We are a family on a budget, a tight budget. And we have just implemented a new savings program, so it's going to queeze a bit tighter. As I am a full-time at home mama, I am the manager of our home. I manage the finances, the cooking and the shopping. It is my job to ensure our money is spent wisely and that good meals are produced from our kitchen and that we have yummy snacks! I always gave us a small grocery budget as I could cook meals every day on very little money (a good skill to have, for when times get real tough), however I feel now that we were pretty much carb overloading due to the frugalness of pasta, rice and potatoes.
Pizza!
I had to make a decision to invest more of our money in our family's health. I had to up our veggie intake and buy better quality ingredients. But I still have to stick to a tight budget. Our income varies from fortnight to fortnight, so some weeks I have a bit more to play with than others. On these weeks I ensure I stock up on pantry items that are a bit more expensive (coconut oil, nuts, maple syrup etc). To give you an idea, I usually spend around $100-$120 fortnightly, for our family of 4, and then I keep $50 aside for the second week of the fortnight for fresh fruit and vegies. That's a total of $150-$170 including meat. I always keep a well stocked pantry and freezer, which is helpful for fortnights when I've had only $70 for the entire shopping!
I am now running down some things (like pasta, pasta sauces etc) in my pantry and will start making more of these from scratch. I love experimenting in the kitchen and look forward to some new challenges.
Roast Dinner
I am also going to start adding more vegetarian dishes to our menu to help increase our veggies and save our dollars. Thankfully we all love vegetarian food. We also only eat fish when it is given to us by our fishing friends, so this is another cost saver for us.
Kaleb is fed at his work, depending on whichever shift he does, so sometimes lunch, sometimes dinner. If he is working over dinner, I make our main meal at lunch time, and have our family mealtime then.
Sweet Cheeks Granola
I also like to add some new meals to our menu each fortnight to keep things interesting, sometimes these are winners and I add them to our list of favourites, other times they are not so good.
I've marked our new meal ideas with an *, and any meals that are vegetarian with (v).
Monday:: Creamy Vegetable and Almond Korma with Pilaf*(v)
Tuesday:: Leftovers (v)
Wednesday:: Meatballs and Vegetables
Thursday:: Roast Beef and Vegetables
Friday:: Beef and Vegetable Pie (Potato/Cauliflower Top)
Saturday:: Risoni Patties and Vegetables*(v)
Sunday: Homemade Pizzas
Monday:: Homemade Fish and Sweet Potato Fries
Tuesday:: Fish Balls and Vegetables
Wednesday:: Roast Chicken and Vegetables
Thursday:: Chicken and Vegetable Pie (Potato/Cauliflower Top)
Friday:: Vegetarian Pasta Bake(v)
Saturday:: Spinach and Ricotta Canneloni(v)
Sunday:: Homemade Pizzas
Breakfast Ideas:
Homemade Hashed Browns*, Bacon and Scrambled Egg
Poached Eggs on Toast
Lunch Ideas:
Toasted Sandwiches
Dinner Leftovers
Chicken Noodle Soup (using carcass from Roast Chicken)
Pumpkin Soup
Green Smoothie
Snack Ideas:
Homemade Hummus with Veggie Sticks
Cheese and Crackers
Nuts
Fruit
I make my own bread using these 2 recipes:
So that's it!!
I'll try to remember to let you know how our new recipes go!!
x Shara
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