Eating from my pantry week 1 & walking to work

source: rubyblues.org
"talking finance for girls"

Dave and I were talking on our way home from WA Saturday about how we could save money for the upcoming holidays and all tat we want to do with and for our family when they come into town.  Instead of saving money we decided how we could just not spend money.  So we made a plan.

We both came up with this at the same time.  We thought that  we should try to eat from our pantry right now as Christmas is approaching.  It would be good for our budget. We have a lot of food in there and the freezer right now so that is what we're going to do.  Here's a journal of how it goes...

I got the idea from a website
I had read a while ago.
photo source: moneysavingmom.com

First, I looked at my calendar for this week.  Then I looked in the freezer, refrigerator and pantry to see what the menu would be.  I mostly plan for dinner only (except Sunday lunch is our big meal), since we have plenty of breakfast things and lunches are usually leftovers.  (Dave will be gone for a couple of dinners so I'll pack him a cold dinner (like a sandwich) and he'll have the warm dinner for lunch the next day).

This week's menu:
Sunday lunch (11/25): chili and cornbread (meat, bell peppers, tomato & onion from freezer; beans (canned and dried from pantry); cornbread (from the Mungers..they were joining us for lunch)
Monday (11/26): Black bean burgers (freezer); acorn squash (freezer); couscous (pantry) and fruit (from Bountiful Baskets 2 weeks ago...now ripe)
Tuesday (11/27): white bean (dried, pantry) & ham hock (freezer) soup; fruit (counter: I had gotten some fruit this weekend)
Wednesday (11/28): Chili ; Cornbread (leftover from Sunday)
Thursday (11/29): Breakfast for Dinner (we always have a lot of breakfast stuff....probably potatoes (from Bountiful Baskets) & eggs)
Friday (11/30): dinner out with Sunday School class.  I'll bring some dessert to share (from pantry)
Saturday (12/1): dinner out with youth group.

So, for my food budget this week I'll just spend $10 for the dinner out with the youth group.  We'll just drink water or Italian sodas (since I have both already here at home).  And to not spend gas money I'm going to try to walk to/from work (except Thursday which will be my errand day).

I'm excited about this challenge.  How do you save money during this crazy holiday season?