We have about a week and a half before payday, and the grocery budget is almost gone. There’s enough for fresh veggies and milk and lunch stuff, but it’s time to get careful.
And creative.
(Three family birthdays and a mother-in-law in ICU 45 minutes away kind of does that to a budget.)
Anyway, there’s no reason to worry. Thankfully, I’m a frugal shopper even when things are hunky-dory, so the freezer has plenty of food in it. These times actually help me be purposeful about using up my random finds.
My Menu Plan:
Monday – Chicken and Black Bean Burritos (This is picnic food to eat at my 7th grader’s football game.) I’ll use frozen, pre-cooked chicken.
Tuesday – Something in the Crock Pot with stew meat I found on sale a long time ago. Probably something like this.
Wednesday – Skillet Lasagna (Using pre-cooked ground beef.)
Thursday – Tamales with homemade enchilada sauce. (I have some frozen that someone gave us.)
Friday – Out to eat. Something cheap. (Hubby insists we eat out on Friday nights. I don’t argue.)
Saturday – Fish sticks and mac and cheese. Because we have those things.
Sunday – Homemade pizza
Monday – Chicken and Bacon Sub Sandwiches (another football game picnic and again with the pre-cooked chicken)
Tuesday – BBQ Chicken Sandwiches (in the crockpot)
Wednesday – Beef Stroganoff (using frozen, pre-cooked ground beef)
Whew. Now I can hit that Aldi that’s near tonight’s football game and pick up the odds and ends we need to make this happen.
Yes. I still use eMeals, but that doesn’t work when I’m in this crunch.
Oh, and Zaycon is having a chicken event soon which is a good thing since I am almost out! Not sure what Zaycon is? Go here to see how I manage buying 40 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breasts at once. If you already know what it is, go (affiliate link coming up) here to see if there’s an event near you.
I am so sorry to say that it seems Zaycon has gone out of business. I say “seems” because the information I’ve seen says they’ve “suspended” operations and I don’t fully understand what is happening. I’m so so sad about this since this will change how our family keeps our freezer stocked with meat. We’ve been ordering almost all of our chicken, bacon, and shrimp for them for more than five years. If you had ordered recently, I recommend that you call your credit card company or bank (for debit cards) to see what can be done. I’ve heard many people have had success doing this.
--Nony
I’d totally use Zaycon (and split it with a friend since I’m single), but there’s never any events close by. That’s the downside of living in a small town 🙁
I understand. I have to drive a bit to get to one.
Ya I do that most days since I can never actually make a meal plan I just make sure we have enough meat in the freezer then I go thru the cupboards and throw it together and most of the time it’s a hit (if not it’s our picky 3 year old)
I’ve used Zaycon for the last few years. But I double ordered chicken last time they had it and then the people we had living with us moved out a week later so I have LOTS of chicken left. I really need to get to menu planning and use some of that up. I am however waiting for the next zaycon bacon event. I can’t believe I’m OUT!
I don’t mind cooking but I hate deciding what to cook and my family is of NO help! Ugh.
I just checked out Zycon. It’s a little bit cheaper than what I buy. But is the quality high enough to justify the time spent on processing it?
I do like the quality. Mostly, I love the motivation to get SO much done at once so I don’t have to do it for a very long time.
Yes, the quality is really worth it. I wish I had more freezer space to take better advantage of it.
I hate to even think of how long I could cook using only what’s in my freezer and pantry, but I really need to do that so I can defrost the chest freezer.
Love the idea of buying that much chicken – or any meat really. I drive two hours to one store because the quality of their meat – along with the prices – is so much better than what I can get elsewhere. They also sell so much in a take-a-number, wait-in-line-forever to place/receive your order kind of way that I know I never have to worry about finding brown burger in the middle of the fresh (which seriously annoys me).
Hmm. Now I’m kind of feeling like I need to take stock of what’s in the freezer and pantry….
We are having a “cook from the freezer” and “let’s put away the debit card until payday” sort of week. It’s no big deal, but thinking up a plan makes it easy. We’re having chicken adobo (Asian food), garlic crockpot chicken, taco soup, and a lot of sandwich lunches.