Week 4 Menu

Oh my, am I behind or what?!  Life's been a bit crazy.  Here's what this week is (was) looking like...

Monday -
Pork fajitas with sauted red peppers and onions

Tuesday -
Venison steaks and broccoli

Wednesday -
Roasted chicken (pepper & salt), corn (frozen from last summer, yuuuummm), and freezer twice-baked potatoes

Thursday -
Over-priced auction hotdogs

Friday -
Chicken salad

Saturday -
Going to try Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina

Sunday -
Pheasant - not sure how I'll be cooking it yet.  I'll post about what I decide.  All I know is I'm tired of having these "birds with feet" carcasses in  my freezer - it's time to eat them.  :o)

Grocery shopping list...
I'll be checking PYD for any can't miss deals.  Otherwise, I'm just looking for some fruit, yogurt, and fresh veggies.

Meal planning - month one verdict:  SUPER awesome on the budget.  I will note that I've depleted some of my pantry stash, but I should be able to restock that without much issue. 

How about you?  Have you tried menu planning?

hair cut deal - today only!

I mentioned Regency Beauty in my last money saving post...and if you stop by a location today (6/15), you can either get a $1 haircut or pick up a card for a $1 haircut anytime this year!!

http://www.regencybeauty.com/offer/dollar/haircut.aspx

How cool is that!?

Week 3 Menu

Week three!  Week two was a bit hectic...we had a couple of nights of leftovers because some of the dishes made SO much food.  Going forward, I'll be building in one "free" night where we'll finish up some extras.  Anyway, none of the pork was cooked last week and we definitely didn't do the roast. 

Monday -
Pork loin, butterflied with salt, pepper, and grainy mustard

Tuesday -
Pork Fajitas (leftover from Monday)

Wednesday -
Out for dinner...and a baby sitter!  Wheee!  :o)

Thursday -
Leftovers!

Friday -
Father's day weekend!

Saturday -
Father's day weekend!

Sunday -
Father's day weekend!
Not much on my list this week.  In fact, I probably won't even make it to the store unless I'm supposed to be providing potato salad for the weekend, then I'll need some potatoes.  We'll be shopping our pantry this week!  Now that's a budget friendly week!  :o)

corningwear

Just so you know....corningwear is NOT unbreakable, in case you were wondering.  I think it's supposed to be, but today we determined it is decidedly NOT.  :o( 

shoot.  Turns out holding a baby, re-heating a donut, and then covering the donut in powdered sugar was not in the cards.  :o(

Money Saving - Idea #3

How about those haircuts, huh?  I've done the $70 hair cut at Juut and I've done just about every low-cost salon out there too (Great Clips, Fantastic Sam's, Aveda Institute (students), and Juut's New artist acadamy). 

Perhaps I'm picky about my hair, but I don't find that the more expensive haircuts are always better.  I've stuck with a stylist when I've liked the initial cut, but the subsequent ones never match up. 

I recently connected with someone who's in the know about two Fantastic Sam's in Maple Grove.  She recommended a stylist at each salon and so I'm off to try the Bass Lake Road one this week.  I'll let you know how it goes.  Here's the style I'm requesting...

Fantastic Sam's info, in case you'd like to give either location a try.

Chelsey - Bass Lake Salon

**6334 Vinewood Lane Maple Grove – corner of 494 and Bass Lake Rd

Dori - Weaver Lake Salon

**12549 73rd Ave N Maple Grove – off of Weaver Lake Rd near Dairy Queen

Also, I just received a coupon for a $10.99 shampoo, haircut, and blowdry in the mail yesterday. I recommend calling ahead to verify the stylist is working - no appointments, but I plan on waiting for Chelsey even if someone else is available.

Other low-cost options:

• Juut New Artist Academy - $25 to $35 for a cut & style
• These stylists already graduated from beauty school, this is Juut's additional training
• I've gotten checked by an instructor once (bonus!), but not the other 4-5 times I've been there
• Fair deal - plan on paying about $5 for parking
• Aveda Institute - $15+ for a cut & style
• These stylists can be only a few months into school or just about to graduate
• All haircuts are checked by an instructor
• Plan on this taking about two hours
• Regency Beauty Institute - $9 for a cut, $12 for a cut & style
• These stylists can be only a few months into school or just about to graduate
• All haircuts are checked my an instructor
• I haven't been here, but I've heard that since the classes are smaller the instructor review is much more thorough. 

How about you?  Do you have any experience with the Regency school and/or any other great places to get a good, inexpensive haircut?

Money Saving - Idea #2

Who loves pudding cups for lunch??  I do, sometimes, but my husband would eat three in a day.  I typically don't buy these for us because...
1.  Who KNOWS what's in them to last so long...especially the shelf stable ones!
2.  They're stinking expensive!  I just saw six cups on sale for $2.79!

So, great idea....make your own pudding cups! 
I got two packages of pudding mix ($0.46 for a package at Aldi) and a gallon of milk ($2.69 at Aldi).  Then, I used the little tupperware type snack cups that are about the same size as a pudding cup.  (My mom found about 10 of them at a garage sale with lids for a dollar!)

Mix each flavor separately with just a little less than the two cups of milk the package specifies. 
Layer the flavors in the cups, put on the lid, and refrigerate!

By my math I spent about $1.50 for nine pudding cups...which saved $2.64!  And you can choose the flavors and combinations you want!  Wheeee!  :o) 

What flavors are you going to try??

Week 2 Menu

Alrighty, week two!  We didn't get to the mac & cheese last week (we had a happy hour on friday, yay!), so it's moving to this week.  I did some freezer prep over the weekend.  Made a double batch of pizza dough (enough for four pizzas in the freezer now), double batch of cookie dough (baked some up, portioned the rest), and chopped up some strawberries ($0.99 per pound at Aldi last week and this week).

Monday -
Spaghetti & Venison Meat Sauce (leftover from the lasagna making from last week)

Tuesday -
Steaks (yay for shopping our freezer..finding some good stuff at the bottom) & cheesy potatoes (from church freezer cooking)

Wednesday -
Three Cheese Bacon Mac & Cheese

Thursday -
Pork loin & asparagus

Friday -
Pork Fajitas (with onions & peppers)

Saturday -
Pizza (heard that Sam's has 5lbs of pepperoni for $13...hoping Costco has something similar, this is MUCH better than the $2.50/6oz or so you get on the Hormel stuff)

Sunday -
Roast, potatoes, onions

Items on my grocery list this week:
3# frozen Chicken breasts at Rainbow - $4.99
10 flour tortillas at Aldi - $0.99
1# Shredded Mozz Cheese at Alid - $3.29
Would love to hear your menu for this week...I could use your ideas for my menu next week!