February 2016 Grocery Goals and Menu

February 2016 Grocery Goals

$400 is the target — with the additional goal that we will NOT eat out AT ALL. January was a big-spending month since we went out three times for special dinners. I did my February grocery shopping this week (here’s how to grocery shop for an entire month), so I have already spent most of the money, leaving back a little bit in case we need to pick up anything like milk or more fruit later in February.

To make this monthly shopping thing work, I do the bulk of my shopping at Aldi and fill in the few things I can’t get there with items from other stores.

This budget and menu reflect my winter once-a-month shopping style. (Who really wants to drive 25-35 miles to a grocery store on bad roads?) I got an AMAZING deal on boneless skinless chicken thighs — 75¢/lb *faint* — so I brought home 160 pounds and have made a chicken-heavy menu for the month.

The boneless skinless chicken thighs came from Gordon Food Service. I don’t know if they have GFS stores everywhere, but I love them because you can sometimes get basic food items super-cheap and they don’t charge a membership fee like Sam’s Club. My husband and I spent about an hour packaging the chicken for the freezer — very worth the time! Hilary at Pulling Curls has a great post on how to deal with bulk chicken purchases. But we’re pretty lazy — just bag and freeze it flat in approximately 3-pound amounts.

We have a 14 cubic foot freezer that holds plenty of food. I make the meals that use more perishable vegetables earlier in the month, saving the root vegetables and frozen peas and green beans for later.

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The  Menu

These meals are in no particular order, and I have left a few open nights because we usually end up eating leftovers once a week or so.

1. Oven-fried chicken drumsticks x 2 (coating recipe), sauteed cabbage or carrots
2. Campbell’s One-Dish Chicken & Stuffing Bake, green beans  
3. Copycat Olive Garden Chicken & Gnocchi Soup 
4. Chicken alfredo, broccoli
5. Cheeseburger Meatloaf, carrots
6. Mostly Mushroom, Bacon and Corn Chowder (new recipe from Lil’ Suburban Homestead)
7. Beef & bean nachos x 2 (I’ve tried making more economical chicken nachos but the family didn’t care for them)
8. Teriyaki chicken drumsticks, fried rice
9. Fried cabbage with sausage
10. Smothered b/s chicken thighs
11. Red beans & rice
12. Oriental chicken salad
13. Copycat Zuppa Toscana
14. Roasted chicken, biscuits, peas
15. Roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, glazed carrots
16. Ham, green beans
17. Canadian Cheese Soup
18. Spaghetti, breadsticks, peas
19. Oven fried pork chops, roasted vegetables
20. Homemade pizza x 2
21. Tacos
22. Pasta Carbonara, peas
23. Chinese-style chicken & broccoli, fried rice

Last month I wrote out the base prices for the meals, but I don’t know if it was helpful to anyone or not. Let me know if you would like me to do that. Prices vary so much, it can be difficult to determine whether you should be spending the same amount for the same style of meal.

I have linked most of the recipes I make to my Pinterest board for main dish recipes.