Meal Planning on a Budget

I gave this idea a trial run in the month of February, but I intend to really REALLY stick to it this time. :)

I have been using a monthly meal calendar for a few months now. I find it really useful and solves some of the "What do I want to make" blues. However, some nights, what is on my calendar may not strike my fancy. So, as long as I have the ingredients at home, I am ok to change it.

Last month, I added a grocery booklet to go along with my calendar. I wrote down by week what I needed. This served as an excellent shopping list! Also, if there was a sale on an item I needed later in the month that was nonperishable, I knew I could pick it up early and cross if off my list. It worked fabulously!

Beginning of the month, can you tell?! I also have been making bread more often so I am going through my baking supplies faster than normal. And would you believe it if I said there isn't any salt in my house right now!?!

I have a couple of coupons I would like to use because they are rare and of high value. So, I have the final page dedicated to items I am looking to stock up on. These coupons expire this month. If I was smart, I would write down the coupon expiration date!

Let me know if this helps you out!!

Tater Tot Casserole

This is a quick and easy meal to throw together... and I love it!

1lb browned hamburger
1 small bag mixed veggies
2 small cans tomato soup
1 bag tater tots
cheese

 Add hamburger and veggies.

 Top with tomato sauce.

 Add tater tots. Bake according to tater tot instructions.

 Add shredded cheddar cheese after cooked. Bake for additional 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

 And just like that, in under an hour, dinner is served!

Pizza!

After making Bosch White Bread last night, I had some left over. And since I got such a good deal on pepperoni, I couldn't help but make pizza. But I didn't want just pizza. So, I decided to get creative.

First, I made pizza rolls:

 Roll out dough and put on toppings.

 Start form end closest to you and roll pizza up. It helps to pull back slightly on the dough before rolling it. (Pull, tuck, pull, tuck) Then, cut into two finger width rolls. I use my bench scraper. Others use unflavored floss to get a nice, clean cut. To do this, place floss underneath roll, cross it on top, and pull. 

 Place on pan.

 Bake at 350 for about 12 minutes.

 Enjoy!

 I then tried a few other designs....

 Only the deep dish one really turned out (top center). The burrito style (bottom left) was ok.

Mini deep dish: roll small amount of dough out. Set in muffin pan. Place a little bit of sauce, a few toppings, and top with cheese. But be smarter than me and spray the pan first! :)

Bosch White Bread

This is my favorite white bread recipe:

source

5-8 c. Flour
1 Tbs. SAF Yeast (I just use the self rising stuff from the store)
3 c. Hot water
1/2 c oil
1/2 c honey
1/2 c powdered milk
1/2 c mashed potato flakes
1 Tbs salt

Combine water and yeast. Add 3 cups flour. Use M Switch to mix. Add oil, honey, powdered milk and potato flakes. Turn to speed 2. Add salt. Add flour 1/2 c at a time until the the bread dough leaves the side of the mixer clean. It truly depends on the day and humidity. Once this happens, turn to speed 1 and let knead for 6 minutes.

If baking bread, allow loaf to rise.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes.

Planned Trip... That I Know Won't Go Smoothly

I am planning for the worst tomorrow. I highly doubt I will be getting everything I want :) But that is the price I pay for not wanting to pay full price!



I got most of what I wanted! YES!

Albertson's

6 boxes Multi Grain Peanut Butter Cheerio's
$1.75
Use $1 (No longer available) and doubler
=Free +tax


Walmart:

16 Yoplait Yogurt
$.50
Use $1/8 and doubler
=.25 each or $2 for 16

6 Barilla Pasta
$1.08
Use $1/2 and doubler
=$.08 each or $.48 for 6

4 Muir Glen tomato paste
(Only at Overland store)
$.98/can
Use $1/2 (no longer availible) and doubler
= +$.02 per can or +$.08 overage
(enough to cover one box of pasta. hehe!)


