Menu Monday

This week went really well! :) We stayed on track for the most part... We planned on eating enchiladas last Monday but they have still yet to be made, so maybe tomorrow. The great thing about this week was all the delicious deals we got!

Wednesday, Frankie was in a meeting for lunch so that meant Mexican Food! That night we went to our small group and they had breakfast night- blueberry pancakes, sausage, eggs, hash browns, orange juice, and fruit with chocolate dip for dessert! What a treat!

Thursday night Frankie had a meeting for dinner so that included wine and cheese.

Friday was great! We had a mini-date night- dinner at Chammps (with a coupon for a free, HUGE appetiser) and then Ben and Jerry's for dessert (with a coupon for a free scoop of ice cream)! And the best part is we get to do it again this week with Taylor's set of coupons!

Saturday, Taylor went to a training class for Children's Ministry at our church and was served fruit and a muffin for breakfast! Yummy bonus!

Then for lunch we went to our friend Hana's birthday party and a whole buffet from Panda Express was there for the picking!! I don't think we have to say that we each went back for more food a few times... And cupcakes for dessert! :) Happy 3rd Birthday, Hana!

After the party we went camping to get away and to celebrate 8 months of marriage! Aw! Hot dogs and pinto beans for dinner, and biscuits for breakfast - all cooked on the camp fire! We will definitely be doing that again soon. :)

And as we write this blog we are waiting for a pizza to be delivered... Target is having a great deal on Hasbro games to promote Family Game Night, and when you buy one you get a free medium pizza from Domino's! How cool is that? So we get a new board game, and a free pizza, and we rented a movie from the red box using a code! Looks like date night all over again!

This week we will be making those enchiladas, some rice and beans, we have pasta left over, we still have a free burger coupon at Champps, and another free scoop at Ben and Jerry's! Community group this week is game and snack night this week so we will have to come up with something to take... And maybe we will get lucky and find some more great coupons!

Come back next Monday to find out how we plan on going on vacations in March while keeping our $10 food budget!

Menu Monday on Tardy Tuesday

Well we didn't forget about Menu Monday.... we had family visiting for the long holiday, so today is our first Tardy Tuesday. ;)

Last week went pretty well... we ate mostly cereal or toast for breakfast, sandwiches for lunch, and rice and beans or quesadillas for dinner. We did have meals planned for company but we didn't really make it that far. We were either treated out or the parents bought food to cook at home. There is no rule saying that people can't bring food to our house and leave the leftovers! ;) So now we have a little cushion in our pantry to fall back onto (this will help out a lot with our next grocery trip- tell you all about it in two Mondays!)

This week starts our second 2-weeks, so Friday we went out with our 20 dollars, a thought-out list, our menu, and a few coupons. Our store of choice this week was Kroger. We like going here because they double and triple our coupons plus they were having a 10 items for $10 deal going on. This all equals greatness when your living off of $10 a week! So here's the plan:

Most of my breakfasts are just whatever I grab on the way out if anything... we did buy biscuits and cinnamon rolls for the weekend a half a carton of eggs. Taylor usually has cereal.

Lunch will most likely be PB&J for the rest of the year. Ha, ha!

Dinners are where we get to be creative. We have supplies for enchiladas, soup, and sloppy Joes.

Extras: I have a lunch meeting on Wednesday, we are going to community group Wednesday night for dinner, and we have a birthday party to go to on Saturday where we will have lunch. :) We also had to plan a few things to make on a campfire, because we are going camping Saturday night! Fun!

Our grocery total was only $18.24. That leaves us just enough to go back to get some more milk next week!

Another little surprise we got this weekend was at church. One of the scriptures we went over was Matthew 6:25-27:

25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

We were so encouraged to hear this. :) And if that wasn't enough, we went to a service that we don't normally attend and were asked to help with the communion! So in a sense, being able to "feed the church" was big for us too. It really helped us become a part of the community and just blessed in a way that lifts us up.

Have a great week and come back next Monday to find out about next week's Menu! We'll try to be a little better about uploading some pics and special updates during the week, too!

Menu Monday

Welcome to our first, weekly "Menu Monday"! We're so excited to share with you in this way about our new project! Each week we'll reveal what the game plan is for the upcoming week and how we're utizlizing that week's food items. But first...

The Big Idea:
This is a take off of our original Food Pak Adventure, but this time it's bigger! For an entire year, we are going to take what we learned from living off a Food Pak and apply those experiences to a new set of rules. This time we are really stretching our dollars! Our plan is to spend only $10 a week for both of us! This includes all food and drink purchases, grocery and dining out. To add variety, we aren't setting limits on the types of foods we eat, only the amount we spend. Creativity is key this year! If we want to eat out, we have to plan ahead and save money from our weekly budget until we can afford it. Also, any and all freebies and coupons are fair game! We follow this really great blog that makes this part really easy! She posts all sorts of deals, coupons, and freebies that we regularly take advantage of!

So that's how we're going to do it!


Here's an update of our first week (officially started on 1/3 - 1/9):

• Spent only about $16 for the first 2 weeks. (Budgeted a little less since we already have some groceries at the house.)
• Enjoyed a free Burger Meal at Daily Grill, free Chicken Finger Combo at Raising Cane's, and free Fresco Tacos from Taco Bell. Frankie also had two work lunches this week (this happens occasionally and is paid for by the clients) and we picked up a free bag of Stacy's Pita Chips!
• Had a lot of rice, beans, and quesadillas!
  

This week we are looking forward to free ice cream cones from Ben and Jerry's and whatever other deals that come our way! We also still have some beans and rice, a bag of pasta, canned soups, canned veggies and fruits, half a loaf of bread, a couple slices of cheese, lots of snacks and lots of Christmas popcorn! Stay tuned for picture and meal highlights!

Happy New Year!

We are back! Back to Texas and back to blogging! Well, we've been home since Sunday but we are back to the blog today... and we have so much to tell you about!

First of all, we had a great trip up north for Christmas in Michigan and New Years in Chicago. We got to see a lot of family and some great friends. :) And we got to spend a lot of quality time together in the car on the 27-hour, one-way, non-stop, roadtrip!

Taylor, Falyn, and Frankie in the snow in Chicago.

One of the exciting things that happened on our trip is that we used our seed-a-need cards! Woo Hoo!!! The first one was right before we left Houston. We stopped at Chik-Fil-A on the way out and picked up the tab for the person behind us at the drive-through. The next card went to our New Year's Eve waiter at Navy Pier- we left a hearty tip to bless his holiday! And the third card stayed in Illinois at a Bob Evans in Mt. Vernon. We got a gift card two Christmases ago and because we don't live by one we used it up on the way home- that was another big tip. So that was a fun way to start the year!

We also got to share all of our great gifts with our family :) But we will post about that in a few days... sorry you will just have to wait! Also in that post we'll tell you about all the gifts we got, because we got some really wonderful, amazing gifts!

Finally, we are starting off the year with a little challenge... actually, a big challenge! Hopefully, with enough creativity and dedication that it will span the entire year! We're starting off with the $25 Food Pak allowance and stretching it for two weeks at a time. We aren't necessarily limiting ourselves to specific items, but we are incorporating some of the foods and ideas we started out with in our original Food Pak adventure! It's different and exciting and it may or may not prove to be such a big challenge! We'll share more details soon!

So Happy New Year to all our readers! We're glad to be back!