Off-grid pantry planner

I guess the fact that I’ve titled this post the way I have means I’m planning to fail.  Well, I think its going to be possible some times and maybe not so possible at others to do what I’m setting out to do. At least I’m going to give it a try and see what happens.

My goal is to limit our grocery/household spending to $35/ week- for a family of four. This means I’ll have to pay closer attention to Aldi’s, Save-A-Lot,  and buying extra half-off Sunday papers on Mondays for the coupons to use at Giant Eagle (double coupons) and Walmart.

I’m  not starting from scratch. I am a coupon user, bargain shopper, second-hand clothing buyer/wearer and I subscribe to a few money saving blogs who keep me in the “know”.  I even wrote this Top 10 Tuesday post on ways to save money a post on 10 Baby Steps to Saving Big with Coupons. Oh and here’s another one, 10 ways to Save while Staying Warm in winter.

I will have to buckle down and do more menu planning and preparing. This one will hurt. I have picky eaters and if it “ain’t” pizza, chicken nuggets, hot dogs or pbj – I can expect a tough hill to climb on a nightly basis before my 6 yr old falls asleep. {He seems hungriest at night!}.

Fortunately, thanks to a Facebook friend, I learned about E-Mealz. This group of sisters do a variety of meal planning for you, saving you the time and effort.

  • You’ll find Gluten Free, Low Carb, Low Fat, Point System, Vegetarian, and Regular plans made out per stores like Aldi’s, Walmart, Kroger, Publix, Ralph and “Any store”. Click the E-Mealz ad to see menu plan samples —->
  • UNfortunately, I don’t think their plan will meet my $35 a week goal. But we’ll see.

Disclosure: I approached E-Mealz and they gave me a free month to try them out to review here on my blog.  So, I just printed out last week and this week’s menu plan. I’ll give it a whirl and report back to you, okay?  And E-Mealz comes “Dave Ramsey” approved 😉

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**I’m linking this post up with Works For Me Wednesday, though I don’t know if this will work for me, yet 😉