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Here’s my attempt to answer some of your questions on the $20 menu and shopping list:

From Allison:

What is mustgo soup?

Oops! In my rush to get this finished before leaving town, I forgot to link a lot of things! Mustgo soup is leftover soup. You can read my previous post about it here.

From Mindi:

Do you all eat any snacks?

Yes, we do eat snacks. And probably too many! We get a lot of snacks like chips and granola bars (and candy) at the food yard sale, as well as CVS. These areas are both included in our budget. I also make things like muffins or cookies to munch on. Along the same lines, we also have dessert occasionally, and especially when we have guests.

Also, do you spend $20 EVERY week? or is this just every now and then?

Since January, we have been spending $20 or less per week on groceries and toiletries. Actually, this week was our first time to spend money on groceries since our daughter arrived in early February (with the exception of a $6 banana box of salvage groceries and a cucumber to get my swelling down after our daughter’s birth. ).

Of course the main reason we haven’t bought groceries for over a month is because we had so many meals provided after our daughter’s birth. We were extremely blessed in this area. Another thing we have done to keep the out of pocket expense low/nothing is to return many of the baby items that we don’t need/have doubles of and use the Wal*Mart gift cards to purchase fresh produce.

But back to what your probably really wondering, yes we can stay at this budget level for now. A typical shopping list does not look like the one shown because I do try to keep our pantry stocked and some of the expenses go to that. We would also do more eating from the pantry, but this week I wanted to show how a menu at a similar cost could be done by others.

We do have the advantage of having the food yard sale, and without I would guess our budget would be at least $10 more per week. The sale that we go to only takes place every 2 or 3 weeks. If I need to spend more the week of the sale, I may spend more that week. Say I spend $24 that week. Then I will make it my goal to spend $16 or less the next week.

This family of 8 only spent $60 on their groceries this week; that’s much better than us!

From Lyn:

I am wondering how you are able to not pay for any out-of-pocket expenses right now other than bills/gas - I would love to read a post about what you are doing.

Much of this is included in the question/answer above. If we need something, we will buy it. But only if we really need it. And we’ve been learning that we really don’t need as much as we think. But if we do, we try to find a creative way to get it. For example, if we can get something using our extra care bucks at CVS, we might try to see if we can trade for an item we need with someone who doesn’t CVS. As mentioned above, we will see if there is anything we have as a wedding gift/baby gift that we don’t need and can exchange. (Of course, it helps if it was from somewhere like Wal*Mart or Target). And if there are no creative ways, and we truly need it or need it right away, we’ll get it. We’re not bound by this goal, but we’ve had fun and mostly success trying to stick with it.

From Amy:

Do you notice a difference with the ground turkey from Aldi?

Not really. In fact, it’s much healthier than ground beef, too!

This week, we’re actually using ground venison, and I guess that most people would notice a difference with that. We’ve gotten our venison from my parents or others who have leftover, but Daniel hopes to go hunting next year. There is some initial start-up expense, but it will save money in the long run and is also healthier.

From Cherith:

Did you get all those chicken meals out of 1 4lb. chicken??…I’ve been getting turkey breasts (around $9-10) and using them for a turkey meal, then other dishes/turkey salad later. You get lots more meat (all white) and less bone/easier to pull. I’m interested to know how you get your chicken to go so far!

That’s a good question, and I’m kind of wondering that myself. Since we have a little left in our budget this week, I’m planning to use it to buy more meat if needed. I am planning to use the meat in ways where the main course is not solely meat, but I’ve never done it with a chicken this small before.

Actually, it would be better financially to buy a very large turkey or chicken (better health-wise to buy turkey) and then use it for several weeks because the bigger I buy, the less bones there would be per pound. The 4lb. chicken was definitely not a good example for saving $ long term.

A couple weeks back, I posted a sample of our $20 budget menu. Well, this week it’s back. But it’s bigger, and possibly a little better. I’ve also posted a shopping list with our area prices to go along with the menu. I may be posting recipes and pictures as the week goes on…so stay tuned!

We still have a good bit of venison and many other things in our pantry. Our dry goods are basically stocked for months thanks to the food yard sale, which was done on adhering to this same budget. But I wanted to put together a menu that could be accomplished by others (particularly where access to salvage food sales is not available.) This menu includes a good portion of meat (though not much red meat unless ground beef/venison is substituted for the turkey) and does not require a lot of couponing.  (To see recipe links for menu items, click on underlined text.)

Breakfasts:
Honey Bunches of Oats Chocolate Clusters

Lunches:
Leftovers (Sandwiches if needed)

Fruit

Suppers:
Stroganoff
Potato Wedges
Corn, Toast

Chicken and Mashed Potatoes
Glazed carrots, Toast
Fresh Fruit

Taco Salad

Mustgo Soup
Crackers

Market Fresh Chicken Sandwiches
Carrot Sticks and Chips

Chicken Casserole

Oranges

Toast

Chicken and Rice Soup

Maybe we should call this week the week of the bird!

Here’s the shopping list to go along with this week’s menu. We still have a good bit in our pantry that was stocked while on this same budget; but I wanted to put together a menu/list that could be used by others trying to stay within a similar budget.

Shopping List By Store

Dollar Store*
2 Packages of egg noodles: 2/$1.00

Bi-Lo
Salad: $.99 (Produce Manager’s special; can be found most weekdays)
16 oz. Daisy sour cream $1.09 – $.50 off coupon from 3/16 (doubled) = $.09

Sav-Mor
1 lb baby carrots: $.88
4 lb oranges $2.00
Bananas: $1/3lb.=$1.00
Crackers: $.77
Celery: $.88
Onion: $.58/lb.=$.39
8 oz. Block Kraft Cheese = $2.00

Wal*Mart
Honey Bunches of Oats: $2.26 – this coupon = $.26
Frozen white sweet corn: $.98
5 lb bag red potatoes: $1.98

Aldi
1 lb. Ground turkey: $.99
Taco seasoning: $.29
Tortilla chips: $.99
Salsa: $1.49
Wild rice: $1.89
Condensed Cream of Mushroom soup: $.47
Whole Chicken: .69/lb*4.02lbs=$2.82

Entenmann’s Bakery
Bread: $.99

Total Cost for all items on this menu = $23.15
Items in green are not needed for this week’s menu.**
Items listed in blue are things I already had on hand. My total cost was: $13.48 + items in green = $14.75. (We used a Wal*Mart gift card and our total cost comes to $11.53.

*We’ve found that if you have a dollar store where everything is actually $1, you can often find some nice deals on groceries and more!

If you are reviewing this list for this $23.15 plan, you’ll see that you probably already have some of these items on hand. In addition, many of the items can be used again in weeks to come. **We prefer frozen, but you could also substitute canned vegetables to bring the cost down even further. Of course, you may not have the same stores/deals going. And it goes without saying…it’s highly likely that I’ve made mistakes on this. Please feel free to make corrections!  With some couponing, browsing, and looking at Money Saving Mom for online coupons, you can most likely do even better!