Confession: I’m feeling a huge amount of anxiety about our grocery budget for December. The menu planning comes easy because I’ve been doing it for so long. But I’m getting sweaty palms about our ability to stick to our $719.50 budget for this month. With twenty-two days to go, we’ve already spent nearly half of our budget. Yep, our total spent so far is $354.09. {Half is $359.75}
After reviewing our receipts – there are several “quick trips” that were more than $50, I don’t see a lot of snack items or wasteful spending. Perhaps in November we were eating more items from our pantry that I realized? I know that in November I shopped primarily alone and stuck to a list, this month we’ve already made several trips together and deviated from the list. Sigh. How embarrassing after such a strong finish last month.
Last week, I snagged a copy of The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier as a $9.99 Deal of the Day from Amazon. I’ve wanted the cookbook for a while and was excited to grab it at such a huge savings, too! This week, we’ll be trying a few of her recipes and some of our old standbys!
Monday – Peach Whiskey Chicken with oven roasted potatoes {from the cookbook!}
Tuesday – Tequila Lime Shrimp with Mexican rice {I made the Mexican rice from the cookbook on Sunday to go with our enchiladas. It was delicious then, I’m sure it will be even better with the shrimp!}
Wednesday – Taking advantage of $5 pizza delivery night from our local pizza shop
Thursday – Chicken Wings and sweet potato fries
Friday – BBQ Chicken Quesadillas with Mexican rice or sweet potato fries {BBQ Chicken Quesadillas are from the cookbook too!}
Saturday – a version of the Florentine Lasagna Rolls. I’ve found that it’s much easier to call this a “lasagna bake” and use a shorter pasta.
Sunday – Garlic Chicken with salad
Do you have a favorite cookbook? Is it easier for you to stay on budget when you menu plan? If you’re looking for more menu inspiration, click over here.
