How to save money on food!

Meal plan. That’s it. End of story 😂

Ok this might not be a new concept at all, but it’s one I’ve really wanted to concentrate on starting in the new year. Every weekend we plan our meals out for the week. We also try to include at least one new recipe. What we learned by doing this just in the last month:

*Our grocery bills are about $50-$75 cheaper each week

*we aren’t throwing away food at the end of the week

*we eat out WAY less

*from the recipes we have tried, we now have several new favorite meals!

We also go to Costco about once a month to stock up on bulk items!

I am truly blown away by how much we are saving. Just when food prices started to rise, our weekly spending average had decreased!!! This is also a huge feat as we eat gluten free in this house! I also love that by the weekend our fridge looks bare which is a great thing. It means we didn’t buy things we didn’t need and no food is being wasted!

Cheesesteak casserole 😋

Stuffed pepper casserole 😋

Chicken bacon ranch

Chicken pot pie

Pork chops, homemade mashed potatoes and asparagus 😋

Sweet potato skillet 😋

A friendly tavern and fishing!

Chapter 8….

For lunch we stopped at Joe’s friendly tavern in Empire. Another very small town that reminded me of New Martinsville, WV. It had a store or two, a restaurant and a post office. The restaurant was like a small rustic diner. The servers were so friendly and the food was delicious.

After lunch John was itching to fish. We went back up North, just outside of Leland. We found a cute little park with tree trunk stairs leading down to the water. John didn’t catch anything but i think he just enjoyed fishing on the beautiful lake.

Small towns, good eats

Chapter 6….

For lunch we ate in the VERY small town of Cedar. Yes the sweet little town with the man in overalls. We ate at the Cedar Tavern. Honestly i think it was the only place to eat, but John saw it on the drive in and wanted to check it out. The inside was rustic and clean. It had a long bar and about a dozen tables. The bar tender and cook were the only 2 people working. There were several other couples eating inside and they all appeared to be locals. The chili was so good! Our lunch hit the spot and we were ready for the next adventure!

For dinner we ate at Dick’s Pour House. This is a bar and grill closer to our cabin. This restaurant was very outdoorsy and John loved it. Our waitress was Roseanne. You know the sitcom? Yep it was her and i loved it. Our food was was really good. John had smelt and he was very excited this was even on the menu!