My "Money Diet" Meals

No, not diet meals for us!  I am putting our grocery money on a diet!  I heard the term "money diet" from one of my Avon clients years ago, and have used the catchy moniker ever since, when I want to tighten up on our expenditures.

Because I am in an ongoing struggle to tighten the grocery budget, aiming for $200 a month (for 2+ adults), I have really been sticking to my guns and using pantry and freezer items already on hand these past couple of weeks.

I thought I would share the meals I have been serving for those two weeks. There aren't fourteen listed since most meals made enough for us to eat more than once. And I only list breakfasts, dinners and a few sweets/treats, since that's basically what we eat each day. Breakfast and dinner.  And a sweet/treat or two.  That is way more than enough for us each day.  Drinks are normally water, tea or coffee.

Included in the grocery budget was the meal we ate out to celebrate our daughters' 23rd birthday and a special, bakery bought birthday cake with ice cream.

Breakfasts 
•  cream of wheat and bagel**
•  fried eggs, grits and toast
•  oatmeal with blueberries and bagel**
•  ham*** and scrambled eggs breakfast burritos**
•  scrambled eggs & cheese breakfast quesadillas
•  scrambled eggs with cheese and English muffin**
•  french toast made from homemade bread that I sliced extra thick  (about one inch)****

*  Some of these breakfasts were served more than once over a two week period.    
**   These are typical breakfasts that I serve regularly.
***  the ham had been stored in the freezer leftover from our Christmas dinner.
****  french toast, grits, quesadillas and burritos are just a way to "mix things up" and           keep breakfast interesting occasionally.

Dinners

•  Cold tuna pasta salad (made with frozen peas, grated carrot, homemade ranch              dressing and sliced green onions from the garden), whole wheat saltines
•  hot dogs and baked beans (Memorial Day)

•  homemade pepperoni pizza (I used this no knead pizza dough recipe, some leftover     marinara I had in the freezer, and pepperoni that was left over from another meal.     I used mozzarella that I keep on hand.)
•  Broccoli Cheddar Pasta Salad (I used plain pasta twirls, not tri color.  Two 12 oz             bags of frozen broccoli florets, and replaced the red onion with green onions from       the garden since that's what I had on hand.)

•  Mushroom Chicken Parmesan Pasta (I used penne pasta, two 4 oz cans of                        mushroom slices drained, three cooked boneless, skinless chicken thighs that I              diced into small pieces.  I didn't use chives, as I didn't have any.)
•  pintos & ham, rice, and homemade cornbread  (I had the pintos and ham in           the freezer, leftover from another meal.  I used rice and cornmeal that I had in the       pantry.)
•  one meal out for our daughters' birthday

Sweets and Treats

•  Easy Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream (I had all the ingredients on hand)
•  Cherry Dump Cake
•  brownies (from a boxed mix that I had in the pantry. I added mini marshmallows        and chocolate chips to the batter and sprinkled a few chopped pecans on top                before baking.)
•  birthday cake & ice cream

I hope that if you find yourself wanting or needing to tighten your grocery budget, or you're just in a "I-don't-know-what-to-make-for-dinner" rut, these meals might spark some encouragement to dig around in your pantry, fridge and freezer.  There, you just might find the fixins' that will spark your creativity, and make for some yummy meals and snacks!

What are some of your favorite "throw together what I have on hand" recipes?

Thanks for stopping by! ~TJ