$20 budget for two weeks!

My husband and I decided a couple of years ago that we would not use credit cards.  On occasion, this has made grocery shopping really difficult.  After purchasing gifts for our friends and families, we realized that we only had about $20 left to spend on groceries for the next two weeks.  Rather than pulling out the credit cards, we pulled out items that were in the pantry and took stock of what was in the refrigerator.  The stuffed shells recipe that I wrote about in my last post didn't require that I used the entirety of what I had purchased.  I still had plenty of the pasta shells and an extra bag of spinach in the freezer from when it was on sale.  I had plenty of baking supplies (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, etc.).  I had several cans of vegetables, broth and cream of chicken soup.  Half a bag of potatoes and some left over fresh vegetables.  The week before, my grocery store had a good sale on Philadelphia cooking creme AND I had coupons, so I bought a few containers. There was also plenty of chicken in the freezer.  Based on what I had available, I made a list of what we could possibly eat.  Here it is:

1.  Pancakes and eggs
2.  Cheesy stuffed shells
3.  Chicken pot pie
4.  Lemony chicken popover puff
5.  Chicken Alfredo
6.  pizza
7.  spaghetti
8.  potato soup
9. soup and sandwiches
10.  Fend for yourself night (leftovers, usually)
11.  Homemade quesadillas and rice.
12.  Tostadas
13.  Pumpkin pancakes.

(I'll post some of these recipe's later)

After making my menu, I made my shopping list.  Incredibly, I only needed 3 things:  Syrup, cheese, and cottage cheese.  Obviously, this came in WAY below my $20 budget, so I was able to purchase other items that my grocery store had on sale so that I would again have food available in case money becomes tight.  My Kroger store had cereal on sale for $1.99.  I had coupons for $.50 off one box, which my store doubled.  I ended up getting several boxes of cereal for just a dollar each.  They also had granola bars on sale, which I stocked up on because my children are going to be home during Christmas break and they eat a lot. 

I find so much joy and satisfaction in being able to provide for my family in this way and making my husband's dollar stretch.