How are your mornings going? Are they blissfully smooth with harp music playing in the background? Nope. Me either! That’s why I LOVE these easy freezer breakfast meals so much! They make our crazy busy mornings a little less chaotic!
Taking just one morning about every two weeks to prep a bunch of easy freezer breakfast meals helps provide one less thing to think about, one less thing for the kids to need help with, and one less thing to stress about in the mornings!
In today’s post I’m sharing with you five easy freezer breakfast meals that my family has taste tested and loved! I know your family is going to love them too!
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Welcome to 2019!! Whew, what a whirlwind last year was. We’ve had so much happening with our family, and this Pearl Team keeps growing and growing, which is so exciting! Today, lets talk meal planning and grocery haulin’!
This month, we are going to review how month two of this fun little experiment is going. If you’re interested in snagging a copy of Seriously Good Freezer Meals (the cookbook I used for my freezer meals), click this link!
Don’t know where to start? Pearl! I got you! Make sure you read this article on how to meal plan for beginners. In there you will find all the tips you need to make sure that you plan to the best of your ability and stay on budget!
If you are new here, hi! You are probably interested to know what we set for our monthly grocery budget. This is how it’s broken down.
When I first started kicking bootie at the grocery budget game we only spend $300 in our monthly grocery haul. That covers all groceries that can last in the fridge, freezer, or pantry for 30 days or longer. We also budgeted $25 each week for fresh produce and milk. All that takes is a quick 15 minute trip once a week! Lastly, we budgeted $160 for all other household needs that are not food.
Things over the past few months things have changed a bit and we are experimenting with bumping up our budgets and honestly, I think we will lower them back down soon. When you are figuring out your grocery budget, it’s all about trial and error.
The key to sticking to monthly meal plan on a budget is to use cash! Remember that stuff? Seriously, cash is T-H-E single tool we use that has helped our family cut our food budget from $1,000 to only $400 a month!
It is statistically proven that when you use cash you spend less money. It is such a powerful visual reminder that the dollar number you are spending is coming from your pocket and not an imaginary never ending bank account.
Using a cash envelope system is exactly what keeps our family on track with our budget every single day! When using this system every dollar you pull out of your wallet is coming directly from a categorized budget. You visually see money leaving your pocket and that gets you thinking twice about your purchase.
“If I buy this now, I won’t have enough to buy _______ later.” You have to weigh your wants with your priorities.
My Favorite App for Grocery Shopping on a Budget
No mom has the time to spend continuously scanning apps over the holidays looking for the best rebate offers and sales. Which is why I have minimized my rebate strategy to help maximize my savings in the smallest amount of time.
Then once I get all my groceries home, I will quickly open the app and search the two stores that I just went shopping at to see if there are any rebates that apply to my groceries. There are usually 3-4 that I can claim. This saves me around $5 each time I use the app.
If that doesn’t sound like much, trust me! The three minutes that it takes me to save $5 is 100% worth it! These small savings add up quick and once you hit $20 you can cash out in PayPal or Venmo, or choose from a bunch of really awesome gift cards! I usually choose Target and treat myself to a well deserved “mom’s only” snack!
If you are new to Ibotta, sign upusing this link and you will automatically get $10 after you claim your first rebate! So easy!
January 2019 Family Meal Plan on a Budget & Grocery Haul
Made double freezer meals last month so I don’t have to cook at all this month!
You can download this month’s budget friendly meal plan here.
January 2019 Grocery Haul
This month’s grocery haul is very different from normal! Because I made and shopped for all meals last month, I don’t have any meal prep groceries to buy this month (other than fresh).
You won’t believe how much money we saved by prepping our freezer meals this way! You have to watch the video to find out! What should we do with the savings? I’m thinking about using it towards stocking up on meats next time I see a good sale!
So really all that is left for this month’s grocery haul is to replenish any needed kitchen staples, snack foods, breakfast, and lunch supplies. That’s about it. Take a look at the video to see what we bought this month plus the number breakdown!
I’d love to hear any questions you have! Leave them down in the comments below!
Any task that you repeat over and over needs to be batched! Are you repeatedly making sandwiches for lunches over and over again? It’s time to stop! Let me show you how to make a whole lot of lunch freezer sandwiches at one time to help you save a bunch of time in your week!
I was first introduced to the idea of lunch freezer sandwiches from my friend Stephanie from Six Figures Under. She always has the best money and time saving tips!
Why in the world is feeding kids so dang hard? You think you are making their very favorite meal in the world only to find out, today, today it’s the most repulsive meal on the planet!
Ugh! #TheStruggleIsReal
There is one meal thought that is almost a guarantee win in our house. That would be chicken nuggets. The problem is our family will go through those bags of store bought chicken nuggets so quick and they aren’t cheap! Not to mention I’m not exactly sure what they are made of…
We love smoothies in our house! It doesn’t matter what time of the year, we will always eat them. You might find us huddled around our kitchen table wrapped up in layers of sweatshirts and blankets because we are freezing. It doesn’t matter what the temperature is outside, we will keep drinking this frozen treat!
One of the reasons it is a constant in our home is because I love that my kids will actually be eating something healthy! My kids are uber-picky eaters and feeding them smoothies is one way I can easily get some nutrition into their little bellies.
The hard thing about this is that frozen fruit can be super expensive! Not only is the price hard to handle sometimes but the flavor of store bought frozen fruit is not always wonderful. The solution, start freezing fruit on your own! You will save at least 50%!
I only cooked once this month, but we ate a home cooked meal almost every night throughout the entire month!
The daily dinner prep in our house has gone a little something like this. Wake up, pull a meal out of the freezer and plop it in the slow cooker. About 6-8 hours later, dinner is ready and I haven’t stepped foot in the kitchen all day! Keep reading to find out how this could be you!
This is not your average chocolate chip cookie people! This Doubletree cookie recipe has two ingredients that I can guarantee you didn’t use last time you made a batch of chocolate chip cookies.
I think Doubletree hotels did their research when they were trying to figure out what exactly they could to create a “welcome home” feel. Did you know that they greet each guest with a fresh baked cookie! They have won me over for sure!
With it being a new year and there are a lot of new faces around here, I thought it was time to update my “about video”. I get a little excited when I start talking about living frugal AND fabulous!
I am super excited to meet you and I hope that you enjoy this video! If you are looking for fun and informative videos on how to live frugal and fabulous then you don’t want to forget and SUBSCRIBE HEREto my YouTube channel.
While you are still here, take a look around the blog. Here are a few places you might want to start:
