It's a crapshoot.
I sit down every week and plan out what meals I can make with what I already have and minimal purchases at the grocery store.
I tend to stock up every now and then, finding meat on manager's special or BOGO deals. I found a bunch of cod last week for cheap and a pound of ground chicken for $1.49. I planned out two new meals this week.
One was fabulous.
One was disgusting.
I made a version of PF Chang's Lettuce Wraps that was so close I didn't even notice a difference. And we ate every bit of it. I made some Dragon Noodles to go with them and it was the most fabulous meal I've made in a very LONG time. It was relatively healthy too. I used the garden delight noodles and that was our only carb for the meal. We were FULL for just around 600 calories. YUM.
Tonight I decided to use some of the cod and make fish tacos. Batman's been wanting to try them for awhile now and we had some delicious grilled fish tacos when we were on vacation over the 4th. Sadly my fish tacos did not replicate that deliciousness and I was extremely disappointed. I ended up barely eating any of it, ending with a dinner calorie count of 186. I had about two tacos and a bit of black bean/corn mixture I make frequently. I also made fresh pico de gallo. That was delicious and I plan to bake some corn tortillas into chips tomorrow (did I mention it's freakishly, wonderfully chilly here tonight?! I can turn on the oven with no fear!)
Meal planning is essential not only to maintaining a healthy balanced diet but also friendlier on the budget. As I mentioned I am dangerously low on funds for food for the next couple of weeks but I feel like I am going to make it work, navigating sales, using sites like Budget Bytes, and buying local produce from the Farmer's Market to bulk up our meals.
Additionally, my dear friend bought me a subscription to menufortheweek.com, and if we can figure out how to make the gift certificate work, I will begin using that.
I need to write about some other things but I'll save that for tomorrow. It's time to go to bed!
There is a website..wish I could remember what it is that you list what you have and it gives you ideas for recipes.. I would say buy in Bulk when you can and freeze it will help when you are low on funds..and grow a garden. :) (it is too late this year) and can and freeze veggies for winter and such
ReplyDeleteThis might be the website Cryssy was talking about. It's one I use.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.myfridgefood.com/