4 Kraft Fresh Take
Rumored price: $2.09
Use $1/1 from SS 2/26 and doubler
=$.09 each or $.18 for 2

2 Armour Pepperoni
Price Unknown  $1.78
Use $1/2 coupon (nla) and doubler
=? But I want pizza! hehe
$1.56 for 2

3 IAMS pet food
$4.67
Use $3/1 from P&G this month
=$1.67 for one or $5 for 3
*Does not count on my 2012 Challenge Budget!

If all goes well, I will pay $2.66 plus pepperoni and tax on my budget and $7.66 + extra with cat food.

If any of the above don't work out, I have several alternatives

6 Colgate Toothpates 4.0oz
$.97
Use $.75/1 from SS 2/26 and doublers
Free or +$.51 depending on cashier

Cascade Action Packs
(Hardly ever in stock)
$.97
Use $.50/1 and doubler
Free or +$.03


Oral B Floss
(hardly ever in stock)
$.98


Use $.75/1 from Feb. P&G and doublers
Free or +$.50 depending on cashier


Items not in stock at my store!

Or, if the Fresh Take really is that good of a deal, I will get more of those! They are really easy and pretty good!


AND....

If none of those work, I will have a bunch of doublers to give away!

Total Spent: $13.71
Feb Budget: $8.80
Total Saved: $55.82

Walgreen's 2/26

Fabulously Frugal is reporting a LOT of good deals at Walgreen's this week. There are 11 items that are Free (after RR or rebates) and even a money maker!

Check it out!

Fred Meyer 2/26

In need of cheese or butter? Fred Meyer is the place for you this week! It is also worth mentioning that tomatoes will be on at a good price, too. Fabulously Frugal doesn't have a ton of red stars for this week but plenty of black stars (meaning buy a few if you need them; red means stock up!).

FRED MEYER DEALS

Doubles Tomorrow!

I haven't put together my game plan yet. All I know is that I will only be getting stuff if it is free or near free. Check out these posts for ideas at Albertson's!

Cheap Michelina's, Cereal, Country Crock and more : Fabulously Frugal and this post too

Krazy Coupon Lady's ideas found here.

I did a product test for Kraft Fresh Bake. It thought it was pretty good and may be worth it. I have heard it rumored that these will be near free at Wal-Mart with doubles. I will let you know on Monday if there are. Find coupon and deal here.

Kellogg's Cereal

I think I am done buying cereal for awhile... unless I can get it for FREE... like I hope to on Monday with doublers...

But anyway, I was feeling very impulsive today and just didn't know if there would be a better sale on Kellogg's cereal. So, here is the damages:

Fred Meyer:
They have select brands of cereal for 50% off. I got the Raisin Bran because I can submit for a $10 rebate from Kellogg's. They were on sale for $2.24, normally $4.49/box. This is the large Value Size box. So after using my $5/5 coupon, my total came to $15.54 (that included a loaf of bread) or $1.24/box. After I submit for my rebate, I will have paid $.24/box! Sweet! Can't beat that!

Albertson's:
They had Rice Crispies on sale for 2/$5. Not a great price, but about equal to FM. So, I bought 5 boxes of the regular RC and I wanted to try the Gluten Free Whole Wheat RC. Total $16.60 or $1.50/box+tax. After rebate, these will be $.50/box! Sweet!

**Now... to cut all those UPC's today... shoot. I already put these away. Oops.**

But, unfortunately, this put me over my budget by $4. Yikes. I have enough bread, milk, and the basics to last me. Any doublers I use this weekend will be for free items only!

**Albies has select GM cereal for $1.75. I happen to have several coupons for $1 Peanut Butter MultiGrain Cheerios... and this is one of the participating items. I will let you know if I get this and how it tastes! :) I also plan on buying a little bit more pasta at Walmart.**

Today's Total: $32.04
Today's Savings: $65.30

February Total: $153.87
February Savings:  $151.94

Money Management

Tonight I went to a Relief Society meeting on money management. I truly wish that more people understood how important managing your finances really and truly is! While it is almost impossible to live in today's world without some sort of debt, learning to manage that debt is a crucial skill!

