Keeping It Simple

The first day of school is right around the corner and with that comes a very busy fall.  3 of the 4 half marathons that I am signed up for are this semester, I have a sweet friend’s wedding to head to 

My sweet friend, Alyssa, the bride-to-be

and this one is a surprise for the girls…their BIG Christmas gift will be to go back to Disney and visit Poppy, Nana, Aunt Cathy, Uncle Von & Cousin Reeny.  All of this means that I’ll be cracking down even more than usual on my budget.  One of the ways that I plan to do this is to cut down on my grocery budget.  Last week I asked several friends for ideas on cheap meals.  These are some options that I’ve come up with:

Chili & Rice

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken (2 ingredients y’all!)

Breakfast for Dinner

Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup (this was a hit last night)

Pizza

Bird’s Eye Protein Blends with canned Chicken

Spaghetti and Meatballs

Baked Ziti

Tacos

Hot Dogs

and you can’t forget…Mac n Cheese

My next step was to figure out what to do for lunch for the girls.  I can eat leftovers or drink my Shakeology.  What was I going to do for the girls?  My good ole friend, Pinterest came to the rescue.  I found this pin that had TONS of ideas.  Here is the plan for the girl’s lunches.

“Entrée”

Pizza Bites

Hot Dogs

Nutella Sandwiches

Tortilla Rolls with lunchmeat and cheese

Nachos (tortilla chips, shredded cheese & black beans)

Mini Pancakes

Sides

Mandarin Oranges

Pineapples

Apples

Blueberries

Strawberries

Bananas

Carrots

Peppers

Cucumbers

Treats

Yogurt Tubes (frozen)

Apple Sauce

Graham Crackers

Goldfish

Pirate Booty

Nutella with Breadsticks

Pancake Muffins

Homemade Cookies

I started “practicing” the lunches with the girls this week.  So far, so good (it is only day 2 though).  What are some cheap and quick dinners or lunches that you do?  I’ll keep you posted on how it all works out.