I’m thinking about posting some family and budget friendly recipes on here every once in a while – I sometimes do that on my healthy living blog, and have lots of recipes (and pictures!) that are both healthy and cheap. Plus they taste good and even my kids eat most of them!
Today, though, I’m sharing pictures of my life. I’ve been tryin to get through July on $200 cash plus ~$300 on rewards points for groceries. This did not count any groceries we bought while in Wisconsin (or anything we brought back) as that money was “vacation” money. As of Sunday July 22, I had $22 cash left available to last until August 1. That might sound difficult, feeding a family of 4 (5 sometimes). But I have food all over, so other than maybe 1 more jug of milk and a little fresh produce, I shouldn’t need anything. Here’s what I mean:
In my main fridge, we have yogurt, natural peanut butter, apples, oranges, grapes, strawberries, celery, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, eggs, and so much more (including dressings & sauces not pictured). These are the base for multiple meals & snacks.
In my second fridge, we have:
extra milk, ketchup, gatorade, and not pictured, more eggs, yogurt, cheese, a little beer, and onions.
All of those ingredients get added to the items I keep in my freezer:
and in the fridge freezer:
Multiple loaves of bread, frozen chicken, pork, ground turkey, a small homemade lasagna, bags of frozen berries, homemade soup and broth for soup, chocolate chips for baking, frozen vegetables… there is a lot of food in here!
Finally, I have two pantries that I keep dry goods in, one in my kitchen:
and one in my basement where I store excess dry goods:
Here I have cans of beans, soup, boxes of fruit juice, canned fruit, breakfast cereal, oatmeal, flour, and all my other non-perishables.
So on July 22, when I brought home milk and yogurt and was leftwith $22, I wasn’t worried. Here’s our meal plan for the next week:
July 22: Hot Dogs for Bruce & kids; chicken & salad for me at work
July 23: Baked fish & chicken, brussel sprouts, mashed potatoes
July 24: Pasta & meat sauce
July 25: Roasted pork tenderloin, roasted potatoes, frozen veggies
July 26: BBQ steak & potatoes, salad
July 27: Homemade pizza
July 28: Lasagna
July 29: Sandwiches or eggs
On July 30 we’re leaving for a camping trip, so our meal planning for that isn’t done yet.
We will easily make it to the end of the month on our $22, which is great. I’m also looking ahead to August, as the bills from my son’s dental surgery are coming in and insurance isn’t going to cover all of it. If I can trim even $100 from our regular $600 budget, that will help.
What does your pantry look like?
Wow – first impressions is that you have a LOT in your fridge! We tend to shop at least once a week – sometimes twice and buy the fresh things regularly. We also buy meat in bulk so have a freezer full of zip-lock bags with meat portions in them! Your menu has given me some inspiration though – I feel like pork tenderloin now!
My fridge is always full, which is one of the reasons we have two of them. Feeding teenage kids takes a lot of food.
I shop at least once a week, usually twice. If I didn’t have 2 fridges, I’d be at the store every second day for milk! Very little goes to waste though. I hate throwing out food, so I use it up, or if it’s getting to the edge, I’ll use it to make soup.
That’s a lot of food! We have a surplus of food right now; every once in awhile I do a food inventory to figure out what I have because I don’t want to waste my money buying things that I already have in my cupboards.
Yes, that’s why I did this. I hardly ever have to throw stuff out, but keeping on top of it prevents me from buying stuff just because it’s on sale.
I’m always amazed at how PF bloggers have been able to stretch their food dollar and what is in their fridge/pantry. I struggle a lot in this area…one reason I think because I’m a picky eater. Good luck making it to the rest of the month. You can do it!
I understand picky eaters. My husband says he’s not, but, it’s a matter of perspective. To him, he’s not. To me, he’s very picky – because I’ll eat almost anything!
LOVE that there is a slurpee in the fridge. So Manitoban
LOL – I hadn’t even noticed that! My son stuck it in there after we walked to 7-11 the afternoon I took that photo. Busted!
TWO fridges? Wow! I think you’ll do great!
LOL, yep, two. It took me a while to convince my husband the 2nd one was necessary… then the boys hit their teen years.