February’s Grocery Challenge!

Due to a recent issue, Hubby’s car was put into the shop and the cost to repair set us on a tight budget until his next paycheck.  With this, I decided to meal plan with cheaper meals and found a post on Facebook where someone asked if it was possible to feed a family of 4 on a $200/month budget.  Overwhelmingly, most comments said they could do it for less.  I spend on average $400/month for myself, Hubby, 4 year old, and 1 year old.  I’m including diapers and such too in my costs. 

One of the comments said to Google “How to feed my family of 4 on $(amount)/month”.  So I did.  Have you ever done this?  There were a lot of sites listed with meal plans that show you how to feed your family on $200.  I reviewed some of them and found a lot of them would not include meat in every dinner, which is a must for Hubby.  I also noticed that to meet their budget, they HAD to use their stockpile (something they already had built up in their pantry).  I’m pretty sure that if people are using Google to see how, they more than likely don’t have a stockpile of items they can already use.  The recipes or menu would not suffice my picky eaters.  So how would I be able to do this? 

I use to have a nice stockpile of things but when I noticed items were expiring before I was using them, I began to use them as much as possible.  What good is a stockpile if you don’t use it?  My stockpile is very low right now.  My freezer is very low too right now.  To save money during the holidays, I used all the meat we had in our freezer and tried to only buy super great deals on meat.  That helped so much.  Meat is the most expensive food item we buy. 

I’m curious to see if I can do a reduced budget for the month of February.  Something about a few days shorter than the rest of the months makes me feel like I could meet this goal.  This would have to have some serious meal planning to accomplish it.  I just planned two weeks on Monday and went to pick up groceries on Tuesday.  So I really only have two or so more weeks to plan.  Can I do it? 

What would help reduce our grocery costs?  What are the most inexpensive meals possible with my stockpile and current pantry?  I only meal plan for dinners, because with the baby and I – we eat any leftovers we have or make sandwiches for lunches.  I’ve also made just meat and cheese roll-ups with sliced veggies for lunch.  The baby and I love it.  I’ve also been known to make myself a Shakeology shake for lunch or breakfast. 

Thursday, Feb. 1 – Ground Turkey Taco Salad on Tortilla Chips  {We have the four year old this weekend and she is a picky eater so this meal is so she can eat everything seperate.  She does not like her food mixed up.  She’ll eat the avacado, cheese, lettuce.  I may cook her a piece of chicken too.  We may also be leaving for the deer camp so I need something that’s quick and easy to make and take.} 
Friday, Feb. 2 –  Broccoli Lemon Chicken Pasta  (One pot meal!) Garlic bread? 
Saturday, Feb. 3 – Fried Pork Chops ; Mashed Potatoes ; Asparagus

Sunday, Feb. 4 – Ground Turkey Italian Meatloaf ; Mashed Potatoes ; Green Beans
Monday, Feb. 5 – Beans and Rice with Cornbread
Tuesday, Feb. 6 – Beef Enchilada Casserole made with ground turkey instead of beef 
Wednesday, Feb. 7 –  Leftover Night.  Eat any leftovers or make a sandwich for dinner. 
Thursday, Feb. 8 – Balsamic Chicken and Veggies ; Rice
Friday, Feb. 9 – Southern Goulash made with ground turkey instead of beef. 
Saturday, Feb. 10 – Spaghetti & Meat Sauce ; Garlic Bread

Sunday, Feb. 11 – Leftover Night. 
Monday, Feb. 12 – Sausage; Beans ; Rice ; Cornbread
Tuesday, Feb. 13 – Breakfast for dinner: eggs, hash browns, sausage
Wednesday, Feb. 14 – Valentines Day – Honey Bacon Pork Tenderloin ; Mashed Potatoes ; Veggie
Thursday, Feb. 15 – Tacos! 
Friday, Feb. 16 – Baked Whole Chicken ; Creamy Parmesan Rice ; Veggie
Saturday, Feb. 17 – Chicken Fettucini Alfredo (chicken chopped up or sliced from any leftover chicken available; Homemade alfredo sauce is super easy – butter, cream, parmesan, salt and pepper to taste.) 

Sunday, Feb. 18 – Beef Stroganoff
Monday, Feb. 19 – Leftover Night 
Tuesday, Feb. 20 – BBQ Braised Pork Ribs ; Potato Salad ; BBQ Bread
Wednesday, Feb. 21 – Beans ; Rice ; Cornbread
Thursday, Feb. 22 – Honey Garlic Chicken and Rice – Instant Pot Recipe
Friday, Feb. 23 – Breakfast for dinner: eggs, hash browns, sausage
Saturday, Feb. 24 – Shepherd Pie

Sunday, Feb. 25 – Chicken Piccata
Monday, Feb. 26 – Taco Pizza
Tuesday, Feb. 27 – Beans ; Rice ; Cornbread
Wednesday, Feb. 28 – Cajun Chicken & Rice – Instant Pot Recipe

Can it be done?  I’ve already spent $100 on Tuesday…Can I only spend another $200 ot less for the rest of the month?  I’ve noticed buying ground turkey instead of beef will save me half the cost.  I switch out beef and use turkey when I can in most recipes now and Hubby hasn’t even said a word about it.  I don’t think he can tell a difference, although he says he can tell.  Funny, he only seems to know when he walks into the kitchen while I’m cooking and sees a turkey instead of beef. 

I told Hubby we were going to eat beans and rice once a week and he already asked for meat to go with it.  I’ll add sausage to it but he asked for ground beef.  That’s $7 per pound for lean beef!  He also just added sliced jalepenos to the next grocery order/purchase and dial soap – his favorite. 

Well, I finally meal planned for a whole month IN ADVANCE!  I should get a cookie or something. 

I’ll post in the comments any additional receipts from groceries through the month as I purchase. 

Will you take this challenge with me?