One Week into Meal planning

You've been dying to hear how we're doing, haven't you? I know you have. Well, I'm here to satisfy your curiosity! 

Menu planning is going GREAT so far! It's only been a week, but I actually LOVE it. I'm serious. It seemed daunting at first but it really is wonderful to take all the guess work out of what we're eating each day. I used to cook based on what my husband or I were in the mood for, but now I find myself being in the mood for what we're making that day - we actually look forward to it! It takes some time figuring out what the plan will be, but I've made a list of all the meals I can think of (and I add to it as I find new ones) and then try to mix it up as much as possible while adding in the ones my hubby really loves or requests. When I first started the Menu, I just planned the main part, not the sides or veggies, but now I'm changing that and writing down exactly what we will eat. For example: Stuffed Chicken with craisins and baked green beans (this is one of our favorite meals and really easy!).

Every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday night we go to the chiropractor right at 5 pm. These nights require meals that I can cook in the crock pot or that don't take long to put together because by the time we get home we're usually pretty hungry! I've made a list of the meals that work well for this and they are reserved for these days. Things like Pot roast, BBQ chicken, Soups, Grilled chicken, etc are all nice meals for these nights. 

You may also be wondering how we are doing with what we spend each month! You aren't? Well...I will tell you anyways! When I keep track, it works out that our month starts on the 15th. That's when I go shopping so the menu starts then and goes til the 15th of the next month. The month obviously isn't over yet, but I've been keeping track of every purchase since February 1st just to get an idea of what we spend and how much of it is necessary. 
You should be proud of me! I put my credit card in the freezer!! I put it in a bowl and filled the bowl with water and it is no longer usable until I chip all that ice away! (I saw this in a movie years ago and thought it was silly but it REALLY IS A GOOD IDEA!) Damon keeps the other copy in his wallet for emergencies, but he doesn't go out shopping (for food and household items) like I do. He doesn't get tempted like I do :) By just having the check card it really makes me think; DO WE REALLY NEED/HAVE MONEY FOR THIS!? Usually, the answer is a resounding NO! 

How my grocery list works...Each day I look at my Menu and get the required food out to thaw. If I use the last of an item (example; bag of frozen mixed veggies) I put it on my grocery list. This does not mean I will buy it next month, it just lets me know that we are out and I need to get more. I technically make TWO lists each month. One is everything we don't have and the next is things from that list that we are going to use on the new month's menu. 
Make sense so far? 
I am kind of OCD and I categorize my lists. Meat, veggies, fruit, sides, grains, dairy, beans, seasonings, sauces/condiments and extras are BOLD so I can find them easier while I'm shopping and then underneath are the items that correspond to them. 

Here's an example of what part of my list may look like:

DAIRY:                                                                          
milk
butter
yogurt
sour cream
cheese

SIDES:
Soup Noodles
Rice A Roni
Au Gratin Potatoes

MEAT:
Chicken Breasts
Pork Roast
Ground Beef

Most of these items are in the same area of the grocery store so as I get each item I scratch it out. This makes it easy to see what I'm still in need of. 

I have 3 different color highlighters that I use (I know--geeky, right?)

Yellow signifies things that can be frozen - this helps me to know amounts I can buy. If it can be frozen I can buy more of it without it spoiling before we use it. 

Green lets me know what store I'm buying it from. If it's green it means I get it from Aldi. It means it is cheaper than if I got it at Walmart without sacrificing good flavor or quality. Every penny counts, right? For example, buying "hint of lime chips" at Aldi are $3 cheaper than buying name brand at Walmart! That's a BIG difference! Although Aldi has good deals, I do not buy certain produce or meat from them - I've found bone fragments in ground beef and the produce doesn't seem very fresh to me..

Orange means that we are out of the item but don't necessarily need it because it's not on our menu for the month. If I have it highlighted in orange, I only buy it if we have enough extra in the budget. If we don't need it and don't have the money, we don't buy it.

OK, enough about the menu planning, you want to know what I've been cooking, don't you?!

I've been busy and don't really have time to share it all with you (sorry, I do have a 3 month old baby remember?!) but I will share 2 recipes today :)

The first one is so yummy! This recipe is on our menu for today - and probably will be in each month at least once, if not more. It's the BEST bbq chicken I have ever had and ever made and it's so easy.

Here it is..are you ready for this? My house smells so good right now! 

BBQ Chicken in the Crock Pot:

-Chicken breasts (frozen is fine!) I have 6 in there right now because Damon likes these leftovers for work. 
-BBQ Sauce - I use half of a large container of sweet baby rays - you can't really go wrong here.
-1/4 Brown Sugar
-1/4 Apple Cider Vinegar
-Crushed Red Pepper Flakes to taste

Mix BBQ, Brown Sugar, Vinegar and Red Pepper in bowl. Layer bottom of crock pot with chicken. Pour sauce over top of chicken. Cook on low 4-6 hours or until chicken is tender. 

