Grocery Challenge Update

We are in week two of the ALl You grocery cart challenge and doing well. THe nice thing is that while their budget is more than mine normally is ($100 for my family of four) they also don't count paper goods or health and beauty stuff, JUST FOOD. I normally spend about $60-70 a week with paper goods. Take out all that stuff and this week I only spent $63 (and that includes $4 spent blueberry picking).
We are having friends over and ordering Chinese later this week and taht is counted in my budget for the challenge as well. But unless we spend more than $40 on chinese food (and we usually split the bill with friends) than we are doing fine.
I just need to reserve about $6 for more blueberries this weekend. Jon wants to go with me and the kids and it is supposed to be sunny on Satruday. I am hoping to get some blueberries frozen for when they are not in season.

Not to shabby huh?

Awesome day and menu plan monday

Today was a great day. We got up with the kids at 7 and spent most of the morning getting the house ready for our open house today. WE then went to church as a family (we are trying to go more often) and cmae home for lunch. After lunch we had to be out of the house for the open house so we went to a sprinkler park. The kids had a great time. Jon and I had a great time watching them as well. It was a gourgeous day.


I am still doing the All You grocery cart challenge. So far at the first week we are under our $100 alloted budget (and that budget does not include paper goods, diapers, etc!). We are going blueberry picking tomorrow and I am hoping to stockpile and freeze some since my kids LOVE them. I am going shopping tomorrow afternoon or Tuesday morning. Tomorrow i need to bake another loaf of bread since we are down to three slices and then I need to buy more flour so I can make more dough!

My meal plan for the week:
Breakfasts
oatmeal
waffles
rice crispies (the cereal of choice right now)
fruit
toast


Lunch
fish sticks and baby carrots
mac and cheese and fruit
bologna and cheese sandwiches
breakfast for lunch
dinner leftovers
raviolis

Dinner
Monday- BLTs
Tuesday- Shrimp and Pasta
Wednesday- Nachos
Thursday- Chicken oriental casserole
Friday- Baked ziti
Saturday- hot dogs and hamburgers
Sunday- breakfast for dinner

You can find tons more menus at Menu Plan Monday

Grocery Cart Challenge Contest

I was reading a another blog tonight and I found out about this AWESOME challenge sponsored by All You. They are challenging people to spend only $25 per person in their family each week on their groceries for four weeks. The prizes are awesome. I talked to Jon and we decided what do we have to lose? We already stay under $100 a week (and it is AFTER his birthday party this weekend). The only downfall is that eating out counts towards your total and we are heading out of town during the final four days of the contest. Eating during vacation always hurts my budget, but maybe this is a good thing and will challenge me to find ways to eat while away on vacation without spending a bundle!
Part of what you are judged on is creativity. I don't think I am particularly creative when it comes to our menu, but then again I try not to serve the same meals over and over and over (although we do have a few staples). Maybe this will also challenge me to be more creative in my menu planning while staying in my budget.

If you are interested in joining the challenge go to All You Grocery Cart Challenge Sign Up

You can also register to recieve two trial issues of All You magazine free.

Wish me luck!