Dinner at Home Challenge Week 2 How We Did

Monday:
All 3 meals at home.
Tuesday:
All 3 meals at home.
Wednesday:
All 3 meals at home.
Thursday:
Breakfast & lunch at home, dinner out ($22).
Friday:
Breakfast & lunch at home, Boys ate out for dinner ($12), Girls ate at home.
Saturday:
Boys ate at camping for breakfast and lunch ($10), Girls ate at home.  Bryan stopped on the way home to get an Icee, gallon of milk and box of cereal ($12).  All ate dinner at home.
Sunday:
Breakfast and lunch at home, all ate out for dinner ($35).

Sunday Recap:
This week we faltered a bit.  We have been Beta Testing an MMORPG called Rift and the early play weekend for pre-ordering started Thursday.  The kids had karate that night, so Bryan just brought home food from Sonic.

Friday's Girl's Day was cancelled since Bryan had a meeting and I didn't want the kids to be home alone, not to mention we girls were playing Rift!  Friday night, the boys camped with the Boy Scouts, and I forgot to start the roast.  So, we girls made the burritos that were planned for Thursday night.

Saturday, when the boys came home, it looked like it was going to rain so we nixed the grilling and threw the roast that had been planned for Friday into the crockpot. Dinner was a little later than normal, but it was at home!

Since we had a Committee Meeting for Boy Scouts, we decided to eat lunch at home and make the menu plan for next week at dinner.  The kids went to build Art for the Hungry, while Bryan and I enjoyed our night out.  We ended up at the Verizon Store to look at the Xoom, and it got to come home with me!  We also had to go to Wal-Mart so Bryan could get a headset for playing Rift.  Needless to say, the menu plan didn't get made.  We picked up a 2 liter of Root Beer at Wal-Mart while we were there. ($2)

We decided we will have the Grilled Fish & Shrimp with Veggies on Monday and then we can menu plan and grocery shop on Tuesday while our son takes his TAKS test.

Savings: $166
[$423 - $164 (Kroger) - $22 (Sonic) - $12 (Friday Dinner for Boys) - $10 (Camp Food) - $12 (Saturday Shopping) - $35 (Dinner Out) - $2 (Root Beer)]

This is a much better total savings than last week!  I hope we can keep this up!  Even when life threw us some curve balls, we persevered and didn't jump too far off the track!

Dinner at Home Challenge Week 2 (February 21 - 27) The Plan

Monday:
Turkey Meatloaf
Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans with Butter & Bacon

Tuesday:
Cheese Ravioli with Marinara
Salad
Garlic Bread

Wednesday:
Make Your Own Pizza

Thursday:
Make Your Own Burritos

Friday:
Roast with Onions, Celery, Potatoes, & Carrots

Saturday:
Grilled Shrimp & Salmon
Grilled Asparagus
Grilled Veggie Skewers - Zuchinni, Bell Peppers, Onions, Mushrooms, & Cherry Tomatoes

Dinner at Home Challenge Week 1 How We Did

Monday:
All 3 Meals at home.
Tuesday:
All 3 Meals at home.
Wednesday:
All 3 Meals at home.
Thursday:
All 3 Meals at home.
Friday:
All 3 Meals at home, except my lunch.
Saturday:
All 3 Meals at ome.
Sunday:
Breakfast at home, lunch & dinner out.

Sunday Recap:
We didn't plan anything for Saturday or Sunday night's dinner.  Sunday night, we did eat out since that has become our Date Night and the kids eat at Youth Group.  Saturday Night, we had leftover Cheese Steaks and Chips.

One night, we wanted to go to Sonic for Blasts and Blended Floats.  Bryan ran to Walmart for Peanut Butter Cups and Root Beer so we could make them at home, since we already had ice cream.  Also to appease our cravings, one night Bryan ran to the quick stop for Cheetos, Cheeze-Its and an Icee.

I'm proud to report that we did not visit Sonic for Happy Hour once this week!

For lunches, I ate out on Friday for Girls' Day and we ate out on Sunday while we planned the following week's menu.  All breakfasts were eaten at home, including Sunday morning!  Not a bad week, since we were eating out almost every day for lunch and dinner.

Savings: $76
[$423 - $276 (Kroger) - $35 (Lunches Out) - $20 (Snacks from Walmart & Quick Stop) - $16 (Dinner Out)]

This is not quite as much as I had hoped, but we did have a steak dinner which would have cost way more than $8 per person eating out, we still have steaks left in the freezer and a few other groceries (instead of takeout boxes that end up in the trash), and we ate a whole lot healthier.

Dinner at Home Challenge Week 1 (February 14-20) The Plan

Monday (Valentine's Day):

Steak (Ribeye & Filet)
Baked Potato with Cheese, Sour Cream, Bacon, and Green Onions
Homemade Rolls
Fried Zuchinni
Shells & Cheese
(and Chocolate Covered Strawberries from Godiva - Valentine's Day Gift!!!)


Tuesday:
Hamburger Mac
Green Beans with Butter & Bacon


Wednesday:
Cheesesteak
Steak Fries


Thursday:
Turkey, Mint, & Feta Stuffed Puppers
Feta Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes


Friday:
Crockpot Pizza In a Bowl


Saturday:
No Plan


Sunday:
No Plan

Dinner at Home Challenge Explanation

We have been dining out way too much, so we have committed to eating at home more often.  The plan is to make a menu, grocery shop using coupons from Cellfire, Smart Source, and Coupons.com in order to earn points on MyPoints.  Then, we will taste the dishes and rate them from 1-5 (5 being the best).  That number will be averaged and become our rating.  At the end of the week, we will evaluate how we did.

Here's my best guestimate as to how much we were spending before we started this:
Breakfast Out - 1 Day per week * 4 People * $4 = $16
Lunch Out - 7 Days per week * 4 People * $5 = $140
Sonic Drinks - 5 Days per week * 2 People *$1 = $5
Starbucks Drink - 1 Day per week * 1 Person * $5 = $5
Dinner Out - 6 Days per week * 4 People * $8 = $192
Groceries (for Breakfast, snacks, & occasional dinner) = $60

Total: about $423 per week!  YIKES!