Tuesday, September 9, 2014

My $20 Challenge

I went to my veggie store today. I decided to see how much I could buy and stay under $20. I ended up impressing myself with how well I did!

This is what I came home with!

Of course I hit up the discount 'rack' again for my challenge. Over half of the items I bought were $6 in total. Two bags of mushrooms, two bags of apples, and one bag each of broccoli and onions. The rest I paid full price.

When I got home, I settled the kids down with a snack, made myself a snack and a coffee and sat down to do some meal planning. (Does anyone else get excited meal planning or is it just me?)  When I meal plan I don't set dates for each meal, instead I make a list of what I can make with my items, what I can use the leftovers for (if there are any) and go from there.

Here's what I'll be making this week:

Dinner: Minestone Soup (cabbage, potatoes, carrots, onions, with zucchini and green beans from the garden)
Dinner: Potato and Onion Tart
Lunch: Sauteed Mushrooms & Rice
Side: Roasted veggies (broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, onions, and potatoes)
Side: Roasted broccoli
Side: Roasted Cabbage

Snack: Apple Chips
Snack: Applesauce

Prep for future meals: Diced Onions (dice freeze on a cookie sheet before transferring to a zip lock bag)

I just found out onions are freezable. I have a TON of onions that I need to use up, now I can prep them for future meals and skip the cutting/crying!

I should have leftovers for both dinners. I usually freeze the leftover soup for another time. The tart we'll eat two nights in a row and any leftover roasted veggies will go into another soup or stew.