We eat the chicken breasts whole but you could easily shred the chicken and put it back in the sauce for 15 more minutes to make pulled chicken sandwiches. 

We eat ours with Cheesy Broccoli Rice A Roni and then a veggie. I'm not kidding, it's so good you'll never cook it another way. 

What's the other recipe, you ask?
It's pie crust! I got this recipe off of Pinterest last week because my dad wanted a fresh strawberry pie for his birthday! I could have easily gone and bought a pie crust, but I've been talking about trying stuff from scratch and why not try this? I've never made a homemade crust before, but this one seemed easy enough and it was! It just took a little bit of ahead of time planning because it has to sit in the freezer for a bit before you bake it. 

Here it is:

Homemade Pie Crust for Sweet or Savory pies:

-1 1/2 c all purpose flour
-1/2 tsp salt 
-1/4 vegetable shortening (I used great value brand crisco)
-1/4 butter (next time I make this I may try all butter - not sure what difference it would make)
-4-5 TBSP Ice Water (I actually ended up using 6 but I've read this could change every time you make it. Add little at a time and stop adding once it starts holding together)

Butter a 9" pie plate and set aside.
In a large bowl mix together salt and Flour
Cut in the butter and shortening with a pie cutter (I used 2 forks) until it looks like a coarse meal.
Slowly add in ice water (actually use ice in the water) and mix with a wooden spoon until a ball is formed.
Put dough between 2 sheets of lightly floured plastic wrap and gently roll out to size you need. 
Transfer to pie plate. 
Freeze for AT LEAST 30 minutes - or as long as overnight. 
This recipe only makes ONE piece of crust so if you need a top, you should double it. 
You can either bake it empty (make fork prints in it so that it doesn't bubble and so that it cooks evenly) or fill it with filling and then cook it. 
Cook it at 425 until lightly browned. 

I tried this recipe twice, once without freezing it. It was flakier when I froze it which I liked better, so I really recommend freezing it.
Also, the second time I tried it, I added a tsp of sugar to the dough and I liked that too. 
This crust is good for savory or sweet pies - and everyone who ate it Sunday really liked it. 
ENJOY :)

I hope you're not all totally bored by my posts and I hope you all have a wonderful Thursday :)

Shopping Day

Shopping day is like Christmas for me. I don't get to go shop for clothes and fun stuff for the house whenever I get the shopping urge because we are trying to spend less money. I shop for groceries once a month on the 15th. I enjoy the challenge of seeing how much stuff I can get without breaking the budget we have set. Today my sister went with me to help push the second cart (Yes, the second cart!) My groceries took up one cart and all the household things like toilet paper, paper towels, pet food, wipes, shampoo, brita filters, diapers etc were all in the second cart. Whew! 
You may ask "How can you shop only once a month!? What about produce!?" Well, I make a monthly menu and the things like Fajitas that have fresh peppers in them get cooked at the beginning of the month and other things that can be frozen get cooked at the end of the month. Make sense? Now, I've been buying once a month and freezing stuff for a while now but this is the first month I've tried a menu and specifically shopped to feed us for the month. Things like onions, bread, milk, butter, frozen veggies, flour tortillas, meat, cheese, all gets frozen until we want to eat it. 

When I got home I had to split the ground beef into smaller bags (it was 5 lbs but I put it into 6 bags...we usually don't need a whole pound of meat). I also put tortillas into separate bags, 8 tortillas to a bag and then froze them. THEN I cut up all the onions until I was in tears and put those in a bag to freeze as well. My friend Liz gave me this idea -and it's genius! I have many meals that require one onion but I rarely have them on hand because they go bad. This does not work well for if you're sauteing onions though - that is better left to fresh ones so those meals are made early in the month. Other things like pot roast can use the frozen ones! 

Now, this is the first time I've done a monthly menu and it may seem a little daunting but I'm actually pretty excited to do it. I have a few meals on it that are freezable (i.e. lasagna, enchiladas, chili, pizza [we buy pre made pizza crusts with sauce and freeze that and then just add the cheese. Cheaper than frozen pizzas and WAY better], etc) so while Damon is working tomorrow I'm going to be cooking. I'm going to make these meals ahead of time and freeze them so if there is a night when I'm sick or have no energy to cook, I can just pull them out and bake them! Then I'll just trade the meal I had originally planned for the night when I'd had the frozen meal. Easy Peasy :) I'll have one day of a lot of work and then I'll just be prepared. 
check back with me in a few weeks, I hope I'm still as happy!

