Five tips for successful meal planning on a TIGHT budget

Five tips for successful meal planning on a TIGHT budget

I know as a nation our belts are as tight as they can get. Many of you have eliminated luxuries like cable, cell phone plan extras, date nights and movie rentals. If you budget down to the penny and the last penny gets stretched till Abe starts screaming, you're not alone. 

So, I wanted to talk about menu planning when you're on a  tight, tight, tight budget. Trust me this will save you tons of time and TONS of money. 

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No Spending Update, Meal Plan, and Why I LOVE the library

Good morning. It is a chilly Monday morning here in South Alabama. I hope you and yours enjoyed a glorious weekend. 

We enjoyed some down time and family time and frugal time. As you know Danielle from Blissful and Domestic and I launched #NOSpenduary last week. 

Let me tell you... I almost failed just a few days in.... confession, I am a no spenduary fraud!!! On Friday I lost a pair of pants I love. At least I thought I lost them. As some of you are aware, I got rid of half my clothes. So now I only own a few pairs of pants. And these were my FAVORITE. I only owned them a week, but still my FAVORITE. 

When I couldn't find them I started to panic and I was convinced that I had accidently stuck them in the purge bag and hauled them to Goodwill. So I was nanoseconds away from ordering a new pair when my husband found them hanging on the back of a chair. FRAUD I TELL YOU. I AM A TOTAL FRAUD. 

Okay so now that that meltdown is out of the way let's move on! 

This weekend we had lots of frugal (read: FREE) fun at our house. 

Friday night Jason and I enjoyed a "date night" at home courtesy of some Christmas gift cards. We got a little take out using a gift and then rented a movie via Amazon courtesy of another gift card. Whoot! 

Saturday we took the boys to a new park. 

 

Family fun doesn't have to cost a thing. We spent some time at our local park. #nospenduary

A video posted by LydiaSenn (@thesennfam) on Jan 1, 2015 at 12:28pm PST

 

They had so much fun running on the castle, playing on the slide and rolling down the play equipment and we had fun chasing them. It felt good to get out of the house and just play! 

Then we hit up the library where I can honestly tell you our family saves over a $1,000 each year by using the library

Having fun as a family doesn't have to cost anything. 

I also wanted to share with you our budget-friendly meal plan for the week. We will be hitting up the market for some fresh produce and milk, but that's pretty much it. 

Monday- Tortilla bowls with rice and veggies. This is a really simple meal. You literally turn the tortilla into a bowl and eat out of it! I will show you how I do that on Wednesday. 

Tuesday- White Chicken Chili simple and delicious. I am using leftover chicken! 

Wednesday-  Corn and rice casserole. It's just a corn version of this recipe, but I added a little chicken to it as well. 

Thursday- Frittata

Friday- BBQ Chicken Pizza! 

What's on your meal plan?? 

Don't forget for meal planning tips and tools pick up a copy of The Poor Girl's Handbook to the Kitchen for just $2.99! It's loaded with tips, tricks, and recipes. 

For more great meal plans hop on over to Org Junkie

What's on your meal plan this week?