How do you pull off a shopping miracle?

[MomToTwoBoys]

DH and I purchased a meat package last week. We took a large chunk of his paycheck and put that towards meat. Since we'd been in the house for a couple of months, we decided that we needed to restock the chest freezer more than anything else.

We found a good deal for 100 pounds of meat for $389. It's an assortment of meat (some of which would cost you more than you could realistically get elsewheres). It was from a deli that also promotes gluten free (which is great if we ever need to go back to that sort of restriction with DS12) and it came highly recommended from co-workers of DH.

Then after that, we decided that we'd have to spend about $100 per biweek to make the meat package work. Sadly, we spent $236 at the grocery store the following day and totally blew the budget out of the water. In order to make the budget work, we'd have to reduce our spending costs on groceries to zero for this coming week and only spend $60 the following week.

So now I need to pull off a shopping miracle, of sorts. The kids go back to school next week and we do have bread (but only one of the kids takes lunch to school, so the other can eat with me). DH takes leftovers to work too and I have lots of pantry items to help stretch the budget. We have rice and potatoes and such, plus I can make some changes to DS12's lunch without throwing him off kilter. I can also take some bread out of the freezer and whip up some homemade stuffing (all I would need is celery, which is cheap). It's definitely one of my better plans.

Have YOU ever had to pull off a shopping miracle to stay in budget?

[zakity]

You should post what you have in your pantry and see if anyone here can give you meal ideas from what you have.

[MsMarieH]

OK, I am trying to understand this better...

If I'm reading this correctly, you have spent $625 on food this week... and you think you will have trouble making that much food last two weeks?

What do you imagine you would need during the next two weeks? You should be able to easily go 2 weeks without setting foot in a grocery store.

[frugalwarrior2]

I would buy
-rice,banana,noodles,potatoes,1 gall. on milk,eggs,ramen.
H.B eggs and breakfast eggs,tuna,beans,mac/cheese
PB sand.
beef noodles and gravy
beef stew
hot gravy sand.
That is what I would/have done. It's only 2 weeks.
Water to drink.

[Jessesbride]

DH and I purchased a meat package last week. We took a large chunk of his paycheck and put that towards meat. Since we'd been in the house for a couple of months, we decided that we needed to restock the chest freezer more than anything else.

We found a good deal for 100 pounds of meat for $389. It's an assortment of meat (some of which would cost you more than you could realistically get elsewheres). It was from a deli that also promotes gluten free (which is great if we ever need to go back to that sort of restriction with DS12) and it came highly recommended from co-workers of DH.

Then after that, we decided that we'd have to spend about $100 per biweek to make the meat package work. Sadly, we spent $236 at the grocery store the following day and totally blew the budget out of the water. In order to make the budget work, we'd have to reduce our spending costs on groceries to zero for this coming week and only spend $60 the following week.

So now I need to pull off a shopping miracle, of sorts. The kids go back to school next week and we do have bread (but only one of the kids takes lunch to school, so the other can eat with me). DH takes leftovers to work too and I have lots of pantry items to help stretch the budget. We have rice and potatoes and such, plus I can make some changes to DS12's lunch without throwing him off kilter. I can also take some bread out of the freezer and whip up some homemade stuffing (all I would need is celery, which is cheap). It's definitely one of my better plans.

Have YOU ever had to pull off a shopping miracle to stay in budget?

YES MA'AM!! We are doing that right now! What has been (literally) a God-send is that I am checking things online. Like I did mashed potatoes w/meatloaf the other night... we can have "leftovers" but sometimes I/we want something different... so the mashed potatoes I looked up on the internet ... I googled "what can I do with leftover ? (mashed potatoes, taco meat, etc) & it will come to you in about a billion different items. This morning I made mashed potato pancakes... it was yummy but I'd never made it before... you can see what you think is yummy & that you have ingredients for (or even susbstitute it w/something you do have) & go from there. We have plenty of food, but as I'm soooooo not a culinary cook, I'm learning what else I can do w/all that we have. So far so good, some recipes have been really good, some not so great, but at least I'm learning to cook new things, see what I'm made of? LOL it's actually been kind of fun. Also, what helps is having a MEAL PLAN!!!! This has been invaluable!!! The sight I use was recommended by someone else here on FV (can't remember who ~ altho if they are reading this ~ ya'll rock!!! I love this site!) So here it is: Printables | Organized Home these have printable forms (or even ideas to make your own)... Hope this helps!!!

Kim

[MomToTwoBoys]

OK, I am trying to understand this better...

If I'm reading this correctly, you have spent $625 on food this week... and you think you will have trouble making that much food last two weeks?

What do you imagine you would need during the next two weeks? You should be able to easily go 2 weeks without setting foot in a grocery store.

It's the staples and pantry items that I might have issues stretching for two weeks. We've been in this house for almost three months now and we're still getting settled as far as restocking everything. We were at MIL and FIL's place for a month between the week before Christmas and the mid of January.

The meat is a no-question thing: I can make it last. Heck, I think I can make that much last for longer than I originally planned on doing it for. It's the other stuff that we'll have to buy.

I think we'll do just fine.

[CrazyHomemaker]

I am doing that this past week and this week as I have been off of work for the past 5 weeks. I go to the pantry and freezer and write down all of my meats. Then I make a weekly plan with what I have on hand. I use what money I have to buy fresh fruits, veggies and milk.

[joyofsix]

Yep, done it many times. Think soup, everything stretches in a soup. If you've got flour make some biscuits so to fill in dinner. If you'll post what you have I'm sure the village could stretch you from now until the cows come home.