I have done my food shopping and come up with this weeks' Menu Plan
Monday - Satay Chicken with Rice
Tuesday - Moroccan Lamb Chops with Spiced Couscous
Wednesday - Chicken and Salad Tortilla Wraps
Thursday - Rissoles with Mashed Potato and Vegetables
Friday - Beef Mussaman Curry with Rice
Saturday - Ham and Cheese Quiche with Salad
Sunday - Leftovers, Toasted Sandwiches
Baking - Snickerdoodles, Pikelets, Banana Bread
Thanks to I'm an Organising Junkie for the great idea!
Showing posts with label Budgeting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Budgeting. Show all posts
Monday, January 5, 2009
Monday, May 26, 2008
It's the Root of all Evil...
But a necessary one. Money is harder and harder fought in today's climate. Fuel prices, interest rate rises - it all makes for a crunch that a lot of us have yet to experience in our own homes. The nineties mortgage crunch is looming in our memories. I have vague recollections of it being a "tough time" but now I am seeing it with my own adult perspective.
We've had a rough fortnight with car services and unexpected dentist bills that blew my budget out of the water. Now I am having to look at tightening our belts to get us back in the black. I've come up with some ideas to do that, and I thought I would share? Some of these I do anyway, but some are new or reintroduced ideas to save some money.
$ Check out the local produce markets. We went to the Rocklea Markets and found not only cheaper but much better quality produce than the local supermarket. There was a wholesale butcher that had bulk lots of meat for cheaper prices. I got 2 kilos of shortcut rindless bacon for $10. I normally pay $8.95 for 750gms!
$ Find factory food outlets. We all love a clothes factory outlet bargain - so why not food? At Rocklea there is a Grocery discount store. It's filled with amazing bargains. Some of it is close to its Best Before Date but if you're shopping on a fortnightly basis you could incorporate those dates. I got Bocconcini Cheese for 99c and I normally pay $4.99. It's a good way to have a few 'nice' things included in the cupboard without blowing out the food budget.
$ We have looked at the Golden Circle and Sara Lee outlets too. Beware of false economy though - if you don't normally have Chocolate Bavarian on your shopping list, there's no point buying 10 to put in the freezer just because you're saving 50% is there? But if you were having a party or having people come to stay they would be great for cheap drinks, cakes and tinned fruit.
$ Meal plan,meal plan, meal plan. I can't stress how much time, effort and money it saves me to have each meal planned. It also helps me overcome the "don't know what to cook- can't be bothered thinking-buy takeaway" trap! I try to plan in some take-away type meals: spring rolls & dumplings with fried rice for a Chinese night or curry with puppodums and chutneys for an Indian. It's sometimes the things that accompany a meal that take it out of the boring home cooked feel and make it something special. It also helps create well rounded nutritious menus.
$ If I'm making something that would make great leftovers for lunch (eg: lasagne) I make dessert on that night to make it go further. Speaking of making it go further, I have changed things like instead of using my square dish and having a 6-layer lasagne, I use a bigger, rectangular dish and spread it out to 4 layers giving me more yield. Adding more veggies and less meat cuts down on money too. Also, reusing leftovers in a productive tasty way saves money. I buy a slightly bigger roast lamb so that we can get a shepherds pie out of it as well.
$ The other great thing about meal plan is I can usually make my fortnightly plan go one or two days further as we'll have a 'soup and rolls' or 'eggs on toast' meal in there. So I can choose to carry that over to next fortnight's plans or wait off shopping a day or two. Sometimes I try to go a few days over to eat out the cupboard a bit more. It gives flexibility for when we're having a really lean fortnight.
$ Buy up on things like washing powder, toothpaste or toilet paper but keep it in the original budget. It's all about creating a buffer to smooth out the differences when we're going through a lean time. With things like Shampoos, creams and deodorants; again, be creative. Avon has roll-on deodorants for $1.49 and shampoos for $1.79 some months, and you'll never get it cheaper at the supermarkets. I also found gorgeous handmade soap at Rocklea for $2 a bar and not only will they will last longer than any store bought variety and smell glorious, we keep the money in the community.
