Day 5 of No dining out March

Yesterday was Day 5 of No Dining Out March. I think we have established that everyday I spend on average $8.50 for breakfast and lunch. I did not eat out for either yesterday. For breakfast I had oatmeal(pantry) and for lunch I had leftovers.

Supper- I usually spend over $25 on Friday nights. This is what I had at home instead. Stuffed Bell Peppers from allrecipes. Here is how I saved money.

Ingredients-
4 stuffed bell peppers- $0.50 each- $2.00
1lb ground beef- always buy when it's a good sale. We get free meat from my parents but you can always check out a local slaughter house to get great meat cheaper then store!
1 can tomato sauce, divided,$0.88(I'm sure there are better deals)
1/4 cup uncooked instant rice , Minute rice has alot of $0.50 coupons. It doubles at Kroger's to get free rice
3 tablespoons shredded Cheddar cheese, divided -Always buy when it's on sale. Kraft always seem to have the $1/2 coupons.
1 tablespoon chopped onion-(freezer)
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce -(pantry)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 egg, beaten


Directions
Cut tops off peppers and discard; remove seeds. Blanch peppers in boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water; set aside. In a bowl, combine beef, 1/4 cup of tomato sauce, rice, 2 tablespoons of cheese, onion, Worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper and egg; mix well. Stuff the peppers; place in an ungreased 1-1/2-qt. baking dish. Pour the remaining tomato sauce over peppers. Cover and bake at 350 degrees F for 45-60 minutes or until meat is no longer pink and peppers are tender. Sprinkle with remaining cheese; return to the oven for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Total cost for this meal was only $2.88 for a family of 4!

Total savings for today was $33.50. That's a 5 day savings of $85.42!!!!!!!

Day 3 of No Dining Out March

So yesterday was Day 3 of No Dining Out March. I do not eat out for Supper on Wednesday so that money I saved will not be added to my total savings.



Breakfast- Normally have Chicken Biscuit(which I am sooooo missing right now-anyone have a free coupon?) which is $3.50. I had some oatmeal which was free(pantry)

Total savings- $3.50



Lunch-Normally spend about $5. I have leftover chicken and bean chimichangas.

Total savings- $5



Supper- Had 40 clove garlic chicken in the crockpot from HERE. Plus mashed potatoes and sweet peas.



My total savings today- $8.50. Overall savings for 3 days- $43.42

Day 2 of No Dining Out March

So yesterday was Day 2 of No Dining Out March. I don't eat out for supper on Tuesdays so the money saved on supper last night will not count toward my overall savings.

Breakfast- Normally spend $3.50 at Mc Donalds. Here is what I did instead...
Malt o Meal(chocolate)- FREE. Wal-mart has the smaller sized Malt O Meal for $0.75. Use the coupon HERE to get it for free!
Total savings- $3.50

Lunch- Usually spend an average of $5 on lunch at various places. Here is what I did instead...
Leftovers from supper the night before(lime chicken soft taco's)-FREE
Total Savings- $5

Supper- I had Chicken and Bean Chimichangas from THIS recipes. It was sooo good!

Total savings today- $8.50. Combined savings-$34.92 in just 2 days!!!

Day 1 of No Dining March

So Kristin at Couponing to Disney is doing a cool idea on her blog. She is challenging her readers not to dine out for the month of March in order to save money. Click HERE to find out more information and if you decide to do this be sure to say so on her blog because at the end of the month she is giving away a $50 restaurant gift card!

I eat out every weekday for breakfast and lunch(5 days) And eat out about 4 times a week supper. (Monday's, Friday's, Saturday's, and Sunday's) So what I plan on doing is saying how much I would have spent each day going out to eat and then how much I saved. Anything that was in my pantry will be considered free but if there is a deal on it currently I will let you know.

Here is DAY 1-MARCH 1st( I will post picture tonight-can't upload on my work computer) OVERALL SAVINGS TODAY- $26.42

Breakfast- Usually spend $3.50 on chicken biscuit and sweet tea. I spent nothing on breakfast today. I had water and my free sample of Kashi Cereal from Vocalpoint.
Total savings $3.50

Lunch- Usually spend around $5. I spent nothing on lunch today. I had a mtn. dew from my stockpile and a 200 calorie Digornio Pizza, which was free from Vocalpoint.
Total savings $5

Supper- Usually spend around $20 for supper on Monday nights. I spent $2.08 to make supper last night. I made Lime Chicken Soft Taco's from allrecipes.com. I did do it a little different to save money. Here is what I did differently.
Total savings- $17.92

So overall today I saved $26.42!! Wahoo!

Ingredients-
1.5lbs of fresh chicken, $1.00- Harvest Foods had a manager's special on some packages of chicken.
1/8 cup red wine vinegar, (free, pantry) -Wal-Mart has red wine vinegar for $1.88 plus there is a hang tag for $1.00 off making it $0.88 after coupon!
1 lime, $0.62
1 teaspoon of sugar, (free, pantry)
1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper(free, pantry)
1/2 red onion, $0.42
cilantro(to your tasting)-Wal-mart has it for $0.72
cumin(free, pantry)-more or less to your liking.
8 corn tortillas,($0.04) If you have a Mexican grocery store(my town of 6,000 has 3 of them) then you can score like 100 of these for $0.50. So it's worth checking them out!
1-2 onions from the fridge that have been waiting for you to do something with
2 carrots

Directions-
Boil water, chicken, onions, carrots in a pot until chicken is almost done.
Take chicken out and shred. Reserve chicken broth. Put in a freezer container to have free broth for later recipe.
Meanwhile pour red wine vinegar into skillet and turn on medium. Put shredded chicken into the skillet and add the juice from the lime, sugar, salt, pepper, onions and cilantro.
Let it cook for about 10 minutes.
Heat smaller skillet and heat up tortillas.
Serve the chicken mixture on top of the tortillas.