Menu Plan Monday: The Verdict, So Far

For the past month, I have been working on lowering my grocery bill using the advice of Kate Megill from Teaching What is Good and her new e-book, Cut it Out!  How I Feed my Family of 10 for $500 a Month Without Coupons.  I've learned a lot and I've done a lot of work on planning my rotating menus and setting up a price book.  But, I still have a long way to go.

My "pantry" shelves in my garage.

My kitchen "pantry" selves.

My grocery bill this past month wasn't really down from the month before.  However, I have to stress that I did a TON of stocking up this month!  My "pantry", my fridge, and my chest freezer are all full.  You can see in the picture to the left that I am well stocked with all kinds of non-perishable items.  I have enough cans of veggies to last several months.  This is my "pantry" shelf in my garage. 


I also have two other similar shelves in my kitchen that serve as the rest of my "pantry" (pictured on the right)  These are equally full, but almost too messy to photograph!  I straighten them up every few months, but they always end up looking like this again.  They take up one whole wall in my tiny kitchen.  Since we only have two cabinets, this is where most of our food is kept.

Here is the rest of my food shelves.  This is the only cabinet space where I can keep food because I need a place for dishes.

And, finally, my fridge.  It is in a corner, so I can't open the door any wider than that for a better picture.  But, you can see that it is completely full.   The freezer side and my chest freezer in the garage are equally full.

So, what's so great about all these full shelves and a stocked fridge?  Well, first of all, all these shelves were practically bare just at the beginning of the month.  Secondly, it has been a complete week since my last grocery trip and I still have lots of food left.  That means that almost all this food was purchased for the same amount of money that we normally spend every month on just enough to get by.  It also means that we have plenty of food to get us through, not only this next week, but a long time to come.

I can't wait to see how much my grocery bill decreases next month!  Speaking of all this food, here is what I have planned for this week:

Monday - Sausage & Perogies, Peas (I work, but DH can make this)
Tuesday - Stuffed Shells, Salad, Garlic Bread (I have to work, so I need to make these ahead)
Wednesday - Chicken & Dumplings
Thursday - Breakfast: Bacon, French Toast, Scrambled Eggs
Friday - Baked Rigatoni (I work again, so this is another make-ahead meal)
Saturday -  Chicken Fried Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans
Sunday - Grilled Chicken, Fried Rice, Veggies


I'm linking up over at I'm an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.