Moxie Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Anybody in for February? How did January go?? I did fine on the budget, meal planning was a big fail. I'm going to look through my old eMeals sheets today and see if any of them will work or at least, hopefully, get some dinner ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasider Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 We did it! Stayed on the grocery budget for January! I am honestly not sure how that happened - combination of diligently eating out of the pantry and a sick week of everyone on the soup and popsicle diet? No major events during the month? Anyway, I am glad it worked. We are striving for a February repeat. DH has recently taken great delight in scouring grocery ads (y'all, it's truly hilarious to see his enthusiasm for this!). He tells me what's on sale, we make a menu together, then a grocery list, and I let him know which items cannot be substituted with a generic. He is now out doing the shopping! Honestly, his involvement is making it work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoCandJ Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Ehh who knows Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 I'm so pleased that we stayed on budget for January even with our grandkids here for a week. That is HUGE to have 5 extra people here for a week and stay on budget. Plus, dd was here half the month (still on Christmas break) so that added another person to feed for a couple weeks. That makes me think we should be able to really cut our budget in February. I'm going to think about that and set a goal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsRobinson Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Fell off the wagon the last week. Bought a bunch of easy dinners which, of course kills the budget. I just haven't been in a cooking mood. This baby belly is in. my. way. Although, the super bowl is inspiring me to make some yummy food. I have a chicken boiling right now for the pioneer woman's chicken salad sandwiches. Super yummy. I put them on slider buns for the super bowl. My goal for February is quite ambitious. I am hoping to make something to stock in the freezer every single day in February. The plan is to do this right after breakfast. The kitchen is the cleanest, I have the most energy, I can run an extra dishwasher cycle after if needed. Then start school 30 min later than normal. About half of it should just be a matter of making 2 or doubling the recipe of whatever is for dinner that night. I want a really well stocked freezer for when baby comes because I know i won't feel like cooking but I'm always so hungry while bf'ing. Now to decide how much $ to pad the budget with because of all this extra food. Hmmm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted January 31, 2015 Share Posted January 31, 2015 Well, I met budget by getting sick and pretty much just not shopping enough or cooking enough! And apparently you can get by with buying more ice cream, popsicles, and sprite if you're not buying much dinner food ("Everyone just fend for yourselves!") I hope to actually balance that all a bit better in Feb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deb in NZ Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 We did better than I expected as far as groceries. I aimed to eat mainly from the freezer/pantry/garden & use the couple grocery store gift cards I received for Xmas to get what we really needed. This worked until last week when dh & I took ds#2 south to settle him in his new school. Five days of eating out wasn't quite budget-friendly, but we did eat more than half our meals in the motel room. February should be easier as we'll only be feeding 3 (dh, ds#1, & me) as dd is away at sea until at least the end of March. Our freezer/pantry/garden still have plenty so I'm aiming to continue shopping there first. Tomorrow I'm doing another inventory of each to draft a February menu. I've given myself a challenge of decluttering one box each day in February & March to help get our home in order. This will help the budget as some I can sell & even if I give everything I sort out away, I find that this makes me less want to buy anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abacus2 Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 I had a meal planning epiphany this month. Someone had posted about the website plantoeat.com. I signed up for the free trial and played around with it. I discovered that I don't really care for their recipe system, but I really liked the calendar. Then I realized that it works like a Google calendar which I already use for everything and love. So I made a new google calendar titled "meal planning" in a different color than my regular calendar and have been putting meals on my Google calendar. Success! I love it when something reminds me to look for solutions in things I already know work for me. Groceries went a little over, but it could have been much worse. I really buckled down and likely wouldn't have gone over if it weren't for my dd's end of the month birthday party. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luckymama Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 So I made a new google calendar titled "meal planning" in a different color than my regular calendar and have been putting meals on my Google calendar. Success! I love it when something reminds me to look for solutions in things I already know work for me. I've done this w iCal for the past year. When I get stuck on meal ideas, I just scroll back into past months :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baseball mom Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 I need to play along. I kinda, ok not kinda, I did mess up big time in January. To many trips to the grocery for an event (I was so overthinking that event) and then lazy a few times and picking up junk food or supper out. I organized the pantry yesterday. Going to check the deep freeze today and see what kind of meals I can do with what I have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joyofsixreboot Posted February 1, 2015 Share Posted February 1, 2015 Jan. went well. We cleaned out the pantry. I'm going to try a different meal plan for Feb. I got a copy of Simple and Delicious and we're going to work our way through with favorites added in and healthy tweaks( whole grain vs processed, no canned soup, etc). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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