One of our goals for 2017 is to reduce our monthly food spending so that we can add more to our savings account. We’ve been able to chop several hundred dollars off the $1000/month we budgeted for food when we first arrived on Kaua’i, but we’d like to take it down even more if we can. We’ll still be doing our once-a-month shop at Costco, and filling in with items from Big Save and the farmers’ market, but I’m going to be much more conscientious when I make up both our weekly menu and our monthly shopping lists.
One thing that we haven’t bought in a while that will be reappearing each month will be a Costco roast chicken. They are still just $4.99, and I can get at least three or four meals from one. We’re going shopping on Thursday this week, and will be having chicken for dinner that evening; leftovers will appear in a couple of other meals. We’ve also decided to have an egg meal one evening a week, on Sunday. Eggs are an affordable protein, and there are plenty of exciting and tasty meals we can plan around them.
Meiling leaves on Wednesday, so the amount of food I’ve been preparing will decrease some, but leftovers probably still won’t appear again on the menu until after WenYu goes back to school toward the end of the month.
Here’s what’s we’re having this week:
- Tuesday (this evening): Farfalle with spinach, peppers, and ham; garlic bread
- Wednesday: Grilled ham and cheese sandwiches; waffle fries; coleslaw
- Thursday: Roast chicken; couscous; steamed green beans
- Friday: Pepperoni pizza
- Saturday: King Ranch casserole; salad
- Sunday (New Year’s Day): Caprese Skillet Eggs with garlic toast; salad
- Monday: Butternut squash ravioli with alfredo sauce; garlic bread; grilled zucchini
We’ll need to get zucchini, basil, cucumbers, green onions, and lettuce from the farmer’s market this week, so it will be a quick trip. Many of the things needed for this week’s meals we already have on hand, and the rest will get picked up at Costco and Big Save.
The Occasional Nomads 