Eat Good…Spend Less and a Weekly Meal Plan February 3-9, 2013

Wow! We jumped right into February didn’t we? Our family initiated one of our first goals goals for 2013 last month–exercise and weight loss. Strengthen and tone up our bodies and eat well for a more healthy family lifestyle. Believe it or not, I cut back on my morning coffee to just two cups. (Hard to believe.) The rest of the day it’s water and I drink a cup of juice when taking my supplements in the morning. And then in the evening, the whole family works out just before dinner.

This month, there will be some major changes to our family budget. We’re cutting out unnecessary costs and reducing our monthly bills to save money. Over the weekend, I cut our cell phone bill by $40. It may not seem like a whole lot but it’s $40 towards our family savings. Another simple way to cut down our costs is to continue to meal plan, eat from the pantry and don’t let food go to waste. If we plan our meals right, we’ll be able to eat good while spending less and save money.

Meal Plan

I meal plan at the beginning of each week. For me, it’s Sunday mornings when the house is quite and everyone’s still sleeping. I try and manage a decent frugal grocery budget and not go to the grocery store on a weekly basis unless we need dairy products like milk. Weekly meal planning saves our family money, reduces food waste, and keeps us from the urge to say, “Let’s eat out!”

Here’s our plan for the week.

My weekly meal plan and shopping list is completed and posted on our fridge:

Breakfast options:

(served with fruit)

French toast casserole
Pancakes
Waffles
Biscuits and Sausage Gravy
Cereal
Scrambled, Fried, or Hard-Boiled Eggs
Breakfast Burritos
Quiche
English Muffins
Homemade Bread
Biscuits
Muffins
Breakfast Cookies
Breakfast Potatoes
Mini Apple Pies or Turnovers

 Lunch options:

Sandwiches or Wraps (Tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad, turkey salad, leftover meats, grilled cheese, blt, pb&j)
Quesadillas
Smoothies
Leftovers from dinner
Salad
Baked Potato
Homemade Pizza Pockets

Suppers Your Family Will Love

Need ideas for your weekly meal plan? It’s time for another weekly menu.  I enjoy menu planning because of  the simplicity it provides for my life. It enables me to decrease my grocery shopping excursions to twice a month and it allows me to  have more free time to focus on my family and home. For ideas in the weekly meal plan, we’ll be focusing on a variety of family meals. You’ll find the recipes on the weekly meal plan also available on my Recipe Index page with a grocery list included.