Sometimes you have to scratch a meal off your plan right there in the store - Meal Planning for April 4th - 10th

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Like every week before, bills have to be done first before we can figure out what that week's grocery budget will be.  I know that there are probably better ways of doing this, but for right now this is what works for us.  So, the total amount for groceries was $50.  I was rather surprised with having to save up for preschool tuition as well as our regular bills, thought that it was going to be less.  Here's the meal plan for the week:
  1. Cheese Steaks
  2. Spanish Rice
  3. Shake-n-Bake Chicken (already have all the ingredients)
  4. Spaghetti (already have all the ingredients)
  5. Pizza
  6. Hamburgers

 Those are the dinners I have planned for the week.  As I've said in other posts, breakfast is normally cereal or toast.  Lunches for Michael are normally a peanut butter sandwich, gold fish crackers, and fruit gummies.  My lunches are either leftovers, a sandwich, or some pasta.  Jon's for this week will be sandwiches, potato chips, and applesauce.

For this trip, we only had one coupon.  We did go to our normal two stores (Walmart and Wegmans), but not on the same day.
The total amount spent at Walmart was $22.33.  Here's the Walmart shopping list along with the prices of each item:
  • loaf of bread  $1.48
  • hamburger buns  $1.20
  • hoagie buns  $3.18
  • vitamins for Michael (he likes the gummie Monsters vitamins)  $4.27
  • fruit gummies  $2.00
  • can of corn  $0.98
  • Kool-Aid packets  $0.20 x 14 = $2.80
  • apple juice  $2.98
  • distilled water (for Jon's c-pac machine)  $0.88 x 2 = $1.76
  • sugar  $2.38

The total amount spent at Wegmans was $27.85.  Here's the Wegmans shopping list along with the prices of each item:

  • 2 1lb packages of hamburger meat  $4.01 and $4.43
  • 1 15oz can of tomato sauce  $0.99
  • pepperoni  $2.29
  • 1 15oz can of pizza sauce  $1.49
  • 2 pack of Sicilian pizza crust  $4.19
  • 2 bags of shredded pizza cheese  $2.49 x 2 = $4.98
  • Steak-ums  $3.49
  • onion  $0.95
  • green pepper  $1.44
  • provolone cheese slices  $4.23
  • gallon of whole milk  $3.59
  • OJ  $2.49

So, if you actually add up the list you will know that it totals a lot more than what I said we spent at Wegmans.  This is where the title comes into play.  We had to completely scratch the idea of making pizza for dinner one night because it was going to make us go really over budget.  At the store we decided that we would remove pizza off the meal plan for this week and put hotdogs on there because we ended up not having them the week before.  This is why we always calculate the amounts while in the store so that the surprise happens before you are forced to pay.  Nothing wrong with coming up with another game plan in the store.  Our grand total was $50.18 making us go over by $0.18.  I can live with that.

When we got home from Wegmans, I did the steps to earn $0.50 for the milk through Ibotta.  I also downloaded a new app for my phone over the week that does somewhat the same as Ibotta, Checkout 51.  With this app, you just have to scan your receipt!  Since I was new, I earned $2.00 for my first receipt scanned and $0.50 for the sugar, another $0.50 for the milk, and $0.50 for the OJ.  I think that more than makes up for the $0.18 overage!

How is your meal planning and staying in your weekly/monthly budget going? 
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