Monthly Mission - One more week!

I have one more week left of my Monthly Mission (which is to only spend $100 on groceries for the whole month). I have $5.79 left to spend for the rest of the week. I also have one $3.00 Register Reward for Walgreen's. I'm feeling really great about being able to meet this goal!

Here are some of the things I have learned in this process:

1. It is okay to NOT stock up on every great deal that you find (especially if you already have the items in your stockpile).


2. Use what you have - because I wasn't making a lot of shopping trips, I was constantly planning menus and making things with what I had on hand. For example, I found a container of pumpkin puree in my freezer from ???? I don't know how long ago. I decided to make a pumpkin cake and today (or this weekend) I plan on using the rest for pumpkin bread. I don't normally make stuff with pumpkin, but it is what I had.


3. Make it stretch. I had two whole chickens in my freezer that had been sitting in there for quite a while. I decided to boil the chickens and debone them and use the meat in recipes. For the first one I made two pots of White Bean and Chicken Chili, a pan of chicken enchiladas, and a BBQ chicken pizza. Not to mention all the chicken broth I was able to make. I just boiled the second one and so far have made a broccoli, rice, and chicken casserole (I just threw a bunch of stuff in a casserole dish and baked it, but it turned out really good!). I still have a lot of meat left that I plan on using this next week.


4. Take it easy! Because I wasn't making my usual many trips to Walgreen's and Albertson's (which I usually do in the evening when my hubby is home), I felt much more relaxed and felt like I was taking it easy!

Now that I now have all these great habits, my goal from now on is to only spend $50.00 per week on groceries for my family of 4. This will be a challenge, but again, I know that it is possible after all Crystal from Money Saving Mom only spends $40.00 per week for her family of 4 and Beeb from Super Coupon Girl only spent $11.38 for the month of September (check out her blog, that girl is AMAZING). So anyway that's the plan. I also will have a new Monthly Mission for November, any ideas????