S.O.S.: The Grocery Budget!

This morning on Save our Saturday, I thought that I would challenge you to a couple of quick (but something we all put off) cleaning opportunities as well as share a tip to cut your grocery budget!

I don't know about you, but our grocery budget is not skimpy. Feeding five people, three of which are teenagers and to be honest two of those teenagers are BOYS with hallow legs who are always hungry, can be a challenge at times. During the week, the kids eat lunch at school and they have gotten to a stage where they want to fix their own breakfasts ~ which means quick fix foods. The schedule that I have been keeping lately has had  me out the door earlier than normal so it has helped tremendously. On days I go in to work later, I would rather fix them a meal such as eggs & toast, waffles, muffins, etc. So when I sit down to menu plan, I often just plan dinners, breakfasts and lunches for weekends, and a dessert or two for the week.

The other day I was cringing at the thought of cleaning out our pantry. I mean I wasn't sure if I wanted to tackle that mountain of mess or just close the door and run! Well, being the strong, wise, productive wife and momma that I am, I decided it was best to figure out what was in there. So I challenge you to do that. Do you know what you have? You might be amazed to know that you have very few canned veggies because your family has been eating frozen or fresh more than not. So do it!

As I was going through the week last week, even though I had a menu plan I didn't stick to it very well. I did however come up with a few meals to make using left overs that I already had on hand. When I sat down to do my menu plan and grocery list for the next six days I realized ... Wow. I do not really need to get a whole lot! THAT is nice! Nice on the budget. Nice on the time it takes to do it. Nice all the way around. And it's not like anyone will be starving!

So, my biggest grocery budget tip for you is to shop out of your own home first! When I grill chicken and there is left overs, if they are not eaten the next day they go in the freezer. This week I made chicken tettrazini out of my back stash and I had all the other ingredients already on hand. One day was a track meet where one son was not home for dinner. He is not a potato fan, so the rest of us enjoyed a pot of loaded baked potato soup. All ingredients on hand, and again was not on my original menu. But it extended my menu some for this week which it turn helps the budget tremendously.

I don't know about you, but when my grocery budget matches my mortgage if not more ~ it's time to do something proactive! Do you have any grocery budgeting tips? I'd love to hear them! Leave them in the comments below!