Frugal Food Help: Menus!

So, from time to time I've chimed in with little ideas or recipes meant to make the worry of providing for yourself and/or your family less stressful on you and your wallet. Lately, a project I've been working on for myself has been menu planning, which I share with my mom, who cooks for herself, my dad, and sister.
Probably my number one reason for having menu plans does not apply to many of you (unless you're a young twenty-something/college student on your own)--if I don't have a plan, I could frugal myself to death. A terrifying thought, but basically what I've been known to do is eat very small portions of food to stretch my budget. Thus, menus!

I'm going to recommend planning your menus on a weekly basis. Having two such menus is optimal. I, personally, do this in order to mix and match daily menus according to what I've bought and what my schedule is like. Lunch also generally derives from dinner of the previous night. Yay for time saving! Let me give an example:
Yesterday for breakfast I had a corn muffin, yogurt, and pineapple. My pineapple was the IGA deal (16oz pineapple for $0.50), the corn muffin was homemade, and I used a coupon on the yogurt ($2.79-0.50=$2.29/2lb Columbo yogurt). Lunch was ziti w/cheese sauce (cheese sauce from the night before, ziti from the day before) and salad. Then, dinner was with my family and my mom served homemade pizza with mushrooms and onions!

As you can see, I try to have protein, starch, and fruit/veg at every meal. It just helps me feel full longer and I think its generally healthier. If anyone would be interested I'd be happy to post full weekly menus and more recipes. I think you'd be surprised with some of the info--I love retro things, so I have recipes and menus from the 1920s-1960s. Lots of fun and new (sort of!) ideas puts a different spin on cooking. Also, I'm currently looking for a lentil soup recipe with a tomato base, so if I find a good one, I'll share it here (free Muir Glen tomato products + lentil--good source of cheap veg. protein = great meal!).

Happy weekend!
Ali

P.S. - Check back on Monday for coupon deals and steals of the weekend!
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The Femme Frugal Strikes Back!

I'm back! Yes, I know its been a very long time and I'm so sorry about that. It's been very hectic time for me ever since I returned from Toronto a few weeks ago...Actually that very week that I got back, I had four job interviews, which three of which resulted in job offers! Of course, being the dope that I am, I turned down one (which was 25hrs a week @ $10.50 an hour) that I thought didn't hold much promise for me (and definitely didn't spark my interest) and instead took a part time job as a polling interviewer at Quinnipiac University. The payrate is worse and the hours are less, but the schedule is such that I can work this part-time job in addition to a full-time job when I find one (hopefully soon). The other job offer came from a human resources group, which has been great, finding me temp jobs, while still helping me to look for full-time work. Starting next week I will be a working girl (in the best sense, lol)!


So besides the amazing blessing of having found work in such a terrible job market, I've also been having some great luck with my bargin shopping! Would you like to hear about it?...I thought so...

Well, in the first week of August I was very happy to take up the Walgreens deal on Hershey Bliss candy. This great treat, which I am turning into a useful stocking stuffer, was actually a money maker! I used EasySaver coupons and manufacturer's coupons to get each bag for $1 each and then having bought 4 bags, got a $5 rebate from Walgreens. That same week I picked up 3 boxes of Total cereal for $0.33each using two coupons ($1/1 and $1/2). Next week I stocked up on Bic Soliel razors and extra blades, spending $0.99 on each purchase! These are also destined to be great stocking stuffers. Finally, this past week I used coupons from the 8/24 SS to buy 16oz jars of Dole pineapple at Adams/IGA for only $0.50each! Usually you can't even buy a 12oz can of store brand pineapple for $1, so I stocked up as much as I could. I topped it off by shopping with Kathy on Wednesday and picking up a VivePro Shampoo/Conditioner at RiteAid, both free! (If anyone missed out on this deal, but has the BOGO coupon, and lives in CT, Xpect is also running a BOGO offer until 9/8!)

I promise to post more often, and trust me, there will be plenty of opportunities (especially as the drive to my part-time job takes me right past a Walgreens--yay!). I've got some other exciting frugal conversion news, so stayed tuned!

Best,
Ali

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