March snuck up on me, sorry this is a couple of days late!

Striving JUST posted this as I locked last month so I'm going to copy it here for her:

Bless, that is so mean. $5.99 for 2 pounds and that's a good deal.

This week we're recovering from the flu. I've cleaned out the fridges and am ready to face the week. Sunday I made a pasta salad with chicken, olives, oclored peppers and grape tomatoes. We ate that with the aforementioned green grapes and french bread.

Last night I made scrambled eggs, toast or pasta salad and green grapes.

This morning we had toast and oranges. I don't know what I'll make for dinner tonight. Everyone's tummies are still a bit sore.

This month, I have a snack to bring to a class, substantial snacks for a work party, my DH's birthday and St. Patrick's day.

You will, I hope, be proud of me so far. I've set up a grid for weekly meal planning, and I can either copy it on the computer and fill it in, or print out a copy and write menus by hand. I'd tried using the calendar feature in Outlook, but it was awkward. Anything that will encourage me to plan meals ahead should be tried. (I still want to work further with my monthly meal-planning system, but until I can master weekly, monthly will have to wait.)

More importantly, I set up a spreadsheet to list food costs. There is a place to record grocery expenditures, but those don't worry me too much. What we have to control is "out" food - either food eaten or picked up somewhere (could be fast food, Starbucks, even a nice restaurant), or delivered (mainly pizza). I'm trying to impress upon DS how these costs mount up, and how some of that money could and should be directed elsewhere. And of course, it makes little sense to plan to spend $X on food in a month if you aren't tracking what you actually do spend. The spreadsheet is set up so I can tell to date what we have spent on both groceries and "out" food, and the percentage of the monthly budget. I still have a feeling we will spend more than I've projected, but I feel better knowing at least I have an idea of what the numbers are.

A bit tangential to this topic, but I have spreadsheets, as well, for my Visa purchases, bank balances (including checks written), etc.

For this year, I hope to set up more sheets to track assorted costs related to taxes, so I have less to do at the end of the year. Will keep you posted.

I hope you don't mind I jump in here!! This is where I need the most encouragment!!!

I used to meal plan, things kind of went wayside about a year ago and I have been throwing out more food than I care to mention. I used to be meticulous about keeping a fridge/freezer/pantry inventory and that has gone out the window as well! My goal for the week is to organize my pantry and freezers and make an inventory list to post on the inside of the pantry door and the freezer tops.

For supper we had baked salmon patties, basmati rice and green beans with lemon.

Simplicity: WOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO on the weekly meal plans! My meal planning leaves a lot to be desired. I'll make a chicken curry at the beginning of the week and we will have that practically every night for dinner, with rice and vegetables, for the rest of the week! DD doesn't mind (in fact, she'll have the same thing for lunch during the week, too!) and it's less work for me!

As for controlling the "out" food budget - I suggest deciding how much you feel comfortable spending on "out" food and setting aside a certain $$ amount for eating out/take out/delivery, etc., separate from grocery money. How you spend it in a given month is up to you, but once it is gone, then, that's it. No more eating out/getting take out or delivery until the next month.

I find that once I have budgeted for a certain expense, then, I feel comfortable about spending it, because it is an expense I've taken into account in my budget.

My eating out budget used to be $50/mo for DD and I. After my mandatory pay cut last July, I cut it back to $25/mo. Today, for example, I spent $3.26 of this month's eating out budget for take-out fried chicken and biscuits: 4 pieces of fried chicken and 2 biscuits = a special dinner for DD and I to celebrate her b'day, today!

Busymomma: Glad to have you jump in!

I stopped at the grocery store last night and picked up bread and flavored coffee creamer. Spent $4.58.

Yet again, no plans for tonight. Which is ok as we went to town this morning and had a late lunch there. So I think I can get away with sandwiches or wraps tonight.

Tonight I will pull out a box of chicken and do some batch cooking in the morning. Hubby works away and takes meals with him frozen to thaw in the hotel microwave, so I can make a few things for us and a few for him as well.

I can't believe how long it's taking for tummies to settle once again. A lot of our favorite food just isn't sitting well for everyone.

Tuesday we had beef and cheese quesadillas with fruit and lettuce salads. Yesterday I made turkey sausage, egg, english muffin sandwiches with grapefruit and green beans.

I don't know what we're doing tonight. I have four conferences to attend at two different schools. So dinner is going to be haphazard at best.

We've eaten up a lot of fruit: 6 pears, two bunches of bananas, eight oranges and six grapefruit. It's a good thing that we're at the end of the week, so I can buy some more fresh fruit. Currently, I have some frozen berries and a large can of fruit, if we really need it. I also have some dried cranberries to use in oatmeal.

Striving: Hope everyone's tummies settle down soon. Lots of rice and pasta, I'd suggest - they are easy on the digestion.

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DD had lasagna (frozen meal) for dinner, last night. I wasn't really hungry, so I snacked - dry cereal, some beetroot, an orange, 3 shortbread cookies.

DD took rice, chicken curry and beetroot for her lunch; cereal for b'fast, kiwi and shortbread cookies for snacks/dessert. I brought the leftover piece of fried chicken from Tuesday's dinner and an orange.

I received the grocery ads. yesterday. Whole frying chicken is on sale for $.69/lb. this week. I will buy 2 to roast for Sunday's lunch and another 2-3 to stock up for our own use.

Strawberries, which were selling for $3.99 last week (I didn't buy at that price) are on sale for $1.50 this week. I usually wait until they go on sale for $.99 before I buy, but I am wondering if I should buy 2 containers for this weekend's celebrations.

Bless, The huge packs of strawberries at Costco were about $5.99. Enormous and delicious. 2 lb package. Not sure how many are in the packs you found - a pint maybe? Anyway, now you can price compare. :-)