I Am Trying Emealz

I always hear emealz being advertised on the Dave Ramsey show but was never really brave enough to try it. I would always figure it would be no good to me since I don't have a family. However after putting off grocery shopping and going coupon stir crazy I just went ahead and took a dive right in.

Its $15 every 3 months and they do your meal planning and grocery list for you! Yes I can be lazy at times what can I say.... It has been a long time since I have really cooked (like real food) so its always challenging to make sure I get everything I need and not have to make trips to the store because I forgot an ingredient. With the meal time makeover you pretty much are guaranteed you won't need to return to the store until your next grocery shopping experience.

	Posted Every		Plan	Posted Every
Kroger	Sunday		Wal-Mart for 2	Friday
Publix	Wednesday		Any Store for 2	Friday
Wal-Mart	Thursday		ALDI for 2	Tuesday
Any Store	Wednesday		Publix for 2	Wednesday
ALDI	Tuesday
Ralphs

They also make it to where a lot of what you purchase that week is on sale and they tally up how much your total will be based on sales. I printed off 2 weeks worth of groceries, and the total would have been $150 dollars.

After getting mostly everything I wanted on the list (I edited it some) plus a few other items that don't relate to dinner I spent $138 dollars after coupons and savings. I don't remember ever having this much food in my frig or pantry all at once let alone spending $138 for at least $200 worth of groceries.

As soon as I got home, I started prepping my food. I cut up all the veggies and put them into plastic baggies so when its time to cook, it goes right into the pan. I also put all the meat and fruits into baggies so I could create more of a grab and go type situation so there would be no excuse for when I am in a hurry. Emealz is set up for people to shop once a week but since its just me I think I have enough to last me at least 2 maybe 4 weeks which is nice. Its going to be great to say bye bye to eating out for a long while!!

I may take pictures of my dinner creations so stay tuned and check out emealz if you have a free moment, I think it works well even if its 1 person or the Duggar family!

My food budget is almost gone

So as you know I have been working my go green challenge and to my dismay, I only have a couple bucks left in my food budget. You might be wondering how did you blow $200 in 12 days right? I know it kinda sounds obsurd but healthy food cost a lot more money which is what I have been eating a LOT of. On top of that since I haven't cooked in ages my pantry was pretty bare, leaving me to basically need to buy a bunch of staple items. Fortunately now that I will commit to cooking on a regular basis I won't have to buy so much stuff each time I make a trip to the store. I am going to try to stretch these last few bucks but in the mean time I am going to work on saving for the next trip.

Which leads me to couponmom.com. I came across this site while browsing Debt Kicking Mama's popular blogs list. I have always known about coupon mom but figure it would be too much work to try to "Save". However my mind is changing quickly the more my food budget dwindles down. So this weekend I am going to spend some time discovering how this coupon thing works. I will post my progress so that people can see it really works. I won't actually start using the system until July which is when I can replenish my food account.

Stay tuned!