Welcome to my weekly series, What We Ate this Week on our Budget. Grocery spending can get out of hand quickly, so I post our weekly menu to ensure that I am planning it weekly. Our monthly grocery budget for my family of 4 is $500. It’s a tight budget and I failed miserably recently, but we have lots of financial goals, so I need to get it back in line.
This Week in the Kitchen:
I bought an Instant Pot over the summer and I’ve been trying to figure out how it fits into my kitchen routine and my family’s palate. To be honest, it’s been hit or miss for many recipes. But every week, I’m trying new recipes and this week, I made Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes in the IP.
Holy moly, it was delicious and so easy. Meatloaf was always a dish I made on the weekends when I had more time, but this was pretty easy and my family loved it. I will be writing a recipe post soon, but until then here’s a few pics.
This Week’s Dinners:
Sunday: We went out with friends to our favorite wing joint.
Monday: I never made the baked ziti last weekend like I thought I would, so I made it on Monday, because I knew I would need leftovers on Tuesday night. I served with a big salad.
Tuesday: My kids participated in our community’s Halloween parade and they both had homework. It was a busy night, so we ate leftover baked ziti.
Wednesday: I used the Instant Pot to make meatloaf and mashed potatoes. I served with steamed broccoli. Recipe will come soon!
Thursday: We had leftover mashed potatoes (the meatloaf was gobbled up), so I used the Instant Pot again to make shredded chicken with gravy. I served with steamed vegetables and homemade sugar-free applesauce.
Friday: We have loads of leftovers, so I will disappoint my family with leftover night 😉
Saturday: We have a rare free Saturday and the weather looks like it’s going to be gorgeous, so we’re planning on hiking or going on a bike ride and we’ll find a place to eat dinner along the way.
This week’s Breakfasts, Lunches, and Snacks:
Breakfasts included cereal, eggs & toast. Lunches included leftovers, sandwiches, chicken nuggets, soups, apples, pretzels, and yogurt sticks.
What did you make this week that your family enjoyed? I’m always looking for new recipes. Please share in the comments.
Hi Kristia,
I subscribe to several blogs with the central theme on saving and getting
ahead. Often, the suggestions and offerings are things I’ve already seen at
one time or another – I’ve been around for a long while…….. which is
code for “old” 🙂 However, I do try to pick up on anything that might be
applicable and practical for our situation. The DR advice for saving $1,000
is old news, but you presented it in a unique way, and something clicked.
We need an emergency fund and thinking about it will not make it happen. We
live paycheque to paycheque due to past layoff and illness, and anything
extra goes to the credit card. After reading your post, I transferred $5
into an old neglected savings account that had only .32 in it for years. I
broke into our piggy bank – $32.60 – into the brick and mortar bank it went
= 37.92. Hmm, maybe I can post “how to multiply your savings by over 100
times in just one day!”
As noted, finances are extremely tight and our focus has been meeting all
the bills, which is very tricky – which is why I search for good advice.
You know they say that a message is not heard if the audience is not ready
to hear it. I think though, that part of the readiness to hear it, is in
how the message is presented. It clicked as I was reading your post, and
although I expect $1,000 in savings will be a slow process, it is in the
works as a process. For now, I am committing to putting the following in
that savings account:
– $5 from each pay (I get paid every 2 weeks)
– any found money (literally found…almost nothing but about $2 a month
on the sidewalk, parking lot, left in the shopping cart lock ………)
– half of any overtime pay
– rebates including Checkout 51
– I’ll probably figure out another area to squidge from
It’s not much, but it will be more than when I started….and that is
progress 🙂 I’ll shoot for a 2-year goal. Who knows, maybe we’ll hit it
before then!
Thanks so much for your blog. I know you make some level of income from it,
and You ‘s great, but I’m sure you do it to share and help others. So
Kristia, BINGO! Bless you!
Best wishes alwayss-
Toni
ps -tried to email this to you but your email address seems to not be working
Toni, thanks so much for you message and your kind words! You have a plan of action to save for your emergency fund and I think that’s half the battle. My mission at FBS is to help families get ahead with their finances, so I love to hear from readers who are making a plan for their money. Keep me updated on your progress!
ALSO, thanks for telling me about my email not working! I had no idea, although that might explain why my email inbox has been quiet lately. I’m working on getting it fixed.