This is the first time, I believe, that I've posted on this thread. And here's why (and I'm a little embarrassed). I was looking back through our account and numbers as where our money was going last year as DW and I live paycheck to paycheck. I noticed we were spending about $1,200-$1,500 PER MONTH on food. That means grocery shopping, eating out, more eating out, etc. I've also noticed we throw away a lot of groceries that go bad. There is just DW and I as we have no kids, so I'm even more embarrassed by those numbers we spend on eating/food.
I've been reading this thread about a month now and have gotten motivated to do something about it. DW and I went to Walmart tonight and spent nearly $150 on food. We asked for an air fryer and a George Foreman grill for Christmas and had bought a crockpot a couple of weeks before. So we decided it was time to start using them. Using ideas from this thread, and checking out Pinterest, we came up with a week's worth of meals to where we don't have to eat out. We talked a bit tonight about taking a small step toward lowering our food budget. We decided that if we spent around $125 per week on groceries, which might be more than sufficient, and include a $50/week eat out budget, we'd be down to about $700 per month on eating. That's cut the problem down more than half. So we're giving it a try. Here's what we've got for this week...
Wednesday
Lunch at home for me (I work about 30 seconds from where I live), DW will eat what she took today since she went out;
Supper - Cheese Enchiladas, rice, fruit;
Thursday
Lunch - Probably leftovers; if not, take some of the stuff we bought tonight like sandwiches, tuna, etc.
Dinner - Homemade Pepperoni pizza rollups, vegetable or garlic bread and ice cream (even though it's 18 degrees here right now);
Friday
Lunch - Leftover pizza rollups or something else;
Dinner - New recipe like hot dogs but grill dogs and roll them in crescent rolls, tater tots or baked beans;
Saturday
Lunch - probably a late breakfast since neither of us work;
Dinner - celebrating a late Christmas with a friend, so will grab something like Chilis (we always split food there, so that will be half of our weekly eat-out budget);;
Sunday
Lunch - go out to eat after church with friends, so the other half of our weekly eat out budget;
Dinner - Spaghetti or Lasagna, depending on what I want to make, garlic bread;
Monday
Lunch - leftover spaghetti or lasagne, vegetable like peas or carrots;
Dinner - honey ham steak, potatoes or tater tots
So that's about it. We'll then go back to the grocery store next Monday night or Tuesday. I'm excited to turn the page and try this new chapter. Hopefully, we can stick to it and cut into our budget deficit. Please continue to post menu items and give me some ideas. It all looks so good.