OK on another not budgeting note, Liam is 3 1/2 months old! He's getting so big and he is so smart! Being a wife and mom is so fulfilling! I've never been so happy. 

I am so blessed! 

Finances

    DISCLAIMER: This is a hard subject to talk about, but I only am getting through tight finances because other people had the guts to share their situations and ideas with me. I hope this can be a help for other people, and I'm willing to hear ideas and support from people too. This is just planning, I will fill you in as time goes by! Please do not judge me or my family for what I share in this post. I am NOT asking for financial help in any way - please do not take it as a plea for help.

     Damon and I have had some tight times lately since Liam has arrived. We knew it would be hard financially once Liam was born, but I'm a worrier and I feel like that's all I do lately! Since I'm not working, it has been a day to day, paycheck to paycheck sort of situation. It seems like things keep happening to set us back a step and we haven't been able to save anything in a while. You know the saying, "When it rains, it pours." Seems like that's our life right now!

     Finances are one of the biggest stressers in a marriage and it's something I've always worried about (even though the Bible says to trust...[Prov 3:5-6 "Trust in the Lord with all your heart..] and [Jer 29:11 "I know the plans I have for you says the Lord.."] It's an every day battle for me to give it up to Him). I don't want my marriage to suffer because of it so I'm doing what I can to save every penny we can.
 
    I'm looking for a nanny job so that I can bring Liam too, but it's been slow going. (I had something all lined up but after a week she decided to drop out of school so I lost that opportunity. Bummer.)
 
     Thankfully, with the help of family, our baby purchases were kept to a minimum! YAY! We really saved money by accepting what people gave us at our shower and by finding everything else at thrift stores/sales. Before Liam was here I worked up a list of what we would need and the prices for them (Target & Walmart) and it added up to about $1,400. We didn't have that much to spend and I started getting scared (of course)! WELL, I needn't have worried because I didn't get a single thing I didn't ask for off of our registry (we received probably 70% of the list!).
       We also were given boxes and boxes of baby clothes! Liam is 3 months old now and to this day I have spent a total of $12 on clothing him! (I had to get summer clothes for when we are in Florida in March.) For my birthday and Christmas I asked for needed things like diapers, wipes, baby monitor, etc. We were able to stock up on diapers up to size 2 with gift cards. Things you want just don't take precedence anymore when you have a baby and tight finances!
   
      Another thing that threw us off track with saving was Liam wasn't breast feeding so I had to pump and then I wasn't producing enough milk so I had to supplement with formula which is EXPENSIVE! The blessing in that is we realized that he was intolerant to my milk and his colic went away on formula. (see earlier post Colic)

       This is where I hope people don't judge; Because our income is so low, and since I didn't have health insurance when I became pregnant, we qualified for Badger Care and WIC. I know a lot of people don't appreciate people who are on this, and they think that everyone using Government help are slackers, but we really are trying and do work hard. Because we have Badger Care, our hospital bills were completely paid for. This is such a blessing because if I didn't qualify, I would have tried a home birth to save money. As a result, I would have needed an emergency ride to the hospital because Liam was delivered by emergency c-section. (see earlier post Liam Anthony Petras) Without help, we would be in debt up to our eyeballs. I'm so thankful that those who need it have help. Our family realizes what a gift that is and we do not take it for granted.
     
     Even with help, things are very tight. SO instead of sitting on my butt and worrying about everything, I've decided to do something about it! Since I haven't been working, I've been doing all I can to try to help us save money and to spend wisely. Damon works about 26 hours a week but his job isn't offering any more hours right now. My job as his help-meet is to do what I can to stretch what we are earning.

     I've done a little research and as a result have decided a few things. Here's my list of ideas:

1.      Meals:

A.    Create a Weekly Menu ONE month in advance so I know what to shop for when I do the monthly grocery shopping. This will help to avoid random purchases.

B.     Make meals in advance and freeze them for days when I don’t feel like cooking.

C.     Plan to cook enough so that there are leftovers for Damon to bring to work for lunch so that he doesn't have to stop at the Gas Station before work.

D.    Make homemade as much as possible.

2.      Groceries, paper items, and clothes:

A.    Use cash as much as possible. Especially for things like clothes and groceries.

B.     Buy clothes at thrift stores like Goodwill and Savers. Avoid buying full cost ANYTHING.

C.     Buy groceries when on sale. Even if it means going to different grocery stores. Compare prices: using Sam’s club for staples and Aldi and Walmart as much as possible for everything else.

D.    Buy groceries only ONCE a month. This saves on extra shopping trips and random spur of the moment purchases.

E.     Freeze as much as possible so it lasts as long as possible: Milk, juice, onions, cheese, veggies, fruit, bread, meat, etc.

