Saving Money While Eating Steak

Once a Month Shopping
I started this a few months ago and although it sounds crazy, it is really paying off. If you are like me, you are probably wondering 'What about fresh fruits and vegetables?' Don't worry, I'll get to that. I promise I eat healthy, no hot dogs and mac and cheese for us.
I take a weekend and make my way to a few different stores. I buy a lot of our snacks from Target, like our trail mix and archer brand chips. We buy enough to last us the entire month.
At Wal-mart we buy 10lb bags of quarter chicken for $6. I cut the chicken myself into thighs and legs and we get 5 meals out of each bag. So I buy a few bags depending on how much chicken I want to eat.
We make our way to the health food store to get our wild rice and raw honey before we go to Daytona where we stock up on off brand juice and a few different canned vegetables at Aldi's. Finally we go to Sam's wholesale club. We buy all of our meats, fish, eggs, milk, and cheese for the month. I get home and divide it all up freezing what we don't need for the week. We also buy all of our flour, crackers, dried fruits, cereal, oatmeal etc. 
 It really pays off for us because I cook from scratch a lot and the foods we eat rarely have coupons. Buying them in bulk makes them so much cheaper. I have saved so much money just shopping once a month because I'm not buying things I don't need. I'm really really bad at Target, whoever does their end caps is making them a lot of money! I can't leave that store without spending under $100, I just don't have the will power. When I go there on my once a month trip I'm in a hurry to get to so many stores I'm in and out!

Okay, now for the fruits and vegetables. I stock up when I'm at Sam's and freeze what I don't use fresh. In the winter I do have to pick up a few things at the farmer's market fruit wise but we eat canned veggies, frozen veggies, and lettuce we grow. In the summer we grow everything. We have blueberries, blackberries, tomatoes, carrots, lettuce, loquats, grapes, and much much more.
We've only been doing this a few months but I've developed a well stocked freezer and pantry. I find I'm buying less each time I go too.

Monday Meal Planning - What are you having?

I run my home like a business. Efficiently. I cut back where ever I can and keep the budget as tight at I can. That's why I plan a menu. Usually a week at a time but sometimes even up to a month depending on the season and how much I have bought it bulk.

Here's what we are having this week... Monday
Fried Fish, Cheesy Grits, Mango and Spinach Salad with Keylime Honey Mustard DressingTuesdayBeef Barley and Vegetable SoupWednesday Bacon, Mushroom, Swiss Burgers, Spinach Salad, Rosemary & Olive Oil Roasted PotatoesThursdayGrilled Chicken, Basmati Rice, & AsparagusFridayArtichoke, Mushroom, & Spinach Pizza with Beef Barley SoupSaturday & SundayLeft Overs or play it by ear :)What are you having?