Meal planning the frugal way

As I was making dinner last night I was talking to my husband about how much my meal planning has changed over the years and especially in the past few months. We love to try new things so I have several food magazine subscriptions and close to 2 dozen cookbooks. If I had to guess I would say on average I used to make 3 or 4 new meals a week. If I saw something that sounded good it went on the list whether it had 5 ingredients or 20 and most of the time I didn't take into consideration what we already had in the kitchen or what ingredients could be rolled over and used in subsequent meals. Because of that, our grocery budget was quite high even when it was just the two of us.

As we have continued to grow our family and go from two incomes to one I had to really rethink the way I planned meals. I used to plan all the meals, write out the grocery list and then quickly glance through the inserts to see if there was a coupon for anything that I was already buying. Boy has that changed! Now I sit down every week and cut out a majority of the coupons I come across (with exceptions for things I absolutely have no need for and don't see myself buying to donate). I also search out coupons online for brands I love and buy often. Then I browse through my grocery store ads to see what is on sale for this particular week. I narrow this down even further by seeing what coupons I have that pair up with what is already on sale. Then I start making my list. As I do this I start brainstorming meal ideas based on what I can buy cheap and what I already have stockpiled from weeks before. My menu is the final part of this whole process. I usually write out a week's worth of meals on my Wipe Off Weekly Menu Board and then the subsequent week we eat off what is in our freezer and cupboards (hence the beauty of building a stockpile - I don't need 10 boxes of spaghetti now but they will come in handy in the weeks to come:).

Let me break down last night's meal which is a perfect example of what I am talking about. This weekend I had bought a 44 pack of Gordon's fish sticks for $4.99, a 10-pack of Mission tortillas for $.99, and iceberg lettuce for $.49/head. This inspired fish soft tacos. Two nights ago I had used 3/4 of a head of lettuce for a salad so I shredded the rest (this is part of rolling over one food item into multiple meals throughout the week) to put on the tortillas. I then cooked half the bag of fish sticks which left half a bag for another meal, and placed 3 of the cooked fish sticks in each taco with the lettuce. Finally I made a simple lime sauce to top it all off using 1/2 cup of mayo (this is always on hand), 1/4 cup of sour cream (I bought 1lb for $1.69 and will use the rest for enchiladas that I am making out of another pack of the Mission Tortillas), 1 Tbsp of lime juice (I always have the bottle kind in my fridge) and garlic salt, pepper and dried dill to taste. And there you have it, simple and cheap fish soft tacos that were actually quite delicious. I paired this with homemade oven fries (4 potatoes sliced and tossed in a little olive oil and then seasoned with black pepper and salt, cooked on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper for 35 minutes at 425 degrees) and some green beans that I got on sale for $.69 a can. A meal doesn't get much cheaper then that!

It takes some time to get used to cooking based on what you can get at a good price versus whatever tickles your fancy on that particular day but it in no way means you have to sacrifice what you like or even what is healthy for you. We work in the things we have cravings for and we use the money we save shopping this way to bulk up on fresh fruits and veggies from the Farmer's Market or through Bountiful Baskets. I am proud to say that on average I save 50% on my grocery list (sometimes as much as 80%!) and that makes me feel good because I know that I am helping make my husband's job easier. He works hard for the money he brings in and the further I can stretch it the less he has to stress about making ends meet.

I would love for you to share the things you do to keep costs low while still feeding your family nutritious and delicious meals. What are your top tips for frugal meal planning?

Albertson trip (5/20)

Hit up Albertsons last night for a few things and wanted to share with you what I got:

Breakdown:
- 4 bags of Lays chips (Buy 4, they become $1.99/ea + I used a $2/2 coupon) = $5.96
- 2 bottles of Kraft dressing (On sale 2/$3 + I used a $1/2 coupon) = $2.00
- 8 boxes of Ronzoni pasta (On sale $1.00/ea + I used 4 $1/2 coupons) = $4.00
   *You can find the Ronzoni coupons HERE (Hit the back button to print them each twice). My store was out of the Garden Delight version so I am going to go back for those (like Ronzoni on Facebook to get a $1/1 coupon that would make it free!). Also - doublers are supposed to be coming out in Sundays paper so you can pair them with these Ronzoni coupons for FREE pasta!

TOTAL = $11.96 (Should have been $38.86 so I saved $26.90 which is 69% savings)

What have you gotten on sale at Albertsons this week? If you have lunchables coupons, they are on sale for $1 so you should be able to get them free. Also, Albertsons has a new giveaway game board and you can earn game pieces when you shop. I got 5 pieces from what I bought last night.

100 Followers on Facebook Giveway!!!

I was so excited to wake up yesterday morning to see that my blog's Facebook page (Chrystal's Corner) reached over 100 followers. Small in the world of Facebook but big in my world! For those of you who haven't checked out my Facebook page, not only do my blog posts show up there but I also update throughout the day with my favorite deals and coupons as well as my favorite blogs and money saving sites to follow. Check it out if you haven't yet:)

In celebration of reaching this small milestone, I am having a small giveaway. 1 lucky winner will receive 4 Albertson's Summertime Fun coupon books with over $30 worth of coupons in each book, as well as over 15 samples from my sample stash.

What do you have to do? Just leave a comment here on this blog post (comments on my Facebook page won't count as an entry) telling me you want to win. Simple as that! The giveaway ends on Sunday May 22, 2011 at 7 pm PST. I will be using Random.org to pick a winner at random.

While you are at it, make sure to "like" Chrystal's Corner on Facebook if you haven't. And share this with your friends because when I reach 300 followers I am going to have another giveaway!

____THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED_____

Online Coupons

It's grocery shopping day, which in my house means lots of coupon cutting. Thought I would pass on some great sites I have been using to help us save money at the grocery store. Feel free to share any that you know of that I am missing:)

These 3 sites allow you to put coupons straight onto your grocery card (like Safeway, etc)
http://www.shortcuts.com/
http://www.pgesaver.com/
www.safeway.com/IFL/Grocery/Digital-Coupons

Printable coupons
http://www.coupons.com/
http://www.coupons.smartsource.com/
http://coupons.redplum.com/CouponMom/

I also recommend going to your favorite brands websites for coupons. They have some really good ones at Ronzoni and Uncle Ben's to name a few. Happy cheaper shopping~~