Last week’s menu and how we saved money

Eric and I are really trying to save money every way we can. I’d love some more truffle oil (and salt!) or fancy greek yogurt and so many other expensive ingredients. But they’re not in the budget! So I’ve really been praying for guidance in how to save money on our meals.

One obvious way is to take lunches to work (both of us). But this means preparing food ahead of time (and I just can’t eat a sandwich every day).

Garlic Lemon Pepper Chicken, Fresh Corn on the Cob, Baked Mozzarella Sticks

I find that with my current schedule I have only 3 days or so that I can devote more than 15 or 20 minutes to cooking. So on those days I’m trying to cook multiple items (chicken, soup, taco meat, etc) that I can use throughout the week for easy lunches and dinners. So far it’s been working pretty well.

My other dilemma has been to cook healthy food for us that is still affordable. Three things have helped with that a lot: 1. The extremely affordable Latino market a block away 2. Very carefully buying the healthy things when they’re on sale and cooking around those items 3. The kindness and generosity of friends and family who give us their over abundance of produce (either bought or that they’ve grown).

Stuffed Bell Peppers

In order to help me keep track of how God has been blessing our finances through providing us with food, I want to start keeping a weekly list here.

This week we have been blessed with:
– Jar of Organic Marinara Sauce $1.30
– 4 Ears of corn for $1 (picked as we bought it on our date!)
– 8 baby red potatoes for $2 also at the corn maze
-Free Cherry Tomatoes from my boss
-Bell Peppers 2 for $1 at the Latino Market
-avocados $.66 each at the Latino Market

Other meals I made last week (but was too hungry to photograph!):
BALT (Bacon, Avocado, Lettuce, Tomato)
Parmesan Chicken Caesar Salad

Time Saving:
-Cooked Parmesan Chicken for two meals, and regular chicken for quesadillas all at once
-Made extra Stuffed Pepper and Mozzarella Salad for lunches