Now I had managed to cut my grocery bill down by almost half, but I have been frustrated with the amount of mince (ground beef) and sausages we have been eating, as well as having to fill up on bread, rice and pasta.

I decided that I need to get more raw fruit and veges into my diet (hmm...I haven't been doing so great with my salads this week!  I had huge salad every day for lunch for 2 weeks straight and sometimes for dinner too, but I just can't seem to face them this week!), but I wasn't sure that we could afford it on our budget!? 

Well guess what?  Last week I came $10 under budget and I brought HEAPS of fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds and dried fruit!  It did help that I have a freezer full of meat, from buying in bulk when things like mince, chicken breast, chicken pieces and sausages were on special!  So I didn't need to buy any meat last week...nor do I need to this week (actually I could about a month without needing to buy any more meat!), unless of course, there are some great specials!  I have resolved to never buy meat that is not on special!  And you don't need to when you buy in bulk.

More about Meat...

We have cut down on the amount of meat we use, like having homemade tortillas (a family favorite) with meat and salad...I find you only need about half the amount of meat as usual when you have tortilla's, so I usually make enough for about 4 meals and freeze the rest in meal-sized portions to whip out of the freezer (along with the pre-made & frozen tortillas) for a very quick, easy meal on those days when you might otherwise be tempted to grab take-out!  We have things like Mexican Mince, Teriyaki Chicken or Sausage & Lentil Casserole in our tortillas...the possibilities are endless!  It's a great way to use up leftovers too!

I doubled the quantity of our mince spaghetti bolognaise (ground beef, tinned tomatos, tomato paste, onions, garlic and herbs) the other night by cooking a cup of red lentils and adding it in...it did give it a slightly different taste, but it wasn't bad and it meant I could put another nights dinner in the freezer!  Boy, do I LOVE easy meals! 

Love

Ang

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Posted by lovinlife

Do any of your grocery stores ever do buy one get one free deals? We have an Albertson's here that does that with meat sometimes and my savings was around $90 on my receipt! I like to always shop for those kind of deals. I have a little competition going on with myself... :)

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Posted by AngtheFLYingKiwi

No we don't unfortunately!! But I'm amazed at how much meat I have in the freezer (being more used to buying things every week) just from stocking up when things are on sale!
Blessings
Ang

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Posted by 40winkzzz

I keep coming over to check out your latest post, and keep finding this one still at the top! That's perfectly OK tho'-- it means you probably are doing more important things! It can be too easy to become slaves to our blogs.

Since I'm here, i may as well add a comment about this post. When I buy a lot of chicken on sale, I like to throw it all in a big pot and cook it (or much better yet, have hubby grill it all), then chop and freeze in individual freezer bags for later use in salads, casseroles, soups, etc. This is time-consuming, but of course it saves a lot of time later during meal prep. It also saves $$, since each freezer bag contains only the amount needed for each meal. Like you, I discovered long ago that you use much less meat when putting it IN something (casserole, etc) than when serving it on its own.

Also, see if your family likes the spaghetti sauce w/o meat at all. If you are adding lentils, that's all the protein you need. Altho Huz & I both prefer spag sauce w/ meat, I usually serve it w/o. (That's partly b/c my dau. is vegetarian, partly to save $$, partly for good health, and partly out of laziness! :-)

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