The month of August is flying by, we will be in December before we know it. This is my second week of trying to cut back my food budget and still eat healthy. Sunday was spaghetti day, it was also family day, we shared with 7 people, spaghetti and meatballs, salad, home made ice tea, ( I am told it's every ones favorite) and great family time.) for dessert I made brownies and homemade blueberry cupcakes with real whip cream . (they were good). From this meal I sent home food with my son and also had leftovers Monday night also with salad.

 I was watching a show in the middle of the night (since sleeping all night is a rare event now) and it was on nutrition. The person said your salad should be your biggest part of your meal, not the side dish. Hm mm that made sense. but it shouldn't just be greens and tomatoes, it should also be fruit, and nuts. The reason the nuts should be added to salad and not as a occasional snack is because the nuts help absorb the vitamins from the salad. Wow that makes sense. So my new challenge is to make a bigger salad and cut back on rest of meal. I can see getting bored very easily with the same salad every night so research will be done to provide interesting combos. While this is not my salad it will be this week.

Okay back to my menu and budget. Monday was suppose to be meatball subs with salad and fruit, but hubby already had spaghetti cooked and so that's what we ate, I put the small leftover sauce in freezer which equaled to about  pint. This will be used at a later time for english muffin or bagel pizzas as a side with soup or salad.

Tuesday my husband brought home fried chicken, not sure why, I didn't ask, I also made chicken soup, so our meal was chicken and soup. It was another rainy day so the soup hit the spot. Wednesday I made London Broil, Baked potatoes, zucchine on the grill (from garden) and corn on cob. From this meal again I fed 7 people.

Thursday I was in and out all day, cooking was not in my mood. My husband went to a baseball game with the grandsons and my son. So my meal, gosh this is so bad, a pint yup a pint of Cherri Garcia ice cream from Ben and Jerri's, I swear I did not mean to have a whole pint, and I've never taken a spoon and eaten out of the container, but I did and well it's gone. I topped this off with cheese and crackers and a peach. AND we wonder why I didn't sleep well?

Tonight I am making beef lo mien with leftover steak from my daughter, she didn't know what to do with it.. aah the secrets of using up leftovers. I love beef lo mien and its so easy to make and not that expensive. Recipe for Beef and Broccoli lo mein is here: http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/beef-and-broccoli-lo-mein-685945/

my total this week for all groceries and I didn't separate what was food and what was other stuff was $122 and change. I did stock up on a few household items like laundry and cleaning as all were on sale and of course I had coupons so I made great use of both. I think that what I bought for groceries was still in the $80 range. And again some of this food bought will be used in future meals. I did use the chicken from the soup to make chicken salad for some lunches, I also boiled eggs for hard boiled to use for either lunches or with breakfast.

Meal planning and eating healthy

My goal this week, was to feed us for under $12.00 per day for all meals, Us includes myself, my husband and sending leftovers up to other family members. In order to provide my menu and how I managed this, I have to do a bit of rewind, the first week of August my husband went to our butcher and bought a 24 lb box of assorted meats. This cost $100.00, it is around this box of meat that I planned what we would eat. What I did, is for each type of meat I wrote down as many different meals that I could think of. Example: Chicken breasts: breaded, on sandwiches, in salads, Parmed etc;, I did the same for london broil, ground beef and pork.
Each meal would hopefully provide another nights meal either in a different capacity or as it was. I also planned a lunch or two. (of course all laid out plans can and will go up in smoke at a moments notice)

This week went like this:
Monday: Breaded boneless chicken, rice, sauted spinach and garlic, watermelon and blueberries
Tuesday: Breaded Fish, leftover rice and sliced cucumbers
Now Tuesday was suppose to be Spaghetti and meatballs but due to my uncontroled schedule that did not happen
Wednesday we used leftover breaded chicken to make sandwiches on hardrolls with lettuce, tomato and melted cheese. homemade pickles, chips and cut up peaches were the sides
Thursday: well as I said all laid out plans go up in smoke, the Fireman's fair started, my husband had to be there at 6 and he eats there, so my dinner was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, glass of milk and a peach,, it tasted like heaven!

Tonight we will eat at fair, The meatballs which are cooked will go in freezer as I don't see the sauce getting prepared now until Sunday, that will be the beginning of next weeks meals

My total for the food needed for this week and some of this food and staples will be used for other meals was $87.42 now this is not the $12.00 I planned but its not that far off either I was only .48 cents over. My goal is to cut our costs, eat 3 healthy meals, and I think this has been accomplished.