Menu Planning and Other Matters

It's been awhile since we did our budget.  Bed rest, early baby, and crisis mode threw us some financial curve balls, but now that things have become more and more settled, it has become more and more obvious that we need to get things figured out.  And, now that the school year is rapidly drawing to a close, our income is going to change yet again.

So after about two hours of crunching numbers and setting goals, we finally have a plan.  It is very like this one that I posted last year, but the notable exception is fun money.  We are going to try to make it to summer using no fun money beyond the cash from Christmas and our birthdays that we have saved.  There's not much wiggle room in this new plan, but hopefully we will have my car paid off by the end of the school year!

The other big piece of the budget is grocery.  We are returning to our $50/week budget (which we deviated from since Christmas).  We just put an eighth of a cow in our freezer, so I'm hopeful that between using that meat and continuing to shop from the sales ads and at Aldi, we will be able to stick to our budget.  And that leads me to:

I do so much better with a grocery budget when I have a plan.  And for this week, my plan is to eat out of the freezer, fridge, and pantry so that I don't need a trip to the store.  So here goes:

• Chicken Enchiladas - I have a whole chicken thawing in the fridge as I type.  I'm going to cook it in the crock pot while I'm at school tomorrow and use some of the chicken for the enchiladas.
• Vegetable Beef Soup - I have been planning to make this for weeks and haven't gotten to it.  I need to hurry up because it's starting to feel like spring around here, and my husband hates to eat soup when it's warm out.  I'm going to document making this meal and post the recipe, because it is so delicious.
• Homemade Mac & Cheese - this is the perfect Wednesday night meal.  Two of us have to be at church by 6:30, so this quick, filling meal is perfect. 
• Leftovers - I'm guessing we will have plenty this week for leftovers.

Payday is at the end of the week, so if I can make it until then without a trip to the grocery store, we should be in good shape!