If I had ten minutes to share some advice that has has really worked for our family, this would be it: Mint.com

****Keep reading even if you aren't interested in Mint. There is a snowball debt reduction calculator at the end! Excellent for reducing debt quickly!


Mint.com

If you are looking for a free way to track your expenses, I would suggest Mint.com. My husband and I love using Mint. This secure online program allows you to create budgets, track money from multiple accounts, car and mortgage loans, and more! 

One thing I love about Mint is that I can see how I am doing for the month at a glance. Don't use all of your budgeted money in one category? Mint allows you to rollover your previous budgeted money to the next month. (Ex: We set aside $20/month for video games and (to my husbands dismay) we don't buy video games every month. When a new game comes along that costs $50, we have rollover from the previous month's budget to pay for it!) Conversely, if you over spend in a category, Mint will show a negative amount in your budget for the next month. (Ex: Budget is for $50, you spend $70, next month will show a budget of $30.)

Also, Mint will budget money out for annual or biannual (or insert annual here) payments. Mint automatically pulls out the $13/month for my newspaper subscription even though I only pay it once a year. Same with our car insurance. This way we don't have to physically save the money out, but it is accounted for in our monthly spending.

Any money left over can be added to a "Goal" budget category. We have savings already budgeted out so we really have not used the goal category. However, this could be your fun money!

Two different budget categories in one transaction? No sweat. Mint allows you to split the transactions into different categories to make budgeting easier! It also lets you rename the transactions. Then, you can search for "Verizon" and ba-da-bing. All of your Verizon expenses appear!

Another feature I like is the Spending Over Time graph. It will show your net income for the month. (You should have seen how low that red bar got when we put our down payment on our house! haha.)

All photos from Mint.com

 We hardly use this feature because we have auto-pay bills, but for those who tend to forget, there is always a reminder on the home screen on when your next bill is due!

Mint also has an excellent app. I use it on the go! Always nice to know if I can buy those cute shoes or not! :)





Debt Reduction Calculator


My friend had an excellent blog post about snowball debt reduction. Find it here. The gist of snowball debt reduction is to make minimum payments on all of your debts, pay off the lowest debts first (A), and then take the  same amount from debt (A) and apply that + the minimum payment to debt (B). When debt (B) is paid off, take the minimum payment from (A) and (B) to pay off (C) etc. Paying off higher interest loans has advantages, too.

Link to Spreadsheet for Snowball Debt Reduction: http://www.vertex42.com/Calculators/debt-reduction-calculator.html



I hope you have learned something! Or at least you were reminded to take a look at your finances!

Free Activia at Target

Head over to coupons.target.com to print off the $2/2 4pks of Activia.  Combine this with the $1/1 coupon from yesterday's Red Plum, and you have a nice snack for Free!

Check out this Freebies to Deal's post for more Target deals.

Cheap Taste of Home Cookbooks! Only $5!

I had no idea these ever went on sale! Now is a great time to stock up for yourself or for wedding gifts! These cookbooks are normally $20+. With 98 cookbooks to choose from, there has to be something for you! If you spend $20, use the code LS108 to get free shipping. Don't need $20 in cookbooks? Find a friend to split the deal with.

Find the deal here: Taste of Home Sale
** Post a comment on this blog if you want to go in on this deal with me!!

Thank you, Freebies 2 Deals

Cheap Baby Wipes

Freebies 2 Deals is reporting cheap wipes! And the best part? You don't have to leave home to get them! Head on over to Huggie's on Walmart.com   to score wipes at only $.02/wipe! The 600 count pack is $11.97. Spend more than $40 and receive free shipping. So stock up (or buy something for yourself)!

Thanks, F2D

iTunes $50 Gift Card - Save $10

For all you music lovers out there, Staples has a promotion where you buy two $25 gift cards, you save $10 instantly. And, they will ship the cards to your house for free! Check out the deal here: link.

Thank you,
Freebies 2 Deals

10 Free Prints at Target

Need to print just a couple of pictures? Target has a new coupon out for $1/10 and their prints are on sale for $.10 this week. Head over to coupons.target.com  to get the $1/10 coupon!

Thank you,
Fabulously Frugal