Are you excited that we only have ONE more week left of this challenge?? 🙂 How have you done, so far? What has been your biggest challenge?
For us, this past week, we still only needed to purchase milk and fresh produce. We’ve been doing pretty good actually. My trip to Aldi’s at the end of last month to stock up on canned goods and such, really helped! I’m actually enjoying finding out just how little we can spend on groceries, and still eat good!
This last week we spent $$24.78 on groceries. So altogether we have spent less than $200 for a family of four for this month. I still have enough canned goods, rice, pasta, and such, to make it clearly two weeks into March. Again, we’ll continue to buy our dairy products and produce, but other than that, we really won’t need anything else. The boys are almost out of snacks, but I have all the ingredients to make Chocolate Chip Cookies…so no problem. We’re almost out of juice, so I’ll have to figure out what to do there. Hoping I can make what we have last through the end of next week! We’ll see! Plan Your Work…Work Your Plan!! Right?!?!
Instead of sharing our meals for the last week with you this week, I want to share a recipe with you that I made this week. It was very good! The first thing I thought when I took the first bite was, “I should have taken a picture, so I could have posted it on the blog!!!” But that’s okay. It’s good either way, with or without, a picture! So here you go!
Creamy Vegetable Soup
5 medium sized potatoes, peeled and diced
1 dozen baby carrots, sliced
1 can whole kernel corn
1 small green pepper, diced
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 box Low-Sodium Chicken Stock
2 tsp minced garlic
1 small can of Cream of Chicken Soup
1 small can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
salt and pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS:
Mix all ingredients, with the exception of the cream soups, into a large dutch oven and cook on medium-high until vegetables are tender. Add in cream soups and stir until smooth and creamy. Heat through. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and bacon bits, and serve! This soup goes great with a large green salad made with all the trimmings, and some good ‘ole homemade bread! It’s perfect for a cold Wisconsin winter night! 🙂
So, please add your comments below about how you are doing on the challenge. I really do want to read them!! 🙂
Blessings on Your Day,
Christi
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If you would like to send Christi a private message in regards to this blog, please email her at: Christi@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com
Christi, I have a question on your spending less than $200.00 for a family of four. Does that figure include meats or is your freezer already stocked with meat and you did not have to buy them during this time? The reason I ask is that I only cook one main meal a day, and my husband wants some form of meat with his meal.
That is w/o our meat Martha. Our freezer is pretty stocked w/ beef, but we do buy chicken, pork, etc.,
I haven’t purchased any meat at all this month, though. Haven’t needed to. I’ve made quite a few dishes w/o meat, and to be honest, it’s been kind of nice!! Thinking of doing it more often!
Okay, that makes me feel better and why I search out “meal sales.” I used to stock my freezer months ahead with meat, as well as vegetables that I froze during the summer months. And then, along came storm Rita and Ike in this area, and most of us lost everything in our freezer. So, I have been careful of buying too much ahead in that regards. But, I do love to stock up on meats to have available. At the same time, as I said, your doing this has brought me back in control of managing my spending in the grocery store.
I’m glad it’s been able to help you w/ spending. For me, it’s helped me to realize that we really don’t need meat w/ every meal. This last week was pretty much no meat! Last night we had chicken, and the other night we had meat pizza. Other than that, we have had meatless meals. Gary’s been pretty good about it too! He likes meat, but he doesn’t have to have it w/ each meal.
Martha ~ go to Zaycon Foods and check them out. I always have their chicken and bacon in my freezer. It comes unfrozen, you have to buy 40 pounds increments but it is so worth it. It is at least a dime cheaper and in most cases it is 20 cents cheaper. I like the fact that it is hormone free. It taste really good. I did try their ground beef. It is cheaper than the store but still pricey at $3.29 a pound. It is 93/7 and taste very good. The bacon is the best I have ever tasted. I am trying their ham and sausage links next month. They only come at certain times, usually meet at a church. I order for my family and friends and last October I picked up 700 pounds of chicken. Next month I will pick up 400 pounds. The chicken event is next month so go and see if they have an event close to where you live.
Jackie, I looked into the Zaycon Foods on the internet. The closest events that I can see near me is about one hour away. So, I might check them out sometimes. Sounds like some good deals on meats. Thank you.
If enough people order they may come to your town. Contact them and see. I go to a church parking lot. Everything is in a refrigerated truck and they just load your car and off you go. I do not even get out of my car. I pop the trunk, they do the rest. There is usually a one hour window to pick it up, so it isn’t like a store front and a huge expenditure to do this. I just don’t know the requirements to have a truck come closer. The chicken is worth it. The beef, is very nice, but I like the 80/20 when doing casseroles and such so probably will not order that again. The bacon ~ I will ALWAYS have some of that in my freezer. The ham and sausages, I will let you know. I am picking up my first order on the 8th of March. Haven’t tried any of their other products, but they are expanding by leaps and bounds. When I first started ordering they only did chicken.