Mission: Feed my family for $40/week (week 5)

Alright so this is going to be my last post about feeding your family for $40/week.  I will check in from time-to-time if I come across any good deals or tips but otherwise I am sure you all are sick of hearing about my fridge and its contents.  I hope that you all were able to jump on the bandwagon and start cutting down your grocery bill.  I am going to start next week with a new challenge that will hopefully keep our grocery shopping budget-friendly: meals that use 7 ingredients or less.  I will use the next few Mondays to bring you easy, new recipes that will not require a lot of shopping or money.  I welcome any suggestions!


Week 4 was rough around here.  I have always tried to be honest on this blog and today I will continue that by telling you exactly what happened this past week.  I failed the mission.    My original shopping trip went well but then I made the mistake of going back for a second trip.  We needed some toiletries but as soon as I entered the store my $40 mission was in serious danger.  Let me back-up though and tell you why.  One week out of every month I eat like a horse.  No food, salty or sweet is safe from me and fast food restaurants better hide.  Any females know what I'm talking about?!  Without giving TMI I will just say that last week was not a good week for me to be roaming around a store full of food.  Suddenly everything looked really good and health and budget were two words far from my mind.  Needless to say I went over budget and basically have eaten us out of house and home this week.  But it felt goooood people.


So week 5 I needed to get back on track and I succeeded.  I spent 39.32 and here is what I bought:


green pepper
red pepper
bananas
cantaloupe
wheat rolls
poptarts (I really am trying to wean my kids off of these, I swear)
*Annie's Chocolate chip bunny cookies
tortilla chips
turkey
milk
Go-go squeezes
cheese sticks
OJ
milk
ginger ale


*Annie's organic foods are so cheap at Wal-Mart!!


Here is what we are having for dinner this week (several nights last week we ended up not eating dinner at home so there are some carry-overs from last week):


LOTS of chicken this week!


chicken stir fry wraps (last week)
chicken burgers
pasta e fagioli  my recipe calls for 1 1/2 tsp. tobasco and 1 jar of spaghetti sauce
peas, zucchini, and risotto with grilled chicken (last week)
salad with grilled chicken
slow cooker chicken tortilla soup (last week)


NOTE: The risotto with grilled chicken was a big hit in our house.  We had it last night and both kids gobbled it up!  This does not happen often so I will definitely put that one on rotation!