m is for menu

I am totally fickle with my menu strategy. I'll come up with an elaborate idea and even write it all out on my calendar and make shopping lists and everything. Then I usually give it up and start a new plan before the week is out. I'm horrible! So, of course I have a new strategy I am implementing right now. In an effort to face my weaknesses and work with them, it's a loose program. I've instituted theme nights as follows: Monday is breakfast for dinner, Tuesday is a rice dish, Wednesday is soup, Thursday is Mexican, Friday is pizza (my favorite!), Saturday is a pasta dish, Sunday is meat. I like the chance to look at a schedule when my mind goes blank, but I also feel like I can do something else if there's something I really want to make/eat.

By the way, I got two suggestions for new recipes to try: naan bread and curry. I'm going to make them tonight and let you know how it goes. Thanks for the input! Keep it coming...

Another side note: my husband was out of town yesterday. It was just a one day trip, over-night, and he's back in town (but at work) now. I'm such a baby about it. I couldn't bring myself to make real dinner, so we had pancakes and smoothies. I had just a smoothie. It was surprisingly filling. Why don't I do that more often? Oh, right, I love to eat.

f is for frugal

In posts on this topic I will try to keep it short and sweet. If I don't you will all be scared off by my ocd financial issues. I love to get a good deal. I do not like to buy things I don't need. I spend hours planning and making lists for my menu and grocery store trips. Seriously, hours. And you thought having kids required some kind of time commitment. Oh no. Not when there are ads to be checked and coupons to be cut and lists to be made and scratched through and made again! But, I digress...

I have been using coupons for about 3 years and I have been shopping the ads since I got married, so 7 years (wow!). We used to live on $25 a week for food in college. Even after we had Caleb. I have fluctuated between $10/week to $100/week since we got a job and moved to the real world. Alas, our real world is just Houston, where our cost of living is minuscule. I don't know how the rest of you survive.

Are you ready? I'm about to share some seriously personal information. Relax, it's just about our food budget. But I am such a private person that this feels like some serious baring of my soul. Here goes nothing... Our current number is $50 a week for food. Phew! I did it. Try it, it's liberating to do something you normally wouldn't do (as long as your not compromising standards, hurting feelings, or rooting for the Lakers). Wow, again I digress.

So, we feed seven people on that amount and it works out okay. We're healthy and happy and probably still eat too much. I went shopping yesterday and got three boxes of cereal, two boxes of pop tarts (nutritious, I know), two bottles of bbq sauce, six boxes of microwave popcorn, four packages of hot dogs (turkey dogs, actually), and apple juice for under $15. That's four dinners and at least a week of breakfast in the bag. I wish all my shopping trips were like that, or better!

Our newest strategy is using cash for our variable expenses. For us that means the food and misc. categories in our budget. We take out the cash for it at the beginning of the month and use that until it's gone and that's it. We can't buy any more food after that $200 is gone. We live on rice or oatmeal or beans. Sounds fool-proof, huh? Well, we actually start today, so I'll let you know how it goes. Let's hope you don't see an "o is for overdrawn" post anytime soon!

a is for apple

Most days my kids enjoy apples with their lunch. Not too long ago I decided to save a dollar or two on a bag of apples by getting Red Delicious instead of Gala. I thought maybe I'd just been kidding myself that there is that big a difference between the two. So we pulled them out at lunch time and after one bite I knew I had made a three pound mistake. I do not enjoy Red Delicious apples. Being the sneaky mom that I am, I cut the skins off and fed them to my kids until they were gone. That still left me apple-less for about a week. After I had my fourth baby I remember eating at least one whole apple every day for about two weeks. They tasted so good and I didn't have to worry about them bothering my sensitive pregnant stomach. They were, of course, Gala apples.

Have you ever tried a Honeycrisp apple? It's like Heaven...

Lucky for me, apples also make great snack projects. You can see just a few examples in these pictures. You can make a dog using raisins and cheese. You can make lady bugs with peanut butter and raisins. We even made Lightning McQueen with marshmallows, peanut butter, and raisins. The possibilities are endless!