Week 1 Meal Plan :-3

This week's been amazing! The more and more we eat the more confident I am that We can totally do this! The picture down below is Week one's meal plan (And my original shopping list, I like to write down next to the items I get how much they are to help me calculate as i'm walking around. The items highlighted in green are items I had in my kitchen already)

(Side Note: The Chicken breast we buy are HUGE too big for us to really eat so before I put them in the freezer I cut them in half horizontally. Which not only doubles how much chicken I have, it also means no left over chicken that's being fed to the dogs)

Monday: Camron and I have a weakness for Velveeta Skillet dinners... It's pretty much a currency in our house. Our favorite is the Chicken w/ cheddar and broccoli. We had it with a side of lettuce topped with ranch and some cucumbers on mine.

Tuesday: Homemade Pizza night!!! I have a yeast-less pizza dough recipe that I love since I am HORRIBLE with yeast. We had pepperoni, bacon, green peppers, and spaghetti sauce (From Pantry)  on top. Yum!

Wednesday: Crock Pot Chili. Camron is not a fan of diced or any tomatoes so I used  a can of tomato sauce instead so there was no chunks.

Thursday: Just a simple Chicken taco night. Followed the recipe on the back of the seasoning packet. Had re-fried beans, shredded cheese, sour cream, and some hot sauce. I had a packet of Mexican rice in the cupboard that I served with it as well. 

Friday: Grilled cheese and Tomato Soup. Pretty easy.

Saturday: It's my break day from cooking! Camron and I have sandwiches for dinner with some left over tomato soup.

Sunday: Breaded Chicken with a can of corn. (I'll post my recipe once I decide on one. Luckily it's not Sunday yet!)

For Lunches It's been a mix of Tuna and Mayo with some carrots and other veg on the side to snack, Soups, sandwiches, left overs.

Breakfasts have been easy. Just a cup of coffee with maybe some toast, a bagel, or nothing because I get caught up in something else.

It's been fun. Keeping track of our meals. Checking off the days and still seeing plenty of food left for next week. Not sure how week 3 will end. I'll have a better idea half way through week 2 :)

Please feel free to ask questions, post your own cheap meal ideas, or just comment! 

Have a good weekend!

Cate

3 Weeks with $100 Challenge! Day 1!

I'm challenging myself! I give advise and help people with their budgeting all the time. Now it's time to do something that really seals in the title of "Amazing Budgeter"! I've come up with a challenge for myself. And that is to feed 2 people for 3 weeks on $100. No Coupons! Just me finding cheap inexpensive dinners to make. Plan out said meals and stick to it! I'll be posting and blogging my recipes and how said week is doing. Here We Go!


I went shopping today and spend 81.47. Leaving me with 18.59 for misc spending, milk, and what ever else we may need. Mind you I do have items in my household that I will be using but I will make sure to note which items I already had on hand and which are from my shopping. I went shopping a week ago, and just to make this clear I started and decided to do this challenge yesterday so there was no cheating and prepurchasing some items.

Receipt:

2 Packs of Chicken Breast @1.98 lb. :1st. 8.87 2nd. 7.54

2 Loaves of White Bread @ .98 ea. : 1.96

1 Potato Bread Loaf : 1.96

2 Sleeves of Bagles @ 1.74 ea. : 3.48

Spaghetti Noodles : .78

Chicken Taco Mix : .52

Cream Cheese: 2.03

2 12 pks String Cheese @ 3.22 ea : 6.44

Chunk of Chedder Cheese:  6.80

Ham Sliced: 4.07

Turkey Sliced: 6.44

Avocado : .98

Yellow Onion: .39

2 Velveeta boxed meals: 2.98

Baking Soda: .52

Mac & Cheese: .48

Coffee: 4.54

Flour: 1.64

Vinegar: 1.05

Vanilla: 1.05

Strawberries: 1.98

Blueberries: 2.48

2% Milk: 2.40

Cheeze Itz: 3.68

2 cans Kidney Beans: 1.36

2 cans Refried Beans: 1.70

2 cans Tomato Sauce: 1.14

Diced can of Tomatoes:  .88

2 cans Black Beans: 1.36

1 can Corn: .48

2 cans Tuna: .1.56

Total: 81.47

I'm lucky enough to live in a state that has no tax on food items. So it does help me in this challenge.

New Town. New Adventures

This last weekend my Fiance and I have moved to the Tri-cities for a great job opportunity for him. Like the dream job kind of opportunity. He's graduated from college with a degree in Hydraulics (The big trucks kind, not the stupid bouncy car kind) and in Spokane there wasn't many jobs in the field he was wanting. Thanks to a friend of his he finally got a in-house sales position which is EXACTLY what he's been wanting for years. I'm so happy for him.
Luckily I had already quit my serious job (It's a LONG story) And had been working at a new place for only a month so nothing was serious. I was totally ready for a new adventure for us. So far it's been hard being so far away from friends and family. Mostly friends going through a hard time and I can't be there for them except over the phone. It hurts.
However we have plans. Big plans for us and me to get in a better life style and find out own piece of heaven down here in Richland.

(Valentine and I at the Richland Doggy park)

I'm going back to school! This September I will finally be returning to college to finish my degree in Business management and get me a good start in the business world. I'm so excited for school. I've always loved school. Since I was little. I"m really looking forward to the extra side classes. I want to learn Japanese! I want to go Kayaking! I want to paint again!
College right now is just the answer all to every problem for me and i'm SOOO looking forward to it.

Right now i'm the lovely House-wife who is taking care of running the house. Doing all the errands and Chores. And i'm happy. It's been a long time since I was relaxed like this. Sure I still worry about money. Even though Camron makes more than enough. I worry more about us finding a balance with one income. It's has always been OUR money since we started being serious and living together. But it's still weird for me not having my own money to spend on what ever I want. We'll make it work i'm sure.  But I have been looking for a nice part time job to have for the summer till school starts for me. Something a little extra on the side.
Maybe my craft store will take off? Who knows.

For now I will post all my adventures, recipes, and tips I've found that have been great on how to live life to the fullest on as little as possible.

Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Cate

View from our apartment patio and windows