I know I probably sound like we're on the bones of our bums - we're not at all, in fact I think seeing as I've been a SAHM for 6 years, we've done very well on a single income! But I like to think it's my job to be as economical as possible to make sure we can have some luxuries to life, and I enjoy the challenge! I will be back with my next fortnight's meal plan soon.
We've had a rough fortnight with car services and unexpected dentist bills that blew my budget out of the water. Now I am having to look at tightening our belts to get us back in the black. I've come up with some ideas to do that, and I thought I would share? Some of these I do anyway, but some are new or reintroduced ideas to save some money.
$ Check out the local produce markets. We went to the Rocklea Markets and found not only cheaper but much better quality produce than the local supermarket. There was a wholesale butcher that had bulk lots of meat for cheaper prices. I got 2 kilos of shortcut rindless bacon for $10. I normally pay $8.95 for 750gms!
$ Find factory food outlets. We all love a clothes factory outlet bargain - so why not food? At Rocklea there is a Grocery discount store. It's filled with amazing bargains. Some of it is close to its Best Before Date but if you're shopping on a fortnightly basis you could incorporate those dates. I got Bocconcini Cheese for 99c and I normally pay $4.99. It's a good way to have a few 'nice' things included in the cupboard without blowing out the food budget.
$ We have looked at the Golden Circle and Sara Lee outlets too. Beware of false economy though - if you don't normally have Chocolate Bavarian on your shopping list, there's no point buying 10 to put in the freezer just because you're saving 50% is there? But if you were having a party or having people come to stay they would be great for cheap drinks, cakes and tinned fruit.
$ Meal plan,meal plan, meal plan. I can't stress how much time, effort and money it saves me to have each meal planned. It also helps me overcome the "don't know what to cook- can't be bothered thinking-buy takeaway" trap! I try to plan in some take-away type meals: spring rolls & dumplings with fried rice for a Chinese night or curry with puppodums and chutneys for an Indian. It's sometimes the things that accompany a meal that take it out of the boring home cooked feel and make it something special. It also helps create well rounded nutritious menus.
$ If I'm making something that would make great leftovers for lunch (eg: lasagne) I make dessert on that night to make it go further. Speaking of making it go further, I have changed things like instead of using my square dish and having a 6-layer lasagne, I use a bigger, rectangular dish and spread it out to 4 layers giving me more yield. Adding more veggies and less meat cuts down on money too. Also, reusing leftovers in a productive tasty way saves money. I buy a slightly bigger roast lamb so that we can get a shepherds pie out of it as well.
$ The other great thing about meal plan is I can usually make my fortnightly plan go one or two days further as we'll have a 'soup and rolls' or 'eggs on toast' meal in there. So I can choose to carry that over to next fortnight's plans or wait off shopping a day or two. Sometimes I try to go a few days over to eat out the cupboard a bit more. It gives flexibility for when we're having a really lean fortnight.
$ Buy up on things like washing powder, toothpaste or toilet paper but keep it in the original budget. It's all about creating a buffer to smooth out the differences when we're going through a lean time. With things like Shampoos, creams and deodorants; again, be creative. Avon has roll-on deodorants for $1.49 and shampoos for $1.79 some months, and you'll never get it cheaper at the supermarkets. I also found gorgeous handmade soap at Rocklea for $2 a bar and not only will they will last longer than any store bought variety and smell glorious, we keep the money in the community.
I know I probably sound like we're on the bones of our bums - we're not at all, in fact I think seeing as I've been a SAHM for 6 years, we've done very well on a single income! But I like to think it's my job to be as economical as possible to make sure we can have some luxuries to life, and I enjoy the challenge! I will be back with my next fortnight's meal plan soon.
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