My 2013 grocery challenge

I have decided to challenge myself to something for the year. My goal is to spend no more than $1000 on groceries for the entire year!

Few things first before I dive into the challenge. I am starting the year with a full fridge, deep freezer and cabinet of canned foods. I have at least 15 dinners in there already so I have a head start.

My family has 4 people in it, but Mason doesn't eat yet, and Marley eats small portions. We only eat cereal for breakfast and Mike isn't home for lunch so that will help me out a lot because we'll be able to eat left overs or "kid" food for lunch.

Okay, enough blabbing. My first grocery stop of 2013 was to Target. I spent $52.11 and got $10 back in gift cards to use on my next purchase. My next stop was our local grocery store to get the remaining items for our month of dinners, spending $20.40 (more on that tomorrow)

I will try to include a picture of each trip so you all can see what I'm getting and see that I'm not just feeding my family chicken nuggets and mac & cheese for dinner each night. And I will continue to post my dinner recipes that will now be made using what I buy as part of my "challenge"

$1000-$52.11-$20.40= $927.49 left.

This is my first trip. I ended up getting 40 items and spending $52.11

Italian Chicken

Marley was away at my sister's house for a few nights so I made this for dinner because I knew if I made it when she was home she wouldn't like it. (She's gotten very picky lately)

Chicken breasts

Stuffing mix 

1/2 -1 cup Shredded Parmesean cheese

diced tomatoes

Garlic salt

 pepper

Italian dressing

Shredded Mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix can of tomatoes (with juice), stuffing, and parmesan cheese until stuffing is moist. 

Place chicken in baking dish. Add garlic salt and pepper. Drizzle italian dressing over top 

(save some for later) 

Spread the stuffing mix over top of the chicken.  Pour remaining italian dressing over top of stuffing. 

Cover with mozzarella cheese.  Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. 

Mike loved this!! I believe this was also the night when he asked why everything I've made lately is so good, then he proceeded to tell me that I shouldn't of even tried cooking before- How rude!! 

Baked Penne

I had some of the Philadelphia cooking cream in the 'fridge that I got cheap with a coupon that was about to expire so I headed to pinterest to find a recipe to use it in. Of course, it didn't take me long to find this recipe for baked penne. 

1/2 lb. ground beef 

1/2 cup chopped onions 

1 jar(24 oz.) spaghetti sauce

1 tub(10 oz.) Philadelphia Italian Cheese and Herb Cooking Creme

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

3 cups cooked penne pasta

Preheat oven to 350. Brown ground beef and onions. Drain grease. 

Pour in spaghetti sauce, 3/4 cup cooking creme and 1/2 cup mozzarella

Cook for 2-3 minutes until mozzarella cheese is melted. 

Mix in the pasta and stir until mixed well. 

Pour into baking dish and put remaining cooking cream and mozzarella on top. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes

Mike's exact words after eating it was "this is like Olive Garden" I guess he really liked it! It was so good. I usually don't like a lot of pasta sauce but this was perfect because it had the cooking cream mixed in. I will definitely be making this again soon! 

Pepperoni Pizza Rolls

I was originally going to make these for a party we had. But since I wasn't feeling well, I didn't make them. Instead I made them for lunch for me and Marley.

Biscuit dough

cheese cubes

pepperoni

1 egg

parmesan cheese

garlic powder

Flatten out a biscuit and place pepperoni and cheese in center. 

Fold up the biscuit around cheese & pepperoni to make a little ball

Place seam side down in baking dish. In separate bowl beat egg and pour over top. Sprinkle with garlic powder and parmesan cheese.  

Bake at 425 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

Marley only liked the pepperoni. Weird kid!