Pantry Challenge--Finished!! (and our Menu Plan for the week)

We made it!!

This challenge was so eye-opening, encouraging, challenging and down-right fun to do!!  It really has made me look at food differently, our budget differently and myself differently.  What a joy is was to start something and finish it with pretty darn good results!!

Our goal for the month was to shrink our usual $400/month grocery budget to just $100.

And I got OH. SO. CLOSE.

Here's what it looked like:

Week 1:  $29.05

Week 2:  $39.94

Week 3:  $21.84

Week 4:  $32.17

Total:  $123.00

$23 over---Boooooooo

But.....


As much as I DID NOT want to go look at that Clearance meat that was beckoning me, I gave in.  That is what set me over the top.  It was absolutely the deal of the century, though, so I really COULD NOT pass it up.  You wanna know the deal???  You know you do!  I got:

20 pounds of ground beef for:  $6.45!!!

32 cents/pound!!

Yes, folks, you read that right---TWENTY!!!  Now, I know you're probably thinking, ahem, that does not equal the entire $23 you were over!  True.  So true.  I also got sucked in to some amazing produce deals, as well, that I just couldn't pass up either.  ( I seem a theme, here!!)

But, take a look at this.  This is my actual program that I use to track all of our finances.  (It's quite an amazing, handy tool----www.quickenonline.intuit.com----it's totally free, totally easy to use, and totally awesome!!  This page show my goals for the month that I set for myself:  $100 for groceries and $100 for eating out. If you'll notice, it shows I went $23 over on our grocery budget, but take a look at that Eating Out goal, we were $62 UNDER budget!!  It just goes to show that MENU PLANNING really does make a difference all around!



All in all, the challenge was so great, and has made me really take a closer look at what we spend on groceries!!  Goodbye $400/month, hello......a LOT less!!!  :-)

I can't believe we're already into February, but here we go!!!!  It's time for our Once-a-month-Freezer-Cooking-Day!  I'll have a post on that soon.  But, for now, here's our Menu Plan for the week:

Monday-  Homemade BBQ Meatballs, Mashed Potatoes (freezer), Corn

Tuesday-  Hamburger Patties (freezer), homemade Sweet Potato Fries, Smoothies

Wednesday-  Spaghetti w/homemade Spaghetti Sauce, Green Salad, Cheesy Garlic Bread

Thursday-  Shredded Pork Tostadas w/all the fixins

Friday-  Homemade Pizza

Have a blessed week, everyone!!!  And, stay tuned for my plan for our Once-a-month-Cooking Day!!