Meal Ideas

     Many people struggle with the idea of saving money because when they sit down to make a list, they don't know what to put on it. They aren't sure what to make or what they need to get to make it. Then, when they do go to the grocery store, they get snacking foods. When time comes to make a meal, they don't have complete meals in the house and end up getting take out anyway.. 

    For some time now, I have been working on compiling a master list of the meals that we eat in this house. I am ALWAYS looking for recipes and ideas for meals. I probably missed some major ones that seem to obvious to put on here, but PLEASE. I am always interested in finding out what my readers are eating at home and how much they are working with for their monthly grocery bill.

    Currently, I have our grocery bill at about 180-200 a month. That includes a TON of fresh and frozen produce, and some great cuts of meat when it is on sale. I always look for good sales on meat. 

     The other day we were at Heartlands Foods in Beatrice. They currently have a "Pick 5 for $25" Special on their meat. 

We got pork chops (marked at $5.89) 

Two cuts of ribs ($6.96 and $5.33). 

Huge chicken breasts ($5.89)  

Brautwaursts ($7.26). 

Well, that meat wasn't really that high priced, but I did make sure to get some of the more expensive cuts of meat. We saved $6.33 on that meat!! (I LOVE sales like that.) 

PLUS!! The best part is that with the heartland foods groceries to gas card Meat is 50 points per dollar spent. Well I earned 1580 points on the meat alone, which can turn into 5 cents off per gallon. (Up to 15 gallons!). That means I can still save a 75 more cents!! 

That puts me at just over $7 dollars in savings in the entire grocery trip.

Anyway... that was not the point of this post, I just had to brag a little because I was excited about those kinds of savings on meat!

Here is my list of meals:

Beef:

Golash

Spaghetti
Stir together Lasagna

Tacos

Hamburgers

Hamburger Helper

Taco Hamburger Helper

Meatloaf

Hamburger Gravy with Mashed Potatoes

Taco Soup

Runzas (Casserole Style)

Cheeseburger Casserole
Cheeseburger Sloppy Joe
Cheeseburger Calzone

Burritos/ Enchiladas

Chicken:

Chicken Tacos

Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Noodle Casserole

Chicken Breasts (Baked with Ranch powder as a coating)

Wings
Cheesy Chicken Spaghetti

Breakfast:

Biscuits and Gravy

Pancakes

Eggs

Convenience Meals:

Banquet meals (Sometimes, they are nice to have when I get off work and don't want to cook!)

Pot Pies

Mac and Cheese

Frozen Pizzas

Frozen noodle and veggie steamers (Add some chicken.. Yumm.)

Other Cuts of Meat:

Sausage/ Fettuccine Alfredo

Ribs

Roast

Hot Dogs (Turkey Dogs from Walmart ($.99)

Brauts

Pork Chops (SunMarts 10 for $10!)

Sandwiches

Farmland Ham and Instant mashed potatoes
Pepperoni Pizza Roll

Vegetarian:

Potato Soup

Noodles with veggies and cheese (or Alfredo sauce)

Quesdillas with a Rice Side

Stuffed Shells (Meat/Marinara/Cheese.. Or pretty much anything)

I try to do about 2 or 3 vegetarian nights a month, just because meat does get expensive very quickly. I will be the first to admit though, Sean and I eat very well. We have a veggie and a fruit at ALMOST every meal when we eat at home.. We rarely ever have Ramen noodles in the house. We don't really eat canned soup other than tomato soup. All of those "cheap" foods, they don't exist in this house.. other than mac and cheese (Cuz its the best food EVER)

A lot of my recipes are found on pinterest. If I find something I really want to try, I typically print it off and try to fit it into the meal plan for the next two weeks.

      Now, when you have a master list you can sit down and figure out what each recipe takes and how much you need of it. Then you can effectively look for price matches or coupons.

Do you do something similar at home home and know something that worked better? Let me know what you are doing at home!!