, ricotta, bread, pitas, cupcakes frosting etc... I made three 1-lb loaves of bread. I started with one and that same day more than half had been eaten so I knew there was no way we would get through the week with just one, so I made two more. I made two of them using up the whey produced from the homemade ricotta and gosh they are tasty. Using my food processor made it a super easy task to mix up all the dough. It's not a Kitchen Aid mixer but it get's the job done at a nice price. I have been using it since November and I do not have any complaints. 

 Disclosure: Link is an affiliate link, If you make a purchase I earn a small percentage as a profit. There is no extra cost to you. Your support for this SAHM is appreciated.  

Now here's a glance at what our week looked like

Week 2

Day 1

- V-Day themed breakfast. Homemade Funfetti Pancakes, eggs and sausage. 

- Hot dogs and Homemade apple sauce (I canned a while back)

- Chicken Parmesan with Stuffed Shells with home made ricotta and eggplant
- Homemade Vanilla cupcakes w/chocolate peanut butter center and a homemade chocolate coconut frosting

Day 2
- Overnight oats w/ homemade apple sauce mixed in and sliced bananas
- Leftover Chicken parmesan with Stuffed shells and eggplant
- Eggplant patties with seasoned veggies and mini vegetable samosas

Day 3
- Cold cereal
- PBJ sandwiches on homemade bread
- Cabbage stir fry with homemade naan (from freezer stash)

Day 4
- Cereal bars with yogurt
- Burrito - Using leftover black beans and rice. Added scrambled eggs, salsa and cheddar cheese.
- Soup - Made from Homemade chicken stock with veggies, beans and rotini pasta

Day 5
- Overnight oats w/ coconut chocolate
- Grilled chicken salad
- Crunchy beef tacos

Day 6
- PBJ sandwiches on homemade bread / Instant Oatmeal

- Grilled cheese and fried egg sandwich on homemade bread with chickpea salad

- Homemade pitas stuffed with lemon cilantro chicken and chickpea salad 

Day 7
- Grilled cheese sandwiches with banana
- Chickpea salad
- Hamburgers on homemade bread


Stay tuned for more recipe links. I am a little behind on my blogging since my LO is sickie. But I will update ASAP.

Pancake Mix Recipe & Funfetti Pancakes

Homemade Funfetti Pancakes

Whenever we run out of pancake mix I usually make a run to the store. But not this time. I made my own pancake mix and it is super yummy. Much better and healthier than the store bought version and I always have these ingredients on hand in my pantry.

 


I found this empty container which usually houses my measuring cups and spoons but I use them so often they almost never make it back into the storage container anyway so it wouldn't be missed. I wrote the recipe and directions right on the container to make it easy for me to make a new batch when I run out or when I am cooking up a batch for breakfast.

Pancake Mix
- 4 cups of flour
- 3 Tbsp baking powder
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp baking soda

Add these all together to a container and mix until all is well combined.

As far as the flour goes I usually like to mix most recipes with at least one cup of whole wheat flour since it doesn't change the taste by much and usually goes unnoticed by my kiddos.


Directions for making batter: Yields about five 4" pancakes. 

- 1 cup of pancake mix
- 1 egg
- 1 cup of milk or buttermilk or make your own homemade buttermilk (mix 1 cup of milk with 1 Tbsp lemon juice or white vinegar.let that sit for 10 minutes or so before use)
- 1 Tbsp of oil

To make these Funfetti Pancakes simply add to your batter:
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract (almond works well too)
- about 1/2 cup of sprinkles

The best sprinkles to use for this are cylinder sprinkles. These are the oblong shaped ones. They last better in the batter and don't bleed through. If all you have on hand are the round little ones like I did. I suggest adding them in as late as possible, I would wait until the batter is already on the pan and add in the sprinkles at that point. Otherwise these bleed into the batter terribly. Doesn't change the taste but it doesn't look as pretty.

I really recommend the buttermilk or homemade version for a nice flavor and extra fluffiness for your pancakes.

Cooking Instructions:
- Preheat a large pan or griddle. Grease your pan with cooking spray if your pan isn't non stick.
- Spoon the batter into pan. I usually use a soup ladle to keep the amounts even and it makes about a 4" almost perfectly round pancake.
- Cook for about 2-3 minutes until golden brown. A good indication is when you see bubbles the bubbles appear.
- Flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
- Repeat until all your batter is done

Serve alone, with butter, syrup or your favorite topping and enjoy. Cut out fun shapes with cookie cutters for your little ones. They sure find anything shaped so much more enjoyable and I love seeing the smiles it brings on their little faces. Plus, whatever gets them to eat, right. I'll give you the link for the ones I purchased from Amazon, they're a great value and bring so many choices which are great for holidays. Disclosure: Link is an affiliate link, If you make a purchase I earn a small percentage as a profit. There is no extra cost to you. Your support for this SAHM is appreciated.

Update Week 1- Cut Back Grocery Shopping Challenge

Hey guys!


Here's that update I promised.
It's been one week so far since we started the no grocery shopping challenge and for the most part things are going okay. We are running very low on meat, but I'm okay with that. Looks like I will be working on quite a few meatless dinners this coming week. We have ran out of flour, which I use often for a lot of different recipes so I am not happy about that. I may eventually give in and purchase some because it is so versatile in the number of things I can make with it. Any who... here is a look at what this week looked like for us.

