I find myself sitting here wondering what we’re going to have for dinner tonight. Why, you ask? Because for the past two weeks I have not done any sort of meal plan. After doing so well for the past few months, I can really see how it benefits us! It’s kind of stressful not having a plan, not to mention we don’t eat nearly as well when I don’t have a plan.

For instance, last night Katie and I ate green eggs (scrambled eggs with broccoli puree and cheese) and strawberries for dinner. Not the worst dinner in the world, but certainly not the best! And tonight? No idea. Maybe boxed potatoes (not the yummiest but Katie loves them!) and chicken fingers. Like I said, we won’t be eating as well as we would with a plan!

I can’t seem to get motivated to do it. I have the start of one in my head, which basically includes pot roast tomorrow. From there, who knows. And before I know it, it will be Sunday and time for next week’s meal plan. Maybe I’ll do one then!

This week’s shopping trip was a huge success! I’m happy to be back shopping the deals, instead of just getting the bare minimum of what can get us by. It doesn’t hurt that there were some great sales this week. One unexpected benefit of doing the Eat From the Pantry Challenge – going back to our normal $50 per week budget seems like a fortune! Combining some great sales with coupons allowed me to get all this…

…for a grand total of $45.93!

The only items I paid full price for were the milk, eggs, and produce (minus strawberries – they were majorly on sale!)

Here are a couple of the best deals I got:

Coffee Mate Creamer: I paid a total of $2 for 8! They were on sale BOGO and I had some great coupons. I normally don’t buy these but I couldn’t pass it up for $0.25 each!

Betty Crocker Au Gratin Potatoes: 6 boxes for $3!

Green Giant Chopped Spinach: 9 boxes for $6!

YoPlait Fiber One Yogurt 4 packs: 2 for a total of $0.50! That’s one of the best deals I got, thanks to IHeartPublix I found a great coupon to combine with the BOGO sale.

My receipt says I saved $62.05, but I have to say that I would not buy many of these items if it weren’t for sales combined with coupons, so that’s not a totally accurate figure. I can say that I had $20.80 worth of coupons, though!

Can’t wait to see what’s in store for next week! Thanks, IHeartPublix for posting all the weekly Publix deals!

…and got all this!

I’m so excited about the strawberries – they were picked this morning! That’s Swiss Chard over on the right, I discovered a really yummy recipe last time I bought this and we loved it – even Katie ate some!

Let me break down what I paid:

Strawberries: $1.00 per bowl, I bought two bowls

Bananas: $1.25

Tomatoes: $1.75 for both

Zucchini: $1.50 total

Squash: $1.50 total

Swiss Chard: $2.00 (grown organically and locally, so what a great price!)

Avocado: $0.75

I estimate that if I had bought all this at Publix, I would have easily spent $20, especially buying some of it organic. What a deal!

I know I haven’t updated this in a while. It’s been an awfully busy few weeks at our house! But that’s a story for another post…

We managed to stay on budget for our Eat From the Pantry Challenge this month, even the week we had company for dinner twice in one week!

One tip that has helped us tremendously: shopping at the farmers’ market each week. I’m able to pick up a ton of great quality produce really inexpensively. I really learned how big a difference it is when I went grocery shopping at Publix yesterday. Normally I can buy 2 large red onions for $1 at the farmers’ market. (We love our Mexican nights here!!!) Well, when we were there on Saturday I neglected to pick one up, so I just grabbed one in the produce department of Publix when I did my weekly shopping. Big mistake. I paid $1.85 for ONE red onion! And to think there was a time in my life I didn’t even look at the prices on these things…

I realize that for all of you out there who don’t live in the paradise I call home, a weekly farmers’ market is not an option. Take comfort in the fact that during the summer when you’re enjoying your farmers’ markets, it’s too stifling hot here for them! They stop at the end of spring, so I’ll be looking at alternatives for summer produce buying.

One thing I would suggest to those who don’t have a weekly farmers’ market is to try looking at your local farms. You’d be surprised at what you can find locally very cheap. It can take a little legwork and maybe a couple field trips to check things out, but if you find one you like it’s totally worth it. This is actually on my (endless) list of projects I’d like to get done – I’d like to find a local farm to buy dairy from. Milk is so darn expensive at the store ($3.19 per gallon!), there has got to be a better way!

Another option for produce is a co-op. We have them locally but I don’t participate because it ends up costing more per week than what I spend, and I have the time and inclination to do the work of a weekly farmers’ market trip. But, I know there are a ton of people who just don’t have time for that! So a co-op is a great alternative – you simply pick up your weekly crop and get to enjoy a variety of freshly picked produce. It can also really broaden your horizons with the types of vegetables you eat. It’s a great way to try different vegetables you would never normally buy, because you’ll be getting them at their freshest and best tasting.

So all in all, we came out of our Eat From the Pantry Challenge completely unharmed. I got to experiment with different combinations of food, and although we didn’t always stick closely to the meal plan, I got to flex my creative muscles with making meals from what we had. We actually didn’t eat much differently than normally!

I’ll most likely do another Eat From the Pantry Challenge in May, so stay tuned!

Welcome to smartmoneymom.com. My name is Kirstin and I’m blessed to be a wife and mom of two beautiful girls. I have started this blog to talk about my efforts to save our family money while walking in faith and praising God. So join me in this journey to please Him by doing my best to manage what we’ve been blessed with!