How To Save a Week's Worth on Groceries

So yesterday I was planning out our menu for the week and making a grocery list. We allot $100 per week to buy organic groceries (visit our post How to Shop Organic Foods on a Budget). As I  made my way through the list, I started to think how silly it was to buy all of this food, when essentially I had some meals I could still put together. We can tend to get in a routine sometimes of buying just to buy. In doing so, that box of rice you got on sale two months ago sits in the back corner of your pantry. In an effort to save money, I put the list down and dug around in the refrigerator and pantry. Now to most people, they would of looked in my refrigerator and thought there is no way you have enough food to make another week's worth of meals. Wrong! This is where creativity, experimenting, and a little sacrifice come together. I decided  to create a new menu, using the items we currently have on hand. Sure, they won't be elaborate meals, but everyone will get just what they need. Plus, the goal here is to save $100 this week and use up some of the food on hand. In order for this to happen, I will be setting one baking day aside this weekend. The key is to take your normal recipes and substitute the ingredients out for what you have on hand. Also, there won't be a lot of snacking going on, which is probably healthier any ways! This is not something you would do every week, but if done once a month or even once every two months, you could begin to really save! Here is the breakdown of the meals I will throw together this next week:

Breakfast
Make homemade: breakfast muffins (substituting cranberries instead of raisins), and bagels (will spread peanut butter on top)
Eat leftover cereal (have 1 full box left)
Egg in a Hole
Oatmeal w/ dried fruit

Lunch
Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches
Chicken Nuggets (have 1/2 a bag left) & Carrot sticks
Oatmeal Banana Smoothie
Mac-n-cheese
Pizza Hut (Free-using the last two Book It coupons)

Dinner
Banana Cinnamon Pancakes (will substitute milk for heavy cream, using honey instead of syrup)
Roasted Veggie Pasta (using up any of the fresh veggies I still have)
Homemade Pizza (make my own crust and sauce)
Basic Spaghetti w/ bread from freezer

I have 1 LB of chicken that will be divided into two meals:
Chicken Jambalaya (adding 1 breast of cooked shredded chicken to a box of jambalaya mix I have)
Chicken Rice Casserole (adding the other two chicken breasts to brown rice with a can of cream of chicken soup and frozen corn kernels)

I have 1 LB ground beef that will be divided into two meals:
Homemade Mac-N-Cheese Hamburger Helper (taking my mac-n-cheese recipe and adding 1/2 lb. ground hamburger)
Hashbrown Beef Casserole (taking my tator tot casserole recipe and using the other 1/2 lb. ground beef and hashbrowns instead, leaving out the sour cream)

Dessert
Chocolate Cake

Snacks
Fresh popped Popcorn
Homemade Banana Bread (using my frozen bananas)
Yogurt
Apple slices w/ peanut butter

There are still a few things I will need to pick up, costing under $10 for the week. But a 90% savings is still really good! So, get digging around, you would be surprised what you can come up with! For more recipe ideas, visit our cooking section, What's Cookin' Recipes!