I've kept a track of our breakfasts, lunches and dinners for the week. Sorry I didn't take many pictures, thought most are nothing fancy. Keep in mind breakfast and dinner there are 4 of us but lunch is only three of us during the week. On the weekends we are all home.

We did go shopping on Saturday morning to Albertson's Supermarket. We needed to get milk since we ran out and picked up a few items. The little ones would not be able to survive without their cup of milk before bed. They've been wanting some bananas and we spotted asparagus on sale. This has got to be the least amount of things I have ever picked up when grocery shopping. 





Here is what we got.

Milk gallon $1.99

Milk gallon clearance 50% off $1.24

Milk quart clearance 50% off .75 

Bananas .55

Asparagus $1.50 

Cheese $1.99

Total: $8.02 (much better than our usual $80 - $120/week)

Week 1

Day 1

- Baked peanut butter and banana oatmeal

- Homemade pepperoni pizza

- Left over pizza w/ homemade boneless buffalo wings, mozzarella sticks and celery w/ blue cheese 

Day 2

- Cold cereal w/ milk

- Pasta w/ sauce and cut up vienna sausage

- Italian chicken w/ peppers, onions & veggies and side of leftover pasta w/ sauce from lunch 

Day 3

- Cold cereal / leftover baked oatmeal 

- PB&J for snack 

- Chicken nuggets and carrots

- Homemade empanadas, yellow rice with pork pieces, and pinto beans on the side 

Day 4

- Left over homemade pancakes (freezer)

- Left over pasta w/ sauce 

- Wild rice w/ carrots, broccoli and cauliflower. Baked chicken breast topped with provolone and tomato 

Day 5

- Leftover homemade pancakes (freezer)

- PB&J on homemade bread

- Fried egg, cassava and frying cheese topped with onion

Day 6

- Egg omelette muffins (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots onions, cilantro. Sliced and toasted homemade bread.

- PB&J on homemade bread

- Brown rice,Red rice mix w/ Lentils & chicken quarters 

Day 7

- Overnight oats with Greek Vanilla yogurt, fresh apples, and raisins. 

- Black bean and cheese burritos on homemade tortillas w/ oven fries 

- Garlic ginger soy baked chicken quarters w/ garlic parmesan asparagus

I can tell these next few weeks are just going to get harder. It's already getting tough. We ran out of bread during the week, so I went on to good old Pinterest and found a nice simple recipe and made my own. The kids enjoyed the bread without any complaints and my husband and I did as well. In fact, I found it more filling than store bought bread and what's best, it's much healthier and I feel good with serving it to my children. Unfortunately it wasn't picture worthy as I forgot to do the second rest period for the dough to rise and allow the yeast to do its magic. Oops! So it didn't rise too much when it cooked in the oven. As a result, it was a little dense, but I'll do better next time. It still tasted yummy though. Especially warm straight out of the oven. Needless to say we eat a lot of bread and went through this 1-lb loaf in two days. But now without the flour, things are going to be even tougher. 

We included left overs in as many days as possible. Including our leftovers not only made things a little easier for me since I usually just needed to heat and serve. It also prevented things from going to waste and saved me from having to figure out another meal to make.  I did also use the left overs to make something new in some cases. 

I will add updated pictures of the fridge and pantry tomorrow so you can see what we are working with starting this new week. I will say with this challenge we have also noticed we keep stock of things that are not really food that we probably should cut out if we want to maintain a good budget. Its junk we do not really need and is not good for us anyway. We have been wanting to make a better effort of eating healthier for the benefit of our health and setting a good example for our children. So ridding our pantries of these foods altogether will also kind of give us a fresh start. While I won't throw it in the garbage(we did pay for it after all) we will not be buying them again. 

Be sure to check back next week for Week 2 update. 

3 week Cut Back Grocery Shopping challenge

Hey everyone, hope all is well.

This weekend I have been trying to come up with and set up a system for keeping track of our budget and expenditures. Not an easy task to say the very least but I know that I am doing this with a goal in mind and it HAS to be done. In doing so I realized we've already spent almost as much as we've made for the month (and we know to live well you must spend less than you make) and so hubby and I have decided to put ourselves up for a challenge.

We will not be grocery shopping for the rest of the month for items with the exception of milk and fresh produce which is mostly for the kiddos if there is anything else we buy I will disclose that. Other then that we are going to live off of whatever we have in the pantry, fridge and freezer. I do usually try and have our staples always on hand and whenever I see a good sale I always buy extra than what is just needed. So with that said, I think we will be okay and this is going to be a nice challenge for us, especially for me as the one who composes all our meals. It's going to take some creativity sometimes but I am sure I can make it work. I'm excited and looking forward to the challenge.

Check back every week for an update on how this challenge is going. I will try and post as much info and pictures of our pantry and fridge contents and the meals we make. I don't usually meal plan much ahead of time. Usually I will just come up with dinner based on what's in the house. It is however one of my goals. (I promise I will work on it very soon)

I wanted to give everyone a look at what we're starting with to get an idea of where we stand.
Here is a look at my pantry, fridge and freezer.

Would you be able to take on this challenge? Try one week and see how it goes.