F.      Buy paper items like paper towels and toilet paper in bulk – use off brands as much as possible.

G.    Deodorant, shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, toothbrushes, face wash, moisturizer, razors, etc all should be bought when on sale and only as needed. Sticking with a certain brand isn’t necessary. Whatever is cheapest is best – except deodorant.

H.    Use coupons but remember that off-brands sometimes have better deals than coupons. Remember, Walmart has price match!

I.       Use as much “free” meat as possible. (Venison and fish) Buy in bulk, repackage and freeze all others.

3.      Pets:

A.    FIND COUPONS when purchasing pet food

B.     Budget vet bills – at this point we can kind of know when they are needed.

C.     Cat food is cheapest I can find, but may need to downgrade dog food.

D.    Figure out how long the food lasts so that we can budget it.

E.     Ration when we buy bones for them or get bones that last a long time.

F.  We plan to breed Denali and Gambell. Up front there will be vet bills while she's pregnant and we need to budget for these, but we will make good money on the puppies since they're pure bred. We need to be prepared for consequences of all puppies not selling and must take that into consideration before breeding. (Anyone want a pup!? LOL)

4.      Debt:

A.    Pay off Credit Card and then forget about it.

B.     Use Auto Pay whenever possible so payments don’t get missed.

C.     Get OUT of DEBT (This is most important right now)

a.       Pay off bigger debt first so interest doesn’t build up.

D.    Going out to eat, new clothes, and driving distances to see family are not needs, they are EXTRAS and should not be bought until bills are paid off each month.

            a.   Only go out to eat when coupons are available.

E.     If we don’t have money, we don’t buy it. Credit card is not considered money.

F.      If we don’t have enough money to pay the bills we may need to cancel things (like cable, Netflix, chiropractor)

G.    Because we owe family money: IE- we owe Beth and Kevin rent and a car payment and Kim a cell phone payment- that does not mean we don’t have to pay on time just because they’re family. These things come before extras.

H.    Set aside any extra money for savings. We should decide our goal increase per month.

I.       Start a savings account for Liam and put money in it every month. Even $10 is good.

J.       Do not go into debt for household things like couches and tables. Save up for them and use cash. (Or credit ONLY to be paid off right away)

Our shopping day is the 15th of every month since that's the day we get our Foodshare, so our menu month starts then. 

I've created a meal plan going from February 15-March 15. We will be on a family vacation from March 8-17. Our family is responsible for one meal while we are down there - I did not make a list for that. I also have not made a list for snacks on the road but we will be bringing all our food instead of purchasing from fast food and gas stations. (we are driving straight through-24ish hours)

here is the menu I created:                                                   

Here is the grocery list:

MENU:

-I shop once a month only for the meals planned and the allotted snacks (for days Damon works).

-Meals are marked in Yellow. 

-I can prepare some of these and freeze them as close to the 15th as possible (Lasagna, Enchiladas, etc) so if I am tired and don't feel like cooking I can just trade meals without going totally astray of my menu. 

-We have chiropractor appointments 3 days a week at 5 pm- they are marked in orange. Those days will need faster meals or meals that can be prepared ahead of time in the crock pot. 

-Every other Wed we go to a friend's house for dinner and then the opposite week they come to our house so we plan for 4 people those nights instead of 2. These even out since every other week I don't have to prepare food at all. 

-I usually make more food than one meal so that Damon can bring leftovers for lunches. 

-We will be gone March 8-17th so I don't have to plan meals for those days and I will not be shopping on March 15th but on March 18th. (this is an exception)

LIST:

-On the grocery list freezable items are marked in Green - I buy more of these at one time.

-WIC items have a star by them

-Each item has a number by it telling you how many of each I need 

-When I shop Feb 15 I will be marking what each item costs so that I can have an idea of price per item for every month so I can get as close to budget as possible. 

This endeavor is going to take a lot of time and energy but in the long run it will be worth it and I think it will save money. I used to shop once a month but would not have ideas for meals and would just randomly buy things that were running low in the house. If I wanted a meal that I didn't have everything for, I would run to the grocery (usually mega because it was close) and spend more money when I could have just made something I had in the house. 

Things like clothes and eating out will be on hold until we can get on track. When we are able to buy these things again, they will be second hand clothes and eating out will only happen when we have coupons. 

Damon's grandma Cleaver got us kleenex, toilet paper, and paper towels for our first anniversary (paper anniversary!) and we haven't had to buy any of these things since October! It has really been a big help :) 

Eventually things like this will be added to the list again.

-I am going to keep track (starting Feb 15) with how often we go through things like toothpaste, dog and cat food, diapers, wipes, toilet paper, etc so that we can budget for those things every month.
-I will also keep track of gas and how often we fill up/how many gallons we use so that we can budget that as well.

Stay posted for how things are going!