Week three...and my list is SOOO short!

Well here I sit in Week 3 of my grocery mission. And believe it or not, my shopping needs list is only slightly longer than last week. I still have some london broil steaks, chicken, kielbasa and pork in the freezer downstairs...so dinners are pretty well covered for a while. All I truly need is the usual milk, eggs, fruit and veggies, and some lunch meat for the hubby's work week. Add a package of paper towels and my "needs" list should have a grand total somewhere around $25-$30. Which means in three weeks, my total grocery bill is just about at the $200 mark! Should I be getting excited about hitting my goal limit with 1 week still left? YES!!!! Because already my grocery bill for the month will be over $100 less than I was used to spending. That's HUGE progress!!!

The timing couldn't be better - with DH making a job transition and a few unexpected expenses that reared their heads, we were looking at having to scrimp and scrape to get by the next few weeks. But because I was able to stock up in Week 1, of all the worries I may have, feeding my family is not one of them!

Dinner this evening was easy enough - I did up a london broil steak in the crock pot as per the below recipe from Cooks.com:

London Broil
2 tbsp. oil
1 env. onion mushroom soup mix
Pepper
flour and water

Heat oil in Dutch oven on medium/low heat. Put meat in to brown. Sprinkle pepper on top. Turn over when brown on bottom. Brown top. Sprinkle soup mix on top. Turn heat to low. Put lid on; simmer for 2 hours. Turn over after 1 hour. When fork tender, remove from pot; keep warm.
Make gravy: Mix flour and water in a cup to form a paste. Add 1 cup water to pan to heat up. Blend in paste, stirring constantly to blend into gravy.

I made a double portion of rice, served half and put the other half in the fridge for dinner later in the week. I also have a nice tub of leftover gravy that I can use for breakfast or dinner dressing. Add a side dish of frozen veggies, and this meal tallied up as such:

London Broil steak: $2.70
Onion soup packet: $0.25
Rice: $0.50
Frozen mixed veggies: $1.00

Grand total (with leftover rice, gravy and veggies): $4.45

My game plan for this week is to add some storage containers to my list - I can make up Jello and pudding cups, and preportion larger jars of applesauce for the kiddo if I have some 4- and 6-ounce storage containers. I also want to start pricing out larger airtight containers for homemade baking mix - I have been trolling the frugal sites for a good universal muffin recipe and have found some great ideas for homemade baking mix, but the cost savings will be better if I can do large batches. I'm also finding some good articles on bulk meal preparation - which will not only save money but time as well! I'll post recipes as I try them out and test their success!



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