Meal Plan Monday~ Week 27

I don't really know if it's the 27th week, just guessing!  We are finally back from vacation and I want to get what tiny part of our Summer life in check that I can. 

As much as I was looking forward to not having to plan meals around baseball, All Stars started last week. I was really hoping we were done with Red Solo Cup Dinners to go! And I forgot it is 4th of July week, we will have a short week here!

I am also hoping to really crack down on our budget, I know some of y'all are looking for inexpensive meals. I will do my best to give a price break down (for our area) at the bottom!

Monday~PB and Bacon Sandwiches

Been craving like crazy, I would like to blame the baby on this one!

Tuesday~Crock Pot Pork Roast

Nothing fancy, pork, carrots, potatoes and seasoning.

Wednesday~Chicken and sauce w/veggies

Usual, rice or pasta with baked chicken and some sauce I can hide veggies in for the kids!

Thursday~ Potato Soup (If we are here)

Monday~ Bread $0.50 (bread store 1/2 loaf) Bacon $1.25 ( 1/2 package) 

PB, not enough to count. Fruits and Veggie sides $2 (everyone has something different, depending on what they like) Cucumbers, apples, bananas and baby carrots.

Tuesday~Pork Roast $4.00, Carrots $0.50, Potatoes $0.50. Chicken Stock $0.50. Corn Bread $1.00  The rest is such a small amount, not enough to figure.

Wednesday~Chicken $2.00, Rice $0.50, Veggies $1.50, Sauce $0.50 (homemade)

Fruit $1.00

Thursday~Potatoes $1.00, Milk $0.50, Chicken Stock $0.50 Bacon $1.25, Cheese $0.50 Everything else $1.50

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No Spend July!

It's been a good while since we, scratch that, I have done a NO SPEND month. I am the one that makes the day to day purchases around here and I am the one that tends to blow money on things that we don't really NEED. I am a sucker for cuteness, and clothes and coffee. I know I need a month to reign it in, July seems like the perfect month! It's before I have to get serious about school/fall clothes, before baby will be here and before Halloween stuff comes out (BIG weakness!)

I will absolutely need to plan beforehand, like NOW, or I will have some slip ups.

Things that are not making the OK LIST

~Coffee Drinks (or bought smoothies, or any of that stuff) This doesn't happen too often anymore

~Clothes for me (other than exceptions I have listed)

~Clothes for kids (minus exceptions)

~House Decor~ So hard with all the awesome shabby shows going on!

~ Eating out with kids

~Extras at the grocery store

And I have my list of exceptions
I keep it on my phone, no excuses not to use it.

Kids Backpacks, there is usually a good sale on them in July
A few things for me for the hospital
A pedicure, already planned
Cami's for the girl, if they are under $2 on clearance
Some baby outfits, once I figure out how much we have for him.
School Supplies, ONLY if they are on a GOOD sale.

How I plan to manage it all?

Make my own coffee at home,no brainer right?
Stay away from the stores I tend to spend at, like Target
Find stuff to do besides SHOP. That shouldn't be too hard!
Don't look in the big kids sizes at the resale shop, stick to the baby section if I go
Check the ads instead of making a trip to the store to see what is on sale.
Stop notifications and news feed from the facebook groups I usually get great stuff in
Go through baby stuff and make a REAL list about what this little guy will need his first couple months. Not going to buy ahead this time. 
I probably SHOULD stay off of Pinterest, there are always SO many yummy looking recipes. I don't want to be tempted to try a new one every few days and have to buy extra ingredients. Maybe I will just keep them for August!

What am I hoping to SAVE?
$30 on Coffee for sure
And at least another $200 on random stuff I won't be buying!
Will be saving on Gas, won't be going into town as much

Kind of excited to see how much we will have left at the end of the month!

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Road Trip Planning~Part 2

Going to share how we manage clothes for 5 of us and all those bathroom things!

First I want to put it out there that I am a worry wart, I over pack and I don't see that changing :)

Because we were going to be gone for an extended period of time and not just a few days I REALLY packed everything I thought we might need. Kids prone to pink eye and asthma and allergies galore.
I tried to make sure we didn't have to haul everything in to every hotel, and that we wouldn't have to move stuff around we didn't need.

So I made 2 piles of bathroom stuff. Stuff we would probably not need (hopefully) and then a pile of stuff we might/for sure need.  Things like shampoo, toothbrushes and sunscreen in the must take in everyday bag. Kids Nebulizer, pink eye drops, allergy meds and ever reducers in the I HOPE not bag.

I also had a mini version of requirements that had to be accessible without stopping (in my purse)
~Kids tylenol
~Adult tylenol
~Anti Nausea
~eye drops
~inhalers

We were able to stuff the bag we weren't likely to get into under a seat, no one had to mess with it the entire trip! YAY, and it wasn't in any one's way.

Clothes
I have never packed for that long of a trip for this many people. I wasn't sure I would be able to fit 5 suitcases in our roof rack. I had started putting outfits together a couple months ago. Stuff I knew wouldn't be warn to school or used before we left. As I was packing the kids clothes I remembered a episode, or maybe a chapter in one of their books, of how the Duggar's pack. I think they were packing 1 suitcase per DAY, I can not even imagine. But the process made sense. I used their method for the kids. Fit it into 2 suitcases for the 3 of them! This helped us avoid bringing in 1 extra suitcase everyday! I packed their clothes in outfits, already put together, top to bottom and underwear. We just grabbed the outfit on top. After day 10 the 1st was empty ( we then used it for dirty clothes ) and started on the 2nd one. Ryan and I just crammed all our stuff into 1 suitcase each.

I don't see us going on any long trips again for a while but if the next one has us in a different hotel every night, we will for sure be doing it this way again!

Shoes were very limited! I only brought 2 pair! We stuffed the kids shoes under the seat in front of them, they are old enough to manage their own shoes and did an alright job with it. I don't like to pack shoes in with clothes.

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Road Trip Planning ~ Food

Planning and packing for a road trip is exhausting! We started a few months in advance. Going to share how we ended up doing things.
They are for sure not the only way, and maybe not even the best way.

I am going to share how we plan and organize
~Clothes
~Bathroom Stuff
~The Car
~Food
~Keeping Kids Occupied 

Today I am sharing our snack/meal prep and set up.
First we fully expect to eat a whole lot of sandwiches for lunches and don't anticipate eating out a whole lot. Eating out for every meal is just not in the budget!

I tried to make sure we had a good variety of non cooled snacks. Salty, sweet, crunchy etc. Then I headed to the bulk section of the store, came home and separated them into portion size bags and containers. Saved a ton compared to either buying the box and doing it that way and the individual packs are probably 4x as much!

A lot of what we plan to take can be smashed and no one wants sesame cracker crumbs! I grabbed one of these

Used the bottom drawer for utensils, napkins, plates and the canned foods we are bringing. Then I filled the top two with snacks! Should be easy to get to and the vertical space takes up less car real estate! 

Here is a list of some of the snacks we brought 

~Trail Mix
~Dried Fruits
~Nuts
~Fruit Leathers
~Granola Bars
~Somersaults (SOO good!)
~Crackers
~Yogurt Covered Peanuts
~Chocolate Pretzels
~Chex Mix

We also packed an ice chest with lunch meat, cheeses, drinks, yogurt, fruits and cut up veggies. I put everything in the gallon size bags so that nothing got wet on the inside.

We packed a basket with bread, our toaster, bagel thins and some cold cereal.
We also took advantage of the hotel breakfasts and asked the front desks for local coupons, which they had often!

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