Grocery List and Budget

Thought I'd share my meal plan for the week. First, this is what I do before going to the grocery store. I pick out around 5 recipes for dinners for the week. I like to use the shopping list option on Allrecipes. I don't only use their recipes. You can customize your list and it's free! Makes getting through the store so much easier and quicker by grouping items into categories. Once I've done that. I then add random items to the list like milk or eggs.

Here's a close-up of my current list.

Today I went and did my produce/fruit shopping at the Mexican grocery store up the street. They usually have a better selection than Walmart. I spent 7.00 there. Then I went to Walmart and bought the rest that was on the list. When I have a shorter list I'll go to Albertson's or if I clip coupons. As you can see I spent 83.00 at Walmart. I'm not ecstatic about that. I like to spend 70 max for the week.

On this trip I needed cleaning supplies. So, that was another 6.00. I like to stick to the list. I do allow myself little splurges. This week it was Klondike bars and marinated olives!

My combined grocery total (after subtracting cleaning stuff) for the week was 84.00. Not too terrible.

Meal Plan

1. Mandarin Chicken Pasta Salad
2. Stuffed Peppers and Mashed Potatoes
3. Island Shrimp & Rice with Bread
4. French Dip Sandwiches with Baked Fries
   

These are meals that I will for sure make. The rest I make up as I go by what's in the fridge.

I'd like to challenge myself and get more creative with my grocery bill. So, I'll try to blog about it more often!