Two Week Meal Plan and Budget

Some friends and customers have asked me how much I spend on groceries since I am always talking about being frugal, eating at home and budgeting. Rob and I aim to spend $250 per month on groceries. This normally includes diapers and wipes plus all of our household cleaning items such as tp, paper towels, dish soap, laundry soap etc.

That means we spend roughly $125 every two weeks. I haven't gotten into couponing YET but plan to spend more time with that once I am at home. For now we shop sales, generics and have a meal plan.

This weeks Meal Plan includes 12 meals plus snacks, lunch items, food for Max, milk, juice, drink mixes for Rob, sweet snacks and treats for the boys, fruit, etc.

Meal Plan for Two Weeks
1. Beef Fajitas with Homemade Rice and Homemade Refried Beans
2. Breakfast Burritos with Breakfast Potatoes
3. Pork Loin with Twice Baked Potatoes and Veggies
4. Cheesey Broccoli Chicken with Rotini Pasta
5. Egg Salad Sandwiches
6. Chili Dogs with Pasta Salad
7. Creamy Chicken Salad Sammies with Chips
8. Salsa Chicken with Rice
9. Mexican Minestrone Soup
10.Homemade Chimichangas with Corn on the Cob
11.Homemade Pizza
12. Baked Ribs with Mashed Potatoes and Green Beans

My total was $129.41 so I was pretty happy with this weeks grocery haul.

My top tips for grocery shopping...
1. Make a Meal Plan and write down everything you need for each recipe plus your basic needs. For us that is sandwich stuff, ramen for rob, yogurt, milk, applesauce etc for Max, milk, applejuice. THEN go through your pantry and mark off everything you already have in stock at home.
2. Cut out the processed foods and bad beverages. We don't buy anything more than milk, a huge jug of apple sauce and drink powder mixes for Rob
3. Limit snacks-Rob gets a few $1 boxes of sweets, we normally have Cars fruit snacks, popcorn, pretzels, 1 bag of chips, some fresh fruit, applesauce, yogurt.
4. BUY GENERIC. I don't buy anything name brand except for lunch meat...because I insist on that one thing. EVERYTHING else is either generic OR name brand on sale cheaper than generic. I think Walmart and Target both have great name brands but Walmarts prices are lower unless I have a lot of Target coupons.
5. Eat leftovers, stretch your meals and preplan. We use the crockpot A LOT and love it!
6. Don't "stock up" unless you coupon. If you coupon and you can get it at rock bottom prices then go for it. If NOT then there is really no need to overstock. Since we have not started couponing yet we don't stock up unless something is on super sale and it keeps our budget in check.

Best of Luck and Have fun eating BETTER food at home! And as always if your cooking needs some oomph you can check out my website for awesome seasonings and recipes!
www.tastefullysimple.com/web/jconder
www.simplydeliciousjconder.blogspot.com