Eating for less

I was reading a friend of mine's blog, http://momsinneedofmercy.blogspot.com, and was inspired as to really break down the cost of how much we spend on food. I do not like packaged products because there is so much wasted cost on packaging, strange ingredients, etc. I am really trying hard, and have been for the last couple of months to read and say no to certain products and make mine from scratch. Once I have that down, I would like to find alternatives to white sugar as it find it steeply effects my emotions on a negative level,  but one step at a time. Some of my favorite meals are frittata= eggs, potatoes, spices and cheese w/ salsa, tacos w/ pinto beans, turkey soup- a little turkey, vegetables, potatoes and spices, Cincinnati chili- 1/2 ground beef, kidney beans, spagh. noodles, spices, onion, and pea soup- dried peas, 1/2 link of turkey sausage, carrots and celery, and spices. I dont' feel that my meals need so much of a makeover. I am very frugal and creative when it comes to how to stretch the dollar on food for a family. I actually struggle with going out to eat sometimes because of how cost effective I could have made the same meal at home...... however, when Ben takes me out, that feeling goes away quite quickly.

Anyways, we are really working on saving this year, for a myriad of reasons and Ben and I "shock" really don't use a budget. There are many reasons for this, one is Ben hates them not because for any bad reason just feels that they are useless. Disclaimer: For the majority of people out there, a budget is needed. However, for Ben and I- we are both savers- when you put two savers together, with no debt, our only up and down expense each month is pretty much food. Sooo, where does some unnecessary spending go into??? Food! I am going to try this year to be very strict about how much money I spend on food, ie: grocery stores, quick runs to Target, etc. and see how practical and economical I can be by saying " no" to the quick trip- which we all know turns into $30 spent as well as a Starbucks to boot :) and just see how frugal we can be. I am sure I will borrow some recipes from my friend, as well as continue on with my own and adopt some others from sites like allrecipes. com. If you have some healhty, frugal recipes please share with me! I would love to add them!

This week: Our breakfast options will the be regualar, oatmeal with raisins, eggs, waffles/pancakes. I will also try to make some granola

Lunch ( I hate lunch)- pb and jelly, grilled cheese, mac n cheese- homemade, yogurt and granola bars ( homemade), tuna sandwiches, carrots and fruit, "homemade' lunchables
**** Quick tip**** My Mom, when she was visiting, suggested that because I hate lunch time so much to make my lunch at breakfast for the kids and put them all in their individual lunch bags.....I should add this to my New Year Resolutions page because this is  time saver, stress savers and money saver......

Dinner- pea soup, fritatta, potato soup, tacos, breakfast dinner ( turkey bacon, pancakes and eggs), nacho cheese soup

I will work on tallying up how much this ends up costing me over the week and see where I can implement changes- need to get better on giving the kids fruit and vegetables for snacks instead of crackers!!!! This I am working on as well....I am pretty excited- as I said, we are very careful with our money but food is where I feel it's not as controlled so let's see where this "wild" ride takes us! Happy Eating!