Planning ahead

The next three months are fairly dull compared to the rest of the year. We do have James and John Micah's birthdays. And a snow day would be exciting for us Southerners. But all in all, it's too cold to do much besides stay at home.

So why not use that to my advantage? When warm weather returns, we're going to be heading to the park and museum/zoo trips. It will be harder for me to cook every night. But right now, it's a great thing to cook more and help heat the house. So I'm committing to cooking one extra meal each week for the freezer.

Last week, I doubled my batch of cornbread chicken dressing. Last night, I made a huge batch of bone broth chicken soup and put a 5 quart ice cream bucket full in the freezer. These could be available if I got sick and needed a pre-made meal. Or saved for warm weather when I might be gone all day with the children.

$100 grocery challenge
Meet Penny has a great idea for keeping us on track with our budget for 2015. Her budget for groceries, cleaning supplies, toiletries and such equals to $25 per person. For our family of 7, that would be $175. I'm going to join in on that challenge.

I plan to use bulk purchasing to keep my budget in line. I want to use my menu rotations to calculate what I need for a year and purchase at the lowest price point. I will need 25 lbs each of white, red and black beans. I would like to get some buckets to store beans, oats and such.

Grocery stores have cycles throughout the year on what goes on sale. Here's a list. Loss leaders can be used to our advantage.

I don't think I'll be using many coupons. Most coupons are for processed foods. But they can be used strategically for health and beauty products at CVS along with Extra Care Bucks. I do get some meat coupons for Winn Dixie in the mail. Target also has coupons for meat and produce.

Keeping my cleaning simple with borax, baking soda, vinegar and dish detergent.

Stocked up on diapers right now and using less and less as the children grow. Hopefully there will be very little of the budget going to diapers in 2015. We feel a little richer already!